TEDx Returns to Haverford and Fills VCAM to Capacity

It’s not often you’ll hear college students proclaim their love of public speaking, but that’s exactly how Derek Zhang ’26 feels about a prospect that fills most people with dread.

Earlier this fall, Zhang’s affinity for speaking in front of a crowd and the cross-disciplinary exchange of ideas that courses through Haverford’s educational mission prompted him to seek out a platform to exercise both of those interests. He found one in TEDx, the smaller, community-focused program of TED, the nonprofit devoted to “ideas worth spreading” best known for its engaging TED Talks.

After connecting with a willing partner in Visiting Assistant Professor of Writing Nimisha Ladva and months of navigating logistical challenges, speaker preparation, workshops, and rehearsals, Zhang brought TEDx back to Haverford for the second time on April 27. The College hosted a previous iteration of the event in 2012.

For Zhang, hosting the event at Haverford was about much more than public speaking. Since arriving at the College, he says, he’s been keenly interested in learning about what subjects and ideas his peers are exploring. The rigors of being a student-athlete — Zhang is a member of the men’s soccer team — don’t always leave time to engage with peers outside of his discipline, he says, and TEDx seemed like the perfect remedy.

“I've learned about a lot of really interesting ideas just from my teammates. One of my best friends on the team wants to pursue space medicine research and become an astronaut, which is so cool,” Zhang says. “If those are the kinds of ideas coming from the 30 athletes on the team, I was really curious to find out what else is in the 1,500 bright minds here.”

Ladva and Zhang, a neuroscience major, had never met on campus until the student “cold-called” the professor via email. “Just like any good entrepreneurial student would do,” Ladva says. Ladva helped arrange funding through the Mark and Lillian Shapiro Speaking Initiative, with additional support provided by the offices of Institutional Advancement and Student Life.

“We didn’t know each other at all. Total strangers,” Ladva, a specialist in public speaking and oral communication, says. “But I have an interest in building community and Derek does, too. So we immediately saw the opportunity with TEDx as a way to build a conversation across groups that don't ordinarily get a chance to talk to each other.”

The pair quickly formed a strong working relationship as they navigated a long list of TED’s procedural hurdles — onboarding webinars, audience limits, videography requirements, catering — throughout the year. For additional help, they turned to Zhang’s classmates Kabir Hinduja-Obregon ’26 and Shir Toledo ’26. Hinduja-Obregon, a former student of Ladva’s who joined the team in December, helped design the event, interviewed potential speakers, and, once selected, prepared them for the event. Toledo joined later and served as a creative director, and handled the design of the event’s flyers and programs while providing additional logistical support.

After considering more than 25 speaker applications from across campus the team shaped a program of six speakers, a group comprising five students and one staff member. Selected talks ranged from insights for more livable main streets to secrets for a happier mind, engaging topics that drew a sellout crowd to VCAM’s screening room.

Winnowing the list was a challenging endeavor, Ladva says. “It was important to highlight what our applicants were bringing to the pool rather than finding a way to exclude people. That was never our intention,” she says. “We wanted to have a full range of STEM, non-STEM, humanities, and arts [subjects]. That was our goal.”

Ladva says the event fostered leadership development for all members of the team, especially when it comes to dealing with setbacks. Unfortunately for Zhang, his name was not listed among the event’s speakers. It wasn’t until late in the process that he learned TEDx organizers are not allowed to give a talk at their event. Instead, he settled for the role of co-emcee alongside Hinduja-Obregon.

Editor's note: Videos of the TedX talks are now available to watch on YouTube.