TEDxUIUC: Roots

As my first TEDx event in general, this was an insane experience. This conference was the main, end-of-the-year event that the TEDxUIUC team hosts annually in April. As this was my first full-day conference as a team member, I experienced quite a range of emotions from my spot on the production team. Being on the production team meant that today was when all of our hard work finally came into fruition. Everything we had been planning, everyone we had been prepping, it finally all came together for one long and inspirational day.

I had two main jobs on production during this event - make sure the speakers were ready and their slides/presentations were ready to go and to ensure the success of the breakout sessions.

For me, the speakers were incredibly distracting just based on how amazing and accomplished all these people standing next to me backstage were. We had speakers ranging from Jill Kimmel, a stand-up comedian, to Ahmed Musiol, a Hollywood producer, to Dr. Donna Cox, who's worked with thousands over a plethora of media to combine art and science visualization. These people were distracting! Despite this, we were all able to work flawlessly together to ensure the execution and success of each of their TED talks.

As for the breakout sessions, those were tricky. Essentially, what these breakout sessions provide is a break for the attendees to reflect and exercise different ideas that they have heard or thought about during the various TED talks happening during the conference. Listening to 10 TED talks straight can be a bit tiring, so having the attendees get up and interact with each other and the activities planned during the breakout sessions are a must. These activities were what I was in charge of. However, I did not know what a breakout session was or that it was falling onto my plate of responsibilities until about one week before the conference. Nonetheless, I knew it had to get done. So, I dived into my research and started planning various interactive activities that would engage the attendees while incorporating the theme of our conference to maintain a cohesive conference. During the first breakout session, I don't think I breathed once because I was so nervous about how people would react to the different activities. If it were any other situation, the way that I was intently staring at the attendees probably would have been cause for alarm. Thankfully, though, I was able to relax after seeing the attendees dive into and converse about the different booths and activities set up.

Overall, the event was a huge success. We had over 400 attendees and 10 speakers from around the world with our small team of 16, shaping the conference. This was one of the craziest experiences I have ever had, and I was lucky enough to experience it from my favorite point of view - from behind the scenes. I'm looking forward to being involved with TEDxUIUC for many years to come and maybe even other TED organizations if the opportunity were to arise.