“We did not anticipate such an enthusiastic response to bringing TEDx to our campus. We did have a marketing scheme in place, but the tickets sold out before we could fully implement advertising,” said Director of Bands and Orchestra David Betancourt in regard to Cerritos College selling all 100 seats.
The TEDx Talk that will be taking place on March 9 from 6:30 to 9 p.m.
TEDx Talk events are planned and coordinated independently.
According to Betancourt, the TEDx Talk will feature a mix of community members, faculty and classified staff.
Kim Berling, philosophy instructor will be one of the presenters.
“I am going to be talking about teaching altruism and compassion in college and community college level, that’s what my whole thing is going to be about. So I’m going to do about first five minutes explaining what altruism, compassion are and then I’m really going to be talking about my kind of educational philosophy and what I call my “holistic approach,” she said.
Cerritos College and Center for Teaching Excellence is the primary event organizer Monique Valencia wanted to showcase as many people as possible, but could only take nine speakers with “around 15 minutes” per presentation.
Betancourt also stated that the idea for a TEDx event at Cerritos was discussed last spring by the CTX Advisory Committee.
Cerritos College President Jose Fierro brought the topic to the advisory board, and had CTX organize the entire event.
The committee has been planning ever since, reading the guidelines, developing a rubric to rate the applicants, marketing strategies for searching for speakers and planning the logistics of the event.
“It has been a long process.” Betancourt added, “The CTX Advisory Committee has been the driving force for getting this event to Cerritos College. The process is extensive.”
According to Berling there was a process to apply to speak at the event.
The requirements to apply were to fill out the application and create a YouTube video and upload it.
Once the video was uploaded the applicant would have to wait for a response to see if they got picked or not.
“I was quite shocked, […] I got an email that I got picked so I joked with them and said ‘Well, you must have only got eight applicants if you picked me,’ she said.
Berling explained that the event is not for self promotion but to talk about all the positive things she has seen happen to the young people she works with in her Compassion in Action Club.
“I’m definitely going to be talking about what the benefits I’ve seen in the club and working with the students and the benefits I’ve seen in young people, like increased self-esteem and awareness of their connection to the rest of the world,” she said.
