Bethel’s own Matthew Stackowicz speaking at TEDx conference at Notre Dame

On April 28^th, Matthew Stackowicz, director of career development, will be speaking at the University of Notre Dame for the TEDxUND. This event, while affiliated with the official TED organization, is organized locally. The event is part of “idea week,” according to Stackowicz.

Idea week] is a week-long series of events, get togethers, meet ups, speakers [and] presentations throughout the entire city and region to highlight innovation and ideas in the area,” said Stackowicz.

A majority of the speakers are either professors, students or alumni at Notre Dame; Stackowicz is the only community member that was selected to speak at this event. The theme of the event is “Dare to.” So, each speaker must begin the title of their talk with “Dare to” Stackowicz’s talk is titled “Dare to be a visual storyteller.” Stackowicz talked a bit about his talk and what the importance of it is. “The nature of photography has changed,” Stackowicz said. “We all are photo takers now and we all put photos on of everything under the sun on our social medias, and we just scroll through endlessly and we have changed the way that we tell stories, both for the good and the bad…if we rethink how we tell the stories and start telling the right stories, and better stories, we can change our future.” Much of Stackowicz’s talk is focused around the great responsibility photography carries to tell stories that will make a difference in society. The pictures that Stackowicz is using for his visual aids are all from local photographers, as well as photographers from Bethel that work in his office. Stackowicz is excited for this opportunity to speak. “It has always been one of my goals to speak on a TED stage,” he said. Stackowicz is currently finalizing the details of his talk, preparing for the conference on April 28th. The audience is mainly Notre Dame students, but some community members as well. “The idea is really to challenge the Notre Dame community as well as the larger community as a whole,” said Stackowicz. Stackowicz said that he actually enjoys speaking in front of large groups of people, to many people’s confusion. He has many hopes for the impact of his talk. “I want to be a part of change in the community…” he says. “I want to learn and grow as a presenter as well. My hope is that the audience is challenged in a way that they haven't thought before and is challenged to rethink how they take photos and share photos.”