So I had an amazing few days at TED (Technology Entertainment Design) last week, and I think it’s only just all sinking into my brain.. It would take me a few hours/days to breakdown all the amazing stuff I saw, so I thought I’d make a list of my top 20 bits of inspiration in case anyone fancies a bit of extra inspiration…

I went to TED for a few reasons..

1, Mainly because when I left working for Gilles Peterson’s show at Radio 1/Somethin Else, TED was the first thing that opened my brain to new ways of working with content; they were one of the first to create online content (audio & videos) properly & distribute it. The talks themselves have also given me bits of inspiration along the way, this one from Malcolm Gladwell being one of my favourites.

2, To meet people in different fields to open up my mind which 100% happened - and I don’t think I’ve ever met so many inspirational women in one place!

It was amazing to be there to experience it first hand the first time time it touched down in the UK so a big thanks to Gail Gallie for letting me know about it! If you want to find out more about what TED is then check this Observer article >

So!

I arrived on site last Monday (20th July) & on arrival went straight to Keble College where a radio show was being recorded for The Forum on BBC World Service…Loved being in the audience for once instead of running around behind the scenes! You can listen to it here >

But for now, here are my Top 20 bits of Inspiration from TEDGlobal, Oxford 2009:

So after the radio show but before the main event began came the TEDUniversity Talks: These were participants from all over the world getting the chance to deliver 5 minute presentations before the keynote speakers got started - a warm-up if you will!. They really got my brain going from the second I arrived and from the 25 I saw, here are three favourites…

1) Andy Hobsbawn is working on a project called ‘Do The Green Thing’ He gave an amazing talk about how brands should be using content, to have a 2-way connection with audiences. It’s all about experiences & events so on totally the same tip to how we do things here at Folded Wing. Read more about Do The Green Thing here >

2) Sam Martin gave a 5 min talk about how he set up a space for him to work from & how it inspired an amazing book & journey… Called Manspace - it’s worth checking the Q&A with the author here >

3) Peter Vermeersch is an interesting guy who loves poetry & combined it with his work in social science… Inspiring!
Check out the European Constitution In Verse here >

Ok so on to the main talks. Each talk is 18 mins & comes at you full throttle, around 20 a day!
Some highlights were…

4) The opening talk was from Alain De Botton and is up online now. Alain delivered some nice ideas around the theme of ‘work & success’ >

5) My highlight of the week was Mark Johnson who runs ‘Playing For Change’. He was working as a studio engineer & after seeing better musicians on the streets in LA, he decided to take his studio to the music. This video > is a lovely illustration of how you connect people around the globe through music.

6) Another one of my favourite talks, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian author. She talked about how quick we are to make judgements when we have one single thought: “The problem with stereotypes isn’t that they’re untrue, it’s that they are incomplete and make one story the only story” Need to get her books >

Which reminds me I met the guy who runs Better World Books > …Nice idea

7) Stefan Sagmeister is a designer who believes we should all add five years to your planned working life, and take a year off every 7th year! His presentation was a mixture of video and animation and is definitely one to check once talks go up on line over the next month.
I bought his book & love his site / blog >

(8) Loretta Napoleoni gave one of the most engaging & personal talks.. I never thought I could find the economics of terrorism so intriguing! She sold her company to fund her research, as everybody thought she was mental! Check her out here >

9) Janine Benyus talked about biomimicry. She asked ‘how does nature build?’ and talked about how principles of nature can be applied to design & engineering. She showed me how something totally unrelated to my field can be connected and I definitely want to find more ways of incorporating them into sound! Find out more here >

10) Beau Lotto spoke on the relationship between colours & lighting and how they can be harnessed to create optical illusions >

11) Candy Chang is a public space designer based in Finland who has created communication tools for neighbourhood and I was particularly into her chalk boards > She also pointed out an interesting statistic: 5% of twitter users account for 75% of all activity on the site!

12) Elaine Morgan is a 90 year old Scientist and was the oldest speaker at TED. She was an amazing lady and spoke about her Aquatic Ape theory. She asked questions like:

- Why are we naked?
- Why do monkeys stand up when they wade through water?
- Why do we have a layer of fat?
- Why can we speak?

Classic line “At my age I don’t even eat green bananas”

13) The Radio Science Orchestra Feat. Lydia Kavina: Bruce Woolley’s ensemble feat. the theremin was my favourite music moment > of TED

14) Eric Giler showcasing WiTricity: Technology that allows the wireless powering of devices. No need for extension cables & plugs anymore. Joy!
The Mirror picked it up just after the talk >

15) Geoff Mulgan was another one of my favs - In times of crisis like credit crunch you need to reboot to spark innovation! He said “Life is not how many breathes we take, it’s about how many things take our breath away” and you can find more gems from him here >

16) Felix’s Machines! Made by 23 year old Felix Thorn from Brighton these were instruments made from household objects & insides of a piano..Using sound & light & controlled via Felix’s laptop. Watch them here > and or here >

17) Rory Bremner’s observations on Gordon Brown’s speech the the day before were priceless but for now only Gordon’s speech is up on Ted.com >
Gordon Brown got 2 standing ovations!

18) Stefana Broadbent looks at technology & how we use it to communicate. She points out that we make 80% of calls to just 4 people in our lives and that the average Facebook user exchanges most of their messages with only five or six friends. So these technologies are not networking us with more people, but reinforcing our communication with our inner circle. She also talked about the ‘democratization of intimacy’ in the workplace. check her work here >

19) Nick Veasey X Rays everything from flowers to jet planes. He’s got an exhibition coming up at Maddox Arts in London From Oct-Dec and you can check his work here >

and last but by no means least…

20) David Shivers, who set up CD Baby 10 years ago gave me some good advice on setting up a business and his blog is definitely worth checking >