TEDx talks return to Borderland with focus on education, border issues

You may have heard of “TED Talks,” those engaging multimedia presentations taking on everything from technology to culture and the future. A locally organized version ted-talks is returning to the Borderland with more big ideas.

TEDx is back in El Paso. TED Talks started with a focus on Technology, Entertainment and Design, with the “x” here meaning independently organized. TED Talks now can cover almost any subject, like EPISD Board President Dori Fenenbock’s talk about the future of education – with a side of the upcoming bond issue of course.

“We have to teach kids in the ways they’re going to have employable skills,” Fenenbock said. “So it’s no longer just reading, writing and arithmetic, it’s creativity, collaboration, critical thinking and communication. Those are the skills that we need to bring back and infuse back into our classrooms. And if we’re only teaching to the test, there’s no room for that.”

The idea behind TED Talks is “Ideas Worth Spreading.” Almost more importantly, another goal is not to let the conversation stop with the talk. Each one of the programs given out with the schedule of TEDx El Paso has a notes section for each speaker so that you can take down and hopefully share what you’ve learned.
“I am talking about embracing the best parts of our history,” said U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, (D) Texas 16th district.

O’Rourke spoke on the topic of “The Border Makes America Great: Or, How We Survived The Libyan Hit Squads And Isis Terrorist Camps” as one of the curated speakers and a hand-picked audience of 250. The tickets are $100 each, and you have to apply to buy one, justifying why you should sit here.

Taken in the overall mission of TED, the idea is to bring in the active and influential on both sides of the stage to keep the ideas moving.

“For those people who live in other parts of the country,” O’Rourke said, “if they get the actual factual narrative of what the border is, will begin to support the policies I think are not just in our interest, but are in the best interest of our country.”

You can find past TEDx El Paso talks on their website where Saturday’s talks will be posted as well.