our next angle

T h e T e dx RyRyersonU
e r s o n U 2 0 13 M a g a z in e

Table of Contents

TEDxRyersonU 2013 Team

Steering Team
Chris Babic, curator and speakers steering lead
Michael Labrador, corporate relations &

finance steering lead
Ramsha Naeem, marketing steering lead
Megan Matsuda, productions steering lead
Speakers Committee
Irene Ma, speaker liaison
Finance Committee
Clinton Soans, account manager
Aleksa Stefanovic, account manager
Productions Committee
Devahasan Krishnakumar, tech lead
Cynthia Liu, event production
Erika Pedersen-Lorenzen, event production
Eva Chan, event production
Steve Lada, event production
Thaniel Johnson, event production
Kaushal Basnet, audio technician
Michael Ahn, audio technician
Christine Gornicz, set design & stage hand
Helen Xie, set design & stage hand
Zeluan Cao, broadcast technician

Marketing Committee
Winston Chow, advisor
Kristin Elsley, communications &
relations manager
Jonathan Pavan, community outreach
manager
Yara Kashlan, community outreach manager
Kimberly Milligan, community outreach
manager
Zayn Jinah, community outreach manager
Alexander Wong, social media manager
Akemi Liyanage, digital content manager
Bethany Van Lingen, digital content manager
Hidie Shaheen, digital content manager
Angelyn Francis, copy editor
Cleopatria Peterson, graphic designer
Elias Ayoub, graphic designer
Illya Gordiyenko, web developer
Tyler Webb, photography lead
Alia Youssef, photographer
Haley Friesen, photographer
Joseph Hammond, photographer
Petrija Petrusic Dos Santos, photographer
Douglas Gibbens, videographer
Margarita Brighton, videographer
Mariam Nouser, associate
Omar Zia, associate
Publisher
Kite Technology Solutions Inc.
Website
www.tedxryersonu.ca

IN THIS ISSUE

1
2
3
4

TEDxRyersonU 2013 Conference

LETTER FROM CURATOR

LETTER FROM THE EDITORS
SPEAKER PROFILES
TEAM PROFILES
CREATOR PROFILES

361 Evolution

3D PRINTOPIA
ARTOPITAL
BIONIC BODY
GLUTEN-FREE DIET
GREEN CENTURY
QUANTUMIZATION

TED Past, Present, Future

Poetry in motion
how tedx came to ryerson
dear marshall, what is water?
Changing parts of downtown
first generation students
Turning Ideas Into Reality

Best of TED

Make the most of your undergrad

synergy
TEdxryersonu best moments & personal reflection
ideas worth spreading from speakers audition event

A Letter From The Curator

CHRIS BABIC

Welcome to TEDxRyersonU! Contained within these pages is the inspiration we believe will lead you
to explore ideas of your own, because everyone has an idea worth sharing, sometimes all it takes is a
kick in the pants, a spark in the right direction or an inspiring 18 minute talk to get you there.
I will freely admit that when I first came into the role of curator for TEDxRyersonU 2013 I was scared, I
have been watching TED talks for so long I cannot remember when I began, and I was afraid that there
was no way I could live up to such a standard, afraid that, when given the chance to leave my mark on
an awesome organization nobody would want to see it. But here is the amazing thing about TEDxRyersonU; it is truly a team effort, and it is not about leaving any one individual mark but the collective
legacy for which TEDxRyersonU has become known. This is an organization dedicated to ideas worth
spreading, which means all of our team have the opportunity to collectively shape our events. Besides
that, the team we have this year is stronger than I could have imagined and through their tireless efforts all of you as the audience will get to engage today with some of the most innovative and inspiring
ideas from the minds of Ryersons inspiring thinkers and leaders.
Here we are, another year wiser, and as passionate as ever about bringing you ideas worth sharing.
TEDxRyersonU has hosted its fourth annual TEDx conference, and let me tell you, time certainly flies
when youre having fun. Each year we have grown significantly in numbers and in spirit as TEDxRyersonU has really come to occupy its own important place at Ryerson.
My fear slowly changed into excitement! This year represented our strongest efforts to engage yearround with all of you, and that meant seeing more of our Pantone 485 TED red downtown.
So please, look out for us throughout the semester, and I encourage you to come up to us and ask
us questions - trust me, if there is one thing we like to do more than organize TEDxRyersonU, it is talk
about it.
At TEDxRyersonU we do not tell you how to think, we share with you ideas that we believe will inspire
your own call to action.
Sincerely
Chris Babic, Curator,
TEDxRyersonU 2013

Dear readers,
Hey there. Im a second year journalism student on her way to completing four years
of university. Strange, right? I came to my current program after doing two years of
science at Western University. And while Im sometimes wary of my age, Im quite
glad to have a specialization.
When I first heard of the TEDx magazine, it was like a dream come true. Within
seconds I had the entire magazine in my head-articles on the TEDxRyersonU team,
science and technology, people and society and a little bit of fun in between.
While the process of making my vision come to life wasnt always smooth, Im
satisfied with the final product. After all, my ideas contributed to this magazine.
Also, the journey has taught me a great deal. While we dont always get
what we want done, its important to recognize what youve accomplished.
Appreciate the work and respect it for the time and effort you put into it. No
matter what people say, you are the last judge on everything you do. So
dont be too harsh on yourself. Be a good critic. Use the experience as a
stepping stone for something bigger and better.
Maybe youll see me as a TED speaker in a few years or your next door
neighbour. Who knows? For now, Im chasing my dreams with hopes
of never slowing down. Good luck on your journey!

LETTER
FROM
THE

Akemi Liyagne

EDITORS

Dear readers,
The most helpful advice Ive been given is to go out and live
a great story. This advice came from the staff team of my first
volunteer trip to Dhaka, Bangladesh. This advice impacted my
six-week trip and encouraged me to learn so much from it. When I
returned home, this same advice encouraged me to make the most of my
undergraduate experience at Ryerson and its advice I still follow now that
I am in my final year of journalism school. In creating this magazine, I both
helped to shape great stories and lived one myself.
When I was first asked to take on the magazine, during the interview for my
position in a small breakout room in the Ted Rogers School, I was incredibly excited
and so, the planning and creating began. We encompassed the TedXRyersonU brand
in print and built a magazine from scratch. Now, three months later, I can tell you it
was stressful, but also exhilarating. I got the opportunity to work with incredibly gifted
students who gave their time to graphic design, story writing, photography, finance, social
media, marketing and much more.
The magazine started out as a way to replace the conference program, but its grown to be
so much more than that. These are our stories, from our team, from our speakers and from
idea makers that are changing our world. We hope the TEDxRyersonU magazine and conference
provide inspiration for you and bring you into a supportive community of thinkers and doers that will
help you make the most of your experience at Ryerson. Were so proud to have readers and delegates
who are innovators in their studies and fields, who make a difference before and after graduation.
Thank you so much for spending some of your time reading and enjoying our magazine! As you leave this
years conference, we hope you will take this magazine with youleave it on your coffee table, flip through it
when you need a break, lend the magazine out and talk about the stories you read with the people you care
about. These stories were made to be shared.

Bethany Van Lingen

TEDxRyersonU digital content manager

SPEAKER BIOS
Dr. Bala Venkatesh
To say that Dr. Bala Venkatesh gets energy is an understatement. Aside from being
a professor of engineering, he is the founding academic director of Ryersons Centre
for Urban Energy, an institute that aims to create solutions for the worlds energy crisis.
Dr. Venkatesh began by talking about his passion for energy engineering research. He
feels that solving the energy crisis begins with spurring fresh interest in young people in
the field. Many of them want to do research in energy, but its not engineering research.
It is research in policy, it is research on the environmental effects on energy. It is his
first aim, therefore to encourage undergraduates to do research on energy with an
engineering flavour.
He then turned the discussion towards technology, the foundation of our energy system.
There is a phenomenal technology that Rogers engages in getting your text message
and making sure that the message actually goes to the right person, he says. And
although its easy to focus on what your technology does for you, we often forget the
massive amount of energy and infrastructure that goes towards providing the energy to
us in the first place. And whats especially lost in translation is that our system is really
expensive, difficult to maintain and difficult to make sure you will get reliable supply all
the time.he says.
While we have solved the first part of the problem with solar panels and other forms of
renewable energy, Dr. Venkatesh says the challenge now is to address the second part:
how to successfully integrate renewable energy sources into a central system. When you
look at individual devices its one product, but when
you connect it you have a huge physical system that is
hard to manage. And with support from government
and industry, he hopes that his extensive research
in energy will help pave the way towards applying
sustainable energy solutions.
By: Akemi Liyanage

Jennifer Poole
When Jennifer Poole was a little girl, she was bewildered when a loved one was fired from his job
because he was experiencing mental health issues. He was grieving for his parent and didnt have much
financial or community support. Even then, Poole didnt understand why an employer would penalize
someone for their pain. She remembers thinking, Well, this just doesnt make any sense. Hes just in
pain and he wont always be in pain. I mean, were penalizing him and were taking away his job, and
taking away more resources, and adding to his pain. She then felt like she needed to watch over him
and make sure her loved one was okay. She had the best of intentions, but by doing so, she practiced
the same oppression, known as sanism, that his employer had. These are just some of the many
paternalistic, overprotective sanist notions people harbour, says Poole, an associate professor at the
Ryerson School of Social Work.
Poole has not only been on the giving end of sanism, but also on the receiving end. She remembers,
as a new graduate from university, she interviewed for her dream job, full of optimism. At the time,
she was keeping her mental health stuff quiet, because sanism had taught her to be ashamed of
herself and what she lived through. During the interview, she was asked if she had ever experienced
the mental health issues that clients in the program had. She could answer, Yes, I have and thats
why I think I would be a great person to sit across the table and sit side-by-side with the people I want
to work with, but she knew if she said no, she would more likely get the job. She said yes, wanting
to see how the interviewers would react and if they would reject her because of who she really was.
The interviewers made it clear when explaining why she didnt get the job that it was because of her
mental health issue. They worried Poole would either trigger the participants or would be unable act
professionally. That rejection fuelled the fire for Poole and prompted her to learn more about sanism,
which is the oppression of people who live with mental health issues.
Now, Poole, who self-identifies as a Mad woman sees every day the ways people blame themselves for the
oppression they experience. The act of labelling someone, being afraid of their pain and stigmatizing and
separating ourselves from that person, is often the beginning of the sanist spiral, she says.
We hear things like, watch out for the crazy guy in the subway. This is a normal statement people
think is helpful, Poole says, but at its heart is the fear, ignorance, withdrawal and oppression of
sanism. We believe that people with mental health issues are unpredictable, violent, in need of
supervision and arent going to amount to much. Weve all been taught in this particular society to be
sanist and we dont even know that were doing it.
Sanism is old and entrenched, Poole says. For hundreds and hundreds of years, theres been
organizing and writing by people who have survived sanist systemssurvived electroshock, survived
being in an institution for 25 years and survived medications.
Poole has both been sanist and a victim of sanism. I can sink my teeth and tell a story. I can make
it come alive to people and make the pain accessible, she says. Through the stories she tells in the
classroom, and those she told in her TEDxRyersonU 2013 talk, Poole teaches how to limit suffering
by understanding sanism and challenging its myths.
By: Bethany Van Lingen

Grahame Lynch was the kind of bad student in his Bachelor of Fine Arts
program who stayed up all night painting, and then slept through his classes.
I thought that I was the best student on the planet because I was constantly working, of course, Lynch
says. But his late nights led to his pivotal moment as an artist.
One night in January, during his third year studying in Windsor, he was playing a game he always did
on the 45-minute walks home from campus. Lynch, who lives with low vision, cant focus his eyesight
in dim light. For him, there are strange perceptual shifts that make it difficult to figure out what objects
are. In his nightly game, Lynch would try to figure out what the shadowy objects were, if a lamppost was
actually a person off in the distance, for example. That night, Lynch was fascinated by the cracks in the
roadways, and the unusual marks the snowplows were making in the salt and snow, which wouldnt
melt in the minus 40 degree cold. Inspired, he got home as quickly as he could and grabbed his
camera. His glasses were so intensely cold that when he put the camera to his eye, the lens fell out. He
stuffed his broken glasses in the pocket of his jacket and kept shooting, somewhat blind.
At two a.m., he had shot three or four rolls of film. Lynch took these rolls and broke into the school.
He processed his photos in the schools darkroom until ten oclock the next morning. A teacher found
Lynch in the darkroom, surprised by both the student who was camping out and by the disappearance
of the photo processing chemicals set aside for the three classes the professor was teaching that
day. The teacher looked at Lynchs photos and said, Okay, I guess youre forgiven, Lynch says.
These photographs were the first time Lynch had been able to show through his art the difference of
perception he had with low vision.
Lynchs latest exhibit, The Logic of Subduction, includes a library of books, which must be viewed through an
assistive lens. This way, viewers at the Durham Art Gallery exhibit can experience the energy and effort those
who live with impairments must expend to perform everyday tasks.
Lynch, now a Ryerson University associate fashion professor and fashion communications program director,
loves to read, but his condition makes it difficult to focus on objects and to perceive depth. Words dance
around on the page of a book as he reads. As his eyes tire, the page begins to move and fold in on itself.
The Logic of Subduction refers to a plate in the earths crust being forced under another plate. Lynchs
vision is gradually deterioratingthere is the risk he will someday go blind. He is constantly preparing for
that catastrophe, like we do for earthquakes as plates we cant perceive shift beneath us.
His talk focused on the ways that inclusive art can communicate a persons experience and by
doing so, encouraged empathy in its audience. Lynch, who holds a Master of Fine Arts in extended
media and installation and a Master of Inclusive Design, fights the oppression of persons who live
with disabilities through his innovative art and teaching. In his TEDxRyersonU 2013 talk, Grahame
encouraged those who live with low vision, blindness and those who live differently to tell their
stories in a way only they can.

By: Bethany Van Lingen

Grahame Lynch
Grahame Lynch

Alexander Ferworn

Dr. Steven Murphy, the newest dean

of the Ted Rogers School of Management has a little secret. He talks to cows and he urges
everyone to do the same. Inspired by Mary Rose OReilleys book Of Radical Presence, Murphy set out to understand what is really meant
behind the metaphor listen like a cow. When visiting his cottage just north of Kingston, Murphy will take a break from mountain biking as his
wife looks on while he has a five minute conversation with these unsuspecting, majestic creatures.
What I found remarkable about them is that when you start talking to them theres a tilt in their head. They walk towards you and then they
will stare into your soul with their big, beautiful eyes, said Dr. Murphy in his keynote address in September to an MBA class at the Ted Rogers
School of Management.
Although his anecdote left his audience erupting with chuckles and laughter, Murphy shared a profound and relevant lesson from his experience
talking to cows. Murphy uses his insights to encourage leaders to strive for heightened self-awareness, both in and out of a business context.
In his keynote, he identified the problem with people is that, when they are listening, they are usually so preoccupied with thinking about how
they can relate so that they can jump in whenever theres a pause. Theyre ready with their next quip or anecdote, rather than being completely
present and hearing all of what is being shared. Murphy encouraged his audience to be more like the cows and give others the unbelievable
sense that you are taking in everything they say.
Murphy characteristically uses principles of organization behaviour to inspire a new model of business and leadership that strays away from the
generic regime of business theory. It is his new perspectives and approach to business that incorporates psychology that made him an attractive
speaker at the TEDxRyersonU 2013 conference where he presented a talk called the story of me. Murphys talk was about the collective stories
we all have in our minds that can either be limiting or enabling.
Murphy is an advocate for adopting philosophies that help others be better leaders by knowing themselves first. At the end of his keynote,
Murphy left his audience with a simple, yet moving message.
Just be human, its a very powerful thing. Being human and owning who you are can very much resonate with people, he said. Murphy has over
110 papers, book chapters, technical reports and presentations to his credit and has served as a reviewer for numerous publications including
the Journal of Occupational Health and Psychology and the Journal of Business and Psychology.
By: Hidie Shaheen

Dr. Steven Murphy

10

As the clich goes, sometimes the answer is under our noses. Sometimes the best
solutions are under the dog's noses.
Dr. Alexander Ferworn has made a career at Ryerson by looking at challenges from perspectives very different than those of his contemporaries. Nominated in 2011 as one of TV Ontario's "Best Lecturer's" in their Big Ideas series, Dr. Ferworn is also the founder and director of
the Computer Science Master of Science (M.Sc.) Program and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Computer Science at Ryerson, as well as the
academic lead in Ryerson's fledgling Certificate in Disaster and Emergency Management programs.
But enough about titles, because where Dr. Ferworn stands out is in the field, particularly fields of rubble. For many years disaster rescue
teams have been searching for survivors after earthquakes, fires, and tsunamis, by sending dogs in to sniff out the victims. Dr. Ferworn
made waves with the idea to put cameras on those rescue dogs, but his passion for robotics meant it would not be long after that he
would attach robots to the dogs for even better rubble exploration. The potential for bionic dogs notwithstanding, the striking part about
Dr.
Ferworn's solution is in its simplicity. People had been using rescue dogs for so long and
yet nobody had thought to advance the system.

THE 361st DEGREE moment might have come in 2005 when Dr. Ferworn fell
into the field of Urban Search and Rescue (USAR), where he spearheaded the Canine
Augmentation Technology (CAT) project, which put mobile tech onto dogs allowing them
to get the most out of the heightened search capabilities of the rescue dogs.
It could have come with the establishment of N-CART (Network Centric Applied Research Team) at Ryerson, which challenges students to take mechanical odds and
ends, and look at them with the perspective of an opportunity to be something else.
N-CART is also where Dr. Ferworn and his team have been working on improving their
search and rescue technology.
Access is the word that links Dr. Ferworns teaching and research: extending personal space and sense of presence. Whether that be his new initiative to create two
degree courses in the Chang School for robotics which are taught online, his lectures
(for which hes won awards), or his searching system, Dr. Ferworn is one of Ryersons
leaders when it comes to taking a different perspective, allowing him to see opportunity where some see a tangle of wires and mess of metal, and allowing him to challenge us to always innovate, because better solutions are out there to even the oldest
problems.

By: Chris Babic

11

Michelle J. Kwan
i decided that i liked people better
than cameras.
As a former model, Michelle J. Kwan is no stranger to being photographed. The
proud graduate of both nutritional sciences at Ryerson University and visual
arts at York University posed precisely while being interviewed for the TEDx
magazine and speakers video. A painting sat behind her on an easel as a visual
representation for her twin passions for research and art.
It started a dialogue that would have never happened without it.
Kwan described how taking photographs for a health promotions group on
campus, gave her a new perspective on the relationship students have with
food. It was at that moment that she realized she could use art to bridge the gap
between scientists and patients.
The value of your data is much better if youre intuitive.
While she once believed that there was no place for art in her program, Kwan
discovered that it can pave the way to higher quality research. Art, she said,
allows for creative patient expression and clarifies complex health concepts.

Ayyyna Budaeva was once told that creativity was just not something that is given to business
people. Instead, it was a trait that is attributed exclusively to those who identify as creative people
because of their inherent natural talents. BBuddaeva, who is a fourth year business management
student majoring in marketing used this misconception as a muse for what she presented as her
TED talk at the TEDxRyersonU 2013 conference.
Budaeva believes that most of what we have been taught about creativity is not true. Contrary to
what many may think, creativity is a skillnot a talent. After combining her personal experiences with
research, Budaeva reinforced her convictions about creativity with one simple statistic:

CREATIVITY IS 1/3 GENETICS AND 2/3 LEARNING.

Creativity is something that anyone and everyone can learn.

When I say creativity, its not about designing or painting in a traditional sense. Creativity is a way
of thinking, I am a business student and I consider myself creative. It is not that I was born this way,
I just learned it. said Budaeva.
Budaeva is a testament to this thinking. She has spent much of her undergraduate years seeking
opportunities to exercise her creativity and business savvy both in and out of the Ryerson community.
Budaeva is currently the marketing manager at the Fashion Zone. The Fashion Zone, which was
officially launched on October 24, 2013, is an incubator similar to the Digital Media Zone that was
born out of Enactus Ryerson.
(The Fashion Zone is) not just about fashion design. We are really trying to push the boundaries of fashion
to be more. Innovation is creativity, which is what Ryerson is all about, says Budaeva
During any brainstorming phase that Budaeva advocates for creativity in business. Budaeva admits
that it is during this phase that she sees her business school peers struggle the most with coming up
with creative ideas.
I think that creativity is a necessary part of business. For businesses, being creative leads to improving
business models, coming up with new and innovative products as well as methods to promote them.
This allows for progress that improves our quality of life and the standard of living. she says.
After attending her first TEDxRU event in 2011, Budaeva left feeling moved by the experience, and
especially by one student speaker, Josh Louie. Budaeva thought that maybe one day she could do the
same thing as him. Two years later, Budaeva stood before an audience as one of this years student
speakers for the 361 Degrees: A New Angle conference.
Budaeva shared a whole new angle on creativity as we know it. By challenging accepted beliefs,
Budaeva hoped to inspire business students to adopt a new mind set about creativity.

By: Akemi Liyanage

If you regard creativity as a skill, you enable yourself to do great things. For all those who arent business
students, perhaps seeing that creativity is a skill begs the question, cant talent be a skill? In that case,
we are all free to learn whatever we want to the best of our ability.
By: Hidie Shaheen

Ayyyna Budaeva

TEAM BIOS
As this years TEDxRyersonU marketing steering lead, Ramsha Naeem has taken
it on herself to be the guiding visionary to a team of remarkably talented Ryerson
students. Naeem leads the committee responsible for being the face of TEDxRU
and is well aware of how her direction affects how TEDxRU is perceived within and
outside the Ryerson community. Since becoming involved with TEDxRU in her third
year, Naeem has always been compelled to be part of a student group that builds a
community of curious minds by uniting ideas. TEDxRU was exactly that. TEDxRU is
a chapter of TED and Naeem loved the idea of being part of a student group that is
more than just a student group--TEDxRU is representative of a global organization.
One of the biggest challenges Naeem has is finding creative ways of representing
this brand on campus by executing engaging and interactive marketing campaigns.
On a personal level, Naeem has gone through a period of personal growth. Naeem
has struggled with venturing beyond the known and trying new things that are out of
the ordinary. Her crippling fear of failure and embarrassment is why she was always
seeking assurance from others. Naeem has found her 361st degree by reflecting
on herself and overcoming these fears by discovering the power of self-assurance.
Receiving mentorship from last years TEDxRU steering lead, Andrea Crofts, helped
Naeem tremendously by putting things into perspective. Naeem was able to make
the most of Andreas insights and invigorated her excitement for the year to come.
Being the marketing steering lead has taught Naeem the importance of combining
persistence with passion. Naeem is grateful to be a part of the TED experience, all
the while showcasing the unbelievable talent of Ryerson University.

Ramsha Naeem
Marketing Steering Lead

That
exhilarating feeling
of belonging to something so much bigger than
yourself is what Irene Ma experiences by being a part of TEDxRyesonU. Ma,
who is a long time admirer of TED talks, never thought she would be a speaker liaison for this years team. It
wasnt until a friend involved with other TEDx events encouraged her that she started exploring the opportunities TEDxRU had to offer. As a speaker liaison, Ma has the privilege of working closely with the highest caliber
of several TED speakers in a variety of different fields. Ma not only acquaints herself with the professional
lives of these speakers, but also gets a glimpse into their personal lives and sees the very human and quirky
sides of them that we all have. Ma supports speakers throughout the entire process leading up to the conference and demonstrates exceptional communication skills in doing her job. Ma admits that being a student
can be an incredibly demanding task. She herself has felt the inconveniences of always being consumed
by school and work and in an attempt to break out of her routine, joining TEDxRU was Mas 361stdegree.
Involving herself in the Ryerson community has allowed her to engage with others and has revealed to her
career-related opportunities. Being a part of a collective team has transformed Mas outlook towards work.
As someone who once preferred to work independently, Ma has now learned to have faith in the expertise of
her talented colleagues and trust that they will never disappoint.

Speaker Liaison

Irene Ma

When Deva Krishnakumar was in his first year at Ryerson, he felt the need to get involved
with a student group, but was not certain which one would be the best choice. A professor of
his showed his class a photo hed taken of an automatic defibrillator and challenged them to
figure out where it was taken. Krishnakumar was the winner, and his prize was a TEDxRyersonU
thermos. After winning that cup and watching his first couple of TED talks, Krishnakumar made
a decision, I was going to be a part of the TEDxRyersonU team. That year he started as a productions team member for the 2012 TEDxRU conference. This year, hes moved on to be a tech
lead, where he can put his love of technology to use and make sure the events run smoothly.
Since working with TEDxRU, Krishnakumar has built an array of skills. Especially as a tech lead,
he says its important to be able to work in a team, as well as have good communication and
decision-making skills. Even when it means going 33 hours without sleep the night before the
conference, the experience with TEDxRU is worth it to Krishnakumar. To him, this years theme,
361 degrees: A new angle is about taking an extra step outside of the same cycle of events. I
would consider joining the TEDxRyersonU team my 361st Degree.

Deva Krishnakumar
Tech Lead

MEGAN MATSUDA: Productions Steering Lead

Megan Matsuda powered through last years conference on a few red bulls,
a brownie, black coffee and no sleep. Fortunately, this year she has more
resources at her disposal as the productions team steering lead for
TEDxRyersonU 2013. Matsudas new position has required her to to be
organized, have an eye for detail and collaborate with many people.
She says that the responsibility of her position is both great and
nerve-wracking but whatever problems arise, Matsuda takes a cue
from this years TEDxRU theme and looks at them from another
angle. Whether its clashing ideas, sticky situations or simply
keeping her team on track, she remains positive. Matsuda has
always taken initiative in extracurricular activities. Getting
involved with Ryerson Folio led her to TEDxRyersonU, which
led her to the Ryerson Communication and Design Society, a
proposed society similar to the Ryerson Commerce Society
of which she is a steering lead. Working with TEDxRU,
Matsuda has been able to see her ideas become a
reality and she encourages every student craving to
do something different to take the first step and join
something. For her, branching out from her journalism
major has been the best thing shes done for her
education and career.

Proving
that
TEDxRyersonU
is committed to
bettering the Ryerson
student experience and
showing sponsors that this
student group is a worthy investment
is something that Clinton Soans takes
pride in doing. As a TEDxRU finance committee
member, Soans uses what he learns in the classroom
as a finance major to get TEDxRU more funding. Soans
plays an important role in enabling TEDxRU to continue doing
the amazing things it does. Soans attended last years ACT
conference and loved every part of it. After meeting Michael
Labrador, this years finance steering lead at an event, Soans was
encouraged to apply for his current position on the committee. In
his time with TEDxRU thus far Soans describes his most memorable
moment as seeing his committees passion for TEDxRU be expressed
in front of PFACS, a board that funds the growth of student initiatives.
With a convincing pitch, Soans and his committee were able to secure
funding for TEDxRU. Being able to speak professionally and persuasively
with others in order to get sponsorship for TEDxRU is a strength that
Soans capitalizes on. Getting those to believe in his cause is important
in helping TEDxRU have the resources it needs to continue to extend its
impact and exposure. Soans left his hometown in Hamilton to come to
Toronto to pursue his post-secondary endeavours. Soans found his 361st
degree in having to start anew by finding different ways to be self-sufficient
in every sense of the word. Establishing his independence and credibility to
both himself and his peers is something that has helped him do his job. Getting
sponsors to really listen to him and see the same value in TEDxRU as he does
could only happen if Soans was confident and genuine with his intentions. Soans
encourages everyone to get involved in a student group to meet new people and
exercise their talents and skills. Soans believes that being involved in such a way is
what is necessary to making your experience at Ryerson worthwhile.

CLINTON SOANS: Finance Committee Member

ALIA YOUSSEF: Photographer

You could say Alia Youssef was the most eager member of our TEDxRyersonU marketing team. Especially since she applied to join the
team and secured a position as photographer, all before she even began her first year at Ryerson. Knowing that there were TEDx
events at Ryerson prompted Youssef to search for ways to get involved in something shed appreciated for some time. Seeing the
opening for photographers, she immediately wanted to take part. For her, the best part of being a TEDx team photographer, is
being able to capture the events and the people who make them come alive. Shes able to capture a persons personality
and showcase candid moments that might otherwise have been missed. Youssef is passionate about creating and visually
communicating. By being a part of the TEDxRU marketing committee, she says she is able to create photographs that
serve a purpose. I want to create, inspire and empower with my work. Since joining, Youssefs had the opportunity to
work with other talented photographers who have only helped her improve. Working alongside the entire marketing
team has helped her deepen her understanding of team dynamics and leadership. I know that [this]
will be the stepping stone toward me sharing the knowledge I have gained one day
on the TEDx stage.

Michael
Labrador
has challenged
himself to make
another attempt at an
executive finance role for
TEDxRyersonU 2013. Labrador
had held a similar role at another
organization and was disappointed
with his mistakes, but his 361st degree
is about both accepting his past mistakes
and the fact that his next move may be another
mistake. Labrador challenged himself to make
another attempt, this time with more responsibility and
a bigger budget, so he took the role of finance steering lead.
The main task of the finance team is selling TEDxRyersonU in
order to secure funds for the conference and budget with the funds
available. Labrador and his team handle that, as well as communicating
with other steering leads so they dont overspend! Labrador has been
involved with TEDxRyersonU since 2011, although then he had the unofficial
role of silent graphic designer. Since then he has learned the impor tance
of management of both people and time, the impor tance of collaboration
and how far motivation can take you. T h e T EDxR yer son U team h as h el p ed
him see great ideas c ome to life.

MICHAEL LABRADOR: Finance Steering Lead

ELIAS AYOUB

He came to the TEDxRyersonU 2012 ACT conference not knowing what to expect. But while watching
Drew Dudleys talk leading with lollipops he was so moved, the feeling was instantaneous. It was
then that Alexander Wong knew that he wanted to make a difference in someone elses life and he
was going to do it by getting involved. Wong is this years TEDxRU social media manager. He is also the
social media manager for the Ryerson Commerce Society. Wong has combined his passion for human
resources with social media to learn about new ways to engage and connect with people. He has
expanded his knowledge of what makes a successful marketing campaign and challenged his creativity
by trying to make TEDxRU more successful than year before it. Wong appropriately found his opportunities to be a social media manager through social media itself. His fascination in working with social
media comes from the ability to reach large audiences across the world in a matter of seconds. In being
involved, Wongs biggest take away is the surprising amount of opportunities that are available beyond
the surface of a position itself. Wongs favourite memory from TEDxRU was the team bonding beach day
he attended in summer. Starting the day off with the entire team as just strangers only to soon become
friends has created unforgettable memories for Wong. Being involved has also showed him the importance of having a balance between books and experience throughout his university career. Wongs
active involvement in extracurricular activities, such as TEDxRU, are part of his 361st degree. Entering university he never thought he would be part of the organizations hes in today. He has ventured
outside of his personal bubble to new heights that have both scared him and pushed him closer to the
leader he hopes to become.

With the hopes of breaking out of his regular routine, Elias Ayoub found his 361st
degree in joining TEDxRyersonU. Prior to this year, Ayoubs university career was
going as smoothly as ever with all his focus on his studies. He slowly came to the
realization that he desired to become an integral part of an initiative, expand his
natural horizons and put his imaginative mind to use. For Ayoub, the best part of
being a graphic designer is the ability to allow his ideas to flow and develop into
original creations of his own. As a perfectionist, he admits that there is always the
challenge of being able to design in a manner that visually communicates a message
flawlessly to the end-receiver. He believes TEDxRyersonU has given him the avenue
to think outside of the box and the opportunity to polish his skills further. Ayoub
hopes that this experience opens up more doors for him in the future that will allow
him to express himself through his true passion: design.

Alexander Wong
Social Media Manager

Mariam Nouser
Associate
The beauty in life is that we receive goodness, but we also must give it in return,
said Mariam Nouser, TEDxRyersonU Associate. Nouser found goodness in the TED talks that
encouraged her to pursue a field that doesnt usually see many womenchemical engineering. The goodness she returned was using this inspiration as her drive to give back by participating in TEDxRyersonU, among the other extra-curricular activities she devotes her time to.
Nouser opportunistically applied to be on this years marketing team even prior to being accepted to Ryerson. The sequence of these two events defines a transition in Nousers life and
has culminated in what Nouser defines as her 361st degree. As a seemingly technical and
mathematical person, she admits that being on the marketing team has allowed her discover
her hidden artistic and linguistic talents. Her position has given her the flexibility to experiment with working on a variety of tasks with different sub-teams, whether it is social media or
community outreach. The teamwork skills she has developed working with the TEDxRyersonU
team is something she values dearly. Although marketing and engineering are two seemingly
mutually exclusive fields, Mariam acknowledges that marketing can really be applicable to
any field. She hopes to use what she learned with TEDxRyersonU about what resonates with
the general public to become an entrepreneur in the engineering field.

THE

g r a p hi c
d esi g ne r s

Upon discovering the positions available on TEDxRyersonU, Cleopatria Peterson
knew she had the eye and creative mind-set to take on the role of a graphic designer.
Petersons decision to get involved was a blend between an enamorment for TED talks
and her desire to push beyond her natural boundaries. While Petersons role naturally
required her to develop the visual identity of TEDxRyersonU, one of her biggest projects
was working on the first ever TEDxRyersonU magazine. Peterson believes this reflects
directly on her 361st challenge herself to go past the norm and work outside her
comfort zone. With the assistance of a minimal team, Peterson put in hours dedicated
vigorously to the production of this initiative. She admits the magazine project was
undoubtedly stressful as it had never been done in the past. However, Peterson
strongly believes that the most rewarding part of any job is the final product and looks
forward to being able to show off her creation to the world.

CLEOPATRIA PETERSON
45

Desire is the key to motivation,

but its determination and
commitment to an

unrelenting pursuit of your

goal - a commitment to
excellence - that will enable you

to attain the success you seek.

-Mario Andretti

361 EVOLUTION
SECTION 2
20

3D
Imagine being able to print off almost
anything your heart desires, from dinner

to a functioning body part, at a fraction of the

original cost. A few days ago, I watched a little
red bracelet be built up, layer by layer with
melted plastic in a Queen Street West office.
With rapid technological advancement, 3D
printing has become widespread and there
are whispers of personal 3D printers being
made. But the main message is clear, 3D
printing is a technology that can change the
way the world works.
3D printing consists of two main ingredients,
PLA and ABS. PLA is considered the easiest
material to print with because it heats and
cools quickly. It is also made of cornstarch,
which makes it biodegradable and eco-friendly.
ABS on the other hand, is a stronger and more
durable material. Its already used to make
things like Lego and car bumpers. But its
made of fossil fuels, making it less eco-friendly.
Other materials include nylon, which is
flexible and durable; resin, which is cured with
UV light, but its fragile and only used for fine
details; stainless steel and titanium, which
are extremely rigid; ceramic, which needs to
be glazed after printing; and gypsum, which
starts off as a fine powder.
Right now, 3D printing is mainly used for

21

PRINTOPIA
prototyping designs in offices such as
Andre Tiemanns Draft Print 3D.
Customers send me three dimensional
graphic files and I print them off, says
Tiemann. He owns two Makerbot Replicator
2s and a Formlabs Form1 SLA. Its only now
that 3D printer prices have dropped from
tens of thousands into the hundreds range,
making commercial and industrial printers
accessible to everyday people.
And there are more businesses like
Draft Print 3D. One of them is the
3DPhacktory, located east from the Don
Valley Parkway. Tyler Abbey, assistant
printer at the Phacktory says that there
are many pros to 3D printing.
It produces things that cant be produced
in any other way, says Abbey. When its
impossible to make, or too difficult or very
expensive, 3D printing comes into play.
3D printers enable creativity as well.
Your idea can go straight from your
head to the exact representation of
what it should be in real life. You skip
the describing and get straight to the
design, says Abbey. Another big pro
is what we call mass customization.
It used to be mass manufacturing, but
if people learn how to use 3D printers,
everybody will be able to have something
designed specifically for them.
Apart from mass customization, ideas
have been circulating about printing
electronics and body parts. A story made
international headlines in 2012 when an
83-year-old woman with oral cancer was
operated on and received a 3D-printed,
titanium jawbone. Hod Lipson and Melba
Kurman, authors of Fabricated: the new world

by

Alina Bykova

of 3D printing described it as, printed

by shining a laser into titanium powder,
fusing 3,000 meticulously laid layers...
Hours after surgery, the woman spoke
and sipped soup.
Abbey went on to explain that the
main purpose of the 3DPhacktory,
apart from taking customer orders,
was to educate others in how to use
3D printers. Nearly everybody can use a
computer these days, but few people know
about three dimensional programming
and technology. Doctors who need to use
3D printers dont know how. So we let
people come here to be educated.
And while there is alarm that
3D printing might put traditional
manufacturers out of business, simple
products are still cheaper mass
produced. Another issue of 3D printing
is that of copyright violations. Once
everyone has a 3D printer, how will
Disney stop you from printing a Snow
White pillowcase? asks Abbey. Since
3D printing digitizes the real world, it
will also make it possible to illegally
torrent things.
Despite setbacks, the future is bright for
3D printing. With a few more years of
hard work, maybe youll one day be able
to print off a red bracelet and wear it to
the TEDxRyersonU conference without a
second thought.

#3DPRINTOPIA

ARTOPITAL
BY : Lisa Lisk o v o i
Imagine you arrive at a hospital for treatment,
and as soon as you walk in the door, you are
given a ball of yarn. You must unravel it as you
go from the reception to the waiting room to the
doctors office. In the late nineties, staff at the
Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle used
a similar method to better understand what
their patients experienced in their hospital. This
exercise allowed them to see that the path patients
had to take was stressful and resulted in a complete
restructuring of the facility. To create durable design,
we need to establish the functional demands to be
met and address them effectively.
Investigators at the Bridgepoint Collaboratory
for Research and Innovation are conducting
research on this issue. Their interdisciplinary
project seeks to understand the relationship
between functionality and design in a
hospital. They are investigating how the
elements of the hospitals architectural
design address the needs of their patients
and staff, leading to better healthcare.
As a collaboration between investigators
in the fields of psychology, nursing and
architecture, the project will not only evaluate
the Bridgepoint Hospital, but also pioneer
the design of future facilities.
Research assistants scatter throughout the
hospital and blend into their settings in order
to observe patient-environment interactions
without interfering. Others use the go-along

method by asking patients to take them on

a tour of their typical day in the building,
and photographing and recording the
patients experience. By conducting these goalong tours with patients including those who use
wheelchairs, walkers, and canes, the team is able
to assess how accessible the space is.
Walking through the building, you can
feel that it has been built with people
in mind. Long unobstructed hallways
with floor to ceiling windows at each end
reveal trees and sunshine everywhere
you look. The pool used by patients for
rehabilitation therapy opens onto a
green space which makes you feel as
though its in the middle of the park.
The see-through siding of the pool not
only reinforces the blurred boundaries
between hospital and nature, it also
serves the functional purpose of allowing
therapists to see how patients are doing
during rehabilitation. Dining rooms on
each floor are equipped with kitchens,
so that families can cook with their
admitted loved ones. The rooftop patio
is beautifully landscaped and several
planters are outfitted with wheels so that
patients can use them for recreation
therapy and then place them back in the
sun to grow. The space is a reminder to
patients that the outside world they will

soon return to is beautiful.

It is a place of wellness, not of
illness, says Dr. Celeste Alvaro, leader
of the research project. The design
intentions behind the facility were
meant to, provide a better connection
to community, the city of Toronto
(and) nature and within that, provide
opportunities for social interaction
and inspiration that would motivate
patients to get back outside.
Leaving Bridgepoint, its hard to imagine
the hospital ever feeling out-dated. The
true beauty of it lies in that each piece
feels as if it was put in place with the
patients in mind. Each window, doorway
and hallway invites patients to get well,
and reminds them that someone is
thinking about them.
When functionality is incorporated into
design, it instils in us a sense of hope
in others. It reminds us that we are not
alone, that in the process of designing
an object or a space, someone cared
enough to figure out what we needed,
and understood us enough to get it.
Thats why human-informed design is
timeless; because the functionality not
only addresses our needs, it fosters our
sense of togetherness.

22

[Cyborg: n. a fictional or hypothetical person whose physical abilities are

extended beyond normal human limitations by mechanical elements
built into the body OED]

Whats the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the
word cyborg? If its anything like the Oxford English Dictionarys
definition, youre probably picturing RoboCop or Terminator. Pop
culture has long been fascinated with the hybridization of man
and machine but for many scientists, academics and health
practitioners, the notion of the cyborg is much more real than that.
Fusing machine-like appendages to the body is nothing new. In
fact, the first mention of a prosthesis can be traced back as far
as 3,500 BCE. Although weve obviously come a long way since
then, the basic principle of adding an artificial part to replace a
missing or damaged one is the same.
Thats exactly what Neil Harbisson did when he co-developed The
Eyeborg. Born with achromatopsia, the inability to perceive colour,
Harbisson developed a special antenna-like device to translate
colour into sound. In 2004, he even fought and won his case to
have the device included in his passport photo as he considers it
a part of his body. Some claim that this makes Harbisson the first
officially recognized cyborg in the world.
But why stop at the limits of human colour perception? Harbisson
went one step further by opening up his device to register infrared
and soon ultraviolet colour. He now perceives more colours than
almost every other human being on the planet, but he doesnt
consider this adaptation abnormal. Its very human to modify
ones body with human creations, he says.
He makes an interesting point. Is Harbissons Eyeborg any different
from a prosthetic limb, a contact lens or even a body piercing?
Mariana Viada, communications manager at The Cyborg
Foundation, says, Cyborgism will become an art movement
before it can turn into a social movement. The artists are more
eager to explore sensory extensions and they will fight the
prejudices of society until it becomes accepted. The Cyborg
Foundation was co-founded by Harbisson and Moon Ribas in
2010 to help people become cyborgsdefend cyborg rights
and promote the use of cybernetics in the arts.
Amber Case, a cyborg anthropologist, might argue that the
notion of the cyborg has been inaccurately relegated to the
world of Sci-Fi by popular culture. In a compelling TED talk
from 2011 she begins with, I would like to tell you all that
youre all actually cyborgs. Computers and cellphones have
become external brains, she argues. Ask any of the youngest

23

members of Gen Y if they could function without a computer or a

cellphone and the response will likely be a resounding no. And with
the emergence of consumer technology such as Google Glass, the
physical and conceptual separation between technology and body
is narrowing.
One of the most advanced areas of human-machine integration
research, the cyborg frontier if you like, is in the development of
brain-computer interfaces . These interfaces measure the electrical
or neuronal output of the brain and translate that into functional
input for mechanical or technological action.
Some of the most compelling examples of this research are the
DARPA-funded advanced mechanical arms. The sophisticated
robotic arms can be controlled solely through a persons thoughts,
and simultaneously display an impressively complex range of
motions including bending the elbow, turning the wrist and opening
and closing the hand. The robotic arm functions via the same nerve
signals that a real arm would. Simply think about moving your
hand would make the robotic hand move. Brain-computer interface
research is making leaps and bounds in developing better signal
extraction and processing methods for greater speed and accuracy.
One of the goals of brain-computer interface research is achieving a
completely seamless interface between human and machine.
Innovations in prosthesis are one area where the notion of humanmachine integration is more readily accepted; nobody could deny
the positive significance of giving back the use of a functional limb
to a war amputee or paraplegic. But what about when it comes to
not only replacing lost functionality but extending that functionality
beyond the normal human range; what are the implications of
erasing the boundaries between human and machine?

BIONIC

BODY
By: Nicola Brown

GREEN CENTURY
Ever hear the phrase, For every piece
of litter is an affected grandchild? It
emphasizes the fact that our actions may not
affect the planet today, but they will impact
the future. It leaves many of us wondering
what will happen a thousand years from
now?
Here is my vision.
In the year 3000 AD, humans breathe clean air,
live in average temperature weather and choose
wisely when distributing and buying technology
to prevent harm to the planet. Their lifestyle and
surroundings will involve eco-friendly items that
are affordable and exciting to use in their homes,
schools and transportation.
Lets face it, cafeteria food isnt the best
choice for lunch. But what if the food served
at the cafeteria was funky looking and beyond
scrumptious? Im talking colourful, high-protein and
high-fibre grown from the school garden.
Instead of debating whether to throw your
trash in the recycling or garbage, students
throw their unwanted items into one pipe. This
pipe would eat the waste until it becomes
soil and then transport it into Mazatropia.
Mazatropia is a faraway land where miles and
miles of every type of plant and tree grow, with
additional soil being delivered every second
from consumed waste.

Can you imagine a classroom without

textbooks, pencils or a black board?
The students in the year 3000 rely only
on their WiZ-TeChs. WiZ-TeChs are a
students best friend with a memory of
900,000,000,000 trinomabytes, a DSFE
drive - digital slot for everything - and an
impossible screen quality approximately 2
trillion pixels. With WiZ-TeCh, students gather
information by speaking to it. Also, instead of
printing them, they download it to their DFSE drive
in which it can be transported into a movie, story
or soundtrack. But I havent told you the best part.
WiZ-TeChs are 100 per cent crop-made and can
be reused for many centuries to come.
Wouldnt you love to soar through the
clouds and birds on your way to school?
Every morning, children of the year 3000
across the globe skip the car and use the
The Grasshopper. The Grasshopper
is a very light system used by students
when travelling to school by air. Also, this
way of transporting is extremely safe,
fast and eco-friendly.
Electricity has hit a new level of
brightness and efficiency in the
year 3000. Citizens created a clever
solution to reduce electricity from each
individuals space and create a larger
form of electricity for everyone to enjoy.

Anywhere you go, youll find a large

sheet in the sky overseeing everything
from parks to office buildings. There
are many benefits to this idea; citizens
no longer have to turn a switch to
receive electricity, it is with them 24/7
without any wires or plugs. This large
sheet consumes energy from the sun to
produce this electricity for homes and office
buildings across the globe. So, you get the
brightest light during the day, which doesnt
impact the environment negatively.
Have you ever seen furniture or
equipment made without cloth, metal,
wood or plastic? Well, in the year 3000,
citizens would answer the opposite. In
fact, no industry or factory produces
their items and goods with those
materials since they are difficult to
be reused. Every desk and couch are
all created with two simple materials:
recycled newspapers and processed
grass created by hand without any
chemicals or toxics included.
With many structures built to save
energy and protect the environment,
life in the year 3000 is both simple
and healthy. People in 2013 need to
know that there is a way to live green
in a way that benefits us all.

By: Lara Onayak

24

If you change
the way
you look at things,
things you look at
change.
|Wayne Dyer

section 3

ted: Past,Present,Future
25

POETRY
motion
motion
IN motion
Written by:Sandra Hesron

An interview with spoken word artist Shoolie

The familiar smell of old paper lingers in
the air as the occasional swoosh of flipping pages
punctuates the silence. At this halfway point, the
tranquil lounge of a local library, I meet Toronto
spoken word poet Henrick Sales, or Shoolie, to
talk poetry. While reaching for my notebook on
the coffee table, Shoolie seated comfortably
in a red lounge chair across from me, I think to
myself how few places make me feel this calm
in the fast-paced flow of our city. Before long, we
discuss a touching piece Shoolie, an English major
at Tyndale University and founder of a Tyndale
poetry club, wrote for his late grandmother titled
Sunflower, in which death is a lover coming to
propose on his grandmothers bedside as she
effortlessly prepares for her departure. Poetry
has always been a way of sharing the most
difficult stories and Shoolies light outlook on life
permeates through his craft. The following is an
excerpt of my interview with Shoolie.

26

Bad things do happen and its a matter of perception

how you choose to express them. Getting on stage
takes courage, but theres a great feeling afterwards
because its about sharing something bigger than
yourself, its reaching out as a community
Sunflower was heart-breaking, but
so beautiful. How did you manage to
present it that way?
Bad things do happen and its a matter of perception
how you choose to express them. Getting on stage
takes courage, but theres a great feeling afterwards
because its about sharing something bigger than
yourself, its reaching out as a community. When I
first started, it was a way of sharing these stories. At
the momentIm in a transition stage to focus more
on my poetry not as a performer but as a poet and
in some ways as a way of healing.

What is it about this form of art that allows

you to instantly connect with your audience?
There is something in oral storytelling because
its been used since ancient history. People
would pass on culture orally when the written
word wasnt yet there. In Toronto, using words to
pair personal stories with universal themes really
connects with the audience: the crowd interacts
with the poem with snaps, cheers- then silence as
soon as you start talking. Its all part of the art form in
and of itself. The poetry scene as a whole is
a community that intentionally meet together
to celebrate spoken word and without that
community, it wouldnt be the same.

When youre on stage and people

are listening to every word you
say, (every story you tell),
you never know who youre going
to reach out to
What is the power of words in our
generation?
People dont realize the power of words. Spoken
word is a way for people to realize that our words
have a weight to them and that we need to be
mindful of what we say even in our everyday lives.
It makes me think of the verse from the Bible,
Colossians 4:6 ,Let your speech always be with
grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know
how you ought to answer each one.

You interact with an individual on a

level most people dont on a day-today basis- its brilliant!
Some of the stories we (spoken word artists)
encounter are very relatable, when I perform
I never know who is actually being moved
by my piece. Ive come across different
kinds of people- different ages and different
backgrounds- who say, Your piece really spoke
to me. We are by nature social beings. When

youre on stage and people are listening to

every word you say, (every story you tell), you
never know who youre going to reach out to.

What would you say to a young student who
wants to pursue spoken word but who
feels as though they lack the proper voice
for this particular form of art?
Yo u l l f a c e c r i t i c i s m , I o f t e n h av e but stick with it.

27

w
o
h

W
ri
tt
en

by

Be
th
an
y

Va
n

Li
ng
en

so
r
e
ry
o
t
e
m
a
c

28

Inspiring Your Future

TED was not a popular presence on university
campuses in 2010. There was nothing like
it at Ryerson or on many other university
campuses until Parvinder Sachdeva, then in
his second year of a Bachelor of Commerce,
had a big idea. Sachdeva melded the Pantone
485 red TED logo to Ryerson University,
creating TEDxRyersonU.
We wanted to showcase Ryersons talent
because nothing else was, says Trung
Ho, who met Sachdeva through Ryerson
Toastmasters and agreed to manage the new
TEDxRyersonU social media accounts.
Sachdeva, Trung and the 16 other members
of the first TEDxRyersonU team did whatever
it took to host the first conference. Trung and
Sachdeva went to the four vice presidents of
the university and to president Sheldon Levy
to pitch their idea to get funding. They were
approved and funding of under $20,000 was
secured. The first TEDxRU conference was an
all day event scheduled for November 27, the
theme was set to be Inspiring Your Future
and promotion on Facebook, Twitter and by
video began.

The team released speaker videos for every

speaker at the conference. At the time, high
quality videos were just becoming accessible
to amateurs. Speaker videos have been a
staple at TEDxRyersonU since. That first
TEDxRyersonU event was held in a Ted
Rogers School lecture hall. Just 100 students
attended, the majority of whom were in
business school.
Speakers at the 2010 event included David
Brame, a fashion professor at Ryerson and
a creator of two comic books to educate
young men about testicular cancer. His
TEDxRyersonU talk, Nerd Power, outlined
how a lifelong nerdy fascination with toys and
comics could help solve a serious problem for
men.
People congratulated us for putting on this
first conference, but we felt we could do
more, Trung says.
Trung was in the accounting program for three
and a half years. He was in his last year when
the first TEDxRyersonU conference happened.
For Trung, this was his first time being
exposed to working with so many different
people outside of his own program, such as

2010 speaker Stephen Dunn, who was a

third year film student at the time and already
winning awards and screening films. Inspired
by Dunn, Trung began to explore his own
creativity in his final year and while working
with TEDxRyersonU.
Working with TEDxRyersonU is a chance to
do something you wouldnt normally get to do
if you were focussed on academics, Trung
says.
After trying new and creative projects, he
switched from the accounting program
to marketing and started Ryerson Folio,
a cultural magazine. He now works in
advertising. TEDxRyersonU and TED talks,
Trung says, inspired his future.
Think Forward
With 600 audience applications, a budget of
$45,000 and staff of 30, TEDxRyersonU grew
substantially in its second year. Three hundred
fifty delegates skipped the Santa Claus parade
on November 20 and gathered at Glenn Gould
Studio in the CBC building. This was the first major
student-organized event held at that venue. Two
speakers and an hour and a half in, #TEDxRU
was trending nationally on Twitter.

29

Speakers from the 2011 conference continue

to be popular online. Dr. Ivan Josephs talk,
The Skill of Self-Confidence has 460
comments, 6,000 likes and 400,000 views
on YouTube. Another speaker Ramona
Pringle shared her World of Warcraft mission
for virtual love and community. Bring your
fearlessness into real life. What would your
avatar do? Pringle said.
Winston Chow, a TEDxRyersonU advisor this
year, is avatar fearless. After switching from
computer science to business technology
management and still finding that program
unfulfilling, he made his final jump to

The great successes

you see today are
because a group of
people had a crazy idea.
They had something
different and they went
after it together
marketing. I was discovering myself and
doing so by getting involved. TEDxRyersonU
was the first step for me, Chow says.
Chow is a prolific photographer, having shot for
the Ryerson Rams and three TEDxRyersonU
conferences. He brings the photos, but Chow
now takes pride in supporting people who are
able to do the things he cant. At the risk of
sounding like a horrible person, I used to think
I was better than people who went to college
or studied the arts. I thought they were going
nowhere, while I had a future, Chow says.
It took almost failing calculus in high school
for Chow to start to rethink these priorities.
Much of the reordering comes from late
night conversations with Sachdeva, Chows

mentor and best friend. If Sachdeva believed

something, there would be a good reason
behind it. It became something Chow admired.
He began to question his own opinions and
think forward. The great successes you see
today are because a group of people had a
crazy idea. They had something different
and they went after it together, Chow says.
Act
Megan Matsuda went to the 2011
TEDxRyersonU conference alone and, she
says, without knowing what to expect, but
hoping for the best. She was inspired by the
students she met, who were so passionate
about their own ideas and projects. She met
people from different programs who held
viewpoints unlike her own. TED talks are all
about spreading ideas. Im always interested
in hearing what people think, especially
when its different from my own thoughts. It
challenges my ideas, and often makes them
better, Matsuda says.
She was so inspired that, six months later, she
insisted that Trung tell her how to join. She
was picked for the productions team for the
TEDxRyersonU 2012 conference, which would
have a budget of $60,000. Matsuda didnt
have that much experience besides organizing
school dances in high school, so she was a
little scared to get started. But did she ever
want to be involved she kept bugging the
head of productions for more. She worked for
hours taping white plastic cups together at a
team members apartment. The result was a
twirling column that decorated the stage.
She and the productions team met to set up
at 10:30 p.m. the day before at the newly
opened Mattamy Athletic Centre (MAC). They
were up all night, lifting couches and chairs,
moving tables and changing an ice rink to one
multifunctional theatre and lounge. Fuelled
by Red Bulls, Matsuda set up the reception
area. It was stressful and exhilarating. Crew
members took naps in the green room. At
6 a.m., she turned rock and roll on the big

speakers to wake the team up. She downed

a few cups of coffee- no sugar, no milk, just
straight black caffeine.
Matsuda ran about, her headset on, as the
conference began at 10 a.m. on November
25. She fielded calls from team members and
resolved any issues about when food would
be served to 500 delegates. The first on
stage was master of ceremonies Sid Naidu.
Naidu had been a part of the 2009 athletics
referendum, a student-led initiative that
helped bring the MAC to Maple Leaf Gardens.
Standing on a rink hed dreamed about,
Naidu encouraged students to give back to
their community during a surprise talk: Those
communities, those moments will leave the
foundation and the future for our legacy.
By the end of the event, Matsuda had been
up for more than 30 hours. I am super
thankful to you for being the queen of taking
care of details, and easing the stress on our
backs! curator Thomas George tweeted to
Matsuda after the event. Matsuda is now the
productions steering lead with TEDxRyersonU.
Reflecting back, Matusda says that by
stepping out to act that year, I learned that
all the effort you put in will pay off if you work
really hard.
That effort is paying off this year at the fourth
TEDxRyersonU conference, with a passionate,
multidisciplinary team of 43 and the first nonbusiness student curator. We hope our hard
work inspires your future, makes you think
forward and causes you to act.

32

SS YY N
N EE RR G
G YY
Written by Akemi Liyanage

When I first entered university

four years ago, I had an idealized vision

of how student groups ran-there would be
a kind and well-mannered president with
an experienced executive board, slowly
and steadily directing a stream of first and
second years through the challenges of
organizing. Within my first semester though,
I was faced with a responsibility I had no
idea how to handle. Frustrated to my wits,
I took to the internet and plagued an older
club member with questions to fulfill my
role. Thankfully things worked out, but the
problem of being stuck in a situation without
the right help or instructions didnt end there.
Again and again, I ran into a problem of
governance-who does what and how? As a
result, Ive learned four crucial components
to being part of and leading a student group.

1. EXPERIENCE

Unless theyve been in the same role for years,

its crucial to know the expertise of every
member in your group. And dont stop at,
What program are you in? Ask them about
any projects or events they have been a part
of and the work they did for it. Once you get
a good grasp of their skills and experiences,
youll understand what kind of initiatives your
group will be able to organize.

2.RESPONSIBILITIES

This is where a good ol brainstorming session

comes in. Beware of extreme and overdone
ideas though-opt for projects that are
reasonable but unique in one way or another.
But conjuring up an idea is not enough
to make something happen. Once youve
decided on an initiative, its definitely wise to
write down some exact steps of who should do
what and when. Keep these steps somewhere
safe. When its crunch time and everyone is
panicking, it will become an important part of
making things happen.

3.FOLLOW UP

Since most projects take more than one days

worth of work and planning, you have to talk
about it outside meetings. Its good to check
up on people, once every two weeks or so, to
see whether their part is progressing or not.
The sooner you start planning, the more you
can shift things around in case a part of your
plan goes wrong. Dont be too pushy though.
Give people just the right amount of nudge to
get going on their own.

4.SPIRIT
Lets say that you planned everything
perfectly, but things didnt go right anyways.
Ignore that heavy sensation of guilt in your
chest; as much as youd like to take the
blame, doing so doesnt make the problem
go away. Instead, approach what happened
with a group angle and take it in stride. Talk
about what went wrong and how it can be
fixed. Once you drown out the negatives with
positives, morale will slowly improve until
things are back to normal again.

Sometimes, despite doing what you think is
right, people leave the group. While this might
earth-shattering at first, remember that
feel
its not the end of the world. If people leave,
invite fresh faces to fill the empty spaces.
It sounds exhausting to have to constantly
adjust to group dynamics and act accordingly
but thats what keeps an organization alive synergy. As long as you keep its members
engaged and interested, theres a lot you can
do with very little.

Dear Marshall,
What is Water?
written by Mitch MacEachern
What is the difference between information
and knowledge? As we speak we are living
in the information age, thusly called due
to the fact that we are literally swimming in
information. As Marshall McLuhan, a Canadian
philosopher of communications theory
from the Sixties, demonstrated information
is as all-surrounding to us as water is to
fish. Therefore there is a need to understand
how to successfully migrate our aquarium of
information, and that is where knowledge comes
in. Think of it this way: Information is stuff that
has been said; knowledge is understanding the
stuff that has been said.
In the fast-paced and distracting environment
that is Ryerson University, where does the
average student find time to reflect on his or
her environment? Universities are labelled as
places of higher learning, but as institutions,
they are themselves a metaphorical
aquarium. They dont offer the student as
much reflection time as is necessary in order
for them to truly grasp their newly acquired
information. They simply play the tune: people
with Bachelors degrees are smarter than
people without them, people with Masters
degrees are smarter than bachelors and
Ph.D.s are smarter than Masters. So it
goes, as Kurt Vonnegut would say.
Perhaps a new spin on learning is necessary.
One that promotes knowledge retention as
opposed to information regurgitation. If a
student was to find value in what they learn
at school, the information they acquired

would metabolize into knowledge. Autodidacts

self-learners use their value-centric
learning strategies to harvest knowledge out of
information. Perhaps there is a way to incorporate
autodidactism into the university system.
Often the formal educational settings
arent focused on learning,says Alan Sears,
a Ryerson professor of sociology when
interviewed on autodidactism. This being,
he says, because real learning is not
institutionalized, but instead coincides with
self-reflection. There is very little claim to the
knowledge that one gains in the classroom.
The student is simply following directions
so that they can repeat it on an exam. It is
a type of alienated labour. Professor Sears
is an avid analyst of the classroom and has
written a book on education called, Retooling
the Mind Factory: Education in a Lean State.
The classroom setting seems to run very much
with capitalistic intentions: People work, not
for fulfillment, but for pay; students learn,
not for knowledge, but for grades. In order to
amend that, students need to be accountable
for what they learn. To achieve this, todays
format uses exams and grades; Professor
Sears sees tomorrows format including much
more self-reflection. He claims that people,
have a way of normalizing their everyday
experiences as a way of getting through life.
The average student simply uses education
as a meal-ticket towards a job, they find little
intrinsic value in what they learn.
This is where autodidactism comes into
play, as it has the potential to combine the

present, gradual educational system with

the self-reflective learning style entertained
by Sears. In this classroom of the future, the
student would have an augmented formal
education wherein they work out how the
information they receive is valuable to them.
They achieve this by accounting for what they
have learned in the format of self-reflection
papers that examine the whys and hows of
the information gained.
I managed to speak to several students
on campus at Ryerson and asked them the
question, Do you know what an autodidact
is? Not surprisingly, the majority said no.
After a brief explanation of the word and its
context in the university setting, the students I
spoke to were curious yet hesitant. They were
curious, because the idea opened doors for
them to truly learn and find meaning in the
information they receive at school. They were
hesitant however, because it sounded to
them like more work, and the consensus on
campus is they already feel the pressure of
the university curriculum.
An autodidact is a person that finds intrinsic
value in what they learn. They are students that
do not lemmingly do the work given to them
out of fear for grades, but rather transform
the information into an understanding that
changes the way they live their lives. To
find intrinsic value in something is to
understand it. Could you imagine a fish
understanding the water? How enlightened
an individual it would be.

34

changing
parts of
DOWNTOWN
written by | Halla Imam

In a cosmopolitan city, the sharp clinks and

shrill cries of construction equipment are all
too familiar. This is the soundtrack of change;
these physical expansions simultaneously
reflect and contribute to the development
of a community. Among the skyscrapers
and billboard signs, the Ryerson University
emblem has become a fixture in Torontos
downtown core. It is a marker of Ryersons
presence, symbolically integrated into the
cityscape. There are drawbacks, however, to
expanding within the confines of a city (lack
of space being the most obvious). Ryersons
campus expansion speaks to the cultural
impact that physical changes can have
on an environment.
The balance between asserting campus
boundaries, while respecting the established
identity of downtown Toronto has been a
focus of the universitys expansion project,

35

Why should a university take over important sites like

Sam the Record Man or Maple Leaf Gardens and
rebrand it as their own?
says urban developer Michael Bissett. Years
of planning went into understanding the
limitations that would come with expanding
Ryersons campus. The university has had
to build up and integrate with surrounding
businesses to provide student space. Weve
seen already how this has resulted in changing
parts of downtown; in my opinion, its cleaned
up a somewhat sketchy area, he says.
Bissett, a senior urban planner with Torontobased architectural firm Bousfields Inc., has
worked alongside the university in planning
development projects. Constructing campus
additions will undoubtedly impact the
downtown core, he says, but the changes
are a much needed revitalization. Not
all changes are necessarily negative, and

positive cultural changes can come from the

creative vitality from student space. Ryerson
is actively contributing to the downtown
culture, Bissett says.
Not everyone is a fan of Ryersons growth in
the downtown core. Third-year journalism
student Brian Batista-Bettencourt believes
that the universitys expansion blurs the lines
between campus and the general downtown
area. Why should a university take over
important sites like Sam the Record Man or
Maple Leaf Gardens and rebrand it as their
own? Batista-Bettencourt says. Integrating
Ryerson into the downtown environment
doesnt establish Ryersons presence;
instead, he says, it detracts from city culture.
Its confusing; there isnt a clear indication

of where campus actually exists. Instead of

appreciating certain places as a space
for Toronto, it becomes Ryerson space.
I dont need to see RU written all over the
place, he says.
Ryerson University officially announced
intentions to expand into the downtown core in
March of 2006. Ryerson University President
Sheldon Levy spoke to the Canadian Club
of Toronto, presenting Ryersons Master
Plan and the positive influences that extend
from expanding educational space. Citing
Ryerson as a city-builder, Levy was clear to
indicate that physical changes in favour of
expanding Ryersons campus would reap
rewards for Toronto as a whole. Seventy-five
per cent of Ryerson alumni stay in the GTA.
This is probably the most fundamental citybuilding: educated and creative people
with talent, energy and ideas that contribute
to progress, Levy said.

The relationship between Ryerson and the city

of Toronto is one that Shelagh McCartney, a
professor with Ryersons School of Urban and
Regional Planning, says ensures sustainable
development in the downtown core. The
emphasis on Ryerson being a city-builder,
as highlighted by Levys 2006 address,
means that university expansions will remain
conscious of the established downtown
community. More importantly, it sends a
message to the rest of the city, she says.
Developing a stronger presence downtown
has meant that Ryerson has had to work
closely with surrounding businesses and
establishments. The lack of space downtown
has pushed Ryerson to expand in creative
ways, like funding international start-up
projects. The university is helping bring
out the best of what Toronto has to
offer, says McCarthy.
The revitalization project has helped Ryerson

advance, without stripping the downtown core

of its dynamic identity, Bisset says. Ryerson
is changing what it means to develop and
expand a campus by integrating different
communities downtown. This is an exciting
time for the university, but also brings great
spirit and values to Toronto as a whole.
Despite development plans to expand
campus into the downtown core, the loss of
a Toronto-centric identity still does not sit well
with Batista-Bettencourt. Its not about me
being a student and wanting a nice campus.
This is about city culture being brought down
because a university wants to expand its brand.
Not worth it.

36

FIRST
GENERATION
STUDENTS
written by | sAMEERA Raja

Zayan Rafeek sits in the TriMentoring office at Ryerson University,
planning a mentorship schedule for first-year
students for the following week. Dressed in
uniform, a red T-shirt with the Tri-Mentoring
logo, Rafeek recalls his high school days
in Regent Park, days he tries to put behind.
In high school they talk about university as
such a scary thing. I had one teacher telling
me I wasnt going to last a semester, youre
going to drop out or work at McDonalds. It
was scary for all of us, says Rafeek, now
an engagement ambassador for the First
Generation (FG) project at Ryerson. It was
very beneficial to be part of the FG program, I
not only improved myself, but any feedback,
Id pass it onto my friends.
Only 53 per cent of first-generation students
between the ages of 18 to 24 attend postsecondary school, in stark contrast to 81

37

per cent of students whose parents also

received a post-secondary education, went
on to university or college, according to the
Canadian Millennium Scholarship foundation.
A first-generation student is a high school or
post-secondary student whose parents never
received a university or college education,
in Canada or abroad. Most first-generation
students were from low-income families,
aboriginal families or recent immigrants,
the Foundation also states. Rafeek, a thirdyear business technology management
student, was the first in his family to receive
a post-secondary education. My parents
immigrated to Canada in the 90s, and I was
born here. My dad had only attended high
school and started to work at a very young age
after my grandfather passed away. He had
to take care of nine siblings, says Rafeek. It
was a norm in their (parents) time not to have
a post-secondary education. I think thats the

biggest reason why they never went to college.

Rafeek, the second oldest of three children,
was the first high school student to be
recruited by Ryersons FG branch, over the
summer of 2011. During that summer we
had four students in the Ted Rogers (TRS)
building thats where I initially started, says
Rafeek. It was advice and then more advice:
what they couldve done, what I should do. It
was like having six mentors, having someone to
listen to me like Jennifer or Rudhra (FG program
facilitators at Ryerson University). They were
a great support system. With help from
admissions office, Ryersons First Generation
branch prepares the students before fall
semester, pairing them with a first-generation
mentor. Rafeek taught his friends and family
the skills he learned from the FG project.
After learning how OSAP works, I had to sit
my mom down and explain to her the entire
process. My brother sees me doing work in the

community. He can see me as his role model,

something I never had. Last summer, Rafeek
was the first recipient of the Graham Barton
Memorial Scholarship, and was able to train
with Muay Thai expert, Buakaw, in Thailand.
First Generation includes a range of
activities for post-secondary and secondary
students, and offers financial support
through bursaries, scholarships and grants
of up to $5000. In 2006, The Ministry of
Training, Colleges and Universities created
the First Generation Project, as a way to
help transition high school students to postsecondary schools. In 2010, FG expanded
to Ryerson through a partnership between
the Tri-Mentoring program and charitable
organization, Pathways to Education. We
have connections with at-risk communities,
where we have panel discussions. We talk
about our experiences and our different
struggles and obstacles weve overcome,

says Rafeek. For post-secondary students,

FG hosts events such as workshops for peertutoring and learning strategies.
Since the expansion, Ryerson has hosted
two more successful summer programs. In

and assistant trainer at his Muay Thai gym,

has begun to prepare for life after graduation.
If I wasnt in the pilot program, I know Id be
a completely different person. Now Im more
involved on campus, more confident about

2010 to 2011 there were 1,800 students

part of the program, last year we totaled at
2,200 students, she says. Almost all FG
students graduate, and find successful
careers, she added. Graduates often
drop-in to our office and tell us about
job opportunities, or how they want to
pursue graduate studies.
Rafeek, now a mentor to first-year students

myself, and well rounded, academically and

when it comes to extracurricular activities,
says Rafeek. Right now, Jennifer and other
facilitators are pushing me to apply for jobs
in my field, and to get out of my comfort zone.
Im excited to start applying for business
technology jobs next summer.

If I wasnt in the pilot program, I know Id be a completely

different person. Now Im more involved on campus, more
confident about myself, and well rounded, academically
and when it comes to extracurricular activities

38

failure to (come up with this project).

Students and I wanted to create a
walking robot, but we didnt have the
funding. So, what already walks? Dogs.
We already had robots that didnt
walk, so it was just natural to put them
together, Fer worn said. A search and
rescue dog wearing the harness ran up
through the audience to Fer worn as he
wrapped up his talk. Fer worn pulled a
drink out of the pouch where the dog
would normally carr y a robot. Its so
hot in here, Ferworn said as he opened
the juice bottle and took a swig.
The last speaker of the day was Alex
Fer worn, whose idea was a robot that
can be carried by a dog in a harness
and then dropped at the site where the Fe r w o r n a l s o b r o u g h t i n a b o m b
dog finds a disaster victim. The robot s u i t , a n d s e a t e d i t b e s i d e h i m
will play a video to let the sur vivor d u r i n g t h e m o r n i n g s t a l k s . L a t e r
know that help is on the way and scan o n , a T E D x R y e r s o n U p h o t o g r a p h e r
the area and send the data back to w o r e t h e s u i t w h i l e h e w e n t a r o u n d
rescuers. You have to admit youre a s h o o t i n g p h o t o s . H e d i d n t ke e p t h e
really connects with people and they
come up to you af ter wards and say just
how it did. Its a reminder that ever y
day in those little moments we can
have that impactit doesnt have to
be on a stage, he said. He now has
concrete people he can work across
disciplines with. He chatted with Poole
before and af ter her talk. There is such
a connection between mental health
and the workplace, he says.

Turning Ideas Into REALITY

Giddy with nervous

anticipation, the
TEDxRyersonU
team sat crosslegged on the
floor at our venue, the Toronto Reference
Library, for our last meeting before the
conference. It star ted with meetings
over the summer where we shared
ever y idea we could think of. We
worked on the best over the semester.
Now, our ideas would become a reality,
as our speakers and delegates shared
their own. The TEDxRyersonU graphic
designers, promoters and writers
who had described, designed and
implemented our ideas transformed
into ushers, coat check attendants
and registration table staf f at 7 a.m.
on November 23. We searched for
lanyards and gave swag bags while
swapping pleasantries with librarians.
We took in snowy jackets as fast as we
could prep hangers, navigate buttons,
zippers and mittens and slide each
jacket into a forest of winter wear.
IIt star ted snowing at 10 a.m., which

39

Written by Bethany Van Lingen

meant the librar ys Bram and Bluma

Appel salon had the delightful coziness
of sudden, fluf fy November snow. The
roofs of the buildings outside were
lightly covered in snow as engineering
professor Bala Venkatesh gave the first
talk of the day. Its per fect for snow
angels out there! a team member
enthusiastically whispered when we
came into the salon from coat check to
hear Venkatesh.
In the moments before social work
professor Jennifer Poole gave her talk,
she was sitting backstage thinking
about how ver y lucky I was to be able
to take the stuf f I teach outside the
classroom that Id expect to be in,
she says. She was also hoping she
wasnt going to trip on the way up
to t he s t a ge. S he s p oke on s an i s m,
t h e oppres s i on of p eop l e who l i ve
w i t h m ent a l heal t h i s s ues . S he s ees
s a ni s m ever ywhere: i n her home, at

di n n er with her
g i rl f riends, in
t he c lassro om
an d all over
t he
helping
p rofes s i on s . As s omeon e who selfi den t i f i es as a Mad woman, Poole
cal l ed out t he i rony t hat Somehow
i t s okay for l ovel y, p rog res s ive people
to us e hate t al k l i ke oh man, shes
crazy. That s p s ycho. Those worlds
feel to p eop l e l i ke me l i ke a kic k o n
t he s hi n . S an i s t l abel s separate
an d i s ol ate us , but Pool e c alled her
audi en ce to Cros s t he f l oor, c hange
t he p ron oun an d l et s cal l us we.

b o m b s u i t o n fo r t o o l o n g i t w e i g h s
80 pounds and traps in sweat.
Many mingled and stayed late af ter
the conference ended. Paul Mullins, a
grade 11 student from Father Redmond
Catholic Secondar y School, was one of
the delegates that lingered behind.
Mullins is working on some robotics
projects of his own. Alex Fer worn
told me I could come to Ryerson next
semester maybe and get help on my
projects, he says. The TEDxRyersonU
team cleaned up in about an hour the
stage, but still some team members
stayed behind to chat at the pared
down tables. Its hard to leave a room
of incredible people and inspiring
ideas, just like its hard to stop a
sudden November snow.

TED is about sharing ideas wor th

spreading, but until youre here, you
dont really get that youre connected
on a human level with dif ferent people
that you then want to do work with
and think with and talk with. Thats
the beauty that underlies the whole
philosophy, said Steven Murphy, dean
of the business school. One of his
best moments from the conference
was, when youve said something that

40

The best of ted

section 4

Make a
difference,
its your
job,

|Tony Conte
at TEDxRyersonU 2012 conference

32

An undergraduate degree
is now believed to be the equivalent
of a high school diploma. With so much
competition, how do you stand out? A degree
should be more than a framed piece of paper
showcased on a wall. It is the opportunity to
immerse in real-world scenarios and enrich
your undergraduate career.

The Sorority President

Make
the Most of
Your Undergrad
written by Gina Wicentowich

I went to the University of Alberta after high

school out of obligation. In September 2009,
I joined an independent, self-governed,
local sorority that was just establishing its
name. I remember being in awe of the selfassured confidence of the Alpha Psi sorority
president and her executive. This team of
eight was beginning to construct official bylaws to regulate our activities and create a
consistent structure, plan social and charity
events, develop a monetary budget and meet
with administration and business owners for
donations. That spring, they established a
relationship with Edmonton Womens Shelter
Ltd. (WIN House), which operates three
shelters that house over 400 battered women
and their children.
I was elected to the Alpha Psi executive the
following year, and was in charge of all internal
events and welcoming new members. I took
over, with careful precision, constructing by-laws
and written documents for ceremonial events
like initiations and I integrated new events like
a belly dancing class. In this position, I found
my voice. I would go on to be president of
the Alpha Psi sorority. These experiences
taught me essential skills that cannot
be taught in a classroom: the composure
needed to deal with a crisis or the
professional etiquette necessary when
sitting across from the dean of students.

The Writer

Emerson Csorba, a fourth year political

science student at the University of Alberta,
went from attending baseball practice to
having coffee with award-winning writer Omar
Mouallem. Noticing there was an absence
of comprehensive news about Edmonton
affairs, Csorba took his passion of writing and
combined it with his political science degree to
create an online media outlet, The Wanderer.
Instead of limiting his activities and focussing
on his academic field, Csorba, now editorin-chief and co-founder of The Wanderer,
realized creativity is what differentiates
you from your peers. Once you embrace
creativity, ideas start to flow uncontrollably.
That worked well for me, Csorba says. I was
forced to make difficult decisions on behalf of
teams and defend them in front of people with
wildly different interests and perspectives.
You develop by getting involved, throwing
yourself into unfamiliar territory, working
hard, completing projects and then reflecting.
You hit road bumps and they say a lot about
who you are, Csorba says. His grit and focus
brought national recognition. The Wanderer
was a finalist for Best in Edmonton at this
years Edmonton New Media Awards (Yeggies)

The Entrepreneur

Shawna Pandya, at the age of seven,

decided she would make $80 billion and
use it to solve famine, cure disease, end
war and colonize Mars within the year. Her
current ambitions are more realistic but no
less impressive. Pandya is a neurosurgery
resident and co-founder of CiviGuard, a
Silicon Valley start-up based at Singularity
Graduate University. CiviGuard uses
smartphones to improve communication
between key agencies, authorities and
civilians to save lives in crisis situations.
She is also founder and director of Step-Up,
an anti-bullying initiative.
Although she has come a long way from her
undergraduate degree, it served as the venue
for her to explore ideas. Lifes too short to
be scared of our ideas. University is one of
the best places to explore the world, not to
mention yourself. Dream big, then do. If you
ever had an idea for a business or a club,
explore that. Figure out what steps you need
to make your idea a reality, Pandya says.
During university, she ran meetings, planned
events and set the agenda for the community
Outreach and concerns committee. I realized
I wanted to be a leader who inspires others
to believe that they are capable of enacting
change, by thought and action, she says.
Follow an idea, see where it takes you and
bring the right people. Surround yourself
with people who are hard-working,
dependable, fun to work with and who
will fill in gaps without being asked.

So , bec ome a s orori t y l ea der, s t a r t
a media outlet or c rea te a s t a r t - up
enterprise. Tr y ever y t h i n g a n d c a r ve
your own path to a j ob.

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TEDxRyersonU
Best Moments &
Personal Reflections
Written by Hidie Shaheen

Individual greatness is better used when

applied to a greater scheme. This statement
could not be any more true than for
TEDxRyersonU and the work that it has been
doing on campus for the past three years.
With the explosive popularity of TED talks and
the rise of TED culture, the TEDxRyersonU
chapter has established itself as a student
group that brings together the best thinkers,
doers and listeners for its annual
conference in November.
After being part of the TEDxRyersonU team
for the past two years, I have observed how
a constant state of learning can lead to
unprecedented growth for both TEDxRyersonU
and the Ryerson student body. With each
year that passes, TEDxRyersonU has been
extending its influence on campus. With more
funding to accommodate grander campaigns,
TEDxRyersonU is seeing attendance increasing
by the hundreds with each coming year. Those
that leave our conference walk away with
a renewed sense of self and drive to apply
themselves to the fields and communities
they belong to.
I left last years ACT conference realizing that I
had one year left to complete my mission, said
Janakan Srimurugan, now a fourth year graphic

45

communications management student and

Ryerson student leader. Srimurugan has made
it his goal to graduate knowing he proactively
contributed to as many areas of the Ryerson
community as he could .
TEDxRyersonU can best be spotted on
campus through its iconic, big red X. This
year, that iconic brand has attracted the
largest organizing team in all TEDxRyersonU
history. As a student group, TEDxRyersonU

allows for multi-faculty student collaboration

all in the name of TED. The TED brand
stands for Technology, Entertainment and
Design and has but o n e s i m p l e m i s s i o n :
to share ideas wor th spreading.
Through TED talks, local and global
communities of all kinds come together
to engage in dialogue on a wide range of
topics. It is through relatable and authentic
human experiences that simple yet profound
messages are communicated to large
audiences. These messages are shared to
inspire change lives of people who watch. It is
this same model that TEDxRyersonU projects
to Ryerson and its student population.
Having a chapter of TED at Ryerson has played
a role in teaching us all about consciousness.
Consciousness is a trait that often goes
overlooked as we go about our daily routines
and get lost in the shuffle. However, being
conscious of ourselves, those around us and
the environment we live in leads to enriched
experiences that start innovative ideas. This
year the TEDxRyersonU team has consciously
evaluated their position as a student group
based on their past achievements and
has a collective goal of establishing more
permanence on campus and association

with the Ryerson identity. Through its team of

students that possess an array of skills and
qualifications , from the business savvy to the
visually talented to the eloquently spoken,
the team is exploring new channels of student
engagement that extend well beyond the one
conference we host. This publication you
are reading now is but one example of how
TEDxRyersonU is beginning to find archival
ways to communicate with Ryerson students
outside of the conference. You can expect to
see TEDxRyersonU on campus well into
the winter semester.
TEDxRyersonU has been known to attract
students who are enamoured with new ideas,
dialogue and action. The combination of
these three is powerful and can help us as
university students better navigate through

our personal, professional, academic and

social lives. By heightening our understanding
of ourselves and looking beyond the surface to
extract more substance from our experiences , we
can all grow. TEDxRyersonU as an organization
is doing the same as it continues to reach
more students in other faculties.
TEDxRyersonU is a student group that has
a profound impact on those that it touches,
whether part of the organizing team or a
conference attendee. Walking away from this
conference today, it should be evident that
one thing TED teaches us is how to harness
our own greatness and use it to contribute
to a greater scheme, whatever that
scheme may be.

46

YARA KASHLAN's
4Best moments

Over the past three years, TEDxRyersonU
is an organization that has been constantly
growing and evolving as a student group at
Ryerson University in congruence with the
TEDx brand. With a focus on ideas worth
spreading, TEDxRU has a determined aim to
spread this message on campus.
It takes time to get bigger as a group.
However, the majority of students on campus
know about TEDxRU, and what we are, says
Ramsha Naeem, marketing steering lead.
A large contributing factor to the increased
popularity of TEDxRU on campus is its
combination of guerilla and social media
marketing campaigns. Its successes can
also be translated into the influx of new
marketing committee members interested in
having a part in organizing this years TEDxRU
conference.
This year we have the largest organizing
team in TEDxRU history with members
from possibly every faculty at Ryerson.
Each member comes in contributing their
own unique skills and talents, said Hidie
Shaheen, TEDxRU digital content manager.
Both the current TEDxRU team and teams
from previous years take collective credit in
making TEDxRU what is it is today. Here are
a few of the many highlights from past and
present TEDxRU marketing campaigns.

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1. X Structure

One of the initial and most recognizable

TEDxRU marketing campaigns from previous
years was a three dimensions red X
structure. At a time when TEDxRU was still
gaining exposure and acknowledgment on
campus, the marketing team would use this
as an essential prop when engaging with
students and increasing interaction. It
was very creative, no other student group
had done such a thing before. They would
go around campus and place it in different
spots. That made students more aware of
[TEDxRU], Naeem said.

2. Projection
of TEDxRU logo at night
A new idea launched by this years marketing
committee was to have the TEDx logo
projected at night onto various buildings
on campus. It really captured peoples
attention. They would see it, and stop to
look and ask questions, Naeem said.
It was a new concept we had to try out and
test to see if (the students) would respond,
Naeem said.

3. 4 Blocks (TEDx)
Four block contain each letter of TEDx was 4. #TEDxRURaffling
Combining the TEDx Block structure with
another marketing campaign, RURaffling
is one of this years most successful
campaigns yet. The rules were simple.
Take a picture with the TEDx structure, tag
us on Twitter [and] Instagram and follow
both those platforms. It was an easy way
to get Ryerson students excited on a Monday
with the incentive of winning a $50 gift card
to the Toronto Eaton Centre, said Alexander
Wong, social media manager at TEDxRU.
Since launching our Instagram account only in
August 2013 we wanted to utilize this campaign
to make our audience be more aware of the new
social media platform, Wong said.

crafted by TEDxRUs production committee.
It is something I am very proud of. It really
captures the essence of TEDx. It shows our
teamwork. The structure was built entirely
by the production committee [at TEDxRU],
and then was passed on to the marketing
committee to spread the word and promote
(TEDxRU), Naeem said.
The blocks were located on Gould St.,
Ryersons busiest street on campus. It gave us
a physical presence on campus Shaheen said.

This was also a chance for the marketing

committee to hand out save the date
invitations promoting this years conference.
Seeing the various tweets and posts on
Instagram from the campaign truly showed
the importance of social media as we were
able to see real-time feedback from our
audiences, Wong said.
Although the creation of the magazine may
not be considered as a marketing campaign,
it is definitely an effort put forth by the
marketing committee to promote and to
continue to gain exposure. When Shaheen
was asked what she would add or change to
this years marketing strategy, she replied: In
the past, I found that a lot of the information
and content surrounding TEDxRU was very
disposable. The information would serve
its purpose for the one year and after the
conference it would evaporate. So I wanted
to create information and the content that is
archival, so it can have a legacy beyond its
specific year, Shaheen said.
The marketing committee will, without a doubt,
continue to deliver successful marketing
campaigns to promote TEDxRU on campus,
and influence the Ryerson community with
the TED spirit of sharing great ideas.

48

Ideas Worth Spreading From: Speakers Audition Event

These raw ideas may been cut from the conference, but they are still worth spreading.
Written By: Bethany Van Lingen
There are many ideas that never make
it to the TEDxRyersonU stage. Twentyeight students applied to speak at the
2013 conference and nine performed on
September 19 from 5 to 7:30 p.m. in the
Image Arts Commons. The winners were
Ayyyna Budaeva and Michelle J. Kwan.
But the raw speeches from the Ryerson
community performed only in September
are still ideas worth spreading. Here are
four highlights from the speakers audition
event.

Saad Rahman

gave a moving speech about his experiences

coming out of depression. Rahman is a
fourth year commerce student.
What if I told you that where you are today,
doesnt have to be where you are tomorrow?
The Saad that all my friends know is a very
happy person. But in high school, I was in
a very dark place. I had depression. Ive
never told anyone at this school about it
until today.
Art always helped me resurface. I used to
draw monsters and Pokmon. After high
school, every time I drew, it reminded me
of the past. I would open up a book, take
out a pencil and say, Nope, youre very bad
now, so lets close that book. You should be
learning business things now.
As I lay awake in bed one night, I realized if
I didnt draw then, I would never draw again
and I could go back to where I was before.
So, I mustered up everything I had and I
started drawing. I felt like Id come alive again.
Along with the things I have to do every day, I
am now taking a little time each day to draw.
Rahman ended his nine-minute speech
to thunderous applause and many
supportive tweets.

49

Kiran Singh,

a second year business management

student, gave a talk on purpose that was
suspenseful and meaningful.
Eighteen years ago on a dusty road, two
cars collide at an intersection. Nine people
die. A one-year-old girl in the trunk, buried
in suitcases, is not injured. The ambulance
takes the nine away. But no one comes back
for the girl.
A little while later, a car comes driving down
that same road and stops. Look, honey,
theres a baby girl right there! They take her
home and take care of her for three days.
Well, that girl is me.
Why did I deserve to live? I have no answer.
Every waking moment, every decision I
make rests on that.
I was sending resumes this summer
and spending so much time on LinkedIn
I forgot how to use Facebook. Instead
of finding out what my purpose was, I
found out something else. Purpose isnt
something to be pursued. Purpose is
something to be lived.

Ridzik Samsulhadi,

a second year social work student,

spoke on generosity.
I distributed water bottles with the Red
Cross in parks around the city on hot
days this summer. The bottles are for the
homeless people and for passersby.
There was one man who came by while I
was distributing water at Allan Gardens. He
stopped and asked me, Is this free?
Yes, its free for everyone.
I dont know why, but he took out five
dollars and gave it to me. I tried to give the
money back but he insisted. And the man
said, Thank you to me. I thought he meant

for the water.

He said, No, I mean, thank you for not
rejecting the money.
I was speechless, not because he had paid
five dollars for a water. I realized that day
when you give something away, youve been
given a gift: an unforgettable moment and a
little bit of love.

Patrick Richard Garcia,

a fifth year public health student, explained

his initiative of two years Legacies of a
Smile. Garcia sends motivational text
messages to share his positivity with his
peers. Each and every one of us can lead
that kind of initiative, he says.
In a spoken word poem, he asked the
students gathered:
What is your legacy?
We all, in some way, shape or form
create legacies.
You can develop your own legacy
By using your own imagination and creation.
I want you all to feel empowered
Because you all have something to share
That will help everyone here feel enriched.
It will take courage to accept it and lead
by example.
Together, we have our legacies for the
same purpose
To make the world a better place to the
best of our abilities.

Although these students will not be
speaking at the conference, their legacy
is still felt at Ryerson and their ideas
continue to spread.

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