Tickets go on sale Monday, Oct. 7, for the second TEDxVirginiaTech event to be held on Nov. 9 at the newly opened Center for the Arts.

Tickets can be purchased online or by calling the Center for the Arts box office at 540-231-5300. General admission seating prices are $10 for students and $20 for faculty, staff, and general public. The ticket price includes full access to the speaker presentations and TEDxVirginiaTech Lab.

Sixteen speakers will share inspiring and thought-provoking ideas worth spreading around the theme of “Beyond Boundaries.” The event will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a networking event afterward to meet the speakers and continue conversations inspired by the program.

New for 2013, the TEDxVirginiaTech Lab – presented by the Roanoke Blacksburg Technology Council – will showcase collaborative research and innovation by Virginia Tech students, faculty, and industry partners. During the event breaks and lunch period, event attendees can experience technological advances and groundbreaking research that will transform our society. Applications are now being accepted to participate in The Lab and will be reviewed and approved on a rolling basis until the space is full.

Steve Matuszak of Christiansburg, Va., a doctoral student in the management program at the Virginia Tech Pamplin College of Business will serve as emcee for the speaking program this year. Matuszak was one of the featured speakers at the inaugural TEDxVirginiaTech event, focusing his talk on “The Art of Improvisation: Preparing to be Unprepared.”

TEDxVirginiaTech is presented by Virginia Tech’s Center for Instructional Development and Educational Research, Institute for Creativity Arts and Technology, and University Relations. Visit the TEDxVirginiaTech websiteFacebook page, and Twitter page for additional information.

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California almost 30 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. The two annual TED Conferences invite the world's leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes on a diverse mix of topics. Many of these talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. 

TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The TED2014 Conference will take place in Vancouver, British Columbia, along with the TEDActive simulcast in neighboring Whistler. 

TEDGlobal 2014 will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 

TED's media initiatives include TED.com, where new TED Talks are posted daily; the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as translations from volunteers worldwide; the educational initiative TED-Ed; and TEDBooks, short e-books on powerful ideas. 

TED has established the annual TED Prize, where exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world get help translating their wishes into action; TEDx, which supports individuals or groups in hosting local, self-organized TED-style events around the world; and the TED Fellows program, helping world-changing innovators from around the globe to amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)

Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.

 Written by Melissa Richards.
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