Do you subscribe to the most commonly recommended newsletter @TED Talks? Every week, The Good Web Guide asks its guest editor to suggest a newsletter and more often than not, the e-letter cited is TED Talks.

Why all the fuss? TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design and is a non-profit media organisation which posts talks online for free distribution. Often, the talks offer an insight into a subject that we wouldn’t otherwise tackle. Sophie Conran told us, ‘This website (Ted.com) has amazing, inspirational 5-minute talks from a huge pool of current talent in every sphere that you could possibly be interested in – adventure, alternative energy, anthropology, astronomy, art and animation – and that is just mentioning a tiny percentage of the ‘a’s. There really is something for everybody. I have been watching the fantastic Dan Barber this week and his amazing revolutionary ideas about food production.’
TED Talks Mailer

The daily and weekly (Saturday) newsletters from TED Talks summarise their weekly videos that are crammed with thought-provoking, often mind-boggling lectures by expert speakers. Think of a subject, there has probably been a TED talk on it. Think of an expert speaker, he/ she has probably spoken for TED.

Every day, there are around eight TED events hosted across the world. TED talks are about world-changing ideas and mind-boggling subjects from artificial intelligence to secret US prisons, to standing up to bullying and to how to be happy; the latter is in abundance. Previous presenters of TED talks have included Terry Pratchett, Bill Gates, Monica Lewinksy, Bertrand Russell, Bono, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Gordon Brown and Jane Goodall.

TED is the brainchild of Richard Saul Wurman and began as a one-off conference in 1984 about the convergence of technology, entertainment and design. It has evolved from a small gathering of thinkers into a global phenomenon; the first TED talk was broadcast in June and three months later, it had had over 1 million views. It now boasts a roster of presenters including religious leaders, musicians, philanthropists and philosophers. There are more than 2,400 talks on the main TED site and TED talks have accrued over 4 billion views globally.

March 2017