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Preserving food. The changing demographics of Canadian society. Horizontal enlightenment through meditation.

These were just some of the topics attendees learned about at the fifth annual TEDxToronto conference last week. The University of Toronto cosponsored the event and boasted three of the 12 provocative presenters: Daniels Faculty of Architecture Professor Rodolphe el-Khoury, and Brendan Frey and Steve Mann from the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering.

All three ��������οspeakers galvanized the more than 1,000 attendees with their presentations. El-Khoury talked about his research into technology with living material to integrate into building envelopes and interiors (a vertical vineyard, anyone?); Frey discussed how he and his colleagues uncover and decipher genetic recipes, and Mann related his experiences with wearable computing and its implications for surveillance and openness. 

Mann says he gained a lot from the experience.

"It was a lot of fun, and I met lots of very interesting people afterwards. The whole process was quite enlightening, and I've also been doing various interviews and follow-ups."

El-Khoury says he’s never received such an enthusiastic response to a public lecture.

“I really think it has to do with TED's attention to the performance aspect but also to the emphasis on story-telling.”

As an added benefit, he says, several audience members approached him afterwards about possible collaboration. And he and Mann – who met during a dinner for the TEDx presenters – are now talking about working together.

Frey was impressed with the level of engagement of the attendees.

“The audience was very responsive during my talk and afterward I chatted with about two dozen attendees. They had interesting comments about my research and also I found that they were very smart, creative people who are doing interesting things themselves.”

“It was a terrific experience,” he says.

Rodolphe el-Khoury's talk: 

Brendan Frey's talk:

Steve Mann's talk:

 ( for other talks from TEDxToronto 2013).

Terry Lavender is a writer with University Relations at the University of Toronto.