What is TEDx?

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. Our event is called TEDxSpokane, where x = independently organized TED event. At our TEDxSpokane event, TED Talks video and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events, including ours, are self-organized.

2024 Speaker Lineup

Caren Furbeyre

I am an artist and have spent my career investigating the myriad of ways that I can transform a blank surface through various paints, liquids, materials and subjects of all kinds. The one thing that hasn’t changed for me is the internal, solitary, experimental nature of my creative activity. Last year I painted a large…

Casey Pilgeram

Casey, a wife and mother of two, is a school psychologist with a decade of experience working in public schools with children ranging from pre-K through high school. Raised by her mom in Western Montana and Sandpoint, Idaho, Casey is a product of public education. At 18, Casey moved to Chicago, Illinois, where she spent…

Elisabeth Kraus

After growing up in a small-town faith community, Elisabeth went on to earn both her undergraduate and graduated degrees from Northwest University with the hope of continuing on much further in her studies. But as it does for all of us, the journey of motherhood became the most formative of her life as she navigated…

Emily Torres & Sean Barrett

Emily Torres Emily Torres has been an educator with Spokane Public Schools for 22 years. In 2016 she helped pilot a program for trauma-impacted teens and ever since has continued to incorporate a counselor-in-the-classroom approach to education. She has had the unique privilege of working alongside psychologists (Dr. Kent Hoffman Every Person has Infinite Worth…

Esteban Herevia

Esteban Herevia, he/they, served as the President and CEO of Spokane Pride – the organization that produces the Spokane Pride Parade and Festival. He served as Vice President for the United States Association of Pride Organizations and Communications Co-Chair for InterPride, the international association of Pride organizations. He co-founded Wonderfully Made Spokane, a non-profit entrusted…

Georgia Goff

Born and raised in this area, Georgia Goff has long been interested in the power of stories and how we tell them. After being diagnosed with Endometriosis, she developed a deep interest in the world of women’s issues, advocacy, and, most specifically, menstruation. Georgia Goff is a recent graduate from Whitworth University where she received…

Jonathan Middleton

Jonathan Middleton is professor of Music Theory and Composition at Eastern Washington University. He holds a DMA in music composition from Columbia University and his compositions have been recorded on the ERM and Origin Classical labels. In addition to being a modern-day classically trained composer, he is a published author for a composition textbook called…

Lance Cox

Lance has been in the death care industry for over 20 years and is a licensed funeral director, licensed embalmer, crematory operator, certified funeral celebrant, and holds a degree in Mortuary Science. He owns funeral businesses in Idaho, Washington, and Nevada. In the last two decades, he has witnessed a transformation in the way Americans…

Megan McLean

Growing up in Cle Elum, Megan was always good at playing school and enjoyed being a student. As a student at the University of Idaho, she earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and realized her love of learning. The university course catalog was a new world of knowledge, and she dabbled in architecture, art,…

Miranda McLeod

Miranda McLeod is a writer and English professor at Gonzaga University. With a BA in sociology, an MFA in fiction writing, and a PhD in contemporary ethnic American literature, she has been consumed with the human need to tell stories all her professional life. She has taught writing and literature to college students for eighteen…

Suzanne Ostersmith

Suzanne Ostersmith (MFA) founded the Academic Dance program at Gonzaga University in 2000 and presently serves as Chair. In the years since she has created the Dance Major, Minor and Interdisciplinary Arts Minor, developed the Dance Season and Presenting Series, hosted the American College Dance Association Conference for the Northwest Region, and put Gonzaga Dance…

Teri Koski

Teri is a person that loves Vietnamese food, learning, and filling out questionnaires. She has had many roles in her life, including being a social worker, performance poet, student, handywoman, mental health advocacy volunteer, pet mom, and yard sale enthusiast. She has several pieces of paper that say she is smart, can follow instructions and…