TEDxUnityPark is bringing its independently organized TED event back to downtown Greenville on November 21, with a theme built around growth: Multiply. The daylong program runs from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Roam Greenville ONE, with doors opening at 9 a.m., and organizers have added a kickoff night the evening before, on Friday, November 20.
According to TEDxUnityPark's event site, the day is split into three sessions named Origin, Transformation and Impact, tracing what the organization calls the arc of growth. As Greenville Business Magazine describes it, the sessions explore entrepreneurship, creativity, innovation, community and personal transformation. The two sources differ slightly on how many speakers will actually take the stage: the TEDxUnityPark site lists sixteen speakers across the three sessions, while Greenville Business Magazine puts the number at fifteen.
The event site says the speakers were chosen from just under 300 applications this year. The confirmed names on the bill include VisitGreenvilleSC President and CEO Heath Dillard, Greenville City Councilwoman Tina Belge, HealthyishDani creator Dani Mathews, and artist and former professional cyclist TJ Eisenhart, per the magazine's reporting.
Dillard's Talk Tackles Tourism's Trade-offs
Dillard's scheduled talk takes direct aim at a tension familiar to any fast-growing tourist city: the gap between being a great place to visit and a great place to live. According to his talk description on the TEDxUnityPark site, his argument is that strategic, intentional reinvestment of tourism's benefits can cause that line to disappear. It is a theme that sits naturally alongside Multiply's broader framing around growth and what a city does with it.
Beyond the main stage, the event description promises interactive activations, Greenville experiences and networking opportunities woven throughout the day. The event site lists specific breakout options attendees can choose between, including the Gallery Ride, the Unity Park History Walk and A Taste of Greenville.
Building on a Sold-Out First Year
This is not TEDxUnityPark's first swing at a full-scale production. The organization's 2025 event, themed Momentum, took place on November 19 of that year at the same Roam Greenville ONE venue, according to TED.com's event listing, which described that earlier gathering as a full-day experience featuring 15 speakers across three sessions. The TEDxUnityPark site separately notes that its first year, themed Movement, sold out; its Momentum event drew 500+ people from 15 states.
The Greenville chapter's roots stretch back further still. A Post and Courier article describes an earlier Greenville TEDxUnity Park event planned for February 24, 2024, at the Kroc Center.
With Multiply, the event appears to be scaling up its footprint with the added Friday kickoff night, while keeping the core format of a packed, three-session Saturday that made the first year sell out. Attendees interested in the full schedule, speaker details or breakout sign-ups can find them on the TEDxUnityPark website.
