This year,
Carolina hosted its first ever TEDxUNC conference.
TED (for Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a nonprofit collaboration of scientists, researchers, entrepreneurs, innovators, artists, thinkers, movers, and shakers who come together and share “ideas worth spreading.” Talks are
posted on the web and cover topics ranging from neurology to communications to innovation to just about anything you can imagine (Carolina’s very own
Dr. Joseph DeSimone spoke at the 2011 TEDMED conference).
With a theme of “Creativity through Connection,” the 2012 conference explored ways to foster innovation through connecting resources with people with ideas with needs with the common goal of making the world a better place. It was one of the purest embodiments of my favorite thing about Carolina: lots of really smart people coming together to do really great things.
I had the privilege of attending the event (snagging a seat in the second row!) and furiously scribbled (and tweeted) my impressions into a fabulous TEDxUNC pocket-sized notebook (best. SWAG. ever.).
ReeseNews streamed the event live and will be posting videos of the talks on their website later this week. In the midst of the craziness that is January in our office, it’s always great to find those reminders of why we do what we do: because this University is an amazing place to be with incredible people who are changing the world, one student, one conversation, and one discovery at a time.
It would be nearly impossible to scale more than four hours of innovation, inspiration, and motivation into a single blog post. Instead, I’ll tackle a different part of the day each week here on the blog and relate it back to what we do here in our office and why it’s relevant for YOU as students preparing to make YOUR marks on this world – whether you do so here at Carolina or elsewhere.
For a preview of what’s to come, you can
view the schedule and speakers through the TEDxUNC website,
scroll back through my tweets from the event, or
check out the #TEDxUNC references on Twitter.
Melissa Kotačka
Assistant Director of Admissions
Follow and/or tweet me: @makunc
