The McMaster community will get the opportunity to experience TED this weekend.

A scaled-down version of the internationally-popular TED conferences, popularized by
its series of online “TED Talks” featuring speakers from the fields of technology,
entertainment and design, TEDx McMaster U promises to be just as thought provoking
as its namesake.

An independent, locally-organized event, TEDx McMaster U will take place March 12
and will explore the theme of “The more we learn, the less we know.” According to
organizer Medina Abdelkader, the McMaster event will very much stay true to TED's spirit
of presenting “ideas worth spreading.”

“It will really help to foster and broaden the sense of community at McMaster and in
Hamilton,” said Abdelkader. “Because the event is designed to be an interactive forum
between speakers, faculty, students and alumni, it will be a really unique opportunity
to bring these different groups into conversation with each other.”

The event will feature short lectures from various speakers from the McMaster
community, including University President Patrick Deane, psychology, neuroscience &
behaviour professor Joseph Kim, Arts & Science student Natalie Raso, past president of
Engineers Without Borders at McMaster Erica Barnes, mathematics PhD candidate Nick
Rogers and Cliff Murphy, a member of the on-campus improvisation club Moist
Theatre. Audience discussion will take place during periodical breaks throughout the event.

“The idea is really to open up different ideas around campus to help create the sense
that we are a single entity and not a collection of isolated faculties and departments,”
Abdelkader said. “All the talks will in one way or another point to different types of
innovative research, local projects and ideas relevant to McMaster that are all being
done on campus.

While brainstorming the event's theme, Abdelkader and her team were immediately
drawn to the idea of there being an inverse relationship between education and
knowledge. “It addresses the great dilemma of academia – how the further we plunge
into knowledge, the greater the gap becomes between what we know and what we do
not,” she said. “Since TEDx McMaster U is a platform for spreading ideas, we really
hope the event will be able to amalgamate voices on campus as a way to explore this
gap.”