The Invisible Engine: The Forces We Forget
Cleveland's first independent community TEDx in over a decade. Twelve voices, one stage, ideas that reach 44 million people.
Event essentials
Event essentials- Date
- August 22, 2026
- Doors open
- 12:30 PM
- Talks begin
- 1:00 PM
- Venue
- Gund Auditorium University School (Hunting Valley Campus)
- Address
- 2785 SOM Center Road Hunting Valley, OH 44022
Save the date
Countdown to August 22
Directions & parking
Gund Auditorium sits on the University School campus in Hunting Valley, about a 30-minute drive east of downtown Cleveland. Free on-site parking is planned on campus, with the exact lot and entrance directions shared ahead of the event. Watch for volunteer and signage guidance to the lot nearest Gund Auditorium on event day.
Seating is intimate. Be first in line.
Gund Auditorium is intentionally small, and TED licensing keeps the room that way. Demand will outpace the seats available.
Join the interest list and we will alert you the moment seats are released, before they go public.
Join the seat interest list
Drop your email and you will be the first to hear when tickets go live. No spam, just one heads-up when seats open.
Cleveland hasn't had an independent community TEDx in over a decade.
The last one was June 2015. More than ten years passed with no public ideas platform of this kind in one of the Midwest's most idea-rich cities. Two high school juniors noticed, and decided to stop waiting.
Voices on one stage
Six adult speakers and six student speakers, no age qualifier
Years since Cleveland's last public TEDx
The last independent community TEDx in Cleveland was June 2015
Seats available
Intimate by design, per TED licensing
Day that changes the conversation
August 22, 2026 at Gund Auditorium, University School
The platform behind every talk
TEDx YouTube subscribers
Every talk from our stage reaches a global audience
Total TEDx views worldwide
Across 241,000+ published talks
TEDx events since 2009
In over 160 countries around the world
Maximum talk length
Every idea, distilled to its essence
In the press
In the pressSignal Cleveland
May 7, 2026
Greater Cleveland students invited to apply to give Ted Talks
Two local students are bringing Ted Talks to Greater Cleveland for the first time in more than a decade, and this time high schoolers will be giving the talks.
Read articleAxios Cleveland
April 30, 2026
TEDx event is coming to Hunting Valley in August
It's the first fully licensed independent community TEDx in Cleveland in over a decade, and it's being organized by two high schoolers.
Read articleCleveland.com
April 2026
Students revive Cleveland-area TEDx, open speaker applications to local teens
Two University School juniors are organizing TEDxHuntingValley, the first independent, community-led TEDx in Cleveland since 2015.
Read articleCleveland Jewish News
April 2026
Applications deadline for TEDxHuntingValley: May 11
Two University School juniors are organizing TEDxHuntingValley, the first independent, community-led TED event in Cleveland since 2015.
Read articleWFMJ
April 2026
Mahoning Valley students sought for TED event in Cleveland area
Two University School juniors are organizing TEDxHuntingValley, the first independent, community-led TEDx in Cleveland since 2015.
Read articleTHISISCLE
Spring 2026
Featured in the THISISCLE weekly Cleveland roundup
TEDxHuntingValley was featured in THISISCLE's weekly roundup of what's happening around Cleveland, which pointed its audience to the new local TEDx.
Read articleThe Invisible Engine:
The Forces We Forget
The most powerful forces in our lives are the ones we never consciously acknowledge. The algorithm quietly narrowing what you think is possible. Gut bacteria influencing your mood in ways your brain does not control. Compound interest running silently behind every financial decision.
Something powerful is running in the background of everything. The talk's job is to make it visible.
“A high schooler's idea is held to the exact same standard as anyone else's.” Charlie Martin, co-organizer
Example talks this theme could generate
The gut-brain axis
How the microbiome shapes mood, cognition, and identity in ways medicine is only beginning to map.
Algorithmic redlining
How recommendation systems replicate and amplify historical housing discrimination in ways their designers never intended.
The compound effect of small advantages
Why a 1% edge, repeated daily, produces outcomes that look like talent, and why it matters who starts with it.
Institutional memory
How organizations forget what they know, and the hidden mechanisms that determine what gets remembered and what gets erased.
The theme is broad by design. It works across biology, economics, psychology, technology, and social systems. The connecting thread is always the same: what's the invisible force, and why does it matter that most people never see it?
Twelve voices.
One stage.
Six adult speakers. Six student speakers. No age qualifier, no asterisk. Bios and talks are revealed as each speaker is confirmed.
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 TEDxHuntingValley, where x = independently organized TED event. At our TEDxHuntingValley event, TEDTalks 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.
Explore the TEDx programAbout TED
TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to ideas worth spreading, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or fewer) delivered by today's leading thinkers and doers. Many of these talks are given at TED conferences, intimate TED salons, and thousands of independently organized TEDx events around the world. Videos of these talks are made available, free, on TED.com and other platforms.
Visit TED.comTwo students noticed Cleveland was missing something. So they built it.
TEDxHuntingValley exists because two high school students realized Cleveland had gone more than a decade without an independent community TEDx, and decided to stop waiting for someone else to bring it back.
They applied for the TED license themselves, found a venue, and built a stage where a high schooler's idea is held to the exact same standard as anyone else's. This is that event.
Charlie Martin
Co-Organizer
University School, Class of 2027
Short bio coming soon.
Jack Nelson
Co-Organizer
University School, Class of 2027
Short bio coming soon.
The road to August 22
Spring 2026(completed)
Speaker applications reviewed and the lineup selected
Summer 2026
Speaker coaching and talk development
August 22, 2026
TEDxHuntingValley at Gund Auditorium, University School
After the event
Every talk published to the TEDx YouTube channel
Can't get a seat? Watch from anywhere.
Every talk from our stage is filmed and published to the TEDx YouTube channel after the event, where it reaches a global audience for free, forever.
Sign up and we will email you the moment the talks go live, so you never have to hunt for the link.
Livestream details coming soon.
Notify me when the talks publish
One email when the talks go up on YouTube. That is it.
@tedxhuntingvalley
August 22, 2026 · Gund Auditorium
Be in the room when the lights go up.
Twelve voices, one stage, and an intentionally intimate room. Join the list and you will be the first to know the moment seats are released.
Seating at Gund Auditorium is intentionally limited. Questions to tedxhuntingvalley@gmail.com.