Life’s Grand Mosaic

TED is one of my favorite sites on the internet.

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started in 1984 as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds.

It has since broadened into an annual conference brining together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).

The TED internet site shares these speeches, and the ideas in them.

The 4 reasons why TED is one of my favorites are:

• Ideas – sharing ideas is the goal of TED and it achieves this in grand style.  Some of the subject areas are design, business, technology, science, culture and arts.
• Entertainment – there is a surprising range entertainment and performance on TED, including music, magic and humor.  In reality, all the speeches are entertaining no matter what their subject matter.
• Inspiration – the speeches are intellectually stimulating and inspire me with new concepts and insights. They help increase my creativity in business and elsewhere.
• Public speaking – if you do any amount of public speaking then TED is great. You can watch accomplished and knowledgeable speakers and pick up useful techniques to try. For example, I’ve used ideas for props, PowerPoint presentations and story-telling.

The next TED Global Conference is in Oxford, UK in July 2009. It is titled “The Substance of Things not Seen”. I am making plans to get there.  You can get more info on the TED Blog.

My current favorite video on TED is by Dr Jill Bolte Taylor.  Jill is a brain researcher who shares her experience of when she had a massive stroke, and watched as her brain functions – motion, speech, self-awareness – shut down one by one.

It is an inspiring and emotional speech. You can find out more about Jill at her www site: The Singin’ Scientist.