9. TED Talks

Daniel Levitin: How to Stay Calm When You Know You'll Be Stressed

The topic was how the brain clouds your thinking when you’re stressed. When you’re stressed your brain releases cortisol, which muddies thinking, which is why you should have systems in place to deal with times you feel stressed. Additionally, he gave some useful tips such as to designate certain places for items you lose easily. He begins by telling a story of how he “broke into his own house.” This opening is very captivating because it draws people in and makes them wonder what he means by this curious statement, because it is extremely unusual to break into your own house. He then proceeds to explain the methods he took to break into his house because he forgot his keys, and due to that stress he forgot his passport at the airport the next day. The opening was particularly striking because he utilized a personal anecdote to explain how he became interested in finding out how stress impacts thinking. He also used self deprecating humor and wasn’t afraid to speak about embarrassing situations he landed in which helped audience members warm up to him as a presenter and improved their first impression of them. He ends by leaving the audience with a key takeaway: accept that you’ll fail sometimes because all of us are human and we make mistakes, but put systems in place so that you are prepared to fail. Then, he talked about the resolution to his stressful situation of forgetting his key in the beginning: he installed an electronic pad to access his house. I thought this message was a concise and effective ending because it summarizes his whole speech, lets the audience know what they should learn from his presentation, and brought his presentation full circle by linking it back to his opening.

Matthew O'Reilly: “Am I Dying?” The Honest Answer.

The talk was about whether you should tell someone that they’re actually dying or lie to spare them the pain of the truth. He then tells a story about an incident that changed his approach: he would tell the truth to that person and say they were about to die. The patient’s calm acceptance inspired him to forever tell the truth to patients from then on. The universal patterns he observed throughout his patients were a need for forgiveness, remembrance, and meaning in their life. He starts by stating his position (a critical care EMT) and immediately jumps into the topic of impending doom and death, a stimulating topic for most people and thus he immediately draws them into the talk. I think the beginning was effective because he immediately captures the audience’s attention with his unique and intense occupation. He ends by telling another striking story about a rescue and concludes that when you’re told you’re about to die, the littlest things in your life give you the peace and acceptance to come to terms with death in your final moments. The ending also worked well in my opinion because he reels the audience back in with another arresting rescue story of a woman content during her last throes in life and summarizes the lesson he is sharing that he learned from his experience: little moments bring you peace in your final throes of life.

Richard St. John: 8 Secrets of Success

This talk is one of the most concise and to the point Ted Talks, which is one of the main reasons I enjoyed it so much. The entire talk focuses on the 8 traits successful people possess.  He begins the talk by telling the story of a poor teenager who asked him on a plane what leads to success, which instigated his curiosity about what causes success. The main components that he found out pave the path to success are passion, hard work, practice with focus until you become good at something, push yourself physically and mentally, serving your community, having great ideas and persisting through obstacles. He also used a lot of humor such as saying CRAP represented criticism, rejection, assholes, and pressure, which made both the audience and myself laugh because it made him more human as a presenter. Richard’s ending was also extremely short and just summarized the 8 traits he talked about. It was effective because he paired his summary with a captivating visual slide, which had 8 words and pictorial representations of them, which reinforced his message and allowed people to better remember it. Overall, I thought his speech was well planned and effective since it was only about three and a half minutes and eloquently succinct and crisp.

Arianna Huffington: How to Succeed? Get More Sleep

I chose this particular Ted Talk because when I was scrolling through many talks, this one caught my eye due to its relevancy to my and all of my friends’ lives. We all strive to do everything: academics, social life, and extracurricular activities, while subsisting on little to no sleep. We even brag about how little sleep we got last night as if it is a competition to see who works the hardest, when in actuality the amount we push ourselves to stay awake so we can achieve more is self-detrimental: it actually damages our mental and physical health. When I saw this Ted Talk I immediately knew I wanted to watch it because I was curious about how beneficial sleep actually is to our success. Arianna opens with the contrasting statement that a very little thing can unlock a myriad of ideas within us. This statement makes me curious as to what that thing could possibly be: and she proceeds to say that small idea is sleep. She explains how lack of sleep has become almost a symbol of success and that people actively boast about how little sleep they are able to get and still succeed. Lack of sleep makes people think they are being busy, influential and productive, but in actuality, Arianna says, there have been many influential leaders who have made terrible decisions due to lack of sleep. A powerful analogy she uses is of the watchman not being able to see the iceberg that hit the Titanic to illustrate how lack of sleep can negatively impact our decision-making and judgment. Throughout her talk, she also utilizes the power of humor to keep the audience engaged and laughing. She closes with a strong and influential message: to close your eyes and get some rest so you can also unlock brilliant ideas within yourself. The closing was brief and I thought the talk was even more effective because of its short length, which maintained the audience’s attention for the entire duration.

Matt Cutts: Try Something New For 30 Days

He began with a simple but effective hypothetical scenario for the audience to ponder – think about something you’ve always wanted to do and try it for the next 30 days. During his talk, he describes his experience in trying various activities for 30 days, such as biking to work or writing a novel. What he noticed was that his time became much more memorable when he underwent these 30 day challenges (he could remember exactly where he took a picture for every day), and he also grew much more self confident and adventurous. A crazy message he delivered that hit home for me was that if you want to do something badly enough, you can do pretty much anything in 30 days. I wholeheartedly believe that because if truly want to accomplish something, you’ll try everything in your power to do it and won’t make excuses for yourself. As the old saying goes, where there’s a will, there’s a way. At the end of his speech he left us with the key takeaway message that small changes are sustainable. Things that we are more likely to keep doing are things that are more likely to stick. He leaves the audience with a powerful question: What are you waiting for? The next 30 days are going to pass whether we like it or not, so why not give something you always wanted to do a shot? This was an extremely powerful closing because it left the audience with a proposition they could act upon that very day – will you take the challenge to improve your life and try something new for just 30 days?

Cameron Russell: Looks Aren't Everything. Believe Me, I'm a Model.

Cameron starts out the talk by saying how many make think her dress is inappropriate and then proceeds to change into a more conservative outfit – this is a successful opening because it draws the audience in when she completely transforms her image. She uses her opening to transition into a talk about how image is powerful and dictates her life. I appreciated how honest she was when she described why she was on stage – because she was a pretty model and she recognized that superficial looks accounted for much of whether you succeed or not and how people treat you. Cameron then proceeds to describe two pieces that led her to become a model: winning the genetic lottery and having the legacy of being slender, white, feminine, and even details such as having a symmetric face. It was shocking to listen to Cameron say how being a model was not a career path and describe what she learned – which was basically how to pose. I always thought everyone who was a model loved it but never thought about how little they actually learn. Additionally, she informs the audience that she received free handouts in life because of how she looked and not who she was. The most arresting statement was Cameron admitting that she’s insecure because she is forced to think about her physical appearance everyday. That makes her more human in my eyes because everyone faces insecurity; normal people just believe models never feel that, which is untrue. I also loved her true honesty about how she is a big beneficiary of life because of her genes. She ended with the takeaway that says how image plays an influential role in both our perceived successes and failures. I thought the closing was good, but she definitely could’ve made it stronger by leaving a more impactful message and I personally thought the weak ending was a bit anticlimactic compared with the rest of her talk which really defied stereotypes.

Kelly McGonigal: How to Make Stress Your Friend

Because I, and many of my peers, I am sure, am currently suffering from stress from schoolwork, I decided to watch this video because I thought it would be helpful in allowing me to better manage my anxiety. I thought Kelly’s opening was highly impactful because she opened with a survey of the audience members, asking who’s experienced little, moderate, and a lot of stress. As she asked each question in turn, more and more people raised their hands, so everyone could see that everyone else had underwent a lot of stress in the past year and they weren’t alone. Her talk is about how stress itself isn’t actually bad, but rather the belief that stress was negatively impacting you. Changing how you think about stress you can actually change your body’s response to stress. A healthier way to view stress is realizing that when your heart pounds and you begin to feel anxiety, that is your body’s way of allowing you to rise to meet the challenge that stress brings. Additionally, oxytocin is actually a stress hormone that motivates you to seek support from others and enhances your heart.  The key to stress resilience is human connection. She ends by answering a question proposed by someone who comes onto the stage and saying go after what creates meaning in your life and trust yourself to handle the stress that follows. It is a meaningful closing that encourages people to pursue what they love and not worry about the stress that comes with that.

Ze Frank: Are You Human?

This was probably the most unique Ted Talk out of all the ones I watched. Not only did it consist of a series of questions, but he also has quiet organ music playing in the background and speaks in a low, solemn tone as if to mystify the talk even further. It doesn’t really have an opening, just launches straight into all the questions that he prepared that makes someone human. He begins by asking many silly questions, such as if you have ever picked a booger in your nose, and sets an air of humor, making everyone laugh after almost every question. Ze then gradually proceeds to propose deeper and more serious questions, such as whether you have ever had a breakup with someone that you really loved and woken up realizing that they left you. He closes by asking whether you have ever come to the sad realization that your future life will still go on even without someone that you previously could never imagine not in your life. This is an especially powerful ending because it recalls to mind a sobering experience almost everyone has faced after a heartbreak; personally I felt a strong connection to everyone in the Ted talk room and Ze himself because we all have felt the intense and sad feeling of moving on with your life after being with someone for such a long period of time and believing that they will always be a part of your life.

Adam Ostrow: After Your Final Status Update

Adam begins this interesting talk with a very blunt statement: we all have social media, and the one thing that all of us have in common is that we will eventually die, leaving all our social media behind. His talk outlines several social media services that archive your life after your death, even one that leaves memories for your loved ones to reminscie on after you’re gone. However, the main point and most jaw-dropping point of his message is that machines may be able to continue to allow our digital personas to interact in the real world long after we die thanks to the vast amount of material we have created online and technology’s ability to predict our next tweet or message based on our past posts. It is a completely mind blowing thought to imagine robots interacting on our behalf after we die purely based on our online content and characteristics and kind of scares me how easily our presence as human beings online can be replaced just like that. Personally, I don’t like how technology based our society has become and the increasingly more technology centric direction it is headed. Adam closes his speech by asking the audience if that is what they want our society to become and if so, what it means for the world that they may be able to still have plausible interactions with their loved ones post mortem. It is a strong closing because it plants the phenomenal idea in peoples’ minds of possible interaction after death and what that means in terms of actual life and death.

Renny Gleeson: Our Antisocial Phone Tricks

Renny begins by outlining his his speech: he wants to talk about the rise of culture availability, expectation of that availability, and an obligation to that availability. During his short talk, he outlines the physical tactics people use just to be on their phones (the “lean”, the “stretch”, and the “love you, mean it.” Renny reveals a link between the possibility because of increased availability and the fundamental need to create shared narratives. In fact, it is these shared narratives that make up a culture. The blunt truth that he speaks is that we believe the reality we’re living in right now is not nearly as interesting or cool or fun as the story we’re going to post about later. One impactful tool he uses throughout his presentation to allow audiences members to visualize what he’s saying is the insertion of multiple vivid photographs that grab the audience’s attention. To end his speech, Renny addresses the innate fear that many of us have been feeling recently: devices are making people less human, not more. These phones are actually causing us to lose the context of our identity, and it is becoming increasingly important that what we share online agrees with what we are actually living out in real life. We aren’t creating ourselves, we are projecting ourselves through technology and creating a life online that we don’t even really live. The closing is impactful because of how sobering and true I know it is: everyone tries to portray their own life as enviable on social media, but in reality, we all dark moments and forget to appreciate the good moments because we are constantly calculating how to depict them to the world later.