Having spent 3 days gathering inspiration from the 2011 Ted Conference (from the comfort of the Added Value Generator) I found to no surprise that I rarely dosed off! I gathered many bits and bops of insightful and inspiring knowledge that came from musicians, poets, tech geeks, scientists, biomedical engineers, historians, and a slew of other speakers- all visionary storytellers with forward-thinking minds.
So… what does the future hold for us you ask? 360 degree bubble images, body parts made by printers, clothes that look like paper doilies and of course… robots!
Some of my favorite talks were from filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, street artist JR, poet Sarah Kay, and wrongcologist (still no clue what that means) Kathryn Hunter so I encourage you to look them up on Ted.com next time you’re looking for inspiration.
From Morgan Spurlock I learned that there are brand managers in the world that have no clue what their own brand even stands for (cough… Ban deodorant), hence why I have a job, and that brands (and people) should embrace risk and fear, which could lead to opportunity. Sometimes brands (and people) need to cut out the middle man (I hope that's not me) and work directly with the man… and that man is Mr. Spurlock which he discovers in his recent creation and documentary, “POM Wonderful Presents The Greatest Movie Ever Sold” which is a look into the world of product placement and advertising. I’m truly looking forward to seeing this film!
Salman Kahn is an educator who developed a free online math tutorial that allows users to learn at their own pace. He brought up a very good point that I’ll try to recall when I one day have children which is that... in math the discipline builds, so to move on to the next level you need to know the last level but in the real world school doesn’t wait for you to move on. So for example, you get a 90% on your Chapter 1 math test and then class moves on to Chapter 2 which builds on Chapter 1… it may be that 10% you missed which is crucial to moving you to the next level but for some reason in school you’re allowed to move on without having really learned what you’ve done wrong thus resulting in students continually falling behind… sad but true!
I’m not the sports type (yes, I believe that is a type), the only reason I watch the Super Bowl is for the commercials and company of my friends and family. Ted reminded me why I love the new Chrysler commercial – the one that takes place in Detroit. It’s about being honest, truthful, gritty, and transparent. It’s about being able to relate to people which Chrysler displayed beautifully by connecting with people on a real and personal level, and by telling a compelling story in only 2 minutes. As they said on Ted… “know the world’s motivations” or something like that.
JR is a street artist who takes black and white photographs of people around the world; people who may have normally gone unnoticed. He captures their soul through their facial expressions and reveals them to their communities in unexpected ways. This was my favorite talk of the conference and got me instantly excited about how I can contribute to his global art project (insideoutproject.net).
Roger Ebert, film critic and blogger, spoke about his inability to speak (ironic) and how losing his voice has been a journey that has opened him up to the world of digital communication. A few interesting points that resonated with me… Firstly, that online everybody speaks at the same speed thus we all have a relatively equal opportunity to be heard. Secondly, on the web your voice finds expression and it’s up to the reader to give your voice that expression (to play the director, the producer, the caster, etc.) – hence why I believe we always love the book more than the film.
Kathryn Schulz is the author of “Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error” where she writes about how people feel about being wrong and discusses the error in always thinking we are right. She spoke about how our internal sense of rightness is not reliable because we instinctively always want to be right therefore we should not rely on that instinct. We must remind ourselves that our beliefs do not reflect what the rest of society believes and if you believe you are right then you will not look for the right (or alternative) answer. By always thinking you are right you will also assume others are ignorant for having a different point of view. We must not make these unfortunate assumptions and instead we should try to understand why the opposite could be true. Our attachment to our own rightness is what causes our tragedy - and this is part of being human. The miracle of the human mind is that we can see the world as it isn’t, not as it is. We must remember that our obsession with understanding everything in the world around us is the root of our creativity. So…. rediscover wonder by stepping out of rightness- by being willing to see yourself as wrong.
And now, for some inspiring ideas that amazing Ted speakers said which I paraphrased and can no longer recall the source of. These ideas will live on as inspiration for me both personally and professionally…
- It’s not the thing itself that moves you, it’s the art of it, it’s the telling of the story that moves you
- Collective learning is the ability to communicate information and develop it from one generation to the next and this is why humans continue to exist and become/develop into a smarter species over time- we’re able to pass down or improve on our learnings from one generation to the next
- Search for beauty in traditional things, and then take it to unimaginable places. It’s about how you transform what already exists and rediscover what’s already there
- Tell stories through art, inspire people to think about the stories themselves, help to tell other people’s stories, help to make sense of the world
- Great stories come from what you’re passionate about and where that intersect when other people find it interesting
- Rediscover the child in you, have a child-like sense of wonder, maintain a sense of wonder
- Try to connect with others, have them feel what you feel through what you speak and do
- Practice the act of listening
- Refine stories and ideas enough so you can explain them to your grandma in 5 minutes
- Art is everywhere waiting, it just needs a little push to make it happen
- Work to rediscover something again (that seems the same)
And lastly, some other personal to-dos: visit thegirleffect.com, visit insideoutproject.net, and read The Art of War.
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