This past October, the student-led TEDxUW 2017 event welcomed more than 500 delegates to their annual one-day conference. It was a historic moment for the event and its 26 student organizers as previous events only accommodated 100 delegates. Doors were open to students, University staff and faculty members, alumni, and community members.
The day began bright and early as event co-chairs Melissa Lee (4B, Applied Health Studies) and Taruna Kaur (4B, Mathematics) introduced the TEDxUW 2017 theme: Defying Conventions. The goal of the conference was to spark conversations about new and unfamiliar ideas, to get comfortable with being uncomfortable, and celebrate the University’s 60th anniversary as well as Canada’s 150th.
The MC for the day was Arda Ocal (BMath ’05) who flew in from NYC to entertain the crowd while keeping the tight schedule on track. Among the delegates were City of Waterloo Mayors Dave Jaworsky, Mayor of Kitchener Berry Vrbanovic, and the Hon. Bardish Chagger, Minister of Small Business & Tourism, Government House Leader & Member of Parliament for Waterloo.
In turn, each of the ten speakers took to the stage and captivated the audience with their ideas. Among them were four University of Waterloo alumni;
- Bruce Taylor (BASc ’89) shared his take on charities and what we could be doing wrong.
- David Swart (MMath ’99) discussed the utilitarian goggles many of us have on from an artistic cartography perspective.
- GJ Won (PhD’17) winner of the national Three-Minute Thesis competition, discussed his mission to cure blindness.
- Amr Abdelgawad (BASc ’16, MBET ’17) made a plea to change the healthcare system.
For more on TEDxUW 2017, the TEDxUW team invites you to visit their website and Facebook page. Recorded videos of the talks will be posted and shared on social media soon.
