Tag: Talks (Page 2 of 2)

Making presentations in the TED style – The TED Commandments

May 12, 2009 /

I got a link in my Twitter stream pointing to The TED presentation commandments which is a great list of ten commandments in order to make a great presentation.

The TED Commandments

  1. Thou Shalt Not Simply Trot Out thy Usual Shtick.
  2. Thou Shalt Dream a Great Dream, or Show Forth a Wondrous New Thing, Or Share Something Thou Hast Never Shared Before.
  3. Thou Shalt Reveal thy Curiosity and Thy Passion.
  4. Thou Shalt Tell a Story.
  5. Thou Shalt Freely Comment on the Utterances of Other Speakers for the Sake of Blessed Connection and Exquisite Controversy.
  6. Thou Shalt Not Flaunt thine Ego. Be Thou Vulnerable. Speak of thy Failure as well as thy Success.
  7. Thou Shalt Not Sell from the Stage: Neither thy Company, thy Goods, thy Writings, nor thy Desperate need for Funding; Lest Thou be Cast Aside into Outer Darkness.
  8. Thou Shalt Remember all the while: Laughter is Good.
  9. Thou Shalt Not Read thy Speech.
  10. Thou Shalt Not Steal the Time of Them that Follow Thee.

Presentation Zen

That post lead me to Making presentations in the TED style at Presentation Zen. The TED commandments are here too but the best part is the reviews of some TED speakers. It says:

There is not one best way to speak at a TED conference, there are many different ways. But what the good presentations have in common is that they were created carefully and thoughtfully with the audience in mind and were delivered with passion, clarity, brevity, and always with “the story” of it (whatever it is) in mind. So let the list of 10 above be your general guide. In addition, take a look at some of the TED presentations below. They all follow a different style but were effective and memorable in their own way.

Go to Presentation Zen, read reviews and learn more about what works (and not).

My comments

The TED commandments are great and useful for any speaker. The presentations listed at Presentation Zen are great examples to learn from. In addition, take a look at some of my favourites:
• Elizabeth Gilbert: A different way to think about creative genius.
• Benjamin Zander on music and passion
• Matthew Childs: Hang in there! 9 life lessons from rock climbing.

This was originally posted at Forty Plus Two, another blog of mine.

Hang in there! 9 life lessons from rock climbing

April 17, 2009 /

This is yet another great TED Talk, Matthew Childs: Hang in there! 9 life lessons from rock climbing.

In this talk from TED University 2009, veteran rock climber Matthew Childs shares nine pointers for rock climbing. These handy tips bear on an effective life at sea level, too.

This talk is less than five minutes, the nine pointers are brief and useful in life.

This was originally posted at Forty Plus Two, another blog of mine.

Benjamin Zander on music and passion

March 10, 2009 /

One of my favourite TED Talks is Benjamin Zander: Classical music with shining eyes. Do not let the title fool you, the talk is about music and passion but also brings up leadership.

Benjamin Zander has two infectious passions: classical music, and helping us all realize our untapped love for it — and by extension, our untapped love for all new possibilities, new experiences, new connections.

What stuck with me is his comments about when he considered that as a conductor he makes no sound. Instead his role is a leader, to have the ability to make other people powerful and to awaken possibilities in other people. Benjamin also says that a leader shall never doubt the capacity of the people he is leading.

Benjamin Zander mentions that he measures success in how many eyes are shining. My eyes were shining bright after watching this talk.

This was originally posted at Forty Plus Two, another blog of mine.

A different way to think about creative genius

March 5, 2009 /

At TED Talks there is a terrific talk by Elizabeth Gilbert: A different way to think about creative genius.

Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses — and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person “being” a genius, all of us “have” a genius. It’s a funny, personal and surprisingly moving talk.

I like this talk a lot and am also very impressed by her presentation. No PowerPoint or other stuff, “only” her talking and I am spellbound. There are lessons to be learned.

Update April 17, 2009
Men With Pens write about How to Stay Sane and Alive if You’re Creative.

Update November 20, 2009
Marion Chapsal has posted a great analysis of this presentation at Olé to You! Don’t Be Afraid, Just Do Your Talk!

Update January 4, 2010
At Lateral Action is a great post about Elizabeth Gilbert: Is Creativity Divinely Inspired?

This was originally posted at Forty Plus Two, another blog of mine.

Institutions vs. collaboration

July 17, 2008 /

Over at TED is a talk from 2005 by Clay Shirky about Institutions vs. collaboration. It is a very interesting talk about how closed groups and companies will give way to looser networks. Clay talks about institutions compared to collaboration, like Microsoft versus Linux. He shows the graphs behind the 80-20 rule, few contribute a lot and many contribute very little. Still, the small contributions can be very valuable.

Clay mentions Flickr and their tagging feature that makes it easy to find photos on a topic regardless of who uploaded that photo.

Clay also talks about Meetup, with the tag line Meetup Groups meet face-to-face to pursue hobbies, network, get support, make friends, find playgroups, and how that system is used as a tool for stay at home moms to create a real life social network.

This was originally posted at Forty Plus Two, another blog of mine.

Creativity and education

November 6, 2006 /

At TED talks is an interesting and entertaining speech by Sir Ken Robinson, author of Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative, and a leading expert on innovation and human resources.

In this talk, he makes a case for creating an education system that nurtures creativity, rather than undermining it.

This was originally posted at Forty Plus Two, another blog of mine.

TED Talks

September 22, 2006 /

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design. At TED Talks are videos with some of the speakers they have had. It is an impressive list with names like Malcom Gladwell (Blink), Richard Dawkins (The Selfish Gene), Jimmy Wales (founder of Wikipedia), Nicholas Negroponte, Al Gore and more. A website worth a visit!

This was originally posted at Forty Plus Two, another blog of mine.

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