TEDxChicago is staging its largest lineup in the nonprofit's history on October 3, bringing 15 speakers, five performers and five visual artists to the Harris Theater for Music and Dance under the theme ‘We The People.’ The daylong event runs from 10 a.m. registration to a 6:30 p.m. close at the underground venue in Millennium Park, gathering what organizers describe as Chicago's leading thinkers and changemakers for a single stage program.
The event was previewed on WGN-TV's Daytime Chicago, where TEDxChicago organizer and executive director Kelly Fernandez appeared alongside speaker Clarissa Flores to discuss the 2026 program. According to the segment, this year's roster represents the biggest gathering the volunteer-run organization has assembled since it began holding annual independent conferences in 2017, a run that has previously carried themes like ‘We Dare’ and ‘The Future is Human,’ per the Harris Theater.
The day is structured around three main-stage sessions — Begin Within, Between Us and What We Build — that organize the 15 speakers and live performances into distinct narrative arcs, according to TEDxChicago. The 1,499-seat Harris Theater sits mostly underground beneath the Jay Pritzker Pavilion and was, when it opened in 2003, Chicago's first major downtown performing arts venue built since 1929, per Wikipedia.
A Humboldt Park Alderwoman Takes the Stage
Among the headline speakers is 26th Ward Alderperson Jessie Fuentes, who will deliver a talk on displacement, gentrification and housing justice drawn from her own upbringing in Humboldt Park, according to the Chicago Activism Hub. Her talk argues for treating community rootedness as a legislated human right rather than a market privilege, giving the conference's civic programming a distinctly local political edge.
Flores, the WGN-TV guest, is founder and CEO of Level Sporting Club, which the station identifies as her venture heading into the conference. A former Northwestern Division I basketball player, Flores opened the bar this year as Chicago's first sports bar dedicated exclusively to women's sports, in Wrigleyville, according to Northwestern Magazine. The club was backed by local coaches and national sports figures aiming to boost representation for women's athletics.
Northwestern's Academic Bench Runs Deep
Flores is one of five speakers connected to Northwestern University, a roster that spans disciplines from materials science to film, according to Northwestern. Faculty members Dr. Cécile Chazot and Dr. Tamar Gefen join Flores and fellow alumna Gita Pullapilly on the roster, alongside Dr. Jessica Schleider, an associate professor at Northwestern's Feinberg School of Medicine.
Schleider is presenting research on single-session mental health interventions aimed at closing care gaps for young people, work she pursues as director of Northwestern's Lab for Scalable Mental Health built to address the limits of traditional recurring-therapy systems, per the university's account. Her talk stands alongside Fuentes's housing address as one of the conference's more policy-oriented sessions.
Ranked-Choice Voting Advocates Set Up Shop
Beyond the main stage, advocacy group FairVote Illinois will run interactive tabling throughout the day to educate attendees on ranked-choice voting initiatives, according to FairVote Illinois. The group's presence reflects how ranked-choice voting advocacy has gained traction across Illinois municipal civic spaces, using the conference as a public outreach hub outside the formal talks.
All-inclusive attendee tickets cover full access to the talks, live art, food and beverages curated by local chefs, and on-stage American Sign Language interpretation, according to ticketing platform Universe. The event operates under standard TEDx license rules, meaning the all-volunteer organizing team cannot pay speakers for their presentations and must publish every talk online for global distribution, per guidance cited by Eventbrite.
The Harris Theater for Music and Dance is located at 205 E. Randolph St. in Chicago. More information on the October 3 program is available at tedxchicago.com, and Daytime Chicago airs weekdays on WGN-TV from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.
