TEDxWaltham to Host Third Event

WALTHAM, MA — For the third year, a group of residents is bringing a collection of speakers to town in an effort to inspire and educate: TEDxWaltham will feature original talks on topics ranging from food insecurity to racial equality to maintaining healthy posture.

TEDxWaltham’s live event, was canceled last year because of the pandemic, but this year, it will be held outside. The theme? Going Places.

More than a hundred speakers applied to be added to the lineup, according to organizers. Those who were selected, were chosen for their ability to bring a fresh perspective to topics that are important to the city. The speaker lineup includes NBC Universal Boston’s Chris Wayland, Healthy Waltham’s Myriam Michel, Belmont Day School’s Carlos Hoyt, Alexander Technique expert Ariel Weiss, and small business coach and podcaster Tara McMullin.

For the third year, the event will be held at the AstraZeneca R&D Boston BioHub in Waltham,

“After the challenging year we’ve all faced and having to postpone our 2020 live event because of the pandemic, we are excited to once again be able to bring life and voice to topics and ideas that may not otherwise ever be heard — and to share these ideas with the local community," Organizer Pangi Johnson said.

Kris Kahn, who worked at Morphic Therapeutic at the Boston BioHub in Waltham, initially came up with the idea back in 2018. Waltham residents Pangi Johnson and Georgiana Pierre-Louis applied to TED for the TEDxWaltham license for the right to organize the events.

Planning for a fall 2020 event began in February last year, after the pandemic shut down events, they pushed the live event to June of this year, and instead hosted an online event in October 2020. Planning for the live event recommenced in January, according to Pierre-Louis.

"We hope people leave with a sense of hope and new energy as we all emerge from pandemic life," she said. "So much has happened over the last 15 months, and as people contemplate and move forward with a 'return to normal,' we hope they can take away some ideas and inspiration to perhaps leave some of the 'old normal' behind."

So far, they've sold 31 out of 85 tickets available for sale.

The even will be from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. June 12. For more information on how to get tickets: https://www.tedxwaltham.com/2021.