Have you heard of a TED Talk? I hadn’t until recently.
TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out in 1984 as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual conferences — the TED Conference and TEDGlobal — TED includes the award-winning TED Talks video site, the Open Translation Project and TED Conversations, the inspiring TED Fellows and TEDx programs, and the annual TED Prize.
Speakers are given the opportunity to present on a chosen topic using slides as a visual aid. You may not love all of the speeches – but the ones I have seen have been fascinating to me because they have presented me with some new idea or challenged my thinking in some way. One of my favorite TEDx talks (TEDx just means that it was a locally sponsored event) is below. It resonates with those of us who do not like math. Of any kind…
One of my favorites is a talk given by Brene Brown. Her first TED talk ‘The Power of Vulnerability’ resonated with me because I saw it just as my parents were getting a divorce. She is an amazing speaker and is so good at communicating her ideas and observations as a qualitative researcher. And she’s hilarious…
Her second TED talk continues right where she left off. If you want to take a look just click HERE. It may be even better than the first one!
Most of us will never have the opportunity to do a TED talk but there is an alternative – Ignite!
Make it quick!
Ignite’s webpage says “Ignite is a geek event in over 100 cities worldwide. At the events Ignite presenters share their personal and professional passions, using 20 slides that auto-advance every 15 seconds for a total of just five minutes.” They allow anyone to host an Ignite event and they even have a detailed HOW TO page if you decide to organize an Ignite in your area.
As you know, my mom and I are attending FINCON ’13 this year in St. Louis. I am so excited to be going to the annual conference for financial bloggers! I’m even more excited to be presenting at the Ignite event held at FINCON! We are going to try and borrow a video camera so that I can post the video here after the conference. I’m a little nervous but also think it’s going to be a lot of fun.
Wouldn’t it be fun to have an Ignite event just for teens? I would love to do just that! Would you be willing to participate in something that required you to speak in front of a group? Why or why not?
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