TEDxSalem

Ideas worth spreading

2013 TEDxSalem

A burst of positivity: Sean Swearingen, TEDxSalem host

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Sean Swearingen // By Timothy J. Gonzalez
Sean Swearin­gen // By Tim­o­thy J. Gon­za­lez

Sean Swearin­gen is part cheer­leader, part joke­ster.

Whether it’s super­vis­ing a team of cus­tomer ser­vice rep­re­sen­ta­tives at a Wells Far­go call cen­ter or call­ing a roller der­by bout, he’s all about lift­ing peo­ple up.

“I real­ly like help­ing peo­ple feel good about them­selves,” he says.

Well it appears that not only will you get an intel­lec­tu­al boost in Novem­ber, you might be leav­ing our event with a boost­ed sense of pos­i­tiv­i­ty, as well. We are proud to announce that Sean Swearin­gen will be the first TEDxSalem host.

Out in a Madi­son Street NE ware­house, where the women are feisty and fish­net stock­ings nev­er go out of style, Sean is known as H.P. Shove­craft.

Sean is the one behind the mic at the Cher­ry City Der­by Girls bouts, drop­ping puns, pop cul­ture ref­er­ences and prais­ing skaters’ stand-out plays.

His wife, whose der­by name is Tox­ic Assets, was among the first skaters to join the league when it start­ed in 2009, jolt­ing the sleepy gov­ern­ment town of Salem.

Sean describes his first bout expe­ri­ence as “elec­tric.”

“You could feel every­one was excit­ed about some­thing new and counter cul­ture,” he said. “It’s for women by women.”

So many peo­ple want­ed to take part in this new and excit­ing event that peo­ple were being turned away at the door. And, as he says, that sim­ply doesn’t hap­pen in Salem.

Sean has found TED talks stim­u­lat­ing and uplift­ing — both words I would use to describe him, too.

TED talks force us to dig deep­er than we’re used to and what results is a trans­for­ma­tive expe­ri­ence. They’re not “neat­ly pack­aged or digestible,” and that’s a good thing.

As the host for TEDxSalem, Sean will set the tone for the day with his enthu­si­as­tic and encour­ag­ing spir­it. But he promised to lim­it the cheesi­ness that Salem’s der­by fans have got­ten used to.

Bio

Name: Sean “H.P. Shove­craft” Swearin­gen

Occu­pa­tion: Cus­tomer ser­vice super­vi­sor at Wells Far­go

Edu­ca­tion: Hof­s­tra Uni­ver­si­ty, Willamette Uni­ver­si­ty MBA

Born in: Cor­val­lis

Vol­un­teers as: Announc­er for Cher­ry City Der­by Girls

Essence: Lift­ing peo­ple up and keep­ing things pos­i­tive, sprin­kled with a few cheesy puns here and there.

Ask him about: How Sean lived in Sau­di Ara­bia from age 7–12; has always worked for the same com­pa­ny as his wife, includ­ing when they met; what it was like to be in Jer­sey City dur­ing the 9/11 attacks.

Favorite TED talks:

– Saerom Yoo, TEDxSalem sto­ry­teller

Apply to be a TEDxSalem speaker

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Now that you know the theme of the very first TEDxSalem, it’s time to con­sid­er con­tribut­ing your great ideas and sto­ries.

Do you have an idea worth spread­ing? We want to hear from you.

Again, our theme is illu­mi­na­tion. We’re look­ing for speak­ers with mes­sages that are inno­v­a­tive, inspir­ing and chal­leng­ing.

If you or know of some­one who fits the bill, here is the appli­ca­tion and more details on the process. You have until July 15 so no dil­ly-dal­ly­ing!

Inaugural TEDxSalem theme: Illumination

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Salem’s first TEDx event will be small but pow­er­ful. The ideas dis­cussed will be chal­leng­ing, inspir­ing and eye-open­ing.

The sto­ries shared will con­nect us to one anoth­er and work as a cat­a­lyst to ener­gize our com­mu­ni­ty.

This is why the theme of the first TEDxSalem is “illu­mi­na­tion.”

We hope TEDxSalem will be the div­ing board for dia­logue and action. We will have local speak­ers from a wide range of dis­ci­plines found right in our back­yard from inno­va­tors to sci­en­tists to com­mu­ni­ty orga­niz­ers.

You are sure to walk out at the end of the day with your brain buzzing, new life­long friend­ships and a sense of empow­er­ment to wield your influ­ence over your world.

No, you will not imme­di­ate­ly embrace every idea or absorb every piece of infor­ma­tion. Our hope isn’t that it will be an easy day. Rather, we hope to spark a pas­sion and curios­i­ty you may not have known you had. Because those are what will dri­ve us to tru­ly new heights.

So stay post­ed as we con­tin­ue to reveal excit­ing devel­op­ments from the plan­ning team. Soon, you’ll be hear­ing about our co-cura­tors, host and speak­ers as we get them final­ized.

Spread the word. Fol­low us on Twit­ter and like us on Face­book!

– Saerom Yoo, TEDxSalem sto­ry­teller