TED

I collect TED Talks.  I’ve been watching them for a few years now, but for the last couple of months I’ve been collecting them and saving my favourites. 

My absolute favourite TED Talk is The Power of Vulnerability by Brene Brown.  You can watch it here:  http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.  My second favourite is Listening To Shame, also by Brene Brown and you can watch it here:  http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_listening_to_shame.   Actually, these two are probably tied for first.  If you watch no other TED Talks, watch these. 

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design.  People from all walks of life – including children – speak for a limited amount of time about “ideas worth spreading.”  The talks themselves are short.  I think 18 minutes is the maximum.  You can see the clock counting down the time in front of the speakers and it’s kind of inspiring to watch them deliver their messages as the numbers on the timer tick away. 

It all started as a one-off event in 1984, which featured a demo of Sony’s compact disc and became an annual global event in 1990.  The brainchild of Richard Saul Wurman, TED now offers over 1700 Talks that can be viewed free on-line.  Though it started out in California, the main conference event is now held in Vancouver, BC with its companion event, TEDActive held in Whistler, BC. 

Some TED Talks are really short.  One of the best is only 2:55.  Terry Moore, Director of the Radius Foundation,  demonstrates how to tie shoes.  That’s right – a TED Talk on tying shoes!  It changed my life! 

http://www.ted.com/talks/terry_moore_how_to_tie_your_shoes#t-5198. 

And in case you have ever been curious about why the letter X represents the unknown, well, Mr. Moore lays it out for you in less than 4 minutes here:  http://www.ted.com/talks/terry_moore_why_is_x_the_unknown. 

My secret fantasy is to someday be invited to deliver a TED Talk.  I think that would be the coolest thing on my bucket list to accomplish in this lifetime.  I have no idea what I would TED Talk about, but what a thrill it would be to walk out onto that stage and share some amazing idea.  I would love to come up with something or do something TED-worthy in my life.  But for now I will continue to be inspired by the ideas worth spreading at TED.com.