TEDxDavenport Returns August 12, 2026, with a Lineup of Visionaries, Champions, and Changemakers

DAVENPORT, IOWA (April 29, 2026) — TEDxDavenport, the Quad Cities’ annual celebration of ideas worth sharing, has announced its full speaker lineup for the 2026 event. Taking place on August 12, 2026, at 4:30PM at Last Picture House in Davenport, the event promises one of its most dynamic and wide-ranging programs to date. Tickets go on sale May 1, via Eventbrite.

This year’s roster spans professional baseball, professional wrestling, responsible AI, gut biology, music touring, burlesque history, and community placemaking — seven speakers united by a single mission: To spark conversation, challenge assumptions, and inspire action across the Quad Cities and beyond.

MEET THE 2026 SPEAKERS

Aiden Landman — Guitar Tech, The National / Civic Futurist

Flying Light: A Music Professional’s Guide to the Cities of the Future

An international touring music professional and proud product of the western Illinois flatlands, Aiden Landman has circled the globe twice in service of world-class entertainment productions. Drawing on the high-stakes logistics of major touring productions — and a memorable flight from Chicago to Paris — Landman makes the case for how American cities can stop being flyovers and start headlining in their own right: leaner, more imaginative, and unafraid to reinvent themselves.

Danielle Colby — Reality TV Personality, Burlesque Artist & Entrepreneur

What Is an Ecdysiast and Why Does It Matter?

Best known as the shop manager on the History Channel’s American Pickers, Danielle Colby is also a filmmaker, small-business owner, and passionate advocate for the ecdysiast arts. Her talk traces the cultural lineage of the showgirl — from the cabarets of 19th-century Paris through Broadway’s Ziegfeld Follies and the stages of Las Vegas — arguing that beneath the feathers, sequins, and sky-high headdresses lives a centuries-long legacy of reinvention, resilience, and artistic power.

Mike Butcher — World Series Champion, MLB Pitching Coach & Entrepreneur

No Retirement, Just Reinvention

With over three decades in professional baseball — fourteen years as a player and fourteen more as a Major League pitching coach — Mike Butcher knows what it takes to perform and lead at the highest level. When his dugout days ended, he didn’t retire; he reinvented. Butcher patented a baseball, co-founded cellular-hydration company HYDOR, and launched The Pizza Butcher, a wood-fired pizza business. His talk makes the case that the discipline and structure forged in professional sports can fuel success in entirely new fields — and that every ending, handled right, can become a powerful new beginning.

Alisha Espey — Placemaking Professional & Storyteller

Pay Attention

Director of Programs and Events at Downtown Davenport Partnership, Alisha Espey has dedicated her career to building the kinds of places and moments that make communities worth staying in. Her talk is a deeply personal reflection on her relationship with her sister Kara — and what it taught her about the wisdom hidden in ordinary moments, unconditional love, and the people we too often underestimate. In a culture shaped by distraction and striving, Espey invites the audience to slow down and reconsider where meaning actually lives.

Padmini Soni — AI Strategist, Entrepreneur & Responsible AI Advocate

Who Catches AI’s Mistakes When You Don’t Know What to Look For?

Founder of Rezonance AI and Head of Responsible AI Growth Strategy at the AI Leadership Institute, Padmini Soni brings more than 25 years of experience across Fortune 500 companies to one of the most urgent questions of our time. Her talk offers a practical framework for shifting our relationship with AI from passive trust to active critical thinking — and makes the case that the future of responsible AI depends as much on informed users as on the engineers who build it.

Brantley Hall — Gut Biologist & Flatulence Researcher

What a Million Farts Can Teach Us

Gut biologist Brantley Hall is on a mission to measure what science has long overlooked. His talk introduces the Human Flatus Atlas — a landmark study launched using a wearable biosensor to map gut microbial gas production across thousands of people. Because flatulence is produced almost entirely by the gut microbiome, Hall argues it carries real, measurable information about digestion and gut health. What the Atlas is beginning to reveal could meaningfully advance our understanding of digestion, the gut-brain axis, and human health at scale.

Ettore “Big E” Ewen — Retired WWE Superstar, Actor & Mental Health Advocate

How I Got Over

Former WWE World Champion and beloved member of The New Day, Ettore “Big E” Ewen is a broadcaster, actor, and global television personality whose credits range from Disney+ and Adult Swim to Wheel of Fortune and Family Feud. At TEDxDavenport, he delivers his most personal talk yet — speaking openly about his experience with major depressive disorder and psychosis, and his path to healing through medication, hospitalization, ECT therapy, talk therapy, and mindfulness. Ewen champions mental health awareness with the warmth, candor, and courage that have defined his public life.

One additional speaker to be announced.

ABOUT TEDXDAVENPORT

TEDxDavenport is a 100% volunteer-led, independently organized TED event serving the Quad Cities community. Since its founding, the event has been held at some of the region’s most iconic venues, including the Figge Art Museum, the Adler Theater, and the Capitol Theater. All ticket revenue goes directly toward producing the following year’s event. Past talks from 2018 through 2024 are available on the TEDxDavenport YouTube channel.

TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets go on sale May 1, at eventbrite.com.

For more information, visit tedxdavenport.com or follow TEDxDavenport on Facebook. Media inquiries may be directed to tedxdavenport@gmail.com.

About TEDxDavenport

TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. TEDxDavenport is independently organized. While the TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, individual TEDx events are self-organized.