I know I mentioned Ted Talks as one of the possible genres for Unit 3, and … guess what showed up in my inbox today?! A CUNY-wide student TEDx Talk competition!!

I encourage all of you to apply, and to share your voice and ideas (and new genre composing skills!) more broadly.

And, to sweeten the deal, I’ll offer extra credit to anyone who creates & shares a video pitch here on our OpenLab site. Don’t forget to explore & learn the “TED Talks” genre conventions (and TEDxCUNY audience needs/expectations) so that you can tailor your pitch in the most appropriate / effective way!

The only caveat is that you’ll have to post your pitch by the last day of classes (W 12/21) so that I’ll have time to see it and give you the grade boost! Of course, if you post earlier, you can get some great feedback from me & your peers before submitting to the competition. And if it turns out you ultimately decide to not submit to the competition formally, that’s OK too — at least you went through the creation process and learned something along the way! [Categorize as “TEDxCUNY” and make sure to title your post with the–hopefully catchy!!–title of your planned TEDxCUNY Talk]

Below is the information I’ve received from City Tech Communications about the competition. You can learn more about TedxCUNY (the host of the competition) here: https://www.tedxcuny.com/

TEDxCUNY is hosting a Student Speaker Competition open to all CUNY students. The competition is an opportunity for students to speak on the TEDxCUNY stage, share their passion, ideas, work, or any valuable lessons with the CUNY community.

Students interested in applying should submit a 2-minute video introducing themselves and pitching their TEDxCUNY Talk idea. The video can be emailed to tedxcuny@gmail.com with the subject line “2023 Student Speaker Pitch.”

Please share with any students who may be interested.

The deadline to apply is December 30th, 2022.

For more information, visit https://www.tedxcuny.com/ssc.