Press Kit
TEDxHuntingValley — August 22, 2026. Cleveland's first independent community TEDx in over a decade, organized by two high school juniors.
Cleveland's first independent community TEDx in over a decade.
TEDxHuntingValley is a fully licensed, independently organized TEDx event organized by Charlie Martin and Jack Nelson, juniors at University School, with the guidance of licensed organizer Dr. Tyler Yoder.
The event follows the full standard TEDx format: live speakers, talks 12 minutes or under, no panels, no PowerPoints. Student and adult speakers share the same stage with identical introductions. No age qualifier.
All talks are filmed and published to the TEDx YouTube channel — 44 million subscribers, more than 8 billion total views. 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 ≤12 min, no panels, no PowerPoints
After event
All talks uploaded to TEDx YouTube channel
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)
5
Student speakers selected
12 min
Maximum talk length
Five ways to cover this story
The Student Contest
Any Cleveland-area high school student can apply for a spot on a globally distributed speaking platform. The deadline is May 11. The selection process is a story about ideas, not credentials. 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 juniors noticed, applied for a license, and are building 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 juniors who filed a TED license application, negotiated a venue partnership, built a media outreach program, and are running a city-wide speaker competition — all as a side project outside school.
The Coaching Arc
Five selected student speakers enter a multi-month coaching program in June and July to develop their talks. What does it look like to prepare a 16-year-old for a globally distributed stage?
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 — available by phone, email, or in person
Interviews with student applicants before May 11 (several have agreed to speak with press)
Interviews with selected speakers in early June after final selection is announced
Behind-the-scenes access through rehearsals and the coaching process (June–July)
Press credentials for the August 22 event — contact us to request
Speaker bios and talk summaries once selections are finalized in early June
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 before May 11.
tedxhuntingvalley@gmail.com · @tedxhuntingvalley
Student Speaker Contest
Any Cleveland-area high schooler can apply.
No GPA requirement. No prior speaking experience. No extracurricular list to submit. Your application is evaluated entirely on the strength and clarity of your idea.
Deadline: May 11, 2026 at 11:59 PM — Applications to tedxhuntingvalley@gmail.com