Results Count ... everything else is conversation.: If you haven’t met TED … you’re missing out

Remarkable talks by remarkable people, free to the world

As a public speaker and blogger I pride myself in being pretty well read, at least in my industries. But I never knew about TED until my daughter sent me a link to a great speaker. TED is an on-line collection of video clips from talks by amazing speakers, across a wide variety of topics, made available for free. Think YouTube on steroids for professionals. If you haven’t tapped into TED, you’re missing out on a great resource.

Who and what is TED?

Maybe I’m late to the party, but I had never heard about TED until a couple of weeks ago. If you go to TED.com, you quickly find out that TED stands for the objective of: “bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, and Design”.

TED started out as conference in 1984 and has evolved in to a nonprofit devoted to “Ideas Worth Spreading”. TED still sponsors conferences that are very difficult to get into … TED 2012 is already sold out! But one of the amazing functions of TED is to bring you high quality video clips of some of the best talks from remarkable people … for FREE.

TED – The YouTube for professionals

Nothing against YouTube. It has an amazing array of “content”. And who hasn’t ventured there from a link only to waste subsequent hours on yet more links to videos you could never have imagined. But let’s face it, there is a lot of garbage on YouTube, and a lot of the video is very low quality. The “Tube” requires a lot of sifting to find something worthwhile.

TED is not designed to be, or compete with YouTube. That is my moniker and it’s perhaps a disservice. TED offers an amazing collection of video clips on everything from entertainment, to talks from scientists and business leaders. There are clips from comedians, artists, writers, designers and technologists. Yes there are even clips from Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. Check them out … the dynamic Tech Duo are speaking in venues and on topics that you might not expect.

TED = Best practices from the best around the world

I do a fair amount of speaking through IMS Retail University and conferences. I thought I was pretty good at it … until I met TED and started watching some amazing speakers who have the ability to captivate audiences.

I have posted previously on the dangers and pitfalls of PowerPoint.

Far too many people use far too many slides, with far too much detail. If you want to see how the best communicate with only a few or no slides, check out the speakers on TED. These people have mastered the art of storytelling!

10 Ways you can use your new best friend TED

No, you won’t find every speaker or topic on TED interesting. Many topics are controversial, and that is the intent. But the breadth and depth of what is on TED is pretty amazing. What TED can offer is an on-line resource for both personal and professional development. Here are at least 10 ways to use TED:

Innovation – Find new ideas and topics
Discovery – Knowledge about new trends and ideas
Role Models – Great models on speaking techniques
Art of the Demo – Great examples of how to make the complex simple and understandable
Art of entertainment – Some great performances
Challenge your thinking – Alternative views and viewpoints
Causes – Great exposure to people addressing challenges
Global perspectives – Speakers from around the world
Community – Dialog and connection with others
How to speak through stories and not abuse PowerPoint

If you can’t tell by now, I’m hooked on TED. Like YouTube, one great talk leads to other links. Be careful or you can easily spend hours watching some remarkable people sharing talks on “Ideas worth Spreading”. Here’s just a quick sample of diversity available on TED:

If theses first ones don’t grab you, let’s see if you can resist checking out the last talk topic on TED.

TED Case Study – Go Check out Simon Sinek

Haven’t heard of Simon Sinek? I hadn’t either. But he is simply a great speaker on TED who has almost 2 million views for his talk entitled: How Great Leaders Inspire Action. You might not agree with all of Sinek’s ideas. But if you want to find out how Apple uses the “Golden Circle” to tap into biology in order to consistently out innovate everyone else … click on the graphic below to go visit TED and hear Sinek speak.

Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action