TED: Ideas worth spreading

Wow, it’s been way too long since I’ve posted anything so apologies to my tens of readers.  I’m sure you’ve been pretty torn up about it.  The good news: I haven’t been posting because I’ve been busy getting settled in to my new job in NYC, where I’ve been given plenty of great ideas for things to blog about.  Stay tuned…



To make up for the long hiatus, I’m sharing one of my favorite things: TED.  TED is a nonprofit devoted to sharing “Ideas worth spreading.”  TED, which stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, attracts intellectuals, artists, visionaries, scientists, inventors, poets, humanitarians, comedians, innovators and everyone in between by challenging them to give the best talks of their lives in under 18 minutes.  These talks take place at TED Conferences, or as Kathy Griffin describes it, “a conference for geniuses.”  For all of us non-geniuses, the talks are available to watch and share for free on ted.com/talks. Some of the videos, like the Steve Jobs graduation speech below, aren’t even directly tied to TED events, but are featured on TED’s Best of the Web, or other partner series “to highlight inspired talks on sites other than TED.com.”

In addition to inspiring, entertaining and informing, TED awards a yearly prize of $100,000 and access to the TED Community’s resources to fulfill “One Wish to Change the World.” Check out past winners and learn ways to get involved at tedprize.org.

To get you started, here are a few of my favorite talks.

Steve Jobs: How to live before you die



Jane McGonigal: Gaming can make a better world

Jason Clay: How big brands can help save biodiversity

Dave Eggers‘ wish: Once Upon a School

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity

Susan Blackmore on memes and “temes”

So now for the big question: Are you a TED person?  If so, share your favorite TED talk in the comments section!

Related Articles

• Top 5 Must Watch TED Videos (freestylemind.com)
• Announcing TED’s Ads Worth Spreading Challenge (ted.com)
• Announcing TED Conversations! (ted.com)
• TED Launches Quora-Like Platform for Intelligent Discussion (mashable.com)

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