TEDxWakeForestU 2016 will be an opportunity for our community see the results of college students with different skill sets trusting each other to do their part to create something powerful and beautiful. I am leading a team of design students from Salem College and Forsyth Tech to build the set for the event. 

 

Wake Forest University, Salem College, and Forsyth Tech students collaborate to bring TEDx to Winston-Salem.

 

TEDxWakeForest U 2016, Wake Forest University’s fifth annual TEDx conference, is set to take place on campus in Wait Chapel on Saturday, February 20, 2016. The TEDxWakeForestU conference started in 2012 by student activist and campus leader, Lucy Lan, in order to promote technology entrepreneurship on the Wake Forest campus. The event is planned and executed each year by a team of independent WFU students that coordinate speakers from various fields, disciplines, and parts of the globe.

This year’s theme is Haven: Fearlessness Reimagined will deal with security in the broadest sense. The conference’s eight impressive speakers will present on topics ranging from food security, to the eradication of human trafficking in America and abroad, to the future of IT and network security. This year’s talks will paint a picture of a secure and comfortable future in a world that is becoming more and more unpredictable every day.

The set design for this year’s TEDxWakeForestU event will be designed and built by a team of students from the Salem College design program and the Forsyth Tech Architecture program. The team was developed by Alan Shelton. Shelton is a graduate of the Forsyth Tech Architecture program and is currently studying as a design student at Salem College. Shelton has been a consultant on past TEDxWakeForestU set designs, and lent his talents to the TEDx Greensboro stage as well.

Shelton says, “The 2016 event has a theme and topics that cover a large swath of issues having great impacts on our world. Designing a set that compliments the theme of the event and is well thought out and well executed is perfectly aligned with the work students do in the design programs at Salem and Forsyth Tech.”

Set Design/Build Team:

Alan Shelton – Recent graduate of FTCC Architecture Technology Program, and Junior at Salem College, majoring in design with a concentration in Architecture, minoring in Entrepreneurship. Alan is CoFounder and President of the non-profit corporation Winston-Salem MIXXER, that is opening a community workshop studio in 2016. Alan has lead design/build teams for numerous TED^x events.

Molly Blanchard – Molly is a Junior at Salem College with a Studio Art Major and double minor in Art History and Graphic Design. She has been a stage manager at Salem since her freshman year. Molly has experience in stage set building.

Amy Smith –  Amy has a diverse portfolio including attending UNCSA, NCSU Archaeological Field School in Palau, and she is currently working to complete the AAS Program in Architecture Technology at Forsyth Tech, as well as a BSBA in Entrepreneurship from Western Carolina University. Amy and her husband hope to develop a plan to repurpose abandoned infrastructure to accommodate efficient indoor horticulture and aquaponics in “food-desert” conditions.

Kameron Dozier – Kameron will graduate from the Architecture Technology program at Forsyth Tech in summer of 2016. Kameron uses his artistic and math skills to design interesting architectural elements. He intends to use his skills to own a home restoration business.

Denton Hinshaw – Denton, a Forsyth Tech Architecture Technology student, has been designing and building since childhood, when he designed and built miniature landscapes. Denton has standing offers for work as a draftsman in the construction industry, and plans to own his own construction company in the future.

Jake Denton – Jake is in his first semester in the Architecture Technology program at Forsyth Tech. Jake has worked as a carpenter for Habitat of Humanity of Forsyth County after completing the Carpentry program at Forsyth Tech in 2013. Jake is a community focused builder, and hopes to travel abroad using his skills to help others.

About TEDx, x = independently organized event

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TED Talks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)

 

About TED
TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or fewer) delivered by today’s leading thinkers and doers. Many of these talks are given at TED’s annual conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, and made available, free, on TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Sal Khan and Daniel Kahneman.

TED’s open and free initiatives for spreading ideas include TED.com, where new TED Talk videos are posted daily; the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as translations from thousands of volunteers worldwide; the educational initiative TED-Ed; the annual million-dollar TED Prize, which funds exceptional individuals with a “wish,” or idea, to create change in the world; TEDx, which provides licenses to thousands of individuals and groups who host local, self-organized TED-style events around the world; and the TED Fellows program, which selects innovators from around the globe to amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.

Follow TED on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TEDTalks, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TED or Instagram at https://instagram.com/ted.