Student Speaker13:40
They Wrote Back: The World Is More Reachable Than You Think
Ethan Shneyderman · Junior, Mayfield High School
TEDxHuntingValley 2026 · All twelve talks now online
The Invisible Engine: The Forces We Forget
Cleveland's first independent community TEDx in over a decade happened on August 22, 2026. Six students and six adults, one stage, one standard. Every talk is now free to watch, forever.
August 22, 2026Gund Auditorium, University SchoolHunting Valley, Ohio
That's a wrap. Thank you, Cleveland.
Now streaming
Every talk. Free, forever.
All twelve talks from August 22 are on the TEDxHuntingValley YouTube channel. Press play on any of them, or watch the whole day start to finish.
The complete event · 4:22:20 · The complete event: the cold open by comedian Ricky Smith, six student talks, six adult talks, the hosts' Q&A with every speaker, and the closing.
Jump to any chapterSession 1
Student speakersStudent Speaker15:20
Feed Billions, Kill Millions: The Tragedy of Fritz Haber
Jackson Sarver · Senior, Aurora High School
Student Speaker15:25
Where Do We Draw the Line? Gerrymandering and Democracy
Claire Witalec · Rising junior, Laurel School
Student Speaker16:17
The Human Cost of Convenience: How Efficiency Erodes Empathy
Priyasha Ghosal · Sophomore, Hawken School
Student Speaker13:44
The Ads on Your Phone Are Making You Mow Your Lawn
Gage Martin · Senior, Louisville High School
Student Speaker17:16
It’s About What You Say, Not How You Say It
James Mason Jr. · Senior, University School
Session 2
Adult speakersSpeaker25:35
You’ll See It When You Believe It
Nic Barlage · CEO, Cleveland Cavaliers & Rock Entertainment Group
Speaker13:54
Breaking Out
Brandon Chrostowski · Founder, President & CEO, EDWINS Leadership & Restaurant Institute
Speaker14:30
Are You a Battery Charger?
Marc Byrnes · Chairman Emeritus, Oswald Companies
Speaker14:44
Before the Applause
Laila Edwards · Olympic gold medalist, U.S. Women's National Ice Hockey Team
Speaker23:07
The Infrastructure of Possibility
Jeff Epstein · President and CEO, Port of Cleveland
Speaker46:10
EQ: The Difference Maker in Winning High-Stakes Engagements
Fred Nance · Senior Partner, Squire Patton Boggs
Why this matters
Cleveland went without an independent community TEDx for 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 students noticed, decided to stop waiting, and on August 22, 2026 the gap closed.
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Talks now online
Six adult speakers and six student speakers, no age qualifier
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Years since Cleveland's last public TEDx
The last independent community TEDx in Cleveland was June 2015
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Seats in the room
Intimate by design, per TED licensing
Aug 22
The day it happened
2026, Gund Auditorium, University School
The platform behind every talk
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TEDx YouTube subscribers
The global audience every talk from our stage can reach
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Total TEDx views worldwide
Across 241,000+ published talks
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TEDx events since 2009
In over 160 countries around the world
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Maximum talk length
Every idea, distilled to its essence
In the press
In the pressFOX 8 News Cleveland
August 21, 2026
New Day Cleveland: TEDxHuntingValley
Charlie Martin and Jack Nelson joined FOX 8's New Day Cleveland the day before the event to talk about bringing an independent TEDx back to Cleveland and putting students and adults on the same stage.
Read articleCanton Repository
August 19, 2026
Louisville High School senior to take part in Cleveland-area TED Talk
Louisville High School senior Gage Martin will be among six high schoolers slated to speak at a Cleveland-area TED Talk.
Read articleWKYC 3News
August 18, 2026
17-year-old University School seniors bring TEDxHuntingValley to Greater Cleveland
Charlie Martin and Jack Nelson spent two years organizing the independent TEDx event, overcoming two rejections along the way.
Read articleCleveland.com
August 18, 2026
How 2 NE Ohio high school students organized a high-powered TEDx program
A simple sticker on the side of a computer sparked two high school students to organize a TEDx Talk at University School.
Read articleAkron Beacon Journal
August 15, 2026
What I learned about the power of a handwritten letter (Opinion)
A guest column by TEDxHuntingValley student speaker Ethan Shneyderman, selected to speak after years of exchanging handwritten letters with world leaders, diplomats, and organizations across the globe.
Read articleCleveland.com
August 2026
Meet some real Chagrin Falls characters (Valley Views)
TEDxHuntingValley got a shoutout in cleveland.com's Valley Views community column ahead of the August 22 event at Gund Auditorium.
Read articleSignal 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 TEDxHunting Valley May 25
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 article2026 ThemeThe Invisible Engine:
The Invisible Engine:
The Forces We Forget
The theme came from one question: what is your why? Nobody ever answers with the trophy, the title, or the money. It is always something you would never see from the outside.
Twelve speakers took that question somewhere different: a lawn, a port, a prison kitchen, a gold-medal game, a gerrymandered map, six hundred letters. Something powerful was running in the background of every one of them. The talk's job was to make it visible.
“A high schooler's idea is held to the exact same standard as anyone else's.” Charlie Martin, co-organizer
Twelve talks, one theme
- 01They Wrote Back: The World Is More Reachable Than You ThinkEthan Shneyderman
- 02Feed Billions, Kill Millions: The Tragedy of Fritz HaberJackson Sarver
- 03Where Do We Draw the Line? Gerrymandering and DemocracyClaire Witalec
- 04The Human Cost of Convenience: How Efficiency Erodes EmpathyPriyasha Ghosal
- 05The Ads on Your Phone Are Making You Mow Your LawnGage Martin
- 06It’s About What You Say, Not How You Say ItJames Mason Jr.
- 07You’ll See It When You Believe ItNic Barlage
- 08Breaking OutBrandon Chrostowski
- 09Are You a Battery Charger?Marc Byrnes
- 10Before the ApplauseLaila Edwards
- 11The Infrastructure of PossibilityJeff Epstein
- 12EQ: The Difference Maker in Winning High-Stakes EngagementsFred Nance
The LineupTwelve voices.
Twelve voices.
One stage.
Six adult speakers. Six student speakers. No age qualifier, no asterisk. Every talk is now online.
About TEDx
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.comMeet the organizers
Two 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, ran a city-wide speaker competition, and built a stage where a high schooler's idea was held to the exact same standard as anyone else's. On August 22, 2026, it happened. This was that event.
Charlie Martin
Co-Organizer & Licensed Organizer
University School, Class of 2027 · Pepper Pike
Charlie set out to find whether a high school student could bring an independent, non-university TEDx back to Cleveland after more than a decade. He applied for and holds the TED license, and with Jack built the event from the venue to the speaker competition to the stage.
Jack Nelson
Co-Organizer
University School, Class of 2027 · Twinsburg
Jack co-organized and co-hosted TEDxHuntingValley, running the speaker search across Greater Cleveland, the summer coaching program for the six student speakers, and the day itself alongside Charlie.
The timeline
How it happened
Spring 2026(completed)
TED license granted; open student speaker competition across Greater Cleveland
May 2026(completed)
Applications closed and the twelve-voice lineup selected
Summer 2026(completed)
Speaker coaching and talk development
August 22, 2026
TEDxHuntingValley at Gund Auditorium, University School
September 3, 2026(completed)
All twelve talks and the complete event published to YouTube
Follow Along
@tedxhuntingvalley
That's a wrap · August 22, 2026 · Gund Auditorium
Twelve ideas left the room. Now they're yours.
Thank you to every speaker, every volunteer, and everyone who filled the seats. All twelve talks are free on YouTube. Watch one, then send it to the person it made you think of.
Press inquiries or a note for the organizers: tedxhuntingvalley@gmail.com