CEGEP Champlain-St. Lawrence holds first TEDx Talk
CEGEP Champlain-St. Lawrence holds its first TEDx talk
Cassandra Kerwin, Local Journalism Initiative reporter
cassandra@qctonline.com
CEGEP student Tristan Massicotte brought TEDx to CEGEP Champlain–St. Lawrence. Under his guidance, on Oct. 24, nine students and two guest speakers gave presentations on the theme of “What’s Next?” For nearly two and a half hours, they touched on the future of cancer research, genomics, technology, population growth, the Arctic, geopolitics, the psychology of good, rethinking work culture, adaptability, entrepreneurship and dance.
Over the past 40 years, experts in various fields have given over 44,000 conferences and lectures under the banner of TED (Technology, Entertain- ment, Design) or TEDx about recent developments in business, science and global issues, many of which are available on YouTube.
Inspired by his own TEDx Talk when he was 12, Massicotte organized one for his fellow students, along with class- mate Louis Théoret. “We had to move fast because things move fast in CEGEP. I started planning this talk last semester by applying for a TEDx Talk licence and then searching for our guest speakers. At the start of this semester, we held an open call for student speak- ers,” said Massicotte. “After screening the applicants’ vid- eos, we selected nine [people] to speak about ‘What’s Next?’ They had about two weeks to prepare their eight-minute talk.”
Louis-Philippe Gervais used statistics to follow and predict population growth. Jordan Tchouamou Tchiadjeu shone a light on the BRICS alliance (named for the first five countries to join the bloc — Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa). Abraham Eyestone looked at the benefits of opening the Arctic region for better global shipment and naval traffic.
The next speaker, Abigail Esther Mendez Mora, took a more personal approach in her talk on adaptability and its role in this ever-changing world. A key part of adaptability involves having good coping skills – like dancing, as explained by professional Ukrainian dancer and PW Sims Business student Sofia Gagné. Sarah Luger talked about social media as a coping mechanism. Justin Simard speculated on whether these behaviours are good and what it means to be, do and feel good. Dominic Gaumont looked inside people to find how genomic cells become cancer, while Tassnym Echchahed presented her research on artificial intelligence and its potential benefits for humanity.
To close this TEDx Talk, artificial intelligence specialist Dev Aditya, who was unable to attend in person, gave a video presentation on his own work. He spoke about how he and his team created the first digital human artificial intelligent teacher. This was their answer to the teacher shortage, especially in remote and less developed parts of the world.
Guest speaker Thomas Eckschmidt, chair of the board of business consulting firm CBJourney, advised business students, “There are four principles for a highly successful organization: a clear cause, a recognized leader, understanding of interdependence and creating a responsible culture.”
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