TED: Mind Changing Talks by the World’s Greatest Thinkers and Doers

Some of you might have already heard of TED, an annual conference which gathers entrepreneurs, thinkers, artists and academics from the fields of Technology, Entertainment and Design.

Held annually in Monterey U.S.A, the TED conference is a four day affair with 50 speakers, each giving an 18 minute presentation. Tickets for these talks are regularly sold out well in advance.

These talks are available online at the TED website in the form of video and audio files you can view/download. There are over 150 talks from the archive and more of them are added each week, so it’ll be good if you bookmark the site or sign up as a free member (which also allows you to comment on the videos).

Some of the personalities featured include Richard Branson, Seth Godin, Al Gore, Sir Martin Rees, Richard Dawkins, Chris Anderson, Dan Dennett and Eve Ensler. If you’re interested in feeding your mind and changing the way you think about life and the world around you, this is a website you need to visit regularly.

The production quality for each video is top-notch and there’s a great deal of fascinating and useful information to consume. I highly recommend checking it out if you have time today or over the course of next week. A good way to stay up to date is to either sign up as a member or subscribe to the TED blog.

Here are some selections of talks under the business theme (some of you reading this from the feed might not be able to see the videos, so click over if you’re interested):


1. Richard St. John: Secrets of success in 8 words, 3 minutes

“Why do people succeed? Because they’re smart? Or lucky? How about: Neither. Richard St. John compacts more than a decade of research into an unmissable 3-minute slideshow on the real secrets of success.

Inspired by a chance encounter with a high school student who asked him how to become a success, St. John interviewed more than 500 successful people, then distilled what they told him into eight simple principles.”

2. Seth Godin: Sliced bread and other marketing delights

“In a world of too many options and too little time, our obvious choice is to ignore the ordinary stuff. Marketing guru Seth Godin spells out why, when it comes getting our attention, bad or bizarre ideas are more successful than boring ones. And early adopters, not the mainstream’s bell curve, are the new sweet spot of the market.”

3. Malcolm Gladwell: What We Can Learn from Spaghetti Sauce

“In this witty monologue, Malcolm Gladwell follows the career of a food industry consultant who uncovered a key secret to what eaters like. Running huge focus groups to find customers’ truest tastes, Gladwell’s hero draws a radical conclusion, an epiphany that has defined food marketing ever since.”

4. Larry Lessig: How creativity is being strangled by the law

“Larry Lessig gets TEDsters to their feet, whooping and whistling, following this elegant presentation of three stories and an argument. The Net’s most adored lawyer brings together John Philip Sousa, celestial copyrights, and the “ASCAP cartel” to build a case for creative freedom.

He pins down the key shortcomings of our dusty, pre-digital intellectual property laws, and reveals how bad laws beget bad code. Then, in an homage to cutting-edge artistry, he throws in some of the most hilarious remixes you’ve ever seen.”

That’s all for this week’s installment. Have a great time watching or listening to all the talks and pay attention to how some of the speakers deliver or present their message as well. It might be useful if you’re planning on doing some conference speaking yourself.

Weekend Media is a weekly editorial which showcases intriguing books, videos and films which are relevant to topics covered on Dosh Dosh. Published every Saturday or Sunday, these articles are designed to be easily digested and maximally useful.

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