Hearing voices – Six takeaways from the city’s first TEDx event

It was a packed house on March 9 and Twitter was buzzing (#TEDxLSU) as hundreds packed LSU’s Reilly and Shaver theaters to hear about ideas worth sharing.

TEDxLSU, an independently organized event associated with TED—an annual, global conference for elite thinkers and professionals—boasted 25 presentations, many by Baton Rougeans with a vision for improving our city and its surroundings.

TEDxLSU’s challenge to some of the Baton Rouge region’s best minds in business, science, technology and the arts? Consider the word evolve.

Each of the talks is now online at ted.com/tedx, but here are six takeaways from the city’s first TEDx event.

Architecture professor Michael Desmond described the original buildings of the LSU campus, which have a number of different European and American influences. Did you know that Middleton Library can be read like a book? That the clock tower is a tribute to those who fell during World War I? That some of the buildings actually look like marching soldiers? It was a great way to open the day at TEDxLSU, and powerful for reminding us that both LSU and Baton Rouge were originally built with a grand, sweeping vision.

Filmmaker Zack Godshall heard these words in a dream: “Rid yourself of lofty aspirations and just be totally vulnerable.” He described how this became the best advice he’s received for life and filmmaking and helped him through his Sundance-accepted, critically-acclaimed film Lord Byron.

Entrepreneur Kenny Nguyen, the founder and CEO of Big Fish Presentations, discussed why he decided to turn down the TV show Shark Tank: “There are so many who wield the swords of yes, so few who wield the shields of no.” He also swung a sword while doing so, and brandishing a sword is an effective way to get a point across.

LGBT organizer and activist Tucker Barry talked about what it’s like to bring about change in Louisiana and the notion that it is often the non-professional, amateur rabble-rousers who have the ability and flexibility to make the most impact. “We’re not hung up on the rules of the profession,” she says.

Bike Baton Rouge leader Mark Martin lost his mom in a car accident when he was 13 years old. It was the first of many forces that inspired him to stop owning a car. For the past 22 years, he’s ridden a bike everywhere he needs to go. He envisions a Baton Rouge that embraces cyclists and walkers and sees the dangers and problems wrought by the almighty automobile.

Performance studies professor Tracy Stephenson Shaffer pondered something massive, frightening and hairy. King Kong is a true icon in that he’s a reflection of our own deep-seated cultural and psychological biases, this film buff says. Yes, you heard that right. Watch her talk, and you’ll never take that big monkey for granted again.