TEDxURI made a comeback to the University of Rhode Island this year with its largest audience, eight speakers and a new post-show talk-back session on Sunday.
“We’ve been doing it at Edwards Auditorium for the last three years,” Vince Petronio said, the artistic director for TEDxURI. “This last year, we sold out the whole first floor.”
This year’s theme, “Now That’s Funny,” was curated to bring different interpretations, according to Petronio. The goal was to encourage ideas that ranged beyond humor.
“Our themes, by their nature, are relatively vague so that they inspire a variety of approaches to them,” Petronio said. “With this topic in particular, this isn’t just funny, ‘ha ha.’ It’s funny strange, funny weird, funny awful. All the different definitions of the word ‘funny.’”
The presenters came from all walks of life, including two URI faculty members, Rachel DiCioccio, communications professor, Brian Quilliam, pharmacy professor and URI senior Katrina Walier, who helped open the event.
“We wish we had more URI auditions submissions both from students and faculty,” Petronio said. “That would be a great way to move it forward.”
The planning committee for TEDxURI begins organizing months ahead of the event, according to Petronio.
“We come up with the theme, we have to submit it to TEDx, and they determine whether or not this theme is okay for us to go forward,” Petronio said.
Speaker recruitment also begins months in advance through audition videos, according to Pertronio. Prospective speakers submit one to two-minute pitches based on the theme.
“We average over 150 auditions each year,” Petronio said. “My six coaches and I go through them, narrow the list down to about 20, and then we select our final eight that are going to be the presenters.”
The final presenters are chosen based on theme alignment, presentation quality and coachability according to Petronio. Petronio, alongside six other coaches, chose 20 semi-finalists, who are interviewed through Zoom.
The post-show talkback addition was based on feedback from previous attendees, Petronio said. Following the presentations, TEDxURI introduced a new talk-back session, allowing the audience members to ask speakers questions for about 15 minutes after the event.
“Somebody mentioned in the [feedback] survey that it would be nice if we had a chance to ask questions of the presenters,” Petronio said.
The event aims to grow even larger in upcoming years with hopes of a full balcony and more URI student involvement, according to Petronio.
