The inspiration that is TED

Probably around a year back, I was introduced to the website TED (Technology, Entertainment, and Design) via the Presentation Zen blog. I have been hooked ever since. TED is a non-profit initiative whose intention is to disseminate "Ideas worth spreading". They host conferences and make all their talks available for free. The talks also come from other similar conferences as well.



The great thing about TED is the format - each talk is just 20 minutes long (sometimes even less), which is an easily-digestible format in today's world. The talks are given by experts in their area and in many cases, accomplished authors.

I have seen and heard some absolutely inspiring and fascinating talks here and strongly encourage you to take a look as well. It's definitely worth your time. The best way I found to listen to the talks is to download the videos to my phone and then listen to them while at the gym.

You can also subscribe to their RSS.

To get you started, here are my top 5 favorites:

1. Sugata Mitra - How kids teach themselves. Sugata talks about his experiment where he found that kids can self-learn without much of an external help. This experiment is apparently the inspiration for the book Q&A by Vikas Swarup, which then went on to be made as Danny Boyle's film, Slumdog Millionaire.
2. Pattie Maes - Sixth Sense. This is an amazing demo (only 8 minutes) where the head of MIT media lab shows her team member, Pranav Mistry's invention that takes social networking technology to an entirely different level. I can see this becoming a reality in the next few years.
3. Hans Rosling - New insights on poverty. Hans shows how statistics can be inspiring, shocking, and definitely not boring. His passion is extremely contagious. Next time when you generate a report to your boss, think of Hans and how you can make the real statistic pop-out.
   
4. Dan Ariely - Buggy moral code. An interesting perspective on why we do what we do. He is also the author of the book Predictably Irrational. He's quite funny and definitely thought-provoking.
   
5. Elizabeth Gilbert - Nurturing Creativity. This is slightly different from the other talks. While some may find that her reasoning borders more on the intangible, I tend to agree with her theory, as I've found myself caught in the 'wave' numerous times. A few times, I have missed ideas without realizing that I was in the wave - hopefully I'll be better equipped going forward!
   

I am amazed at the breadth of the areas discussed and the depth of the expertise of the speakers. It is my hope and wish that one day I will be able to give a talk worthy of TED.