Living a TED Life

The annual TED conference is an outstanding intellectual experience. Is it possible to replicate the experience at home and make every week a TED week?

I attended my first TED conference in 2016 and it was brilliant. The intellectual and social stimulation was out of this world. Each hour brimmed with multitudes of exciting ideas, people and possibilities.

TED is one of the few conferences where I actually look forward to breakfast conversations with strangers.

The downside was that for weeks after I experienced ‘TED-ache’. The return to work and life routines was, quite frankly, not satisfying and I pined for TED. I was also keenly aware that the privilege of benefiting from the experience is not universal.

Since that first TED experience I have been figuring out how to gain that same level of excitement, challenge and inspiration all year round; to reduce my own TED-ache and to enable everyone to tap into the experience. Now, a couple of weeks after the 2019 conference, I am pleased to report progress in my quest and want to share my very uncomplicated formula to make every week a TED week.

Watch talks online

There is an enormous library of talks available free online, and podcasts too. The aim is to learn something new that you might be able to apply to an existing problem or even develop a new interest. I use these to hear different views and learn about areas I would not normally come across. Sure, watch those talks with a catchy title or speaker, but the real secret is to view talks by people you haven’t heard of before and who talk about subjects you aren’t familiar with. Just click on the first talk, or the fifth or tenth in a playlist and in a few minutes be absorbed in a new world. In addition to TED here are some other libraries to check out: TEDx , TED-Ed , DLD , FWC , 3MT .

Reflect on learning points

Watching a talk is a great start. To go a step further I spend 10 minutes afterwards doing a short critique and reflecting on learning points. Ideally, watch two or three talks in a row then reflect on them as a whole. Some basic questions to get started: Which talk or aspect of the talks did you enjoy, why? What did they have in common? (Digging for analogy is a good learning tool.) What would you have done differently, if you were presenting the topic? What one question would you ask the speaker? How would you solve the problem presented? What are three things you learnt? How can you apply any of the content to your life or work? Sharing your learning points with the speakers and community through social media can spark ideas and collaborations too.

It’s better with friends

Hosting your own viewing party is fast becoming the 2019 ‘book club’. One of the best aspects of the TED conference is sharing thoughts and reactions with fellow attendees immediately after a session of talks. To replicate this experience is relatively easy — invite friends, neighbours, family, colleagues, anyone, to watch a few talks with you. The secret is to engage in conversation. This isn’t a structured discourse but rather a flowing dialogue where everyone who wishes to participate can share their thoughts. It’s surprising which parts of a talk resonate with different people and how we each interpret the content. Some of my most memorable learning experiences have come from hearing other people’s perspectives and discussing points of difference.

Find new intellectual sparring partners

The TED conference programme provides luxuriously long breaks between talk sessions. This encourages deeper connections and conversations with new friends. To integrate this experience into ‘real-life’ I proactively connect with new groups for intellectual stimulation. Where do I find new people to engage with? Yes, there are online communities. For in-person conversation, there are several options I can suggest such as TEDx events, InterNations and MeetUp. Making time for conversations is important but the secret is in being willing and capable of nudging the small talk about general topics to big, meaningful, insightful talk.

Enjoy new experiences

Watching talks and having conversations can be inspiring. So too is immersive experiential learning. It’s not necessary to travel far and wide for new experiences — they happen every day in our own neighbourhoods and we only need to be open to them. Another secret is to participate in activities which you would not usually attend. Check out your city’s tourism website for upcoming festivals and celebrations, as well as sites such as Eventbrite, your local university’s public activities, and again Internations and MeetUp.

Go to TEDx events

The TEDx programme is under the TED umbrella. There are over 3,800 TEDx events held each year - that’s 10+ every single day worldwide. The programme, speakers and entire experience are curated by local volunteers, creating a TED-like experience with local flavour. The registration fee is set by each organising team and ranges from free to about $100USD for a full day. That means you could attend about a hundred TEDx events for the cost of one TED!

A few tips for attending TEDx: Be mentally fresh and ready to absorb diverse information in a short time; Be open to all ideas, content and conversations not only those that fit with your current interests; Initiate conversations with strangers, in fact, challenge yourself to meet five new people over the day.

Save the date

During 2016 I really wanted to do all of these things every week. In reality, months went by without me doing just one. So many other activities filled my calendar and something had to change.

The secret for making sure that I now do all these things was to dedicate time in my calendar.

I am accountable to my calendar which represents my goal of intellectual growth. For example, adding a few one-hour slots per week specifically for ‘video learning’ and one hour per month to ‘register for upcoming events’, has made a big difference. Now I mark my calendar and prioritise these intellectual activities as much as my other health and wellbeing practices.

By adopting these activities I have created a new level of regular intellectual engagement and growth which replicates a lot of the TED experience. I don’t do all of these every week and I give myself the flexibility to reschedule sometimes. This year my TED-ache was much less painful because I knew that in the following days, weeks and months I would continue to learn and engage by watching talks, listening to podcasts, reading articles, engaging with friends and had opportunities coming up to meet new people and have new experiences.

How do you feed your intellectual curiosity? Is it planned or by chance? I am always looking for new ways to make every week a TED week.

Kristen Sadler is an independent advisor, speaker and author. She combines a scientific approach with leadership experience and a multi-local perspective to explore the interfaces of emerging tech, exponential thinking, knowledge, truth and potential futures. kristensadler.com