Swathi Adimulam
Data and AI Architect
Working title
Smarter, Not Thirstier AI: Renewing How We Measure Progress
November 14, 2026 · Ames, Iowa · Theme: RENEW
TEDxAmes starts here. RENEW starts now.
A new TEDx stage is coming to Ames. On November 14, 2026, 100 people will gather around one idea: nothing alive stays alive without renewing itself. Original talks, real conversation, and ideas ready to travel beyond Iowa.
RENEW begins in
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A First Stage, Built Around RENEW.
TEDxAmes 2026 is the community's first independently organized TEDx event, built around a simple idea: everything alive has to renew itself, or it starts to die. A cell does it. A person does it. A community does it too.
It is built for the people shaping Ames: educators, entrepreneurs, students, makers, researchers, civic leaders, artists, and neighbors with ideas worth spreading.
Founding sponsors and partners will help create the platform, fund the production, welcome the audience, and make sure the talks live far beyond event day.
location_on Ames, Iowa
calendar_month November 14, 2026
confirmation_number Limited to 100 Attendees
A Founding Opportunity
Sponsors and partners needed.
As a first-year event, TEDxAmes needs mission-aligned organizations to help build the room, support speaker preparation, and bring a world-class idea platform to central Iowa.
View Sponsorship DeckWhy TEDxAmes?
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Local Signal
Ames is full of research, creativity, civic energy, and lived experience, ideas that are already renewing this community from the inside. TEDxAmes gives them a focused stage.
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Global Reach
Every recorded TEDx talk can move from one room in Iowa to viewers around the world. Local ideas deserve that kind of life.
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Shared Investment
Sponsors, volunteers, speakers, and partners make the first event possible - and help establish a tradition Ames can build on.
Lineup Announced
Meet the Speakers
Seven voices. One room. November 14, Ames, Iowa.
Diogenes Ayala
Public Safety Leader and Founder, Danger & AssociatesMercyOne / Danger & Associates
Working title
Waiting for the Hero: What Comic-Book Cities Teach Us About Preparedness
Jennifer Kasirsky, MD
Obstetrician/Gynecologist
Working title
Why Every Pregnant Woman Needs a Blood Pressure Cuff
Riana LeJeune
Founder and CEO, Renewabl Furniture Inc. and Repinned Upholstery & Restoration
Working title
We're Throwing Away More Than Furniture
Jennifer Welch
Educator, Author, and Founder of Threads of Life
Working title
Why Some Choices Feel Heavier Than Others
Lauren Wu
Adjunct Professor, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. Founder, Heart Led Leadership.
Working title
Near Miss: The Debrief Nobody Writes
John Yeager, Ed.D.
Chief Education Officer, Yeager Leadership
Working title
Courage Is Rarely a Solo Act
What's Happening
Founding Partners Wanted
TEDxAmes is building its first sponsor and partner circle. Help bring the TEDx experience to Ames from the ground up.
View TiersMeet Our Seven Speakers
The first TEDxAmes speaker lineup is finalized. Meet the seven voices taking the stage for RENEW on November 14.
Meet the SpeakersVolunteer Applications Open
Help welcome guests, support speakers, and bring the first TEDxAmes event to life on November 14.
Apply to VolunteerTickets for TEDxAmes 2026
Join a one-day, 100-seat gathering for original talks, conversation, and community momentum on November 14 in Ames, Iowa.
Get TicketsHelp Build the First Room.
Before the first speaker steps on stage, TEDxAmes needs partners who believe this community is ready to renew how it sees its own ideas.