Tickets on sale September 8 for October 16 event

TEDxClevelandStateUniversity, an independently organized TEDx event, announced today the speakers and theme, “Made You Look – Beyond Perception,” for its second annual event, set for Friday, October 16.

The 2015 lineup of speakers includes:

• Dr. Adrienne Boissy, Chief Experience Officer of the Cleveland Clinic, “Call me Crazy: Therapeutic Mislabeling”
• Bill Bowen, CSU Professor of Public Administration and Urban Studies, and Michael Schwartz, former President of CSU, “Fending off Restrictions on Ideas”
• Rich Cochran, President and CEO of Western Reserve Land Conservancy, “Tree Canopy Economy”
• Jacob Cramer, founder of Love the Elderly, “Combatting Age-Related Prejudice”
• Peter Dunham, CSU Associate Professor of Anthropology, “An Archaeologist Reflects on the Origins and Importance of Creativity”
• Jason Perz, professional BMX rider and founder of ThrillerBMX, “Failure Led Me to Passion and Empowerment”
• Chris Ramsay, founder of Shaker Hound Academy, “Barking and Marking”
• Timothy Tramble, Executive Director of Burten, Bell and Carr Development, Inc., “The Next Great American City”
• Antonie van den Bogert, CSU Professor of Mechanical Engineering, “Building a Robotic Racehorse”
• Mary Verdi Fletcher, founder of Dancing Wheels, “Dancing to be Free”
• Chris Webb, social innovator and artist, “Whispers from Abandoned Places”
• Julie Wilkes, North American Wellness and Disability Lead, Accenture, “The X-Factor of Lucky People”

“The speakers were chosen for their passion, uniqueness of their topics and relevancy,” said Colette Hart, Lead Organizer for TEDxClevelandStateUniversity and Senior Director for the Centers of Outreach and Engagement in CSU’s Monte Ahuja College of Business.

TEDxClevelandStateUniversity will take place October 16 from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on the CSU campus in Waetjen Auditorium, with a closing reception from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the new Center for Innovation in Medical Professions (CIMP) Building.

Tickets for TEDxClevelandStateUniversity go on sale 2 p.m. Tuesday, September 8. General admission is $65; student admission is $35 with a CSU student ID number. Admission includes all programing and the closing reception featuring cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and interactive installations. Tickets can be purchased online at tedxclevelandstateuniversity.com/tickets/

About TED

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to “Ideas Worth Spreading.” Started as a four-day conference in California almost 30 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. The two annual TED Conferences invite the world’s leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes on a diverse mix of topics. Many of these talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandam Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Nglozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and former Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

About TEDx, x = independently organized event

In the spirit of “ideas worth spreading,” TED has created TEDx. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalk videos and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in smaller, local groups. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx where x = independently organized. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized and subject to certain rules and regulations.