A panel for the second Panorama Talks event spent the past weekend auditioning Appalachian State University students for its next presentation.
The event, inspired by the short informational conferences known as TED Talks, encourages students to share their perspectives on things they feel passionate about.
“It was a great success last year,” said Natalie Gaviria, senior social work major and creator of Panorama. “A lot of people came and I kind of wanted to make it more sustainable. So having it again [and] sparking more interest can then hopefully help it become an even bigger thing in the years to come.”
Twelve students auditioned over the weekend. They were asked to give a short pitch of their ideas to the Panorama committee, where they were questioned about their topic and discussed what they wanted to do in their speeches.
“Some people came with a tentative topic and other people came with an outline ready to go,” said Kendall McGee, a panel member and junior communication studies major.
The topics pitched ranged in subjects from theology to gender studies.
After students audition, only seven to nine will be chosen to present at Panorama and will have until March to prepare their speech. They will meet frequently with the coordinators to talk about their speeches and where they are going with them.
“We look for people with good public speaking skills, if they have a unique perspective and enthusiasm and passion for what they do,” Gaviria said.
This is the first time Panorama is partnering with AppSpeaks, a club that “facilitates discussions about local, national and global issues on the campus of Appalachian State University,” Gaviria said.
“I guess we’ve always been very interested in social issues and just getting information out there for unique ideas we feel aren’t very talked about enough which goes great with what Panorama is about,” said Colin Griffith, member of AppSpeaks and senior economics major. “We’ve already gotten a bunch of unique, interesting ideas and we look forward to seeing the final stage.”
The Panorama talks will be held on March 24 in the Grandfather Mountain Ballroom in Plemmons Student Union.
Story: Casey Suglia, Intern A&E Reporter