Last week PoliticsUnder30 brought you the livestream of the TEDxPotomac conference. I was lucky enough to be able to attend the event myself. I had an amazing time at the conference, and haven’t stopped talking about it, which led me to write this post…

TEDx was a daylong conference comprised of four sessions. The speakers ranged from Craig Newmark, the founder of Craigslist.org, to Alexandra Cousteau, the granddaughter of Jacques-Yves Cousteau and the founder of Blue Legacy International.

If I were to write about all of the speakers at TEDx, you would be reading for about three days because they were all seriously amazing. So no offence to any speaker in particular, because I did truly love them all, but I’m just going to write about one speaker that I found particularly interesting from each session.

Session 1 – Lush Language

Josh Sundquist – 1MT1MT: One More Thing, One More Time

Just going to throw it out there, Josh Sundquist was my favorite speaker at TEDx. He had the entire room laughing, instantly sobered us with the somber parts of his story, and then had us laughing with him again. Josh is a shining example of as he said it, when something bad happens, you have a choice to how you respond to it. When Josh lost his leg to cancer, instead of letting it ruin his life, he has been able to accomplish things that he wouldn’t have been able to if he had two legs, like being a Paralympic ski racer. To have an entire room full of people fully engaged in every world you are saying is truly a feat, but because of Josh’s amazing story and his liveliness in telling it, we were all hanging on every word.

Session 2 – Undaunted Esteem

Roshini Thinakaran – Joining Forces

Roshini is the founder of Women at the Forefront, which is a multimedia company focused on social, political, and economic challenges faced by women in conflict zones. Roshini’s speech was one of the more serious ones, but it was still very moving. She spoke about her travels throughout the Middle East, and the very real dangers and oppositions that women in that region still face. Roshini’s incorporation of her own personal experiences in the Middle East made the speech truly come alive.

Session 3 – Urban Alchemy

Yoko K – Organic Electronica: Elixir of Harmony

“We are the proof that love does exist across ethnic divisions.” Yoko has had people from all over the world record that line in their native tongue. She then mixes the dialog into her organic electronica music. During the conference, Yoko had two audience members record that line and then she mixed it with some of the 70+ other languages she has recorded. Just listening to all the different languages come together in one melodic mixture was very moving. Yoko uses projects such as that one to promote social change.

Session 4 – Indispensable I/O

Colin Beavan – To Hell with Sustainability

Colin, his wife, and his daughter went off the grid for a year, in the middle of New York City. Why would a family want to give up all the luxuries and amenities that technology has provided us with? Colin believes that we need to redefine progress. Just because there is less bad does not mean that there is more good. Instead of making things that can last longer, let’s make things that have less of an environmental impact over time. With his non-profit, The No Impact Project, Colin helps citizens choose happier more sustainable lives. And if Colin can do it in the middle of New York City, can’t we all reduce our impact?

These four speakers were absolutely amazing, but honestly, so were all the other speakers. Patrick Smith and the entire TEDxPotomac team did a wonderful job organizing the conference. Check out the Twitter Page to see what people are still saying about TEDxPotomac.