A compelling lineup of powerful storytellers and brilliant minds was brought together under one roof to share their ideas at TEDx Santa Barbara inside the New Vic on Saturday.
The theme “What If” delighted the sold-out theater audience with a variety of topics — from engaging human-interest stories to global issues to narratives about building strategic relationships and producing inner harmony.
The full-day event featured 18 speakers and live musical entertainment.
The co-organizers — the husband-and-wife team of Mark Sylvester and Kymberlee Weil — have been hosting TEDx since 2009. Sylvester said more than 16,545 TEDx events have been held internationally since the project started.
“We are part of a worldwide project, TEDx, whose mission is to put the spotlight on people who don’t normally get the main stage — to share their ideas worth spreading,” Sylvester told Noozhawk, which was a sponsor of the event.
“The speakers were selected based on the uniqueness of the idea and then their ability to present the idea from the stage. So, performance factored in as well.”
With the theater stage as a platform for idea sharing, the packed audience listened with rapt attention to all the influential speakers and their views.
“All of the speakers were informative and impressive,” said Vicki Ahlgren, a Santa Barbara resident. “I can relate to most of the stories and topics. I’ve been listening to TEDx speeches for years, and I was excited about it being in here for the first time.”
The audience witnessed a variety of renowned speakers, from performing artist Victoria Labalme to former 23-year Army Special Forces officer Scott Mann, who was deployed to some of the most violent places around the world.
Entrepreneur Wesley Chapman received a standing ovation following his talk about self-worth. He spoke of his personal experience about being abandoned by both his parents and being abused, yet said his troubled childhood led him on an expedition to discover self-worth and personal growth.
“Biological chaos is passed down from generation to generation, and as we look at the world and the chaos, I think the declining self-worth on this planet is directly tied to the chaos that you see every day when we turn on the television or check Facebook,” he said.
“We can change this, but we have to understand what is changing our worth.”
Author David Nour stepped onto the stage and talked about developing relationships. He discussed how business and personal success depends on the diversity of relationships, and how people don’t spend enough time managing connections with other people.
“Not enough people I meet invest in their lifetime relationships,” he said. “I believe deep in my heart that relationships define our production and our destinations.”
Joan Rosenberg, a best-selling author, consultant, media host and psychologist, presented the idea that the way individuals handle unpleasant feelings or challenging emotions often blocks people from feeling successful.
Rosenberg traveled from Los Angeles and spoke about eight unpleasant feelings: anger, shame, helplessness, frustration, vulnerability, embarrassment, disappointment and sadness.
“What we feel emotionally is felt in the body first,” she said. “That is what we want to get rid of. It takes a willingness, formula and a decision.”
Entrepreneur Tony Perez encouraged the audience to step up their digital security protections because of the increase in hacking by cybercriminals from around the globe.
He urged listeners to change their passwords frequently, back up information on hard drives and limit the use of GPS on cell phones.
“It’s a simple defense, but hackers are ready to rip off anybody,” Perez said. “They are ahead of the game, and they know how technology is developing.”
Antonio Medrano, who has a master’s degree in multimedia engineering in the multidisciplinary media arts and technology program, and earned a Ph.D. in computational geography from UC Santa Barbara, spoke about his realization that disruptive decisions are necessary to gain focus and inner fulfillment.
“It wasn’t until experiencing multiple life disruptions that I gained the clarity to know what makes a person complete,” he said. “From these experiences I learned there are certain keys to embracing disruption — first, it starts with a willingness to say ‘yes’.”
Other speakers included fitness advocate Tim Bauer; author and transformational coach Traver Boehm; Dan Caldwell, co-founder of TapouT; Adam Cobb, a performance coach for NBA athletes and actors; motivational speaker Brandy Gillmore; clothing designer Carrie Hammer; anti-bullying activist Chloe Howard; singer Dan Perea; Seth Streeter, co-founder and CEO of Mission Wealth; Shelli Varela, the first female firefighter in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada’s sixth largest city; and Autodesk Fellow Tom Wujec.
In 1984, TED, which stood for “Technology, Entertainment and Design,” started as an annual conference of 18-minute-or-less speeches in Monterey. The talks reached major cities and created numerous viral YouTube videos, which spread the extension of the TEDx series.
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— Noozhawk staff writer Brooke Holland can be reached at bholland@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
