Due to an expired license, the organizers of TEDxCSUSM had to postpone the event which was scheduled for Saturday, March 23.

“Everything was ready, speakers were on board, we got all the logistics ready, but then we found that that the TEDx license was expired, so we couldn’t make it,” said Quanjun Sun, marketing coordinator of the TEDxCSUSM team.

According to Sun, it takes eight weeks to renew a TEDx license. Tedx is an independently organized event licensed by the TED corporation. In order to comply with the TED rules, a university hosting a TEDx event must have an up-to-date license.

“We feel really sorry for the people who were expecting the show, the event … we [TEDxCSUSM team] were excited, too, and then we found out we made a huge mistake about not renewing the license,” said Sun.

Rather than postponing the event after the eight weeks, which would be at the end of the semester nearing finals, Sun said that the TEDxCSUSM team is postponing the event to the beginning of next semester, although a date has not been finalized.

“We don’t want to pull people’s attention away from finals,” he said.

The event’s theme, “Press to Restart,” layout and production of the event will remain the same, according to Sun. He also said that the TEDxCSUSM speakers were understanding of the situation and that they are still on board to give their TED-like talks next semester.

The expected speakers are Alex Banaga, Heather Conklin, Jeff Mata, Misti Cain and Dr. Greg Reid.

A minor change to the event might include sponsorship because there might be more opportunity to gather sponsors for next semester. Currently, the team has individual sponsors who donate money on behalf of themselves, but the team is looking for more sponsors to cover the costs of the event.

Sun also said that people have been contacting the team about volunteering and for information about the event.

“They’ve been supportive. We wish…  [for] those people to keep following us until next semester,” he said.

The TEDxCSUSM team is looking for volunteers to assist on the day of the event.

“We’ve had a lot of setbacks ever since we started TEDx, but we are not giving up. None of us were ready to give up,” said Sun.  

He said that the TEDxCSUSM Vice President, Sean Heller, a CSUSM alumnus, wants to make TEDxCSUSM a legacy on campus. The current board wants to pass down TEDxCSUSM to other students and encourage students interested in TEDxCSUSM to contact the team to assemble a new board for a future TEDxCSUSM event.

To learn more about the event, expected speakers and updates visit the TEDxCSUSM website at tedxcsusm.weebly.com. Students interested in volunteering should email the TEDxCSUSM team at [email protected].