The goal for TEDx Evansville is to encourage the revitalization of the city by showcasing innovative ideas, Zac Parsons said.

“Everyone says Evansville’s a great place to raise a family, and that’s fine, but everyone also says that we have a problem with retaining young, talented professionals in this community,” said Parsons, a member of the executive committee organizing the event.

Parsons said the mayor is going to name Oct. 13 TEDx Day. TED, which stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design. The organization promotes ideas worth spreading through presentations called TED Talks.

TED Talks are a maximum of 18-minute speeches given at a TED Conference or a TEDx event. While TED Conferences recruit national and international leaders of thought, TEDx events are locally organized with presentations given by local speakers.

“We just want it to be this real celebration of Evansville and what our next chapter’s going to look like — what our renaissance is looking like,” Parsons said.

Parsons said the event will include 13 local speakers who were chosen based on the quality of their ideas. The speakers submitted their ideas anonymously in order to remove bias from the selection process.

“We didn’t want to select or seek out big-name speakers or people that already had a platform,” Parsons said. “We didn’t want to know who they were, who they worked for or anything like that just, ‘What’s your idea? What do you want to talk about?”

Although TEDx events are planned by local committees, TED requires the events to follow certain guidelines. For example, no more than 100 people can be present at the actual event inside the Koch Immersive Theater.

Parsons said those tickets have sold out, but there are still other ways to get involved.

“There’s a viewing party going on upstairs in one of the galleries,” he said, “and that event has to be free according to TED rules.”

The viewing party will take place from 1-5 p.m. on the second floor of the Evansville Museum. Although the viewing party is free to the public, tickets must be obtained through the TEDx Evansville website because of limited seating, said Justin Pyles, a marketing assistant at the Evansville Museum.

“There’s going to be food trucks and booths set up in the museum’s yard afterward, and people will be able to meet the speakers then,” said Pyles, who is helping to prepare the venue.

During the event, an idea fair will be set up in the Eykamp Pavilion, the entryway to the Evansville Museum. Pyles said this portion of TEDx Evansville will also be free to the public and features the ideas of people and organizations who will not be speaking during the event.

Pyles said a livestream of the event will be available to access online through the TEDx Evansville website.

FAST FACTS:
What: TEDx Evansville
When: noon to 5 p.m. Oct. 13
Where: Koch Immersive Theater in the Evansville Museum
Cost: Free to attend Viewing Party