It’s hard to believe that TED has been around online for more than 15 years (and another 15 before that in the conference-only format).
TED has changed the what we expect in a short presentation. Even the scientific conferences I have been to in the last decade now often have ‘lightning talks’ designed to be pithy and entertaining (note: some scientists are better at this than others).
There are over 4000 talks on the platform, so there is plenty to feed your inspiration. Here are a few of my favorites. Some old, some newer, some popular, some funny, some serious, some provocative, all amazing.
Anne Lamott: 12 Truths I learned from Life and Writing. This talk is not the same as most TED talks. She uses notes and a lectern and she takes a minute to get into it, but so great to hear her beautiful, true, and funny ‘basic operating instructions’.
Sara Parcek: Space Archaeology. A super short talk, but a fascinating subject. Discovering all the potential archaeological sites from space indicates we still have a lot of digging to do.
Shawn Achor: The Happy Secret to Better Work. Very, very funny (very rapid talking) presentation and genuine insight on positive psychology and work.
Ken Robinson: Do Schools Kill Creativity? The most watched talk of all time is also one of my favorites, as I mentioned last week. He’s got a great sense of humor and makes so much sense. His second talk is also excellent. I so want his vision to come to reality.
Jill Bolte Taylor: My Stroke of Insight. This is a crazy, and amazing talk. She’s a great speaker. I’m currently reading Bolte-Taylor’s book, ‘Whole Brain Living’, and it’s a really different take on how the different parts of our brain work together to produce a whole view of the world. It’s so much more than left brain, right brain.
Hans Rosling: The Best Stats You’ve Ever Seen: One of the earliest talks on the TED platform. Some amazing takeaways. Fabulous talk to challenge our assumptions and show us the power of data (in a very non-boring way). His enthusiasm is totally infectious. He also has a ton more presentations on the TED site (e.g. here and here). And to see more updated data from his talk and other stats, go to his organization’s page: Gapminder.org
Jen Gunter: Why We Can’t Talk About Periods. This is a funny and important talk about what happens when we let shame overwhelm our need to get information. And, she has a whole series of ‘Ted-Ed’ videos now on all sorts of aspects of human and women’s health.
Brené Brown: the Power of Vulnerability. This talk was the beginning of me exploring Brené Brown’s ideas through her books. After seeing this talk, I listened to one of her books (Daring Greatly) from start to finish on a long drive to Washington DC.
Please share your own faves! Comments open to everyone.
Some of these I’ve seen; many I have not. Thank you for such a cool (& intriguing) list!