By Carolyn Turgeon
Associate News Editor
At their conference on November 20, Ryerson’s TEDx team announced a brand new event which will focus on women and equality.
TEDxRyersonUWomen is not another conference, but an event which will screen some of the more notable talks from the TEDx Women 2011 Global Conference and include an interactive discussion involving panelists, or “contributors”, from Ryerson and the GTA.
“We hope women will become inspired and engaged,” said Jeff Perera, co-organizer, though he encourages men to join in as well.
The team is planning to incorporate technology from Ryerson’s Digital Media Zone into what they call a “collective conversation.”
The DMZ’s Soapbox technology allows the audience to contribute live comments and questions.
Other audience members can agree with them, and the most popular ones will be sent to the host and the moderator.
“It’ll help us move in the direction the audience wants us to go,” said Perera.
Gwen Elliot, a Ryerson radio and television graduate and star of the TV show “Start Something Big” will be hosting, while Ryerson VP administration and finance Julia Hanigsberg will be moderating.
“These two will be the face of the show and the event,” said Perera.
Meta-Tema, another piece of interactive technology, will alter visual aspects of the room, like the lighting, to reflect the mood and the direction of the discussion.
“The idea is to create a real interactive space,” Perera said.
He is especially interested in getting people in male-dominated programs, like engineering and business, to discuss these topics, and said they are the most likely to avoid discussion.
“We want to reach out to spaces where these conversations don’t happen,” said Perera.
“Hopefully that collective movement starts and continues [these events] next year.”
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