Ideas worth spreading — from the thinkers, builders, and problem-solvers shaping what comes next at ASU and across Arizona.
"ASU leads the nation in innovation. TEDxASU is where that story gets told — by the people living it."
Innovation isn't a buzzword at ASU. It's someone building a startup between classes, solving a global problem at 2am, or a single conversation that reframes everything. TEDxASU gives that culture a stage — a one-day pop-up closing out AZ Tech Week with the ideas that will shape what's next. One stage. One day. No encore.
Every TEDxASU talk begins with a question worth sitting with. Here are some of the ideas coming to our stage on April 12.
"What does the world's most-watched media machine teach us about what people actually need?"
After years inside the most-followed creator ecosystem on the planet, what becomes clear about how ideas spread — and what gets in the way of human connection at scale?
"What happens to a person — and a society — that has forgotten how to pause?"
A Cuban refugee who arrived in the U.S. at age three. Medical school at 23. A career built on what happens when you resist the urgent in service of the important.
"How do you build something that matters — starting from nothing but a screen and an idea?"
A current ASU student who discovered that storytelling, curiosity, and a willingness to experiment can build something that reaches tens of millions of people.
"What does AI transformation actually demand of leadership — and are we honest about the answer?"
The gap between what companies say about AI adoption and what actually happens inside them is where most transformation fails. A Phoenix-based executive on what closing that gap requires.
"Can a story save a life — and does the law know that yet?"
After four decades in courtrooms, what emerges is a belief that redemption isn't an exception to the system. It might be the whole point of it.
"You're going to run out of time. Are you spending it the way you'd choose?"
A Scottsdale-based technologist who stopped avoiding the question and started asking it out loud — about his career, his family, and what he actually believes matters.
TEDxASU brings together a diverse mix of voices — students, faculty, founders, and practitioners — united by one criterion: an idea worth spreading.
A Cuban refugee who founded his Phoenix-area surgical practice at 27. Nearly 50,000 procedures. A bestselling book. And a perspective on delayed gratification shaped by a lifetime of patient, deliberate work.
"What happens when you choose depth over speed?"
Years spent inside the world's largest creator ecosystem gave Antony a unique vantage point on Gen Z, mental health, and the forces shaping how young people understand themselves. Now he's building something to address what he found.
"What does scale teach us about human need?"
Currently a student at ASU majoring in Business. Also a YouTube creator, scriptwriter, narrator, and published author who found that curiosity and experimentation — not credentials — are what open doors.
"What can you build before you graduate?"
Scottsdale-based former C-suite leader who guided a 37-year health tech company through full digital transformation. Co-founder of Backstack.io. Vistage Chair leading an executive peer group in Greater Phoenix.
"Where does AI transformation actually break down?"
Attorney since 1981. More than 100 cases tried. His TEDx talks on redemption and reinvention have reached audiences around the world, exploring what it means to be given — or give — a second chance.
"What does redemption actually require of us?"
A tech marketer known for asking the questions most professionals avoid. As a father, a builder, and someone who once considered himself immortal — he's started examining how time is spent, not just managed.
"Are you living the life you'd actually choose?"
Six times a sales leader. Five times a founder. Advisor to startups from their earliest stages through exit. Known for his direct, experience-first approach to building companies from the ground up.
"What does building actually take — beyond the pitch?"
Built a care franchise from zero to one of the UK's most recognised elder care networks. Regular contributor to BBC and Sky News on the workforce challenges reshaping how society cares for its aging population.
"Who takes care of the people who take care of everyone else?"
Honors Global Management student at ASU's W.P. Carey School and Thunderbird School of Global Management. Proof that the ideas worth spreading don't wait for a diploma.
"What do students see that everyone else has stopped noticing?"
A leading voice in leadership development, known for reaching executives and emerging leaders with a message about what it genuinely takes to show up — for others and for yourself.
"What does real leadership ask of you?"
Building the next generation of learning technology from the ground up — while also teaching, writing, and sitting on boards that shape how institutions adapt to what learners actually need.
"What does learning need to become?"
Rethinking a category that most people take for granted — human connection and the rituals we use to express what matters most to the people we care about.
"What would change if we were more deliberate about how we connect?"
Operating at the intersection of capital, enterprise technology, and the infrastructure reshaping how companies and communities transact, organise, and grow.
"What does the next layer of the internet change about power?"
Every speaker, every detail — chosen with care. We don't settle for good enough.
We say what we mean. The ideas on stage are real — chosen because they matter, not because they're safe.
Over ⅓ of our speakers are students or faculty. We built this for our community because we belong to it.
TEDxASU didn't begin with a budget or a blueprint. It began with a group of ASU students who believed the ideas being built at this university deserved a bigger stage than a classroom.
So we built one — student-organized, volunteer-driven, and TED-licensed. Every talk is curated around a single question: is this idea worth spreading?
Over ⅓ of our speakers are students or faculty. The rest are practitioners — founders, executives, doctors, and makers — who have something genuine to say about what comes next.
This is a pop-up — the official closing event of AZ Tech Week. One day. One stage. No next year to wait for. An invitation to sit with ideas that may stay with you long after April 12.
"In the spirit of ideas worth spreading."
I first encountered a TEDx event as an attendee. I walked in not knowing what to expect — and walked out with a completely different sense of what was possible for me.
That experience didn't just introduce me to new ideas. It helped me discover skills I didn't know I had and opened doors I hadn't known to look for. I wanted to build that for other people.
TEDxASU started as a belief that the ideas being built at this university — by students, by faculty, by the people working on hard problems every day — deserved a stage equal to the work.
We are not a polished institution. We are a team of students who said yes to something bigger than we fully understood, and then figured it out together. Every setback made us more certain this was worth doing.
April 12 is for everyone who ever sat in a room and thought: I have something worth saying. We hope this is the room where they say it.
We are students. We have classes, deadlines, and all the normal pressures of university life. And we chose to add this.
Not because it was easy — it wasn't. But because we believe that ASU leads the nation in innovation and that the people making that true deserve to be heard beyond a classroom or a conference room.
Over a third of the speakers you'll hear on April 12 are students or faculty. That was a deliberate choice. We are not here to import ideas from somewhere else. We are here to show what is already being built here.
We spent months cold-calling, organizing, problem-solving, and learning what it actually takes to produce something real. We disagreed, regrouped, and kept going. The resilience this process demanded of us has been its own kind of education.
TEDxASU is our sincere attempt to create something worthy of the TED stage — built entirely by the people it is meant to serve.
We hope you feel that on April 12.
TEDxASU is independently organized. These talks aren't polished corporate keynotes or panel discussions — they're a full day with people who have spent years inside a problem and have something specific to say about it. Spend the day, follow the ideas, and connect with the community building what's next in Arizona.
ASU leads the nation in innovation. The people on this stage are the ones making that true. Come hear them think out loud.
One day. 13+ speakers. The official closing event of AZ Tech Week. Student-organized. Independently produced. April 12, Mesa, Arizona.