Theme: Spread the word.

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

Palo Alto High School (Haymarket Theater)
50 Embarcadero Road
Palo Alto, California, 94303
United States

Adi Beth

Student speaker Adi Beth discusses music and how it impacts our world.

Angela Zusman

Angela Zusman’s curiosity about what makes humans human has inspired her career as an oral historian who has documented the lives of hundreds of individuals, families, and community history. After college she spent ten years working her way around the world, living in over 50 countries on 6 continents and interviewing people from all walks of life. Zusman is the author of Story Bridges: A Guide to Conducting Intergenerational Oral History Projects, and editor of multiple oral history compilations, most recently the award-winning Griots Of Oakland book and exhibit. In 2011, Angela founded Story For All, a non-profit dedicated to educating, empowering and healing people and communities through the sharing of stories. She is a recipient of the Vox Populi Oral History Award for using oral history to promote social justice, as well as a Public Education Service Award from Alameda County Office of Education.

Anna Lu

Many of her peers view speaker Anna Lu as an extrovert, despite the fact that she identifies as an introvert. Anna Lu, an avid debater, shares her personal experience as an introvert.

Esther Wojcicki

Esther Wojcicki is an American journalist and educator who is a pioneer in exploring the interface between education and technology. She graduated from University of California Berkeley with a B.A. in English and Political Science. She received a secondary teaching credential from University of California, Berkeley, as well as a graduate degree from the Graduate School of Journalism in Berkeley. Currently, Wojcicki is a journalism and english teacher at Palo Alto High School. She began its journalism program, which has grown to become one of the largest in the nation. Wojcicki strongly believes in changing a classroom’s culture so that students are more in control of their learning. Wojcicki discusses this in her book Moonshots in Education: Launching Blended Learning in the Classroom.

Garrett Lees

Garrett Lees is a part of the organization his parents started called Autism Social Connection, a specialized social film-making group designed to encourage collaboration, creativity, and career exploration in children, teens and young adults with autism spectrum disorders. Sessions help develop social skills and encourage group interaction, while teaching valuable lessons in cooperation, time management, and artistic expression.

John Evans

John W. Evans is the author of the memoir, Young Widower, and the poetry collection, The Consolations. A native of Kansas, Evans has worked as a Peace Corps volunteer in Bangladesh, a public school teacher in Chicago, and a college teacher in Romania. Currently, he is a lecturer of poetry and creative writing at Stanford University.

Karina Chan

As a member of a hyperjudgemental community, Karina Chan is in a strong position to share her personal experiences about major social issues.

Rolina Wu

Samantha Edgington

Dr. Samantha Edgington earned a degree in physics from Princeton University and then a Ph. D. from the California Institute of Technology, where she studied observational cosmology. She is now a systems engineer at Lockheed Martin Space System Company and is a chief systems engineer for the Geosynchronous Lightning Mapper, an instrument used to detect lightning and provide severe weather data for weather satellite series.

Thomas Tayeri

Thomas Tayeri is an ophthalmologist and the founder and CEO of Palo Alto Eye Group. He has earned a reputation as the foremost private practice glaucoma specialist in the Peninsula and South Bay. Tayeri has traveled internationally to bring his expertise to the developing world by helping to train local surgeons. He has also performed numerous sight-restoring operations on patients who have no other access to medical care.