The excitement surrounding “Wicked” star Cynthia Erivo’s talk, which is scheduled to kick off the University of Colorado’s 77th Conference on World Affairs in April, has generated a heightened level of enthusiasm and interest in the four-day conference.

CU Chief Communications Officer Jon Leslie said registration rates for the conference are exceeding that of previous years. Attendance numbers from last year’s CWA estimate that around 1,500 people came in person and 1,000 attended online. So far, more than 1,000 people have registered for this year’s conference.

“We’re really starting to see some buzz around the conference this year, and the keynote around Cynthia Erivo is a factor,” Leslie said.

CU’s Conference on World Affairs brings in dozens of speakers and panelists annually from around the country and the world to engage in conversations about top issues. Past notable speakers include Eleanor Roosevelt, Molly Ivins, Roger Ebert, Amanda Gorman and Steve Wozniak. Erivo will open this year’s conference, which will host about 77 speakers across roughly 50 panels from April 7 to April 10.

Vara Reom, the student program chair for the Conference on World Affairs, said she’s “super excited” for Erivo’s talk.

“We’re just so thrilled to have her come and hear her perspective being in the arts,” Reom said. “We’re really looking forward to having her open our event.”

Reom said that central to the conference is the idea of approaching issues from multiple perspectives in an interdisciplinary way. One event she feels especially highlights this core identity is a panel focused on solving world issues through game design.

“Now more than ever it can be so easy to get in our little silos and bubbles in how we consume information and hear about events in the news,” Reom said. “The goal of CWA is to get you out of that bubble and consider multiple perspectives.”

One panel at the conference, called “What to Watch for from SCOTUS,” will include progressive and conservative views on recent and upcoming U.S. Supreme Court decisions and their implications. Other panels include “Psychology of a Dictator,” “AI Boyfriends and Girlfriends” and “Star Wars or Star Peace.” Some events are about humor — the closing panel, “Satire as Resistance,” will be about using humor to “raise awareness of complex issues and maintain sanity.”

CWA is free and open to the public. Most events are available in person and via a live stream. For more information, including registration and a full event schedule, visit colorado.edu/cwa.