‘Exploring the Extremes’ is the theme of this year’s TEDxGCT. The idea, say Anita Sherlin and Lakshminarayanan, fourth year students and members of the organising committee, is to see how two ends can meet.

Begun in 2014 with local speakers and only the students of the college as audience, the event has grown to include speakers from across India and is also open to the public.

“Last year, our programme was for a full day. For the first time,” says Anita in a satisfied manner. Lakshminarayanan, who is the TEDx licensee, says the speakers and topics are carefully curated to ensure a balance between Entertainment, Technology and Design. “Just because we are engineering students does not mean we should look only at technology,” smiles Anita.

A singular aspect of the event is the space for a student presentation. “We hold audition for students to present their ideas and then select one,” explains Anita.

This year, Sajid Umer will present his invention of a bluetooth hearing aid. The difference from the ones available in the market is that this one is meant for the hearing impaired. It not only reduces the residual noise found in the regular aids but can also be linked to phones, televisions, audio devices and even calling bells.

With actors Ganesh Venkatraman and Rukmini Vijaykumar offering the celeb quotient, the event features Coimbatore theatreperson Dharanidharan; environmentalist Arun Krishnamoorthy; entrepreneur and business habits mastery coach Nirupama Vyas; filmmaker Arudra Saravana Kumar and Vimal Govind of GenRobotic Innovations.

Info you can use

When: December 22; 9.00 am to 4.30 pm

Where: Government College of Technology, Thadagam Road

Entry fee: ₹750. Register on www.tedxgct.com

Call: 9442357554 for more details