TEDx canceled amid logistical difficulties

By Sophia Pedlow

Published on Wednesday, February 8, 2012

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TEDxDartmouth, a conference that drew 1,500 participants last year to discuss “ideas worth spreading,” will not happen this year due to the inexperience of new leaders and lack of returning membership, according to this year’s former TEDx president Maggie Tierney ’14, who stepped down at the start of Winter term for personal reasons.

The student-run organization “ran into logistical difficulties” when it failed to get a license from the TED organization for the event, Tierney said. There were also communication difficulties about the logistics of obtaining a license, according to Tierney.

The annual TEDx conference invited speakers from various fields to speak for a maximum of 18 minutes on a topic of their choosing. TEDx conferences are held at a wide variety of locations around the country under the oversight of the national TED organization. In order to qualify for a TEDx license for events hosting over 100 people, TEDxDartmouth had to pay a $2,000 fee to send a member to San Francisco to attend a four-day TEDactive conference during Winter term, according to Tierney. She said she was not aware of this requirement when she took on the responsibility, and the organization failed to gain a license.

Tierney also said the obligations of running the event were far more cumbersome than she had anticipated.

“When I took it on, I really did think that it was something that I could dedicate time to,” she said. “I do wish I was given a better idea of what it takes to be the president of TEDxDartmouth before I took on the position.”

Tierney was one of two returning active members of the organization, both of whom had specialized exclusively in marketing, she said. Although she felt a responsibility to the organization, she lacked the knowledge to oversee all aspects of the event, Tierney said.

“I wasn’t trained at all or really explained in any detail what the responsibility would be,” she said.

Partially due to the large turnover in members, “it was kind of like starting from scratch,” Tierney said.

Gina Greenwalt ’14, co-chair of event planning for TEDx, said she believes that a lack of communication on all levels contributed to the current situation. Greenwalt said that too few people had the proper experience with the event, giving Tierney too much responsibility.

“[Tierney] was the only one who held a leadership position of great importance last year,” she said. “Other members of the group just didn’t have the connection with former upperclassman leaders, and that put too much stress and pressure on one person.”

Greenwalt has every intention of continuing her role in TEDxDartmouth next year, and considers this pause “necessary to preserve the integrity of the event,” she said.

Former TEDxDartmouth events were time-consuming and “a near full-time job” for many participants, Jason Goodman ’12, vice president of TEDxDartmouth in 2011. Goodman pointed out the difficulty of attaining such a large amount of funding for the event and said TEDxDartmouth had trouble sustaining itself in terms of membership and organization.

“At that scale, it was almost unsustainably difficult in terms of time and money,” he said. “This event needs a leader willing to sacrifice everything for the cause.”

Tierney said that she was inspired by TEDxDartmouth organizers, Goodman and Branko Cerny ’13, and their ability to make things happen. Although Tierney doubts she will ever take on such a leadership commitment with TEDxDartmouth again, she has faith that TEDxDartmouth will not end this year, she said.

Cerny is a member of The Dartmouth Senior Staff.

“TEDxDartmouth consistently attracts a group of dedicated kids, and I have no doubts that it will come back again in the future all the stronger for the lessons it learned this year in time management and TED bylaws,” Tierney said.

Catherine Bryt ’15, who signed up to take the executive office of TEDx for this year’s event, was disappointed by the news that the event could not occur, she said.

She said that she and Riley Ennis ’15 have plans to spend this year “essentially restructuring how TEDx was organized in the first place.”

Bryt emphasized the commitment students have to bringing TEDx to campus and said she plans to avoid repeating this year’s leadership transition issues.

“One of the reasons [Tierney] quit was that she didn’t have time for the huge commitment,” she said. “We want to restructure it so that not just one person has that responsibility.”