A TEDx event, hosted and planned by staff member Madeline Miraglia and junior Owen Mountford, will occur at Mountain View High School in the theater on Wednesday January 6, 2016.

TED conferences occur twice a year and aim to spread ideas through 10-20 minute talks accompanied by visual aids. The speakers at these conferences are usually well known and their talks are related to technology, entertainment, design, science, humanities, business, development. Videos of these talks are uploaded to YouTube and have become increasingly popular over the last few years. TEDx, a part of TED, allows communities to host a local TEDx event that combines TED Talk videos and local speakers who address a certain theme in their speeches. MVHS’ TEDx theme will be “Next Generation: What Will it Look Like?”

After attending a TEDx event himself, Mountford was interested in hosting one at MVHS and he teamed up with his leadership teacher, Miraglia. The paperwork was submitted and approval was granted by TEDx earlier this month.

The event will have around four to six guest speakers, an unknown amount of student speakers and some TED talk videos.

“The guest speakers that are solidified are speaking on driverless cars, designing the public art on the Bay bridge… robotics… and the environment as it relates to ocean life,” Miraglia said.

Students interested in speaking at the TEDxMountainViewHighSchool event will need to attend auditions after school on October 22. Students must prepare an outline of their speech and have 2-3 minutes of it to present. The amount of students who will be able to speak at the event is not confirmed yet.

“If we have less outside speakers and a lot of student demand, we would fill them with student speakers…We only have four confirmed speakers as of now, so we’re flexible,” Miraglia said.

Miraglia believes the theme, created by her and Mountford, can encompass almost any topic.

“The theme is very broad. Almost everything will fit. Anything you’re thinking about could relate to the next generation. It’s not like a thesis statement. It just hangs over the talk like an umbrella,” Miraglia said.

The event will be open to MVHS students, and parents and community members can volunteer to help out at the event.

“It will be open to MV students in some format. Either the teachers will be completely free to sign up or a department will come at a certain time during the day. We are still figuring it out,” Miraglia said.

Contact Madeline Miraglia if you would like to volunteer with food, press coverage or helping out on the day of the event at [email protected].