Press Kit
TEDxHuntingValley, August 22, 2026. Cleveland's first independent community TEDx in over a decade, organized by two high school students. Every talk is now online.
Cleveland's first independent community TEDx in over a decade.
TEDxHuntingValley was a fully licensed, independently organized TEDx event, organized by Charlie Martin and Jack Nelson, students at University School, with the guidance of licensed organizer Dr. Tyler Yoder.
The event followed the full standard TEDx format: live speakers, no panels, no PowerPoints. Student and adult speakers shared the same stage with identical introductions. No age qualifier.
All twelve talks and the complete event recording were published to YouTube on September 3, 2026. A local idea, if it's good enough, reaches a global audience for free, forever.
Event at a glance
Date
August 22, 2026
Venue
Gund Auditorium, University School Hunting Valley, Ohio
Audience
100 attendees (TED licensing cap)
Theme
"The Invisible Engine: The Forces We Forget"
Format
Live speakers, talks ≤18 min, no panels, no PowerPoints
Talks
All twelve published to YouTube, September 3, 2026
Contact
tedxhuntingvalley@gmail.com
The numbers
44M
TEDx YouTube subscribers
8B+
Total TEDx talk views
10+
Years since Cleveland's last independent community TEDx
100
Seats (TED licensing cap)
12
Voices on one stage, six adult and six student
18 min
Maximum talk length
Coverage
CoverageFOX 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 articleFive ways to cover this story
Students on the Same Stage
Six student speakers earned their spots on a globally distributed platform through an open competition, judged on ideas rather than credentials. They share the stage with six accomplished adults, introduced exactly the same way. What are teenagers in Cleveland thinking about in 2026?
The Cleveland Gap
Cleveland's last independent community TEDx was June 2015. More than a decade passed with no public ideas platform of this kind. Two high school students noticed, applied for a license, and built one from scratch.
The Equal Stage Model
At TEDxHuntingValley, a student speaker is not introduced as a student. They are introduced as a TEDxHuntingValley speaker, identical to every adult on the same stage. No age qualifier. No asterisk. An idea is an idea.
The Organizers
Two high school students who filed a TED license application, negotiated a venue partnership, built a media outreach program, ran a city-wide speaker competition, and hosted the day, all as a side project outside school.
The Coaching Arc
Six selected student speakers went through a multi-month coaching program over the summer to develop their talks. What did it take to prepare a high schooler for a globally distributed stage? The results are online.
Organizer quotes
“This is not a school showcase. A high school junior's idea is held to the exact same standard as anyone else's. Students and adults share the same stage with the same introduction. That is what makes it worth doing.”
“We kept asking why Cleveland didn't have this anymore. We couldn't find a good answer. So we decided to stop waiting for someone else to fix it and just build it ourselves. If the idea is good enough, it doesn't matter how old you are.”
What we can provide
Interviews with organizers Charlie Martin and Jack Nelson, by phone, email, or in person
Introductions to any of the twelve speakers for follow-up interviews
Embeddable video of every talk and the complete event recording, free to use
High-resolution event photography, on request
Speaker bios, headshots, and one-line talk summaries (see /talks)
The full story of how two students licensed, funded, and ran the event
Get in touch
Charlie Martin and Jack Nelson are available for interviews by phone, email, or in person. We respond to every press inquiry. A 10-minute call is available to walk any journalist through the full story of the event.
tedxhuntingvalley@gmail.com · @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