TEDxCharlotte Returns April 25 after 3 Year Hiatus with Theme: Terms and Conditions
Charlotte, NC — TEDxCharlotte returns on Saturday, April 25, 2026, at Central Piedmont Community College’s Parr Center Theater from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., marking a new chapter for one of the city’s most recognized intellectual platforms.
After a period of quiet, the event returns with intention.
This year’s theme, Terms and Conditions, invites Charlotte to examine the assumptions, agreements, and systems that shape daily life. The clauses people inherit. The standards they accept. The silence they live within.
The campaign centers on a defining line: “When things go silent, people assume it’s over.It isn’t.”
With sixteen years of history in Charlotte, the platform is being repositioned as a stage for ideas that confront, question, and shift how people think and live. The 2026 experience moves beyond a traditional speaker lineup into a structured narrative designed to challenge the audience directly.
Speakers include:
Allison Bourne-Vanneck, Sobriety Coach, Thought Leader, and National Award-Winning Journalist
Booshra Ahmed, Systems Thinker and Data Scientist
Catherine Armstrong, Educator and Advocate
George Divitiae, Investor and Serial Entrepreneur
Joseph Amiah, Nuclear Hardware Engineer and Policy Architect
Dr. Kelli Uitenham, Brain Injury Advocate
Laura Hays, MD, Emergency Physician and Coach
Latesha Byrd, Executive Coach, Speaker, and Advisor
Leslie Cramer, Linguistic Strategist
Rose Brown, Organizational Behavior Researcher and Educator
Sam Wegert, Real Estate Investor and Co-Living Expert
Terrence Nealy, Creative Technologist
Dr. Victoria Privott, Public School Advocate and Champion for Children
TEDxCharlotte enters this next chapter under the leadership of Executive Director Shereese Floyd. Her leadership focuses on elevating voices that are often overlooked and building experiences that move beyond inspiration into reflection and action.
“This is a team effort,” Floyd says. “Not just the speakers on stage, but the people building, questioning, and shaping what this city becomes. We, collectively, are TEDxCharlotte.”
Attendees are encouraged to wear red and black as part of the collective experience. Black reflects the silence people have lived with. Red reflects the decision to break it. This is not a dress code. It is a signal.
Event DetailsSaturday, April 25, 20269:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.Central Piedmont Community College | Parr Center Theater
Tickets are now on sale at: https://www.tedxcharlotte.org/. Group rates available upon request.
About TEDx, x = independently organized event
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TED Talks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)
About TED
TED is on a mission to discover and spread ideas that spark imagination, embrace possibility and catalyze impact. Our organization is devoted to curiosity, reason, wonder and the pursuit of knowledge — without an agenda. We welcome people from every discipline and culture who seek a deeper understanding of the world and connection with others, and we invite everyone to engage with ideas and activate them in your community.
TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, but today it spans a multitude of worldwide communities and initiatives exploring everything from science and business to education, arts and global issues. In addition to the hundreds of TED Talks curated from our annual conferences and published on TED.com, we produce original podcasts, short video series, animated educational lessons (TED-Ed) and TV programs that are translated into more than 100 languages and distributed via partnerships around the world. Each year, more than 3,000 independently run TEDx events bring people together to share ideas and bridge divides in communities on every continent. Through the Audacious Project, TED has helped catalyze more than $3 billion in funding for projects that seek to make the world more beautiful, sustainable and just. In 2020, TED launched Countdown, an initiative to accelerate solutions to the climate crisis and mobilize a movement for a net-zero future. View a full list of TED’s many programs and initiatives.
TED is owned by a nonprofit, nonpartisan foundation. Our aim is to help create a future worth pursuing for all.
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