TED Talks often get 100 or more comments — a mixed bag of kudos, critiques and questions. Looking back on the year, here are a few comments that wowed us.

Our speakers want to hear from you! If something in the talk was unclear or you’re wondering where the research will go next, don’t be shy – ask about it. Many speakers check their talk pages routinely, so it’s the perfect place to seek answers and updates.

Here, commenter Adel Alsuhaimion asks a question of Amy Cuddy about her talk “Your body language shapes who you are”:

“Well presented topic & very useful tools. Thank you.

You’re absolutely right, Amy, that body language can and will change the outcome of many situations where face-to-face contact is the case.

I wonder if the same conclusions can be generalized to present time visual/audio communications via laptops and or iPhones? Would body language effect still prevail or contract due to limited viewing through the 4″X6″ tiny screens?

Just curious!”

Read Cuddy’s response »

Commenter Karim Nasser addresses a question to Max Little about :A test for Parkinson’s with a phone call”:

“This is truly amazing, I don’t know much about PD and I wonder, does early detection help treat the disease?”

Read Little’s response »

Commenter Michael Bois on Margaret Heffernan’s talk “Dare to disagree “:

“I notice that some comments suggest it’s difficult to develop such an organisational culture. If you’re part of this school of thought it is possible that you are either the fearful employee or the unchallengeable leader. World class businesses – and people for that matter – are seekers of truth. We don’t mind if you ruffle our feathers provided your aim is to find the best solution.

That said, this can be dangerous ground for many organisations. If you hope to foster a culture of ‘disagreement’ it’s important to provide a structure for disagreements to be raised and managed. This will differ of course from one business to the next.

While the notion is undeniably beneficial, can anyone provide examples of its effective (or ineffective) implementation? How was the culture taught and to what demographic? What resources were required to facilitate disagreements? What happened if disagreements got out of hand? How were boundaries set to manage interpersonal relationships and boss vs employee expectations? If there are any texts or journals on this topic please post a link as a reply.”

Read Heffernan’s response »

“Her talk made me resolve to stop slouching this year. After watching it, I became hyper-aware of all the ways that I make myself look smaller,” says TED’s Customer Service Specialist Becky Chung. “Another resolution of mine is to do the Wonder Woman pose during breaks.”

Writer Kate Torgovnick echoes, “In 2013, I’m not going to let myself get stressed out. When I feel that rush of stress, I’m going to sit back, put my hands behind my head and stretch out my legs.”

Here, more talks that helped TED staffers form New Year’s resolutions.

Be vulnerable and keep an open heart — Brené Brown’s 2012 talk inspires one TED staffer. Photo: James Duncan Davidson

This video is a triple threat! A fascinating lesson (math with a twist), gorgeous animation and music that really taps into your pathos. Combined, the three aspects make for a truly inspiring video. Watch, and you will want to go out on an adventure!

A few more year-end TED-Ed picks:

Poet Jane Hirshfield talks through The Art of the Metaphor >>

Trevor Maber helps us Rethink thinking >>

Bill Nye sends a sundial to Mars >>

Browse all the great video lessons on TED-Ed >>

This talk from TEDxBrussels felt like a breath of fresh stage. A collaboration among science writer John Bohannon, choreographer Carl Flink and the dance troupe Black Label Movement, the talk is illustrated with dance, not slides.

“I think that bad PowerPoint presentations are a serious threat to the global economy,” Bohannon says. “As you’re all aware, we face difficult economic times. I come to you with a modest proposal for easing the financial burden … Let’s use artists instead of PowerPoint.”

Intrigued? Watch John, Carl and Black Label Movement’s flat-out astonishing new TED-Ed video: “Let’s Talk About Sex.”

We at TED love slide decks — PowerPoint, Keynote, Prezi (full disclosure: TED was an early investor in Prezi) and all kinds of advanced slide-fu. A great deck helps speakers add visuals to their spoken words, stay on track, and craft memorable reveals. But at the same time, we still see slides used badly far too often. Here, some slidecraft we would happily never see again (and a few new tricks to try instead).

“The powerpoint zombie that I have been trying to kill for years sounds like this: ‘Write out the sentences that I am going to say on a slide. Look down at the monitor as I read them.’ Very hard to edit.” —Laurie House, Film + Video Editor

“It gets really old to see a lot of bullet points on slides. Simplify!” —Cloe Shasha, Projects Coordinator 

“People feel like they have to have a ton of slides. When there are slides, people focus on that and not as much on the speaker. That said, the talk that I loved dearly that I wish we could do more like was Jon Ronson’s because of all the visual activity. That was fun.” —Ben Lillie, Writer/Editor

“Creative fonts. Ick.” —Kate Torgovnick, Writer

“Animated text. No more sparkles, fireworks or lens flares, please.” —Shanna Carpenter, Community Engagement Manager

“I dislike text on a powerpoint presentation. To keep our attention, use your ability to tell a story and your passion about the subject.” —Jordan Reeves, TED-Ed Program Facilitator

“I like when a speaker isn’t afraid to start their talk on a black screen. Use a slide when you need it, and when you don’t, just talk.” —Emily McManus, TED.com Editor

Using a simple slide to reveal a surprising data point, Pankaj Ghemawat wins at powerpoint during TEDGlobal 2012. Photo: James Duncan Davidson.

PLUS:

More slide tips from the TEDx manual >>

TED slide style deconstructed, by Garr Reynolds of Presentation Zen >>

TED Talks often get 100 or more comments — a mixed bag of kudos, critiques and questions. Looking back on the year, here are a few comments that wowed us.

Every video on TED.com is carefully selected, but not every TEDster will like every talk. Disagree with a speaker’s logic, methods or sources? We want to hear why. This comment begs to differ without getting hostile, leaving the door wide open for anyone — maybe even the speaker himself — to feel comfortable responding.

Below, commenter Anthony Townsend gently critiques Jon Ronson’s “Strange answers to the psychopath test”:

 “A visually striking and rhetorically powerful talk. However, I’m afraid that I must forward my opinion that this talk is peppered with gross oversimplifications and distortions of psychiatric and psychological diagnostic procedures and practice. Blind adherence to criteria and checklists has never been the practice of mental health professionals nor are grey areas overlooked.

The DSM-IV-TR is here presented as a ‘bible’ of mental health when, in fact, it is simply a descriptive taxonomy intended to supplement professional assessment and treatment planning rather than exclusively inform it. I did enjoy this talk but I feel that Ronson fell into the very trap that he mentioned at the outset: He took a misinformed and superficial glance at the mental health profession and explored those fringe elements unaided by trained professionals who could speak to the contrary.

As a practicing clinician I can attest to the value of diagnostic manuals, but it should be noted that professional judgement, recognition of the subjective meaning of the patient’s experiences and sources of collateral information all work together to create a picture of an individual’s mental state. While Ronson pursued an interesting topic, I feel that his sources were misinformed, his data biased and his motives perhaps misguided as he came to pursue that which is interesting rather than that which is true.”

2012 was the year of radical openness at TED. In that spirit, while our office is closed for winter break, TED’s editorial staffers have selected their favorite talks of the year that, for a variety of reasons, didn’t get as many views as we would have hoped … giving you a peek into both our process and our personalities. We hope you enjoy.

It’s the end of 2012, and that means end-of-the-year lists. And while you’re scrambling to look at photos of 43 people you won’t believe actually exist, to relive the year in animated gifs, or to download the year’s best 100 tracks, you’re not watching TED Talks. Frankly, I’m disappointed. There’s a whole host of nerdy, serious, socially minded, mildly chiding, frankly bizarre talks you might have missed this year. BUMMER FOR YOU. Here are 11 of my favorite TED Talks from 2012 that I’m surprised — nay, appalled – you haven’t seen yet.

Let’s start with William Noel’s talk, “Revealing the lost codex of Archimedes.” Noel is the Director of the Special Collections Center at the University of Pennsylvania and, in this talk, he tells the story of the Archimedes palimpsest, a Byzantine prayer book containing three hidden and previously unknown original writings: one from Archimedes, one from 4th-century-B.C. Greek orator Hyperides, and one a 3rd-century-A.D. commentary on Aristotle’s “Categories” by an unknown source. These works were finally revealed, obviously, by using a powerful particle accelerator. This is easily my favorite talk from TEDxSummit in Doha this year.
This talk has intrigue, medieval manuscripts and a particle accelerator: Why the eff didn’t you watch it?

Bryan Stevenson: We need to talk about an injustice
No two ways about it: This is a really, really, really good talk. Bryan Stevenson delivered words at TED2012 that stunned the audience and received one of the longest standing ovations in the history of the conference. And not because he was selling perfume-scented technology flowers from behind well-designed rose-colored glasses, but because he asked us to face harsh truths about race, poverty, degradation, marginalization, incarceration and injustice. At turns candid, stat-filled, intensely personal and acutely aware of tragic moments in history, the talk is an absolute powerhouse. The next day Chris Anderson got on stage and asked for contributions, raising $1.12 million for Stevenson’s nonprofit, the Equal Justice Initiative.
Like I said: really, really, really good talk. Seriously: Why the eff haven’t you watched this?

Chip Kidd: Designing books is no laughing matter. OK, it is.
Try smelling an e-book the way you can smell a paperback. Welcome: Chip Kidd, design legend. In his talk from TED2012, Kidd showcases the creative process behind book covers he’s worked on at Knopf in the past 30 years, like Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park, Augusten Burroughs’ Dry, and Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84. Also, he does a funny dance and is adorable.
Kidd, dinos, naked skeletons, rehab, the Buddha, weird dance: Why the eff didn’t you watch this talk?

Ed Gavagan: A story about knots and surgeons
I first heard about this guy from a friend who listened to his story on the Moth podcast. While walking down Sullivan Street in downtown New York one perfectly normal day, designer and builder Ed Gavagan found himself face to face with a group of teenagers about to partake in a gang initiation rite — to kill a complete stranger. That stranger: Ed Gavagan. The teenagers opened him hip to neck. Later in the hospital, the doctors gave him a 2% chance of living. In his TEDMED talk, Gavagan pays homage to the surgeons who saved his life.
Ed Gavagan gets stabbed in broad daylight and lives to tell the tale: Why the eff didn’t you watch this talk?

Karen Bass: Unseen footage, untamed nature
Filmmaker Karen Bass shows footage from her shows on BBC and National Geographic. Watch for an INSANE shot at 5:15 of a bat sucking up nectar with a tongue 1.4 times its height.
The bat tongue is ridiculous: Why the eff didn’t you watch this talk?

Leslie T. Chang: The voices of China’s workers
Journalist Leslie T. Chang takes a subtle look at Western guilt and the white-savior complex in this portrait of female factory workers from Dongguan, China. The western media portrays Chinese laborers as if they are forced into factories to slave away and suffer making smartphones for rich Westerners, but it’s simply not true, says Chang. Girls leave their villages with an entrepreneurial spirit, betting on the chance at a better life. It doesn’t matter that they can’t afford iPhones themselves, says Chang, because they don’t want them.
This talk predated the unforgettable SNL iPhone 5 Tech Talk sketch featuring peasant laborers from a Chinese Apple factory and hyperbolic iPhone critics from CNET, Wired and Gizmodo. So: Why the eff haven’t you watched it yet?

Beeban Kidron: The shared wonder of film
At a TED salon in London, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason director Beeban Kidron talks about the importance of a good visual narrative. As a founder of FILMCLUB, an English organization devoted to improving the lives of students through after-school film screenings, Kidron seeks to return to today’s generation a sense of cultural heritage through film. In the words of TED’s content distribution editorial specialist Janet Lee, “Why doesn’t this talk have 1,000,000 views?”
Contains footage that will make you laugh and cry, and you won’t know why: Why the eff didn’t you watch this talk?

Rory Stewart: Why democracy matters
British MP Rory Stewart talks about why the Number 1 reason to support democracy isn’t that it promotes good things like economic growth or equal rights for women … but because it’s inherently a valuable way to approach government.
Rory Stewart talks about the intrinsic, not instrumental, value of democracy. WORD. Why the eff didn’t you watch it?

Leymah Gbowee: Unlock the intelligence, passion, greatness of girls
We should never forget that life can be truly absurd and completely horrible. At TEDActive this year, when I saw Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Gbowee’s heart-wrenching talk, you could hear a pin drop in the theater. She talks about a lifetime of having to turn away young Liberian girls who had been denied education and a life free from fear. Each time Gbowee had to say “no” to a girl in need, it spurred her to fight harder for peace and safety for women.
Leymah Gbowee puts the G in girls and gangsta: Why the eff didn’t you watch this talk?

Bandi Mbubi: Demand a fair trade cell phone
In case there weren’t enough things worrying you about your phone (see: aforementioned factory workers in China, the downfall of Apple Maps, 4-14 on Angry Birds), here’s one more for the list. At TEDxExeter, Congolese activist Bandi Mbubi explains that the tantalum necessary for computers and smartphones has a bloody history, and that the mining and trade of tantalum perpetuate the already devastating atrocities in eastern Congo.
People demand fair-trade food and clothes, so it’s only fair they also demand fair-trade phones. Why the eff didn’t you watch this talk?

Bobby Ghosh: Why global jihad is losing
“Jihad” is an insanely loaded word in “the West” (an equally loaded word), and that’s because people don’t really understand it. Before bin Laden made it one of the world’s most powerful and destructive memes, the media was totally happy never talking about jihad. At TEDxGeorgetown, Bobby Ghosh talks about the denigration of the concept of jihad by bin Laden and how his particular brand of jihad died along with him. Now, says Ghosh, it’s time to reclaim the word.
To be an informed consumer of the news, it’s important to understand the players in the failing “war of terror ” and the plurality of agents currently fighting local jihads in the Middle East and Africa. So: Why the eff didn’t you watch this talk?

Beeban Kidron at the TED Salon: Unseen Narratives, London. 10 May 2012, Photo: Dafydd Jones/TED

Poet Jane Hirschfield’s language, evoking so many artful metaphors, is matched with Ben Pearce’s equally endearing animation, somehow coming off as cute, clever and relatable. Watch this lesson to be moved by the profundity of the English language.

2012 was the year of radical openness at TED. In that spirit, while our office is closed for winter break, TED’s editorial staffers have selected their favorite talks of the year …  giving you a peek into both our process and our personalities. We hope you enjoy.

I’m impressed and intimidated by people who can give a TED Talk in more than one language. So let me start by saying: Arunachalam Muruganantham speaks much better English than I do Tamil. He even cracks jokes in English — really funny jokes. Respect.

Muruganantham is an inventor from Tamil Nadu who started a business making something he knew nothing about: maxipads. It’s a painfully intriguing topic — of regular interest to some of us, it makes others squirm in their chairs. (And given the number of people on Earth who have periods, compared to the number who have, say, robotic prosthetic arms, it’s actually strange we hadn’t yet seen a great talk on the subject. Believe me, we are looking for more.) When Muruganantham saw that his wife had a problem affording sanitary supplies, he worked for years to design and (here it comes…) test an effective and cheap maxipad. He then built a philanthropically oriented business helping women’s groups around India make and sell their own pads.

So: a topic we’re squeamishly passionate about, a social message worth hearing, gorgeous footage, and a warm and laughing audience in the theater at TED@Bangalore. There’s just one thing standing between this talk and the TED front page, and it’s a tough question to think about: Some of the words that Muruganantham speaks are hard for our wider audience to understand.

Understanding is something we take really seriously. When TED first started posting videos online in 2006, we didn’t yet have transcripts or translations. And we started right away to get emails from people in the hearing-impaired community, as well as from those who did not speak English. Both of them said the same thing, and I’ll never forget hearing it: You’re sharing these ideas with everyone but me. Transcribing all our talks, and building the Open Translation Project, were driven by the desire to fix that. Now, below the window of every TED Talk is a button to turn on a transcript in English or any language it’s translated into.

So we decided, for Muruganantham’s talk, to build a text transcript and have it pop up automatically when you visit his TED Talk. It took a surprising number of people to make this simple thing happen.

First, the transcripts themselves, which happen at top speed. TED staffers Thu-Huong Ha and Morton Bast work together with a professional transcriber to attach time-coded text to the edited video. It’s doubly important to get these texts exactly right, both for our users who choose subtitles and because the English text is used as a basis for translations in 94 languages. Something like 35,000 separate text files depend on these English texts to be correct.

Then, the default behavior of our subtitles is to disappear until needed. So the transcript team had to work with our engineers to make sure that on this particular talk, the the subtitles would pop up automatically. While we’ve placed auto subtitles on talks given in French and Spanish, making it work in English took a little tweaking. Thanks, engine room!

To get around the issue, our video editor Laurie House tried a quick experiment with burning subtitles into the talk video itself — instead of using a separate layer — but quickly realized that once the talk was translated, the new language would want to go right where the English titles were burned in. So, scrap that.

Meanwhile we’ve got three people working on this transcript over the weekend, checking the text phrase by phrase into our subtitling back-end software. And they’re making a lot of headway. But on the Monday the talk is scheduled to run, just hours before we post it at 11am, we still have seven “[unclear]“s. In other words, seven places where the speaker mumbles, or makes a reference we can’t catch, or is drowned out by laughter. We’ve never gone live with this many “[unclear]“s, but we can’t just guess at what Muruganantham is saying. So at 9:30am, we socialize the problem, sending an email to everyone and anyone who might have insight on the talk.

At 9:40am, Jenny Zurawell, our Open Translation Project coordinator, takes a pass (she speaks four or five languages herself) and clears up three of the missing words.

At 9:48am, Lakshmi Pratury, the host of TED@Bangalore, weighs in from India with the rest of the four words, and a major correction we’d all missed:

At three minutes in, the transcript reads “that is why I am jealous of science in India”. ‘Science’ is not what Muruganantham said. He said ‘Saints.’  The sentence should read “…jealous of saints in India”.

And just before post, we hear from Muruganantham himself, who confirms Lakshmi and Jenny’s readings, and says:

“further any doubts, i can clear it.”

We post the talk, and — well, what we expect to happen happens. There are those few folks who won’t ever watch a talk about maxipads and lady problems. There are those few folks who get frustrated by someone who can’t speak perfectly crisp English. But most people watch the talk, read the subs, and fall in love with this beautiful guy, who just wanted to solve his wife’s monthly problem, and then found a way to help a nation full of women too.

As Rebecca Eisenberg wrote when Upworthy featured the talk on Facebook: “It must have been this guy’s time of the month to be awesome.”

Arunachalam Muruganantham at TED@Bangalore, part of the TED2013 Talent Search. Learn more at http://talentsearch.ted.com. Photo courtesy TED@Bangalore.

TED Talks often get 100 or more comments — usually a mixed bag of kudos, critiques and questions. Looking back on the year, we’d like to share a few comments that wowed us. These intelligent, observant contributions took the talks beyond their 18 minutes and into an ongoing conversation.

Every speaker appreciates a “Great job!” but here’s a beautifully worded example of how to go deeper. If a talk truly moved you, take some time to reflect on why. If you disagree with the critics, elaborate on why the speaker’s ideas are worth defending. With civility to spare, this comment provides a powerful counterpoint to a dissenter’s opinion.

Below, commenter Ziska Childs defends Bryan Stevenson’s “We need to talk about an injustice”:

“Yes, I was in the audience. Yes, this struck a primal chord. Yes, I do ask “Why this speech above all others?” Perhaps it is because I have seen black men and women step off the sidewalk to let me pass. Perhaps it is because I have seen old white women walk to the front of the line. Perhaps it is because I know in my heart of hearts that this is close to the core of what is a uniquely US cultural disconnect. Bryan spoke not about the privilege of wealth to a wealthy privileged audience but the privilege of Justice.

Justice. Justice is not vending machine forgiveness. Justice is not a punishment exponentially greater than the crime. Justice is not choosing to punish the criminal over healing the victim. (Ideally the punishment would heal the hurt.)

I choose to believe that someone who recognizes the systematic murder of 12 million human beings as immoral can also see the fingerweight on the scales of Justice against the African American as unconscionable.

I choose to believe that compassion is neither exclusive nor finite.

I choose to believe that learning from history is better than ignoring history.

What Mr. Stevenson asked for was ‘Justice’ with the scales set level from the start. I choose to believe that is good.”

Vicki Arroyo’s hometown is New Orleans, and after Hurricane Katrina struck, she knew firsthand the looming threat of climate change. In this eye-opening talk from TEDGlobal 2012, “Let’s prepare for our new climate,” Arroyo reveals the startling truths about droughts, rising water levels and natural disasters — that they may only get worse.

In 2012, we have seen the devastation of Hurricane Sandy and the ravaging floods and monsoons of the Philippines, as well as the Sahel Drought that spanned across eight African nations and affected 18 million people. But we may find, in the coming years, that these disasters become more common than ever before – and Arroyo tells us just how we can prepare.

While many TED Talks are hopeful for the future, some take hard looks at sobering realities. And so the TED staff was asked: What talk from 2012 made you feel just a little gulp about the future?

“Marc Goodman’s vision on crimes for the future. I mean, 3D printed guns? Scary!” —Jennifer Gilhooley, Partnership Development

“I’ve been so excited this year thinking about the potential for personalized medicine. But Marc Goodman popped that bubble, pointing out that if medicine can be targeted to an individual, so could a biological attack. Still, his talk is so important. Just because new technology can be used for evil doesn’t mean we should change course. We just have to think about how to weight it toward use for good.” —Kate Torgovnick, Writer

“Frank Warren’s ‘Half a million secrets.’ It’s a gorgeous talk, one of my all-time favorites.  But there’s something about the intensity of the secrets people share on his website that freaked me out. One was ‘everyone who knew me before 9/11 thinks I’m dead.’” —Ben Lillie, Writer/Editor

“Generally speaking, I exhibit a positively optimistic demeanor. However, I think it’s important to be reminded that the world is not always an ideal place. Lisa Kristine’s ‘Photos that bear witness to modern slavery’ alerted me to some injustices that exist, and apart from freaking me out, it made me thankful for where I am and what I have. It also challenged me to give myself to causes that are making a good change.” —Jordan Reeves, TED-Ed Program Facilitator

“If I had any remaining hopes that anything I said or did was private, they were gone by the end of this talk by Malte Spitz. I feel grateful that Verizon doesn’t (yet) seem to be selling my secrets to the highest bidder, but I’m hoping we can agree on some new laws and social practices that address our surveillance vulnerability in meaningful ways.” —Morton Bast, editorial assistant

“Malte Spitz completely scared me. He talked about the data that our mobile phone company keeps, and how very much it conveys about our lives and habits. I worry about the end of privacy, and specifically about how that might compromise activists around the world.” —Shanna Carpenter, Community Engagement Manager

“Sherry Turkle’s talk, about how technology is changing the way we relate to other people. She quotes one young boy who says: ‘Someday, I want to learn how to have conversations.’ The idea that people could one day forget to have a normal conversation? That’s disconcerting.” —Becky Chung, Customer Support Specialist

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“In a talk given earlier this year, meteorologist Jeff Masters presented the nine most devastating natural disasters likely to happen in the United States in the next 30 years. I didn’t discover this talk until right after Hurricane Sandy — which is number six on his list. Number four is happening too, right this second.” —David Webber, TEDxTalks Manager

“Jason McCue’s ‘Terrorism is a failed brand.’ Because he tried to (fake) blow us up.” —Emily McManus, TED.com Editor

“Todd Humphreys’ talk, ‘How to fool a GPS.’ At the end, he didn’t have much in the way of solutions. He basically said, the police can’t stop it and neither can you or I.” –Thu-Huong Ha, Editorial Projects Specialist

“David Pizarro’s ‘The strange politics of disgust’ freaked me out for an unusual reason: We had his name as ‘Dave’ in the titles until basically the last minute.” —Gwen Schroeder, Media Production Coordinator

“Carl Zimmer’s talk from TEDYouth about zombie cockroaches completely fascinated and horrified me. It’s not out yet, but I am actually shivering right now just thinking about it!” —Susan Zimmerman, Executive Assistant to the Curator

Carl Zimmer’s zombie cockroach. Photo: Ryan Lash