TEDxSacramento2015 audience on Friday, June 12, 2015 at the Sacramento Community Center Theater. Photo: Phil America.
By Lauren Herman
TEDxSacramento’s biggest conference yet, TEDxSacramento2015, took place on Friday, June 12 as the final event of its “THIS Changes EVERYTHING” season 2014/2015. Close to 2,000 people from the Sacramento region spent their day listening to others speak their truth, sharing their own stories and reflecting upon the endless possibility of change at the Sacramento Community Center Theater.
Change is a fitting theme for the latest TEDxSacramento season, especially as the heart of Sacramento - its downtown region - undergoes significant construction and redevelopment. This change may serve as a turning point for Sacramento, and this conference gave Sacramentans the opportunity for individual reflection and collective action about what change means to them.
The conference speakers upheld the theme of change; all are dreamers and change makers reimagining how things can be while disrupting the status quo and forever changing the way we see our community, our world and ourselves.
TEDxSacramento speaker Dr. Ernesto Sirolli delivering the first talk at TEDxSacramento2015 "THIS Changes EVERYTHING" on June 12, 2015. Photo: Phil America.
Whether inspiring action or change in business, technology, start-ups, international development, film, or medicine, each speaker offered something to learn, to think, and to do – to claim and become the “this” in “this changes everything.”
- Dr. Braimah Apambire, researcher and development expert, spoke about health changes made possible from developments in water and sanitation.
- Researcher, Dr. Edward Damiano, spoke about developing a bionic pancreas that will change the lives for type 1-diabetes patients.
- Digital producer, Alexander Dervin, spoke about change that comes from creativity and expression.
TEDxSacramento speaker Alexander Dervin on the TEDxSacramento stage. Photo: Phil America.
- Julie Lein, non-profit leader and start-up advocate, spoke about change in innovation made possible only through collaboration between government and start-ups.
- Social enterprise leader, Dr. Ernesto Sirolli, spoke about the changes in international development made possible by Millennials.
- Judy Robinett, business leader and author, spoke about the change and power of networks.
Six Sacramento community members, including Tre Borden, Thomas Dodson, Renee Mitchell, Karla Nelson, Clay Nutting, and Amber Scott, were also given the opportunity to deliver an action pitch on the TED stage about their idea for local innovation and change as part of TEDxSacramento’s Changemaker Fellowship in partnership with The Urban Hive.
TEDxSacramento conference attendees in front of an art installation - one of the many activities designed for the occasion. Thank you to Phil America, Dorian Lynde and Lauren Herman for their collaboration on this installation. Photo: Phil America.
These changemaker ideas ranged from re-examining communication training in police units, expanding local art through the sharing economy, and increasing online parenting. One of these individuals will be award a fellowship to support the development of this idea, so it can "change everything" in the Sacramento region and beyond.
If you did not attend this or any of the TEDxSacramento events this season, please share the experience of a TEDx talks with yourself and others. Let TEDxSacramento change something for you as it has for thousands of others in the Capital Region by joining a worldwide movement of people embracing and exchanging ideas of change. The world is constantly changing with or without you, so join us - become the “this” in “this changes everything”.
Thank you to the following speakers, performers and contributors who brought hope and inspiration to the conference: Edward Damiano, Alexander Dervin, Braimah Apambire, Edward Damiano, Ernesto Sirolli, Julie Lein, Judy Robinett, Tre Borden, Thomas Dodson, Renee Mitchell, Karla Nelson, Clay Nutting, and Amber Scott, Adrian Bellue, Capital Dance Project, Air Aligned, Grow Local: Joe Kye and the Sounds of Sacramento (made of Joe Kye, Adrian Bellue, Ricky Berger, James Cavern, Dean Haakernson, and Jahari Sai), Phil America, Dorian Lynde, One Button Suit, Denver J Band, Ariel Jean, Afternoon Teacup Collection, Rosaura Unangst with Pigment and Parchment.