TEDxUNC committee selects ?nalists

The second TEDxUNC conference will have a new theme and a new addition to the panel of speakers — this year, a UNC student will also take the stage.

The speakers at the 2013 conference, a project of Carolina Creates, will speak about generating ideas by connecting existing resources on Feb. 9 in Memorial Hall.

TED — the inspiration for TEDxUNC — is a nonprofit organization that sponsors international conferences where speakers give 18-minute talks on ideas with multiple initiatives.

TEDxUNC set up a competition where students could share 45-second videos about their stories that apply to the “concept of creation through connection” in order to be considered for the one student speaker position.

More than 35 submissions were posted on the TEDxUNC Facebook page before the Nov. 28 application deadline.

The TEDxUNC Organizing Committee selected seven finalists, who were announced Sunday. The final winner will be decided in early January.

Cameron Kneib, a member of the TEDxUNC Organizing Committee, said the committee wanted to improve on last year’s model by including a student voice.

In narrowing down the list of applicants, Kneib said, the popularity of the videos on Facebook was a factor, but it was not the deciding qualification for selecting finalists.

“The last thing this should be is a popularity contest,” said Chenxi Yu, another member of the organizing committee. “The focus we have is the content of the talk.”

Mackenzie Thomas, a co-founder of TEDxUNC, said the seven finalists will have the opportunity to speak publicly about their topics for five minutes, and then a runoff will determine the final winner.

Kneib said the organizing committee is considering planning an additional event that will allow the finalists who are not ultimately selected to share their ideas.

The conference will move from its past venue in the FedEx Global Education Center, where the tickets sold out in 34 seconds, to Memorial Hall because it can accommodate a larger audience.

Finalist Jonathan Hebert, who has been doing improv for four years, hopes to speak on Improvisation: Becoming a Master of the Moment.

“Improv has helped me with failing,” he said. “Something I’m going to touch on is letting yourself fail, but don’t be angry about it. Love it when you fail — fail so enthusiastically, because you learn either way.”

David Freifeld, another finalist, will discuss his 600-mile walk across Spain this summer, which he said was inspired by his terminally ill father. He said he was honored that his story was considered one worth telling.

“Myself and the other six finalists are probably all feeling the same way right now,” Freifeld said.

“I’m still trying to find the words.”

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