TEDx Tinley Park 2026: Come Together
October 4, 2026 | Tinley Park High School
One Idea And A Community That Came Together
On October 4, 2026, something new happened in Tinley Park.
For the first time, our community came together for TEDx Tinley Park. A day dedicated to ideas worth sharing, stories worth hearing, and connections worth making.
One person had an idea. What could happen if we created a place for our community to come together and share ideas worth spreading?
What began as one idea became something much bigger: a room filled with people from different backgrounds, generations, professions and experiences, all gathered for the same reason; to listen, learn, connect and share ideas.
Come Together wasn't just the theme of the event. It was the experience.
That is how the first TEDx Tinley Park became a reality.
More Than a Stage
The most meaningful moments of TEDx Tinley Park didn't always happen behind a microphone.
They happened when people turned to the stranger sitting beside them and started a conversation.
They happened over coffee, around lunch tables and in the Discovery Zone, where attendees met our partners, exchanged stories and discovered new ideas. They happened when speakers stepped off the stage and became part of the audience, talking with people who had just listened to their stories.
The room was filled with people who came from different generations, backgrounds, professions and experiences. Yet throughout the day, those differences became opportunities to connect rather than reasons to stay apart.
And slowly, throughout the day, something happened that can't be measured by a speaker lineup or a schedule.
People who walked through the doors as strangers began to leave knowing one another.
That is the part of TEDx Tinley Park we will remember.
The talks gave us ideas worth spreading.
Coming together gave those ideas somewhere to go.
Because ideas become more powerful when we share them, challenge them, build on them and carry them into our conversations, our relationships and our communities.
For one day, TEDx Tinley Park gave our community a place to do exactly that.
14 Voices. 14 Perspectives. One Community.
Laurie Lynn
Muxiang Pajerski
Solomon Asine
Kimberly “MyVoice” Johnson
Ekta Anand
Hadia Miriam
Rush Darwish
Peter Deuschle
Hayward Suggs
Ericka Glorious Moore
Pranav Kumar
Eileen Kerlin Walsh
Saundra Washington
Antoinette Summer
It Took All of Us
TEDx Tinley Park was built by people who gave their time, expertise, resources, encouragement and belief.
We are grateful to every partner and sponsor who supported the event, every committee member who worked behind the scenes, every volunteer who gave their time, every student who jumped in to help, and every person who attended and made the audience what it was.
We are also grateful to the organizations that helped provide food and hospitality throughout the day, including Tinley Park High School, Rickshaw, Cracker Barrel, Sam's Club and Joey's Hot Dogs.
Each contribution helped create an environment where people could relax, connect and focus on the ideas being shared. Please visit our Partners page to learn more about the organizations that helped make TEDx Tinley Park possible.
Special Thanks
Tinley Park High School
TEDx Tinley Park could not have happened without the extraordinary support of Tinley Park High School, it’s student volunteers and Principal Dr. Theresa Nolan.
Dr. Nolan believed deeply in the idea behind the event: that a community needs places where people can come together, exchange ideas and learn from one another. She didn't simply give us access to a beautiful venue. She and the school became part of making the day happen. From warm greetings, to guiding attendees, to serving breakfast and the unforgettable Titan cookies, generosity was felt.
Dr. Nolan and Tinley Park High School shared our belief that a school can be a gathering place for an entire community; a place where people of different ages, backgrounds and experiences can come together around ideas.
That is exactly what happened at TEDx Tinley Park.
We are deeply grateful to Dr. Nolan, the faculty and staff, and the students of Tinley Park High School for believing in this idea, welcoming our community and helping make our first TEDx a place where people could truly come together.
Further Thanks
An event like TEDx Tinley Park doesn't happen because of one person. It happens because people with different skills and talents come together around a shared idea.
DigitalCocoa
A special thank you goes to DigitalCocoa, whose work helped bring the entire production to life.
From recording, lighting and sound to microphones, production and editing, DigitalCocoa handled the technical work that allowed the ideas on stage to be captured and eventually shared beyond the room.
Their work will help these talks reach an audience far beyond October 4.
Garrett Gray
A great TEDx talk doesn't happen simply because someone has a good idea.
It takes preparation, questioning, coaching and a willingness to keep refining the story.
Garrett Gray played an important role in helping our speakers develop their ideas and prepare their talks. The strength of what came from that stage is a reflection of that guidance and support.
We are grateful for the time and care he invested in helping our speakers bring their ideas to life.
Laurie Lynn
Every event needs a voice.
Laurie Lynn was the voice of TEDx Tinley Park.
As our emcee, Laurie welcomed the audience, introduced each speaker and helped carry the energy of the day from one idea to the next.
Her warmth, exuberance, and presence helped create the experience our audience enjoyed throughout the day.
Thank You!
To our speakers.
To our attendees.
To our partners and sponsors.
To our volunteers
To our committee members.
To the students, faculty and staff of Tinley Park High School.
To Dr. Theresa Nolan.
To DigitalCocoa, for capturing the experience.
To Garrett Gray, for helping the speakers find the heart of their ideas.
To Laurie Lynn, for being the voice of TEDx Tinley Park.
And to everyone who believed that bringing people together to share ideas was worth doing.
Thank you for helping us make history in Tinley Park.
TEDx Tinley Park — Come Together
We owe our gratitude to so many, view our digital event program to see everyone who helped make this dream come true.
Stay Connected
The ideas shared at TEDx Tinley Park don't end when the lights go down.
The TEDx Tinley Park talks were recorded and will be submitted to TED for approval before they can be shared publicly. Once approved, we will make the talks available through our website, YouTube and social channels.
Follow TEDx Tinley Park on Facebook and LinkedIn to see photos from the event, hear when the talks are released, and stay connected to what comes next.
If TEDx Tinley Park sparked an idea in you whether you'd like to partner, volunteer, or explore becoming a speaker at a future event we'd love to hear from you. We don't know yet exactly what the future holds for TEDx Tinley Park. But we know that ideas have a way of growing when people come together.
The future of TEDx Tinley Park is still being written. We'd love for you to be part of the conversation.