Tara Griffith TED talk

Daniel BottittaStaff WriterYou look out into the audience and you see a sea of faces. You begin to sweat.  The audience begins to laugh, first just a chuckle, but soon it grows into a roar as you shrink into a tiny version of yourself, embarrassed beyond belief.  Most of us dread public speaking, but this isn’t so for Samo senior Tara Griffith.Griffith is a veteran public speaker, having spoken at numerous conferences concerning climate change and ways to combat it.  She recently took part in a TEDx Santa Monica conference entitled “City 2.0” that was focused on the future of the city and how it could be made more energy efficient.“I’d already spoken at other conferences about pro-bike, pro-walk initiatives, so I already had a speech laid out." Griffith said. "I didn’t have to write from scratch, but instead just manipulated the speech to be more appropriate for a TED audience”Having been a member of the Samohi Solar Alliance throughout high school, Griffith first became informed about the environment through her involvement with the club.TED is an organization that is dedicated to “ideas worth spreading” which holds conferences annually with talks from renowned artists, designers, businessmen and scientists. They also hold smaller regional conferences, called TEDx conferences, that are curated by members of the community.  Santa Monica has its own TEDx conference that Griffith spoke at.“Santa Monica was one of the cities that held a conference on the topic of ‘City 2.0’ and it was one of the few to actually be live-streamed, meaning that [Griffith's] talk could have been seen anywhere around the world, and she actually got a comment from someone in Korea, who loved the idea [of Bike It! Day] and perhaps might implement it at their own school” Kate Bristow, Griffith’s mother and co-curator of TEDx Santa Monica, said.The "City 2.0" prompt was focused on what ideas could help develop a new vision for the future of cities in an ecologically conscious world.Griffith gave a speech on Samo’s popular Bike it! Day initiative which encourages students across the district to bike to school instead of taking a car, thereby saving fossil fuels.  This was described as a way to encourage environmental activism while at the same time eliminating fossil fuel use for the day.While Griffith may not be a titan of industry just yet, she is one to watch, having mastered the art of public speaking that eludes so many.dbottitta@thesamohi.com