TED? Who is “TED”?

Technology, Entertainment and Design – are the three words that inspired the name of TED, which started back in 1984. To learn all about the history of TED, check here.

I learned about it when I was in Bali – actually in Ubud, in a swimming pool at the hotel where I was staying in 2012. I had been studying at Swinburne University (Melbourne, Victoria) and I was working on my thesis, the topic of which was “Bamboo” and I had flown to Bali to explore the bamboo industry there. I met a man briefly as I sat on a lounge after I had my swim, and he was sitting nearby watching a TED Talk on his tablet. Our conversation was brief. He asked me if I knew about TED Talks, which I had to acknowledge my ignorance. He just advised me to check it out. And I did.  And I have been a TED fan since.

Watching TED Talks

I am a regular TED watcher. My procedure is that I scan recent talks, and choose one to watch. Usually on my tablet, though from time to time it is on my laptop screen. When I travel, I often watch TED Talks and YouTube videos.

Photo by Ilyass SEDDOUG on Unsplash.com

What’s Great about TED Talks?

For me, it is about the range of topics, the brilliant speakers, and the format of speakers only having around 18 minutes (or less) to present their topic in a very organised way. I have attended one presentation. It was in 2015 I recall when I was on an Advisory Board at the university. Sadly, I have very little recollection of the event.

While I was excited to attend, I mostly enjoy watching the talks on my computer or tablet.

There is a wonderful array of topics and speakers.  I enjoy that I can go to the site and type in a topic that I may be interested in. The last search I did came up with this one, which I will be watching shortly.

Great for Travelling

As my readers will know, I have been travelling a lot.  I am not a great television watcher.  I do go to the movies occasionally, but prefer to stay at home (or at my overnight digs)

My “go-to” entertainment, in part, because it is less than 30 minutes is a TED Talk, and of course YouTube.com. If I watched a movie while lying on my bed in the motel, I’d probably be asleep before it was halfway through. And I like being “educated” – some movies to me are a waste of time unless they have a good story and outstanding actors.

So, I always seek accommodation that has free Wi-Fi, or I can download some talks to my phone or tablet, for the rare times I am out of internet access.

Could you arrange a Ted Talk?

Well, yes. With some help from your friends. If you explore the TED.com website, you will see the amazing number of events and speakers already organised for 2022.  And you can find the rules and other details for holding such an event.  I have not organised one, but would like to, but I have not found any of my friends prepared to put in the hard yards to do so.

If you look at the events already held around the world (some 40,000) and the ones already booked for 2022, you can see how popular these events are.  The map of the world with the dots for all the upcoming events will show readers that it is popular all around the world. The topics and speakers are amazing – and I guess it would take quite a lot of organising to live up to the standards of TED.

First of all, find a spare 30 minutes, and go to www.TED.com and search for a person or topic that interests you. Then listen to it. Take note of the procedures and timing. It really is outstanding.

Could you and an organisation you are involved with do one?