KasiaRecommends: TED – the amazing world of "ideas worth spreading".

Today let me take you to the amazing world of "ideas worth spreading".

I was surprised that there were still people among my friends and colleagues who didn’t know TED. I am more than certain it is crucial that people are educated and open-minded! This is the only way to avoid manipulation and raising upsetting tendencies.

So it is high-time to invite you to inspiring world of inspiring people and facts!

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When I first read that at the beginning TED was a conference interested mostly “just” in technology and design, I was amazed how beautifully unpredictable some projects are. Since that time TED became a world phenomenon! Nowadays it is a place that gathers all kind of topics – technology, entertainment, design, business, science, and global issues being just the most popular among many categories.

But let’s get back to the core and allow me to explain what TED is.

TED is an acronym and stands for the “technology - entertainment - design”. It has various projects, but the one that ordinary people profit the most is an internet platform where TED “talks” (meaning lectures that last from around 5 to 20 minutes) are available to watch for free!

A first conference bringing together technology and design took place in 1984 but ended up as unprofitable. A few years had to pass until the founders decided, in 1990, to risk again. This time it worked and became an annual thing. The most significant difference between then and now is that at the beginning the participation on the conference was restricted to people with invitations, which means it was very exclusive and limited. Today events are either for free or you need to purchase an entrance, but nevertheless, they are open to the public!

In 2001 an entrepreneur and visionary Chris Anderson acquired Ted and the company rocketed creating various projects in order to broaden the accessibility. This is what he said:

It used to be 800 people getting together once a year; now it's about a million people a day watching TED Talks online. When we first put up a few of the talks as an experiment, we got such impassioned responses that we decided to flip the organization on its head and think of ourselves not so much as a conference but as "ideas worth spreading," building a big website around it. The conference is still the engine, but the website is the amplifier that takes the ideas to the world.
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This so-called experiment was a project from 2006 to put the first and most impressive TED “talks” on the internet in order to make them available to the broader public.

The first six TED Talks were posted online on June 27, 2006. By September, they had reached more than one million views. TED Talks proved so popular that in 2007, TED's website was relaunched around them, giving a global audience free access to some of the world's greatest thinkers, leaders and teachers.
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This is where you can find those six talks: The first six TED Talks. They do not age!

Among them, you will find an absolute must-see, by Sir Ken Robinson. This talk, called “Do schools kill creativity?” sadly is still as important in 2018 as it was back in 2006. The speaker highlight why the education system undermines creativity d that an alternative must be put in place! It is the first talk to reach 10 million views. You can watch it here.

How to start?
All you need to do is to enter this page. From there it only gets easier;) You can search for a particular talk. You can browse talks according to a topic that interests you. The talks are also available in various languages, so you can look for some inspirations in your native language. The last category is the duration, from short 0-6 minutes talks, 6-12 min, 12-18 min to speeches 18+ minutes long. What I find very helpful, especially for those who are on the platform for the first time, is that the talks are as well categorised into smaller chunks and labelled: most viewed, jaw-dropping, funny, persuasive, courageous, fascinating, inspiring, beautiful, and informative. This gathers podcasts from different topics that share the same “idea”. It allows you to be surprised by the topic you would not normally choose to watch.

Apart from an immense database of TED talks that took place during conferences all over the world for the passing years, TED offers many other possibilities to share the “ideas worth spreading". One of the most important is that the conferences are being organised, in most cases once every year, in major cities in various countries. Those venues gather speakers that are locally recognised and are the place to be for open-minded, creative and curious minds.

Sending joy! :)
Pura Vida and enjoy the travel!

• More about me here: You can travel without being wealthy aka a girl from a "struggling" family chasing her dreams!

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