(A TedxUCincinnati Salon talk occurred on Feb. 11, 2016, in TUC room 300, from 6-8.)

This event consisted of three topics, with the main theme being Mosaics.

The first topic was “Seeing the Bigger Picture” presented by Kyle Ivey, a junior pursuing a degree in Fine Arts in Musical Theatre. Kyle explained how everyone has an “ideal future,” and how it is hard to achieve this future but you can through small accomplishments. Kyle talked about how you should not focus on the end goal but to focus on these small accomplishments or “little victories.”  And he talked about how humans are constantly striving for perfection. He discussed the importance of rewarding yourself for not giving up on your goals and for ignoring your “Inner Policeman,” the negative voice in your head that cuts you down. And how a failure can even motivate you to try again. He concludes his speech with three main questions everyone should ask themselves, “What did I achieve? What did I learn?” and “What will I do next?” Saneyuki Nishigame, a student who participated in this Ted Talk, is a junior in Mechanical Engineering, commented by saying that he enjoyed this first topic particularly because of how effective it was saying, “I can ask myself the three questions and start doing that today.” After Kyle was finished, the audience applauded and then made way for the next speaker.  Following Kyle was Juliana Madzia, a junior majoring in Neurobiology and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, who came to talk about “What Neuroscience Tells Us About Racism.” She starts off by telling the audience about a 19-year-old black woman who got into an accident, went to a house to get help, and was murdered by a white male. She mentions that the white male murdered the female in “self-defense,” and how this could not have been the case, it was simply aggressive racism. She then goes on to talk about implicit racial bias in the brain and how Cognitive Neuroscientists have found a way to change this implicit racial bias through sleep. Then she discussed how they gave a kind of “anti-biased training” that had to do with sleeping, and some kind of positive association with the racial bias a particular person has, and has found that the participants were up to “50 percent less biased.” Juliana describes how this only happened because the participants were sleeping. Where in sleeping, she explains, the brain is either condensing what it has learned throughout the day or dumping the information. Then she goes on to talk about how people of different races, who shared a common goal could re-orient themselves and end up getting rid of that fear they have of a certain race. Issac Tresenwriter, a junior in IT, says “I can definitely relate” to this topic of racism, and found the speech not only to be very informative but also “new.” The third and final speaker was Kiran Venkat, a junior with a double major in Neuroscience and Finance, who came to talk about “Bridging the Gap Between Medicine and Business.” Kiran started off by having the audience try to interlock their fingers while their hand was closed in a fist. He discusses how this impossible task is how the relationship between Modern Medicine and Business is like.  Kiran goes on to explain how “Medicine is a service,” which he compares to ice cream. He goes on with if you have a pleasant experience while purchasing ice cream, you’re more willing to come back, and how that can also be true about receiving medical care. Kiran ends his speech with how important it is to “think outside the box” and how it is ultimately all about people. Ryan Pecor, who is a senior majoring in Information Technology found this speech to be interesting, saying “it’s a really good idea to blend them,” and says “it’s important to know the business side of it.” Overall this event seemed to not only engage the audience but also make them have a truly pleasant experience.