Theme: Unexpected

TEDxSMU is an all-day TED-style conference for the SMU and Dallas communities. An active participant in the TEDx program since its inception in 2009, TEDxSMU has built its reputation on bringing together ideas and interesting people from around the world and around the corner. Stories have the power to move us, to change the way we feel. Stories of success, big ideas and even failure have the power to change the world.
Since the first event in 2009, TEDxSMU has been a hub for those stories told here in Dallas and then spread across the World Wide Web. Over the years we have hosted more than 150 speakers and their talks to date have generated nearly 2 million views on YouTube.
2015 was our 7th annual conference. When curating the speakers, we asked ourselves what stories do we want to tell. What ideas do we want to spread? We are excited to say we found some amazing speakers, over half of which are local. Dallas is a community of passionate, creative thinkers and doers; TEDxSMU 2015 was a celebration of this collective.

City Performance Hall
2520 Flora Street
Dallas, Texas, 75201
United States

McKinney Boyd High School Living Roof Team

Jessie Searles, Emem Okon, and Adam Emerich, from McKinney Boyd High School are in the process of redefining the living roof concept, and hope to prove to the next generation that one should not be deterred by their age. A team of 16 high school students are working on creating an alternative classroom space for their peers in order to enrich the overall learning experience. The team has been working with professionals throughout the Dallas area in order to transform this idea into a reality. The most important aspect of this project has been providing students with hands on experience into the fields of science, mathematics, and engineering for their future careers.

Al Letson

Al Letson is a Renaissance Man. Poet/playwright/comic book writer/storyteller and Public Radio Host. As a performance poet, storyteller, and playwright his work has been on stages and television screens across the country. Letson created and hosted Peabody Award Winning (2014) State of the Re:Union. SOTRU traveled the country and told stories of America through the lens of community. SOTRU ended production in 2015 and Letson now hosts another Peabody Award Winning Public Radio program, Reveal by PRX and The Center for Investigative Reporting, Reveal is public radio’s only Investigative New Program. Additionally Letson’s host his own Podcast Errthang! (as in everything), a fun storytelling program where Letson gets to do errthang’ he wants!

Alice Laussade

Alice Laussade is the creator and host of the Dallas event, Meat Fight®, a barbecue competition, meat dream and fundraiser that benefits the National MS Society. Last year, Meat Fight raised $100,000 for people living with Multiple Sclerosis, and 750 people could be seen shoving sausage links into their faces. When she's not fielding emails with "MEAT EMERGENCY" and "Did we remember to spray paint the pigs that we glued on top of the 40 oz. beer can trophies??" in the subject lines, Laussade writes for the Dallas Observer and other publications. In 2013, she won a James Beard Award for Humor in Writing. She finds that when she wears the award into Taco Bell, she gets noticeably better service.

Ann Ranson

Ann Ranson believes that having some age on her is a good thing. Since leaving media in 2005, Ann has been busy. First establishing her coach and training practice, then becoming a purveyor of fine loose-leaf teas in 2010. Then in 2014, Ann reconnected with her latent desire to work on the issues and opportunities related to aging in America. She advocates for the benefits of advancing years and reminds us that aging is an art that invites celebration and contemplation.

Candy Peterson

Candy Peterson is Executive Creative Director at FleishmanHillard, a global communications agency, with nearly 20 years of international marketing experience. Although her work has garnered recognition from a host of industry award shows, Candy is most proud of the work she has done for melanoma research in honor of her daughter Marit, a melanoma survivor. In 2007, Candy and her family started the Marit Peterson Fund for Melanoma Research at MD Anderson Cancer Center. It has grown into the single largest and highest quality melanoma research study of its kind in the world. Today, Marit's fund is a core contributor to the Melanoma Moon Shot initiative at MD Anderson Cancer Center with the bold plan to quickly improve survival rates for melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.

Cristina Girod

Catalyst Arts Movement's mission is to "Inspire Change. Catalyze Art". The organization was founded in 2014 by Katherine Allen, Cristina Girod, and Angie Reisch. The growing team, who resides all across the country, designs unique apparel to support artists who use their talents to connect communities, eliminate stigmas, and create meaningful conversations. They believe in the power that art has to solve complex social issues and are always looking to broaden their reach and expand their movement. Feel free to contact them at catalystartsmovement@gmail.com or www.catalystartsmovement.org

Ethan Decker

Ethan Decker is an ecologist who took a left turn and ended up in advertising. He’s now VP of Insight & Strategy at The Integer Group, one of the largest retail, promotion & shopper marketing agencies in the world. He is a marketer, a researcher, a scientist, a manager, an editor, a storyteller, a performer, and an ecologist. He's done ethnographies in Tokyo and statistics in Matlab. He's helped sell cereal and women's clothes. He’s created Olympic advertising campaigns and new product lines. He's worked with some of the biggest marketers in the world (including P&G, Kellogg, and PepsiCo). Ethan has a BA in sociology and a PhD in urban ecology and human evolution, and he studied complex systems theory at the Santa Fe Institute. He’s been published in PloS ONE, Ann Rev Energy & Environment and other places. He’s competed in the Swing Dance US Open and the UPA Ultimate Frisbee Championships. And he’s got quite the collection of graphic novels.

Jake Minton

Like many men in his field, Jake Minton took a circuitous route to early childhood education. A former actor and published playwright, Jake has a degree in theatre from Southern Methodist University's Meadows School of the Arts and is a company member at large with The House Theatre of Chicago. He's been a nanny (don't you dare say "manny"!), stay-at-home-dad, daycare provider and preschool teacher, and now teaches Kindergarten at St. John's Episcopal School in Dallas. His wife teaches science and math to third graders, and his two daughters love super heroes, princesses, astronauts, fairies, dinosaurs, mermaids, modern dance, and Mars. Jake runs the Facebook group "Rasing Kids Without Bias."

Jeanny Yao

For the past four years, Miranda and Jeanny have worked on biodegradation of plastics and aromatic hydrocarbons using micro-organisms. Their work on isolating and characterizing novel soil bacteria that biodegrade phthalates earned them the Top Commercialization Award at the Sanofi BioGENEius Challenge Canada competition and was explained in their TED2013 Talk. This past May, together, Miranda and Jeanny co-founded an agriculture biotech company, BioCellection, to create sustainable solutions for ocean plastic pollution and overfishing. Miranda is currently a senior at the University of Pennsylvania studying molecular and cell biology, engineering entrepreneurship and philosophy. Jeanny Yao is passionate about science, sustainability, and innovation. Besides leading research efforts as the CTO of BioCellection, Jeanny currently studies biochemistry and environmental science at the University of Toronto. www.biocellection.com

Jessica Shortall

Jessica Shortall is a social entrepreneur with a career as diverse as her curiosities. She has been a Peace Corps Volunteer, a non-profit co-founder (The Campus Kitchens Project), a consultant to social enterprises, an early TOMS Shoes-er, and an advocate for LGBT rights (Texas Competes). She is the author of Work. Pump. Repeat: The New Mom’s Survival Guide to Breastfeeding and Going Back to Work (Abrams, 2015). She holds a BA from Wake Forest University and an MBA from Oxford University, where she was a Skoll Scholar in Social Entrepreneurship. She is a working mother of two who is currently hanging on for dear life.

Jon Stolk

Jon Stolk strives to design and facilitate extraordinary learning experiences. He creates project-based and interdisciplinary courses and programs that invite students to take control of their learning, grapple with complex systems, engage with each other and the world in new ways, and emerge as confident, agile, self-directed learners. Stolk’s research aims to understand how students experience different classroom settings, particularly with regard to how individuals express situational motivations and develop their own beliefs about learning. Stolk strives to translate education research to practice, and to assist other instructors in creating innovative student experiences and driving educational change. A core aspect of his professional work involves equipping instructors with design tools and conceptual frameworks that enable them to understand their classrooms in new ways, and to gain confidence in trying new approaches and deploying course prototypes.

Julia Barton

Julia Barton grew up in Dallas, and has gone on to become a public media reporter and editor. Currently an editor for PRI's The World, her work has appeared on NPR News, Radiolab, Marketplace, Studio 360, and in print in The Atlantic, Slate, and Roads & Kingdoms, among others. She's written about Dallas history for the Texas Observer, and her piece "Port of Dallas" for the design podcast 99% Invisible is the basis of this TEDx SMU talk.

Kristina Newman-Scott

Kristina Newman-Scott is the Director of Culture for the State of Connecticut where she oversees all aspects of the state’s programs and services related to art, culture and historic preservation. Prior to this role, Newman-Scott served as Director of Marketing, Events and Cultural Affairs for the City of Hartford, the Director of Programs at the Boston Center for the Arts and Director of Visual Arts at Hartford's Real Art Ways. Newman-Scott was a visual artist, arts consultant and popular television/radio personality in Jamaica, where she was born and raised. She became a citizen of this country in 2013 and resides in Hartford with her husband Gordon and their five year old daughter.

Mant Hawkins

As Principal and Chief Executive Officer, Mant leads 4D Circle in modernizing and digitizing commercial real estate by linking inspired people, leading edge technical systems and social services to allow people, business and natural resources to profit better together than apart. The results increase the quality of life in communities, reduce infrastructure-operating costs, improve social access to the Internet, and conserve natural resources. The final component and the ultimate driver for this type of social change movement are superior financial returns for investors, and a lower cost of living for tenants. Mant has led high-tech, and general management consulting companies, as well as defense organizations worldwide. His nearly 30-year track record includes awards for superior leadership, operational excellence, financial performance, and aviation maintenance performance. Mant graduated from The Citadel and holds three Masters Degrees: MBA, Strategic Studies, and History.

Maria Dixon Hall

Dr. Maria Dixon is currently an Associate Professor of Organizational Communication, Director of Communication Studies, and adjunct associate professor of Homiletics at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. A graduate of the Culverhouse School of Business, Dr. Dixon began her career in sales and market research as a Pulp and Paper Market Specialist for Dow Chemical USA in Atlanta, Georgia. She is the author of the “View from Dixon Hall”, the highly rated blog on the Progressive Christian Channel of Patheos.com. Dr. Dixon currently serves as the Marketing Chair for the United Methodist Church’s General Commission on Communication, overseeing the Global Rethink Church Campaign. Maria is an avid fan of University of Alabama Football and exhibits her ecumenical side by remaining happily married to Rev. Jeff Hall, Associate Pastor of Highland Park United Methodist Church (and Duke Alum) and proud mother of Eddy, their 11 year old Pit bull terrier (who is an Auburn Fan).

Mike Baughman

Rev. Mike Baughman is a United Methodist pastor serving as the Community Curator at Union, a new kind of non-profit coffee shop in Dallas that exists to care for the well-being of its neighborhood. A New Jersey native, Mike fell in love with Dallas through his work at Union Coffee and served on the Mayor’s Star Council in 2014-2015. Mike’s love of story-telling led him to work with a team to found The Naked Stage at Union where crowds celebrate brave vulnerability on an uncensored stage. Mike is passionate about celebrating Dallas’ overlooked heroes through preaching, story-telling and giving out capes. Mike is a graduate of Duke University and Princeton Theological Seminary. He has contributed to and written a long list of curricula and books. Mike is currently editing an upcoming book, Flipping Church: how successful church planters are turning conventional wisdom upside down. He is married to Rev. Rachel Baughman. They have four children and live in Sunnyvale.

Miranda Wang

Noelle LeVeaux

Noelle is an award winning marketing and branding expert. Currently the Chief Marketing Officer of the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau, Noelle was honored by Skift.com as one of the 50 top travel marketers in the world. Prior to joining the Bureau, Noelle served as vice-president of Marketing for Children’s Medical Center Dallas and as a VP at MBNA America. Noelle has co-produced a 13-part television documentary and has 20+ years experience in marketing communications. Noelle also co-founded Dress for Success Dallas, published a children’s picture book, I Miss You When I Sleep, and has her B.S. in mathematics from Spelman College. In 2014, Noelle was diagnosed with breast cancer and is sharing what that experience has taught her through her blog: Confessions of a Single Mom with Cancer.

Scott Sherman

Scott Sherman is the Executive Director of an award-winning social enterprise, the Transformative Action Institute (TAI). The mission of TAI is to train the next generation of social entrepreneurs, innovators, and change makers for the 21st century. Sherman is an expert on the most effective ways that people succeed in their attempts to change the world – whether working for public health, the environment, or economic prosperity. He is currently writing a book summarizing his research, How We Win: The Science of Making the World a Better Place. Over the last decade, Sherman has taught courses on social entrepreneurship and social innovation at numerous universities, including Yale, Princeton, and Johns Hopkins. In 2005, Sherman won the international Echoing Green competition, which recognized him as one of the world’s “best emerging social entrepreneurs.” Sherman has also won awards from Ashoka U for excellence and innovation in teaching social entrepreneurship.

Seth Fairchild

Seth Fairchild is a graduate of the Southeastern Oklahoma State University Honors Program and a former member of Southeastern University's Native American Council. Shortly after earning his degree in Business Administration and Marketing, Seth accepted a position with his tribe, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, to work with Choctaw students ages 6-18 through the Success Through Academic Recognition (STAR) program. In 2011, Seth joined forces with the newly revived Chahta Foundation, a nonprofit that is closely associated with the Choctaw Nation and whose primary beneficiaries are Choctaws living throughout the United States. In this capacity, Seth has worked diligently with a small core staff to build and develop the Chahta Foundation so that it may best serve Choctaws through innovative educational, cultural, and health-related initiatives. Outside work, Seth enjoys spending time with his wife and daughter.

Tania Luna

Tania Luna is a leadership trainer at LifeLabs New York where she helps people at innovative companies (like Etsy, Squarespace, Venmo, and Warby Parker) scale their skills and culture. She is also the cofounder of Surprise Industries, where she designs surprise experiences. She is a researcher, TED speaker, and co-author of the book Surprise: Embrace the Unpredictable and Engineer the Unexpected.

Tracy Brown

Tracy Brown believes diversity is not a problem to be fixed; it is a resource to be utilized. She is a successful author and consultant who helps people improve their communication, leadership and relationship-building skills so they can achieve their goals in our multi-ethnic, multicultural and multi-generational world. Tracy is all about changing the debate about diversity from a focus on politics and personality into a dialogue about results and respect. She works with organizations nationwide to transform random activities and events into strategic inclusion initiatives. And she's authored several books to help leaders move from awareness to accountability.