TEDx Pasadena 2026 Tackles “Growth Through Resilience” in a Day of Big Ideas at Boston Court

After last year’s relaunch under new leadership, TEDx Pasadena returns next Saturday for a full-day program built around a phrase the city has been working through for nearly a year and a half: growth through resilience. TEDx Pasadena 2026 runs Saturday, May 9, from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Boston Court Pasadena, with talks spanning technology, creativity and human health.

The lineup leans toward speakers who have made resilience their actual subject matter. Among those announced: founder and strategist EJ Egghart on translating resilience into scaling software and digital solutions; interdisciplinary thinker Elizabeth Yang on cultural insight and adaptive systems; media executive Kevin Kay, whose career has crossed entertainment, tech and storytelling; meteorologist and environmental communicator Edgar McGregor, well known to Eaton Canyon hikers and online audiences for his daily climate posts; and performance artist and technologist Brandon Kazen-Maddox, who works at the intersection of creativity and inclusive design. Additional speakers will round out the program.

Boston Court Pasadena, the intimate performing arts center at 70 N. Mentor Ave., is a frequent home for TEDx Pasadena and provides an unusually close listening environment for the talks.

Each speaker receives the standard short TEDx slot — a tight, prepared talk meant to circulate online afterward — followed by audience interaction and breaks designed to encourage real conversation. The format borrows directly from the international TED conference under TED’s branding rules for independently organized events.

For Pasadena and Altadena residents, the day offers something the city has been short on: a single setting where ideas about how communities recover, adapt and grow are presented in plain terms by people who have spent years thinking about them.

TEDx Pasadena 2026 will run on Saturday, May 9 from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Boston Court Pasadena, 70 N. Mentor Ave., Pasadena. For more information and to purchase tickets, call (626) 683-6801 or visit tedxpasadena.net.