Every semester BYU-Idaho's Presentation Practice Center holds a TED Talk-style event called I-Talk.
Public speaking tutor and PPC director of events Maren Buma says the speakers chosen should be able to connect with their student-body audience and provide valuable and beneficial insights by doing what is called “challenging assumptions.”
“If you can take a super common topic, like family or personal growth and put your own spin on it, and do what we call ‘challenge assumptions,’ then that’s what makes the ideas very engaging,” Buma says.
I-Talk speakers this semester will speak about topics including how hobbies can connect a person with their family, how to develop a growth mindset and a look at civil discourse. Buma says there are so many ideas, and it is interesting to see the unique takes on the speakers’ chosen topics.
Buma encourages students to attend I-Talk because they will take something away that will inspire them to be better.
“Each of these speeches has something to do with your life, and so the way that we set up I-Talk is for people to be able to connect with the speakers and that’s why we’re so specific with who we choose. Whichever students, or even community members, that come to I-Talk I can promise you that there will be something in there that can inspire your life and make you want to grow to be a little bit better.”
I-Talk is Friday, July 11 at 7 p.m. in the Manwaring Center Little Theater. Admission is free. You can reserve your seat here.
“I want everyone to believe that the ideas that they have are worth sharing,” Buma says. “Where we come from and the experiences that we have in our lives make us who we are, and it gives each person a unique perspective.”
Applications to speak at I-Talk are open to all students and are accepted on a rolling basis. The next I-Talk will be this coming Fall semester. Students can apply here.