Every generation is a secret society and has incommunicable enthusiasm, tastes and interests which are a mystery both to its predecessor and to posterity.- Arthur Chapman
At last, we reach the end. For me, we saved the best for last. Kevin wanted to start here, in hopes that what we said would encourage you to come along. Instead, I view this as a gift for doing so. In day 12, we want to inspire you to be better marketers, more happy and creative. So we go to a trusted place, a favorite place. One that challenges us and changes us as well, TED. We don’t just like TED in our offices. We kind of swoon over it. What’s not to like? There are brilliant people sharing the topics about which they are passionate and expert. They gives us hope, they inspire us. They educate us. They make us think about potential. There is no greater way for us to end 12 days of innovation by offering up some inspiration to begin.
Talks to check out:
Nancy Duarte teaches us presentation skill as art. Those who have read her books know that Nancy Duarte knows a thing or two or ten about how to give a good presentation. In this analysis-driven talk she doesn’t just tell you, she shows you how to be a better presenter. As a marketer, you present constantly.
Better results and happiness A funny and irreverent talk on why what we think about success is backward. We can all have it. I watch this talk once a week – I almost force others to start to watch this talk, and then, in the first minute or two, Shawn takes over and life as we know is changed. If we just give in to our urge to find delight, we can create better interactions.
Understanding language – and its impact MIT researcher Deb Roy works on languages – and machines that can communicate as we do. He actually put his young son at the center of work to see how he learned. With nearly 100,000 hours of video, he shares with us the journey of learning – and what it means to helping create deeper and better learning. Which helps us understand how to help our people learn about our brands.
Sponsorships and Branding – Embracing Risk, Really You knew it had to happen – someone would get a sponsor for a TED talk. This is it. As a guy who examines social issues, he wanted to change the game. And he did. As a filmmaker, Morgan Spurlock creates a compelling case for how branding and marketing change our culture. “Nothing could ready me for anything as difficult and dangerous as going into the room with these guys (media companies).” Not war zones, not a month of fast food. Are we really that scary? Well watch and see. He asks how do you determine your brand personality? And how likely are we to take risks?
Better education – can we make it happen? We wrote – on Day 10 about the reinvention of education. This is the place where you hear the story of how he got started and what he himself has learned about education, and people in general. And it is so worth it. As we’ve said before, we are responsible for creating the next generation of marketers. What can you teach? Can you make a class? Can we help?
The blame game – how and when judgments become questionable Our minds are funny things – especially when we evaluate companies. This interesting talk drives us to evaluate how the brain defines blame. What would happen if we could change people’s moral judgments? (For instance, forgive the banks for the economic challenge?)
The Greatest Innovation Ever Made: For Us From Us The inventor or Captcha – the internet trick that helps make sure we’re human tells us about social production for humanity. So how can we use the 10 seconds we’d use (500,000 hours every day) to solve a social problem: digitizing books? Solutions can be so elegantly simple, and take so little time yet still deliver social good. How the heck lucky are we?
Cristene, Debbie and Kevin
@hermione1, @zebbierebs, @cunningham_kev
[...] exemplars?” asks for context. It was with this question in mind, we presented you with TED, Kinect Hacks and MIT Media Labs. Many technologies garner niche adoption before they get their big [...]