The Gettysburg Address, perhaps one of the most significant historical speeches, was two minutes long.
Tim Nisly, curator of TEDxABQ, said his life changed in a matter of minutes, in much the same way, when he saw his first TEDTalk online in 2009.
“The whole concept is that as humans we kind of have this baseline of happiness,” he said. “No matter how bad things get, you come back to it. I went through this really dark time in my life, and it basically gave me hope that one day it’s going to be okay, and I really took that seriously,”
TEDTalks began in 1982 and were held once per year, with tickets costing thousands of dollars and lineups including exclusive guests and speakers. By 2001 TED Talks could be seen on Internet browsers, and in 2009 TEDx was born. Nisly said that since the start of these independently licensed branches of the global phenomenon, there have been over 2,000 TEDx events worldwide.
Though tickets are sold out to see TEDxABQ, there are still some available for the simulcast, which will be screened at UNM.
As one of the primary organizers, Nisly said he plans to feature local speakers at the event.
This year’s speakers come from a variety of professions, but they all possess a mutual passion that set their ideas in motion. Hakim Bellamy, a speaker and UNM student, said that before TEDx came to Albuquerque he dismissed the possibility of joining the likes of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates by speaking at the event. TEDxABQ helped him to realize that everyone is an expert on something.
“That was like a paradigm shift for me,” he said. “I was going to meet these people that are doing these global projects to try to alleviate the ills of the world, and I was like, ‘They’re actually doing one here that’s showcasing amazing work in Albuquerque, alleviating the ills of New Mexico.”
Talks range from two to 18 minutes in length. Speakers are forced to distill a lifetime of knowledge in a short period, Nisly said, resulting in a potent talk that becomes a catalyst for personal change driven by each audience member’s own background.
“It’s the things that you don’t expect,” he said, “things that are outside your experience — these great ideas that other people have then intersect with what you know. It kind of shifts your thinking a little bit.”
Biology professor Diana Northup, who is also speaking at the event, said the mental shift and networking opportunities at TEDx events are especially vital for young people, many of whom are still getting in touch with who they are.
“There’s the top 5 percent (of people): They’ll succeed no matter what,” Nisly said. “But there’s a whole bunch of people in the middle that sort of get lost … There are instances where a mentor can make a big difference. There are also people who just need a little perspective on life; someone to say ‘here are the possibilities,’ because your world’s pretty narrow at 18.”
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Children are often told that when they grow up, they can do anything to which they set their minds, Nisly said, but it’s also easy for people to instead have ordinary lives and careers, retire and call it quits.
“It’s people that aren’t satisfied with being the status quo,” he said. “That’s probably why TEDx is such an empowering event, because you realize these are extraordinary people doing extraordinary things, but they’re just like you.”
