To audience members, TEDxNortheastern’s annual speaker series lasted five hours. But to TEDxNortheastern organizers, the event was a product of 10 months of planning, coordinating and dedication to innovation. 

On Feb. 22, TEDxNortheastern presented this year’s series of talks under the theme “The Uncharted: Seek the Uncertain,” hosted in the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Complex. The six talks throughout the five-hour program covered a wide range of topics, from neuroscience and mental health to social justice and environmental conservation. 

Technology, Entertainment, Design, or TED, is an international nonprofit organization that invites people of different backgrounds and interests to engage in an expansive network of thoughts, popularly through TED Talks. In response to its network-building initiative, the TEDx program was created in 2009 to connect local and self-organized events to TED’s bank of knowledge.  

“The mission that we are trying to spread is, literally, ‘Seek the uncertain.’ It is to get that comfort in getting a different perspective and feeling comfortable not knowing and trying to figure out what’s going on,” said Saiesha Khanna, a third-year behavioral neuroscience major who serves as the director of marketing of TEDxNortheastern.

The club has been planning this year’s event since last summer, and the brainstorming process required the team to spend hours researching and discussing, ensuring that all topics are relevant to contemporary world conversations across disciplines. 

In the past, Khanna said, they have done themes including “Renaissance” and “Solve for ‘Y’” — a play on “Solve for ‘X.’” They have held nine TEDx events nine times, including the one this past February, in 2013, 2014, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024 and 2025. 

“We have had a very interesting 2024, to say the least,” Khanna said of the “Uncharted” theme. “With the development of AI, with politics, with just innovation and every aspect of society, I think that there are a lot of things that are uncertain.”

Speakers at “The Uncharted” underwent an intense selection process that began when the application first opened in April 2024. Organizers selected six out of roughly 100 applicants. Though receiving both affiliated and non-affiliated Northeastern submissions, the dealbreaker is the speaker’s tie to the university. 

The selected speakers were interviewed for idea selection in June and July. The team and the speakers constantly stayed in touch throughout the initial idea-developing processes. The second round of interviews during summer determined if the stories would get the chance to become a TED talk.

“We also care a lot about the [speaker]. We want [the speakers] to be considered experts on the topic and be well-versed on the literature that is going on,” said Amelia Willmann, a third-year data science and international affairs combined major and TEDxNortheastern’s director of speaker development. “But we [also] want you to be passionate. We want you to care about sharing the idea and care that people are gonna walk away, questioning about [the topic], thinking about [the topic].”

Each TEDx event speaker’s training process may look different, Willmann said. At TEDxNortheastern, student speaking coaches had the opportunity to choose which speaker to work with.  After speakers were selected, each coach ranked the topics they were most interested in coaching. Willmann took the coaches’ interest into consideration for pairing. 

Coming to college with experience in giving TED Talks in high school, Willmann found the speaker training process rewarding. As director of speakers, she is in charge of all speakers and coaches.

“It is very rewarding, because I was able to watch every individual journey,” Willmann said of being director of speakers. “I kind of watched it from a backseat, [from] the coaching perspective.”

After matching coaches to speakers, the TEDxNortheastern team works on a six-month training schedule that speakers and coaches follow to tailor training to each speaker’s strengths and weaknesses. The process started with three drafts of each speakers’ speech that was then transferred to a slide show. After creating the necessary materials and content for the talk, the speakers worked on memorizing the speech.

“It’s also learning in memorizing how to give it, what parts you want to emphasize,” Willmann said. “You want to look at certain parts of the talk when you wanna click [the remote], when you wanna pause. And the last step is just being confident. … You have to spend that last week really building your confidence.”

To ensure that the speakers receive extensive feedback, the coaches also hosted workshops where they cross-read speakers’ speeches. This collaborative process guided the speakers to perfect their speeches with input from various perspectives.

“When you are coaching [for one speaker], you get so narrow-minded on that talk, and having outside feedback is really useful,” Willmann said.

Last year, TEDxNortheasternU hosted the talk series “Renaissance,” which took its audience on a journey through human potential and received high praise.

Learning new perspectives through others’ stories was the highlight of the TEDx experience as an audience, said Hannah Otum, who attended last year’s “Renaissance” talk series. 

“There were many insightful conversations sparked after that,” said Otum, who came to support her friend who is on the executive board of the organization. “It was a very intellectual experience meeting new people and hearing what they have to say.”

The mission of TEDxNortheastern and its values are inclusive to all. The audience was composed of people from different backgrounds, from and outside of the Northeastern community. Not only were there students and young people but also adults, professors and even parents. 

“I’ve heard so much from last year about all these inspiring talks and definitely something I look forward to this time and next time too,” said Ishita Deb, mother of Nishita Roy, a third-year bioengineering and behavioral neuroscience combined major and a member of the speaker development team of TEDxNortheastern. “As parents, we want to know what’s in [this young generation]’s mind, so if they speak out, we get to learn more about their thoughts, what they are thinking about all of the situations.”

TedxNortheastern newcomers were in for a learning experience.

“I have never been to a TEDx event, but I know that there would be a lot of inspiring talks from different [people]. It’s going to be really awesome to hear different perspectives and different stories,” said Jessica Grosslack, whose friend was leading the event. They met at the co-op program. “I’m really excited to watch all of [the talks] and come back for the next event.”