TED Talks

Looking for some inspiration?  Want to hear some of the brightest people around talk about what they're most passionate about?  If so, you need to check out the TED Talks.

TED, which stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, is an annual conference featuring the best and brightest speakers on the planet.  I just finished watching this session with Malcolm Gladwell.

Fortunately for those of us who can't attend the conference, the kind folks at TED offer freely accessible audio and video archives of every speaker.  Isn't that the way every conference should be, btw?!  I've often wondered why more conferences don't do this sort of thing.  Yeah, I know...they're afraid it will affect the in-person attendance rates, and those fees are where the hosts really make their money.  Maybe they ought to consider more sponsorships to help fund the operation.  TED obviously benefits from both in-person attendees and loads of virtual attendees after the show.

You say you don't have the time to sit around watching this sort of thing?  Then do what my friend Bryan Gray (CEO of MediaSauce) did: Download the audio versions, put them on a CD and listen to them on your way to/from the office.  Do it.  You won't regret it.

Comments

[Cecil Vortex]

if you're downloading the audio and you want the whole shebang, you can subscribe to TedTalks via iTunes.

Thanks for pointing this out, Joe -- looks like great stuff..... Downloading the whole shebang at this very moment,

-Cecil

[Michael A. Banks]

Good that this is available. Sponsors are needed, yes. But I don't think that making audio and video available after the fact would cut significantly into attendance. As you know, more than half the benefit of a conference involves interacting with people outside the sessions.
--Mike
http://www.michaelabanks.com

[Bryan Gray]

Not only will making these available help create a legacy of content, it will create buzz for upcoming sessions and per Mike will keep everyone engaged on the relationship building.

Bryan

[Joe Wikert]

Yes, I think the fact that they've made all these talks available for the general public is outstanding. Putting them on their own website is one thing, but offering them in such a convenient manner on iTunes shows they're really trying to embrace anyone and everyone who's interested. Again, there's a lot for other conference hosts to learn from this...

[Fat Publishing]

Thanks for the article. I really enjoyed Mena Trott's talk, available here: http://www.sixapart.com/about/corner/index