Community Corner

TEDx Rosslyn Brings 'Ideas Worth Sharing' to Arlington

Inaugural event will be streamed live online Sunday.

Sunday, Rosslyn will become the focal point for "ideas worth spreading" in the greater Washington area.

TEDx Rosslyn, an independently organized event inspired by the annual Technology, Entertainment and Design conference, is sold out, but the event will be streamed online.

[TEDx Rosslyn: The Complete Schedule]

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Organizers say the event, which will feature a collection of thought leaders in various industries, technologists, journalists and others, called TEDx Rosslyn "an explicit effort" to align the area with the TED mission. The inaugural event's theme is "imagining the future."

"I imagine so much innovation. There's so much new technology, along with all the global changes that are changing the fabric of our politics and government, the way we deal with energy, the way the population keeps increasing…. There's going to be a lot of changes in the world, and a lot of research to try to keep up with that or even outpace it," Denise Robbins, who is helping organize the event, told Patch.

Find out what's happening in Clarendon-Courthouse-Rosslynwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"There are all these people who are researching what's going to happen, or even shaping the future," she said. "They see the world changing, and they're working to change that for the better."

Yoni Binstock, an Arlington man who works in "sustainability, renewable energy, gamification, technology, fundraising, and social entrepreneurship," according to his website, has been the driving force behind TEDx Rosslyn. The startup culture in the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor played into the decision to hold the event here, Robbins said.

The event will be held at the Top of the Town conference center on North 14th Street. It takes place the same weekend Rosslyn is hosting dozens of performance artists on its streets and at its parks as part of the SuperNOVA event.

[This Weekend: Rosslyn Goes SuperNOVA]

"TEDx is all about ideas, and the power of the possibilities these ideas can ignite. It's about looking at things in a new way," said Lisa Rabasca, a spokeswoman for the Rosslyn Business Improvement District, or BID, which is co-sponsoring both events.

"Rosslyn is become a setting for new thinking, new enterprises, and new experiences. And a great example of that is this SuperNOVA, because performance art challenges us to look at things in a new way."

Robbins called the scheduling "kind of an amazing coincidence." She said TEDx Rosslyn organizers would encourage their attendees to check out the performance art Friday or Saturday or during lunchtime Sunday, and she hopes festival-goers will find out about TEDx Rosslyn and watch it online.

"They seem to go together well," Robbins said. "It's pretty cool. It will be a very creative and innovative weekend."

Organizers plan to eventually put video clips of all of Sunday's speakers online, Robbins said.


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