TEDBlog January, 2010 Archive
31 January 2010
TEDxShekhavati: Against all odds
Here’s the remarkable story behind a TEDx event held this month: Despite opposition from village elders, a swine flu outbreak and huge logistical issues, TEDxShekhavati organizer Masarat Daud pulled off an amazing event, attracting over 1,000 attendees. Daud was determined to bring TEDx to her hometown of Fatehpur, a tiny village in the Shekhavati region of central India, and let nothing stand in her way.
The idea for TEDxShekhavati was born when Daud spoke at TEDxDubai. She was there to talk about her 8-Day Academy — a series of workshops she began in 2009 to improve literacy levels in villages in India. Inspired by the other speakers, she began planning a TEDx that would focus on people from the small villages and towns of India with amazing success stories.
However, Daud ran into her first problem when she booked a community school as the location. The all-male board that manages the school was not enthusiastic about the concept. Daud explained, “Some of the men in this cabinet decided that TEDxShekhavati was a threat to the village culture and should not be allowed. They also found it un-Islamic for a girl to be single-handedly organizing this, for her to be on stage in front of many people and to be talking.” Next, came a swine flu scare — four deaths occurred within a week in Fatehpur. Her parents cancelled their plans to attend and her cousins in Fatehpur advised her not to come.
Instead of giving up, Daud stocked up on hand sanitizer and face-masks and pushed forward. She convinced her parents to come anyway and when the men of the village refused to help her, she asked her father and his friends to talk to them instead. She moved the venue to a Hindu school and planned for an even bigger turnout.
Posters were printed and distributed in the bazaars. People were talking. On the day of the event, banners were put up in the neighborhood, buses were booked for easy transportation. Daud said, “The educated men in the community supported the event and praised it as a big positive change led by ‘the daughter of the village”
More than 1,000 people attended — 800 in chairs, another 250 sitting on the ground and about 100 more standing. The projector stopped working. Instead of showing TEDTalks videos, Daud took the stage and began telling the audience about TED and TEDx. TEDxShekhavati was on.
Samar Singh Jodha talked about the importance of exploring unusual careers and supporting talent. Aman Nath spoke about preserving the heritage of Shekhavati. Anwar Ali explained how telemedicine is changing lives. Amrita Choudhary praised the courage of the ordinary woman. Mehmood Khan showed how education and business opportunities could empower villages. Shrot Katewa proposed that outsourcing might bridge the urban and rural divide. Daud also gave a talk, stressing the importance of educating girls and explaining how her 8-Day Academy is changing lives through education.
A few quotes that Daud gathered from the audience:
“This is the start to bigger community change in Fatehpur.”
“You have raised the bar for all the girls. Now, the women community is very inspired and parents will educate their girls.”
“A very proud thing for all of us that first TEDx in Rajasthan took place in our Shekhavati area.”
“It was such an educational event. Beyond any of our expectations. We never knew such people came out of our villages!”
But, her favorite moment happened in quick conversation with five boys. Daud explained, “There were five street children who came with one school teacher (who is their relative) and those boys were so happy, so inspired. They told me that at next TEDxShekhavati, they will be standing on stage. I told them I would be honored.”
To read the full story in Daud’s own words, see Chris Anderson’s blog post here >>
30 January 2010
New Best of the Web talk: JK Rowling
JK Rowling: The fringe benefits of failure At her Harvard University commencement speech, “Harry Potter” author JK Rowling offers some powerful, heartening advice to dreamers and overachievers, including one hard-won lesson that she deems “worth more than any qualification I ever earned.” |
29 January 2010
Registration open for TED2011 and TEDActive 2011
We’re delighted to announce that registration for TED2011 is open. Next year’s theme takes us right to the core what so many people love about their TED experience: “The Rediscovery of Wonder.” For 2011, we are assembling a cast of characters that will stir the imagination: explorers, storytellers, photographers, scientific pioneers, visionaries and provocateurs from all parts of the globe.
Join us in Long Beach or at TEDActive in Palm Springs — breathtaking scientific discovery and mind-bending creativity will be on display as never before.
TED2011 will run February 28-March 4, 2011. (By popular demand, we’re moving one day earlier in the week to a Monday-Friday format.) More about the program and schedule here >>
Register for TED2011 and TEDActive 2011 >>
29 January 2010
Weird, or just different?: Derek Sivers on TED.com
“There’s a flip side to everything,” the saying goes, and in 2 minutes, Derek Sivers shows this is true in a few ways you might not expect. (Recorded at TEDIndia University, November 2009, Mysore, India. Duration: 2:42)
Watch Derek Sivers’ talk on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 600+ TEDTalks.
28 January 2010
A warm embrace that saves lives: Jane Chen on TED.com
In the developing world, access to incubators is limited by cost and distance, and millions of premature babies die each year. TED Fellow Jane Chen shows an invention that could keep millions of these infants warm — a design that’s safe, portable, low-cost and life-saving. (Recorded at TEDIndia, November 2009, Mysore, India. Duration: 4:46)
Watch Jane Chen’s talk on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 600+ TEDTalks.
25 January 2010
AMA: TED’s Chris Anderson answers Reddit’s questions right here
Here on the TED Blog, TED Curator Chris Anderson answers the top 10 of last week’s questions in a Reddit-powered, TED community-driven Q&A.
jasontang asks: Have you had any speakers that you later regret having to some extent?
Er, yes indeed. There was the famous TV personality whose talk was so ego-full the audience actually started hissing at her. And the unforgettable case of the speaker who took just a few too many pre-talk drinks to calm the nerves. Trouble is, I can’t really name names because then people would hate me.
I guess about 25% of the talks from each conference never go up on the website. They may be solid, but just lack, for want of a better word, the “wow” factor. We want every talk online to be terrific — and one surprise benefit of doing this is that speakers are using past TED talks as the bar to beat, and putting in amazing amounts of preparation.
hot_pastrami asks: Have you given any thought to hosting debates between intellectuals with differing views? I find that a rousing debate can be a great way to combat confirmation bias.
Funny you should ask. We’re actually doing just that for the first time at TED2010 next month. Stewart Brand vs Mark Z. Jacobson over the proposition “What the world needs now is nuclear power.” Six minutes each, followed by six minutes of all hell letting loose. Then a vote. If it works, we could try to make it a regular feature.
knav asks: Has there been anyone that has not presented at TED yet who you would really like to be on?
But of course. Sticking with the living … Steve Jobs, Aung San Suu Kyi, Warren Buffet, Desmond Tutu, Meryl Streep, Jon Stewart, David Brooks, Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, James Cameron, Mark Cuban (he accepted one year and never showed, but I still love him … kind of), Ian McEwan, David Attenborough … the list goes on.
My bet is quite a few of the above will show in the next couple years. It’s getting easier to persuade. But the funny thing is, the knockout talks usually come from the most unexpected places. So we spend more time trying to discover the less-known gems. We just met today with an utterly endearing under-the-radar artist who in 20 days’ time is going blow people’s socks off.
thedanielrecord asks: I love TED and the ideas it presents, however, $2,000 dollars (reduced-price membership) to attend the conference is still quite expensive. I understand that we are all given free video access to each speakers seminar but some truly inspiring thoughts occur between seminars amongst conference attendees. Do you think TED would benefit by reducing the cost of admissions in hopes of increasing access to these ideas worth spreading?
It’s kind of a myth to think that if we would only cut the price, everyone could show up and join in. We have an event that is sold out a year in advance, and we can’t make it much bigger than the 1,500 who come now (plus 400 in Palm Springs) because it would get too impersonal. If we cut the price (which is normally $6k), it wouldn’t allow any more people to come, it would just increase the number on the waitlist. At the same time we’d be losing the dollars that have paid for the creation of our website and allowed free distribution of the content to the world. (TED is a nonprofit — all the conference profits get recirculated to TED.com, TED Prize, and other programs. No one’s making money.)
I agree, it’s right to reserve some places for people who can’t afford the admission, and that’s why we introduced the Fellows program. Each year about 40 people get fellowships … but they’re chosen out of more than 2,000 who apply. And as you noticed, we offer a reduced rate to some nonprofits and educators.
Happily the TEDx program has spawned literally hundreds of independent TED events that charge $100 or less for admission. We think more than 50,000 people have attended one of these in the past 12 months, so that’s a lot more TED access than there’s ever been before.
More here: “Is TED elitist?“
alexbo asks: If you could have anyone in history give a talk, who would it be and what would you want them to talk about?
Frankly, alexbo, having anyone show up from a prior century, anyone at all, would be pretty spectacular.
But let’s see. Maybe Mitochondrial Eve: “My dream for the species I mothered.”
Or, more seriously, Copernicus on “The Sun, the Earth and the greatest Aha moment of all time.” Translating the talk from Latin would be a drag, though. What about Charles Darwin? “Does design need a designer?” More recently, Richard Feynman or Carl Sagan or Buckminster Fuller would have been naturals.
CreekDK asks: What was the most profound talk ever given, in your mind?
Gosh. Well … David Deutsch’s dramatic illustration of a “typical” place in the universe is a contender. So is Dan Gilbert’s synthesized happiness. And Steve Pinker’s case for the decline of violence is remarkable. But the one that has had most impact on me? I’ll go with Barry Schwartz making the case that too much choice is a bad thing. Since then, I’ve often tried to take options off the table. It works, it really does.
jasontang asks: Who is your favourite speaker or what is your favourite kind of speaker?
I love the talks that offer a new way of seeing the world. There are so many examples of this:
- Dan Dennett on memes
- Kevin Kelly on “what technology wants”
- Hans Rosling’s integrated world
- Robert Wright’s history as non-zero-sumness
- Michael Pollan’s plants’-eye view
- Deborah Gordon’s ant colonies as a metaphor for our brains
- James Howard Kunstler’s demolition of soul-less architecture
- Rory Sutherland’s recasting of advertising as saving the planet
- VS Ramachandran’s “Gandhi” neurons
… and all of the scientists showing off marvels that don’t normally cross our radar.
I also wouldn’t do without the tech demos that give you a delicious peek into the future, nor the great story-tellers who through their own vulnerability and humanity just make you feel a little more alive.
spasmdaze asks: I read that you came up with the idea for the TED Prize, that is, TED will annually grant 3 people $100,000 and “one wish to change the world.” At the moment, what would your one wish to change the world be?
Hmmm. I think I’d wish for every child to spend time at an international school. It’s certainly one of the best things that ever happened to me. All our biggest problems (pandemics, climate change, poverty, nuclear weapons) are a consequence of a world that’s now impossibly interconnected being run by people beholden to tribal interests. We maybe have about one generation to fix that.
venisoned asks: Do you have any plans to move away from the current invite-only model to a open, peer-reviewed model, where anyone with an idea worth spreading (irrespective of his/her eminence) can give a talk?
We already have something of a crowd-sourced model. The website receives literally thousands of speaker suggestions, and they’re invaluable in helping to craft the final program. I don’t think we’d ever completely outsource the process. It’s not just a random sequence of talks we put out each year … they need to connect with each other, and flow. But I DO love the thought of broadening who gets onto the stage.
One unexpected benefit of the TEDx program is that it’s allowed hundreds of people around the world to organize their own events and invite their own speakers. Some of them have stunned us … and you’re going to see some amazing talks going up on the website from TEDx before long.
Also on our to-do list is to give more visibility to the “my idea worth spreading” feature, which is already part of anyone’s profile page on TED.com. I’d like to let the community upvote these in a Reddit-like way. And yes, maybe the best ones could get talk invites. Thanks for nudging this.
MyrddinE asks: Before TED was ‘open to the world’, how did it work? I’ve never understood what business model TED operates under.
Before my foundation acquired it, TED was a boutique conference run as a for-profit business by its visionary founder Richard Saul Wurman. People paid a large fee to come to a conference in California once a year and, just through word-of-mouth, enough came for it to be a commercial success. Although I placed it inside a nonprofit foundation, the core conference has continued to grow, and is highly profitable, generating the money for all the other endeavors we’ve launched: TED Prize, TED Fellows, TEDx and most of all … the release of talks on TED.com. Remarkably, the community who come to the conference, far from resenting the fact we’re giving away the content now, have been cheering us on.
My first couple years running TED, our entire team was five people. Now we’re at about 50 and continuing to grow. It’s been exhilarating seeing so many around the world respond to these talks. 200 million have been watched online since 2006, and the pace has dramatically accelerated in the last year. (Now more than 400k are watched every day.)
Reddit has been one of the best drivers of traffic. TED-like talks never worked on TV, because it’s too easy to change channels on the first “um.” But on the back of an email recommendation from a friend, or a Reddit community front page endorsement, people will patiently listen through the first few minutes, enough time to get hooked … and lo and behold, a good talk can go viral.
So thank you to each of you. You’re all part of this.
25 January 2010
Your health depends on where you live: Bill Davenhall on TED.com
Where you live: It impacts your health as much as diet and genes do, but it’s not part of your medical records. At TEDMED, Bill Davenhall shows how overlooked government geo-data (from local heart-attack rates to toxic dumpsite info) can mesh with mobile GPS apps to keep doctors in the loop. Call it “geo-medicine.” (Recorded at TEDMED, October 2009, San Diego, CA. Duration: 9:25)
Watch Bill Davenhall’s talk on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 600+ TEDTalks.
23 January 2010
New Best of the Web talks: Richard Dawkins, Taylor Mali
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At the Royal Institution in 1991, Richard Dawkins asks us to look at our universe with new eyes. Packed with big questions and illuminating visuals, this memorable journey through the history of life magnifies the splendor of evolution and our place in it. |
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Ever heard the phrase “Those who can’t do, teach”? At the Bowery Poetry Club, slam poet Taylor Mali begs to differ, and delivers a powerful, 3-minute response on behalf of educators everywhere. |
Have a suggestion for a Best of the Web talk? Email us with the subject line “Best of the Web suggestion” and a link to the video in the body of the email.
21 January 2010
Growing new organs: Anthony Atala on TED.com
Anthony Atala’s state-of-the-art lab grows human organs — from muscles to blood vessels to bladders, and more. At TEDMED, he shows footage of his bio-engineers working with some of its sci-fi gizmos, including an oven-like bioreactor (preheat to 98.6 F) and a machine that “prints” human tissue. (Recorded at TEDMED, October 2009, San Diego, CA. Duration: 17:52)
Watch Anthony Atala’s talk on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 500+ TEDTalks.
20 January 2010
10 young Indian artists to watch: Ravin Agrawal on TED.com
Collector Ravin Agrawal delivers a glowing introduction to 10 of India’s most exciting young contemporary artists. Working in a variety of media, each draws on their local culture for inspiration.(Recorded at TEDIndia, November 2009, Mysore, India. Duration: 6:34)
Twitter URL: http://on.ted.com/698F
Watch Ravin Agrawal’s talk on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 500+ TEDTalks.
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