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The sounds from an organ and a chorus of opera singers serenaded the auditorium of about 500 people.
An artist stood nearby, his paintbrush stroking the canvas as he interpreted the music.
The performance was one of 19 presentations during the second TEDxUCLA, a conference put on by UCLA Extension on Saturday.
TEDx events are independently organized, inspired by the internationally known TED talks ““ nonprofit conferences dedicated to “ideas worth sharing.”
TEDxUCLA took the same format as other TEDx and TEDTalks with 18-minute speeches from artists, professors and other members from UCLA and the greater Los Angeles community.
Scott Hutchinson, a program director at UCLA Extension who organized the event, said the inspiration to host a TED event at UCLA stemmed from his involvement with the university as an alumnus and instructor.
“UCLA’s hosting a lot of really exciting people doing really interesting things that should be heard, and a lot of what happens at UCLA affects (Los Angeles) directly,” he said.
Hutchinson and a team of his coordinators personally chose the speakers for the event, he said.
“We strayed away from people who were more professional speakers and chose people who we thought really understood TED and the ideas we’re sharing,” he said.
The various speakers sparked laughter and quiet contemplation from the audience as they watched presentations on a variety of topics.
During an interactive speech by Amy Rowat, UCLA assistant professor of integrative biology and physiology, audience members got pieces of chocolate and different samples of gelatin products.
The demonstration was intended to teach them about the importance of texture in molecules, and their connection to cancer research, Rowat said in her speech.
Another presenter came on stage riding on a tall bike that he recently rode from Vancouver to Los Angeles. He attached his belongings and decorations, like a donations jar, a “HUNGRY” sign and a clock, to the bike.
Shalini Kannan, a second-year environmental science student, said Jorge Cham, a cartoonist with a doctoral degree in robotics, was her favorite speaker.
“It was short and sweet and totally relevant. As an environmental science (student), I’m into the idea of making (the subject) more accessible to the public,” Kannan said.
Many UCLA students said they went to experience TEDxUCLA on campus after learning about and watching the famous TEDTalks online.
Julian Lutze, a first-year chemistry student, said he found out about the event online. This was his first TEDTalk, he said.
“It’s just cool to say that you’ve been to one (of their events),” Lutze said.
“A celebrity will sneeze and it’ll get publicized, but a deep researcher has no voice outside of a small community,” Hutchinson said. “To me, the TED conference gives a voice to people that wouldn’t typically get this kind of coverage or exposure to a wide and diverse audience.”
Email Deng at cdeng@media.ucla.edu
Clarification: Scott Hutchinson organized the TED event in his capacity as a program director at UCLA Extension.