Photos by Ralph Freso / Slideshow
As TEDxGCU celebrates its 10th anniversary, its impact on local high school students has strengthened dramatically.
That was never more evident than at Friday’s annual Grand Canyon University TEDxGCU Catalyst workshop, which hosted about 160 high school students – 100 more than last year’s event, which is designed to help boost high school students’ public speaking skills.
“It just shows we’re doing something right as a team, and for TED to keep growing in numbers, I’m thankful for that,” TEDxGCU president Madison Land said. “We didn’t expect it to be this big, but the fact the team was able to adapt worked out well.”
Forty-five TEDxGCU members, including 12 directors and members of the university's K12 Educational Development department, helped students from North Valley Christian Academy, MET Professional Academy, seven high schools from the Peoria Unified School District (Cactus, Centennial, Ironwood, Liberty, Peoria, Kellis and Sunrise Mountain), Northwest Christian School, Pinnacle High School and Rincon High School in Tucson.
The goal: to sharpen their presentation skills and guide them in how to deliver a TED talk.
TEDx operations managers Owen Parker and Guerin Deshoung were instrumental in switching the venue from the Colangelo College of Business lobby to Joshua North to accommodate the large number of K12 students.
Each received a Catalyst student notebook and listened to snappy segments from Land and the directors on what a TED talk is, which is a showcase for speakers presenting powerful, innovative, well-informed ideas in less than 18 minutes. The GCU students covered what constitutes a great, well-informed idea, types of talks and tips in such areas as persuasion, structure and more.
Students split up into 10 groups to select their topics, with stipulations that one designated speaker per group would be limited to a maximum of three minutes in their presentation, having access to short notes if needed.
Participants also learned what does not constitute a TEDx event, such as a marketing or industry conference, a self-promoting advertisement, a charity event, a platform for life coaches/motivational speakers, or an agenda of religion or politics. They discussed topics such as AI as a “fantastic tool,” the price of food and its future, and maximizing time.
Eight of the 10 speakers delivered their TED talks within the allotted three minutes while maintaining the attention of their peers.
“When it comes to teaching students how to give a TED talk, a big part of it is overcoming that initial stage fright,” Land said. “When you’re a teenager, you become more self-conscious because you’re more aware of yourself.
“So in order to have those students overcome that sort of embarrassment standing in front of their peers, we teach them to talk as if it’s a competition, and it helps them to talk about something they’re truly passionate about, something they don’t have to think about when they’re talking.”
Adyson Underwood, a freshman at North Valley Christian Academy, displayed the passion and poise of a polished speaker by expanding on a quote by former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, “Comparison is the thief of joy.”
Underwood spoke with conviction about comparing yourself to others and how that can make you sad or lower expectations of yourself. She cited findings from the National Library of Medicine, which discovered that social comparison affects judgment, motivation, attitude and behavior. She added that a ScienceDirect survey of 400 adults relayed that comparing yourself to others leaves you with low satisfaction of life.
From personal experience, Underwood, a dancer, felt like a failure when she compared herself to her friend, who excelled in basketball.
“Don’t let comparisons steal your joy,” Underwood said.
Her TED talk helped her group of more than a dozen North Valley Christian students win first prize (and GCU Stanley tumblers) over a pair of finalists that spoke about transforming periods of boredom (or spending time on cell phones) into more effective and rewarding goals, and the pillars of confidence, balance and power in karate.
Underwood said she first heard of the Roosevelt quote from her dance teacher and “ran with it” after receiving approval from her group, adding that making her presentation in front of strangers “helped me to expand my horizons and get over other public speaking fears of doing it in front of strangers.”
She added, “It was really fun. I enjoyed coming here. I would definitely love to do it again if I have the chance.”
The annual TEDxGCU event at Global Credit Union Arena will be April 10. To commemorate the group’s 10 years, invited speakers will discuss topics on themes from the last decade of the event.
GCU News senior writer Mark Gonzales can be reached at [email protected]
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