TEDxWFU will host their 15th annual speaker event on March 22, featuring eight diverse lectures from civic, athletic, business and even campus leaders on the theme “Playing with Fire.” Guest orators will include Artis Stevens, president and CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, IRONMAN champion Leanda Cave and volleyball broadcaster Kele Eveland, among others.

TEDxWFU’s Executive Director, senior Michelle Martinkov, said the organization aims to expose students to new topics and perspectives.

“This conference is a really good opportunity for people to expand their mindset and learn about things they might not really know about, or even have heard of before, and pique their curiosity and be an avenue for people to explore different ideas that might be of interest to them,” Martinkov said. “[It’s also] to inspire people to be more proactive in learning about different [subjects].”

This year’s eight speakers perform a range of groundbreaking work, from youth mentoring to moon mining. Students in attendance will have the opportunity to meet these speakers at a reception following the lectures.

“We wanted to center our speakers to be people who are trailblazers, who are bold, who are disrupters in their field and aren’t scared to start a fire,” Martinkov said. “It’s an opportunity for students to ask any questions [and] get some face-to-face engagement with the speakers.” 

Bella Santos, former editorial director and current special advisor to the TEDx team, echoed this sentiment, adding that the organizers hope students leave inspired to pursue their own passions. 

“I hope people learn something new, factually, but I also hope that they leave inspired,” Santos said. “I think just seeing passionate people helps people realign with what they’re passionate about and focus more on their skills and dreams, which is cool.”

The event offers students the opportunity to get the “insider scoop” on the newest research and developments in a variety of fields. 

“We have a very strong lineup, probably one of the strongest we’ve ever seen before with really groundbreaking ideas coming out,” Martinkov said. “Some of our speakers are going to be speaking on topics there is not a lot of discourse on, even online. So it’s just a unique opportunity to hear some of the research and discoveries people are making firsthand.” 

A great deal of effort and collaboration goes into bringing an event like TEDx to fruition. Hosted by the Center for Entrepreneurship, TEDxWFU also works with other campus departments such as the Office of Student Engagement, the Office of the Provost and the Program for Leadership and Character, as well as university faculty. 

“We’ve really been able to have students engage a lot with the organization and the speakers,” Martinkov said. “It really is a community event where there’s a lot of collaboration between different student organizations, clubs and offices within the school.” 

In addition to university organizations, TEDxWFU is partnering with local sponsors, including Theodore’s Bar & Market and Aperture Cinema. The businesses are providing gift donations for a raffle to incentivize attendance. 

Santos shared her process of connecting with speakers in her previous experience as Executive Director.

“Normally, I would go through the Forbes 30 under 30 list,” Santos said. “[I’d] also email people I’d heard of or people I was interested in and ask them to come to the event. You have to send out so many invites.”

“Dealing with the speakers can be really awesome but also really challenging, because they’re high-profile people that don’t have time to just be emailing us all day,” Santos continued.

When considering speaker invitations, Martinkov said she worked to attract students from all corners of Wake Forest’s campus and select guests who could relate to the event’s main theme. 

“We really tried to cover a broad range of topics that could interest anyone in the school and to make our speaker lineup more diverse…whoever we thought fit the theme of ‘playing with fire’ the most, who was the boldest, who was the disruptor that we were looking for,” Martinkov said. 

Santos noted that the organization’s director’s personal interests often play a role in the speaker lineup. She said that this year’s chosen speakers reflect the club’s recent change in leadership.

“It’s kind of cool seeing who they [choose]… I feel like I brought a lot more artsy people in last year…which is great [because] I love the artistic stuff,” Santos said. “This year, we have a more business/entrepreneurship/science side of things, which is good because I probably never would have really done that as much.”

Another unique component of this TEDxWFU event is that it will feature one of Wake Forest’s own students: first-year Emilio Morgenstern, a kidney transplant recipient and advocate for organ donation awareness. 

“We’re excited to be able to feature students who go to Wake Forest and give them an opportunity to share their story, and for students to really connect with other students,” Martinkov said. “[Having more student speakers is] something we’re going to be doing more of in the years to come.” 

From the logistics side, the TEDxWFU team has many facets. The club leadership consists of four main teams: hospitality, marketing, facilities and finance. These groups work alongside the programming board to organize the event. Together, they finalize all the details necessary to arrange the event, like advertising to students, booking hotels and flights for speakers and contracting parking and security staff for the event. Students involved with the organization gain first-hand experience coordinating an elaborate and engaging event. 

“It’s a very professional student organization,” Santos said. “We typically advertise it to students as more of an on-campus internship.” 

Overall, the TEDx event will offer Wake Forest students a unique opportunity to engage with groundbreaking discoveries, gain inspiration to pursue their own passions and foster community.

“TEDx is a huge brand,” Martinkov said. “All the speakers are going to have their videos published on the official YouTube website so people who miss the event can watch them there. It’s [also] a lot of publicity for the school and engages the community in a really meaningful way.” 

Editor’s Note 3/8: The version of this article that is in the Old Gold & Black’s March 5 print edition states that this is the 12th year of TEDx speaker events when it is actually the 15th year. The online story has been updated to reflect these edits.