Sixteen speakers voiced their views on science, health and technology based on their unique areas of expertise at last week’s TEDx Hayward event.

CSU East Bay’s Associated Students Inc., in partnership with Stanford University’s Peace Innovation Lab, held their second TEDx Hayward conference in the New Union’s multipurpose room last Friday.

“Every speaker brings a theme to talk about at the event and somehow every talk becomes connected to each other by the end,” said Peter Kim, a member of CSUEB’s American Marketing Association and an organizer of TEDx Hayward.

TEDx is an independently organized event under the international organization TED, a non-profit organization dedicated to conducting annual conferences featuring speakers with expert knowledge in their field, according to the TED web page.

This year’s theme was based on Applied Peace Innovation, a concept that looks to combine health, society and business to promote equality and fairness in political relationships internationally, reads their web page. The goal is to broaden the minds of all in attendance.

“The process itself was getting the right team in place. Dr. Martin was actually the main bridge of putting Tedx together,” said Kim. “He brought the project to the American Marketing Association back in November and we started the planning process and brought on other team members who all played major roles in putting TEDx together.”

Scheduled speakers included Jim Doty, the director for the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford University School of Medicine. Doty spoke on his more recent research ideas, which focus on the development of technologies to treat solid tumors and other pathologies in the brain and spinal cord.

Yet another speaker, Jennifer Eagan, a professor of Philosophy and Public Affairs and Administration here at CSUEB, spoke on her recent writings that focus on power and the body as they intersect and affect social governance.

“I came to hear about the health and sciences since that is a part of my major,” said Tori Rosales, a junior at CSUEB. “I really like TED talks, I watch them online at home because they really engage me and teach me so much about the things I really care about.”

Although a six hour lecture series may seem like a lifetime to sit and broaden one’s mind, the attendees were actually able to come and go as they pleased while TEDx Hayward organizers continued the program, offering attendees several breaks as well as snacks.

“There were slightly more attendees this year because we did a better job of letting people know about the TEDx event,” said Kim. “We had flyers on campus, and we were tabling, emailing and using word of mouth. We basically did everything we could to let people know about the event.”

TEDx Hayward had over 200 attendees this year, and on average 60 attendees were sitting and listening throughout the lectures, said Kim.

“Hopefully next year we can have another TEDx event here, and more people can come and we can all take greater strides towards global awareness,” said Kim.