TEDx, which was created by the TED conference in 2009, has programs similar to the one beginning at NYU. It is currently affiliated with many research universities across the country including Yale University, Columbia University and the University of Minnesota. This is the first version of the program to exist at NYU.
On the website, TEDx said universities are centers of knowledge and incubators for great ideas and thus a perfect match for TEDx events.

“Events held at universities, organized by both students and administration, have shown the benefit of a captivated audience and groups of engaged volunteers poised to make meaningful change,” it reads.

Vishrut Kanoria, CAS junior and director of marketing at TEDxNYU, said TEDxNYU selects speakers in two ways.

“One is through nominations on the website, where the general public can nominate the speakers,” he said. “The other way is by word of mouth — people who we know we can reach out to and who would be a good person to have as a speaker at the event.”

Kanoria, who began watching TED Talks online as a freshman, decided he wanted to work on these events at NYU. Last fall, he gathered a group of students together who were also interested in starting TEDxNYU that share the same values as the TED conference.

Griffin Dooling, Stern sophomore and director of production at TEDxNYU, said TEDx can publish NYU talks on its website and YouTube channel in exchange for using the TED brand.

Though the group does not know how many events it will hold, Dooling said the masters of ceremonies and one of the speakers at its first talk on April 14 will be NYU students. Other speakers and organizers of the event will only be NYU students, faculty and alumni. He said he hopes this will create a presence of community on campus.

“I do like how informative it is on various topics,” said NYU-Poly junior Greg Zacaro, who watches TED talks about new technology. “I’d be interested in that collaboration.”