The TEDxMSU speakers team set out to find diverse voices in the East Lansing and Greater Lansing areas. After sifting through around 150 applications, the team found eight speakers who covered a wide range of topics, from professional juggler Nick Thomas' talk on mental limits, to MSU graduate student in the college of osteopathic medicine Destiny Kanning's talk on healthcare literacy.

"I love public speaking, and specifically this topic is something that I’m really passionate about," Kanning said. "Having the platform to be able to talk about the importance of health literacy and what we’re doing in terms of the research and really getting that information out there to families and our community."

Kanning’s talk focused on how the healthcare system is viewed and people not always knowing the proper level of treatment needed. While the other talks didn’t have much in common content wise, all the speakers had passion for communicating their desired message and fit within the conference's theme of "inversion." 

This theme played on being "dealt a bad hand" in life one tries to flip. TEDxMSU demonstrated this theme with playing card decorations on the stage and the idea that inversion is about flipping the deck. One of the goals on a TED talk is to engage with the audience, not speak at them — encouraging a conversation between speaker and audience.

MSU assistant professor of weed science in the department of plant soil Dr. Eric Patterson spoke on his perspective of inversion. In his conversation with the audience, he shared how changing, or inverting, a mindset can help you.

"I want you to ask questions, to gain knowledge and to gain that passion for yourself," Patterson said.

The other talks touched on inversion as well and how changing perceptions and viewpoints can lead to profound transformation. Kinesiology senior Ella Rades attended the conference not knowing much of what to expect and ended up enjoying what the speakers had to say.

"I love hearing people’s perspectives on how their mindset changes based on a certain situation," Rades said. "Hearing all the different stories has been really fun."

Rades also said she thought the opportunity to see a TED talk in person rather than on YouTube was a cool experience. TEDxMSU has a goal of making these talks optimized toward the audience and take on that perspective when helping the speakers make their talks. This allows students to find something to relate to in a topic they may not have thought about before.

While there will always be certain parts of a talk that hit an audience harder, the TEDxMSU teams emphasized the importance of making all conversation accessible. With audience interpretation at the forefront, the event educated attendees while highlighting a diverse group of voices in and around the MSU community.