Comments on Is TED Making Us Stupid?

• Powerpoint Corrupts debate
• Posted by tony curzon price on May 17, 2010 at 7:00am EDT

• there's a great debate on intelligencesquared on this theme:

  http://www.intelligencesquared.com/controversies/powerpoint-corrupts/preview

  blame the messenger? you bet

• Nerd Nite
• Posted by Matt Wasowski , Admin at Wimba on May 17, 2010 at 9:00am EDT

• The author of this article makes great points about lecturers needing to add more flair. One can still be serious while having fun. The sad thing is that compared to presentations at events like Nerd Nite, TED presentations are still comparatively very dry and proper.

• You Almost Had Me Fooled
• Posted by stevenb on May 17, 2010 at 9:00am EDT

• Good post Josh - and an even better title. For a moment when I saw the title I thought to myself "is Josh really going to hammer TED Talks?" I mean you're the guy who made me realize I could download them easily to my iTouch (I watched a bunch of them Friday during a 3 hour flight delay). But then I read the post and...

  There's no question that TED talks, Google Talks, TEDx talks, etc., have raised the bar for other presenters. I do think that's a bit of a problem though. It creates too much presentation pressure for the rest of us - and let's face it, we're not professional presenters, most of us don't get enough opportunities to practice, etc. So we should expect great TED talks which make us smarter - not stupid. But when we go to our annual conferences, excepting keynote speakers, I think we have to be fair and lower the bar a bit. We can only hope that more presenters will pay attention to TED talks and try to do more than just show a whole slew of mind numbing slides. For more on my perspective on this issue see: http://bit.ly/abAOQV

• Posted by CTMathewes on May 17, 2010 at 9:15am EDT

• I agree there's a lot of boring lectures out there. But maybe part of the problem is your assumption that TED is the gold standard for all presentations. Perhaps there are some messages that can't be conveyed properly in that sort of infotainment setting. The danger is that, for people like you, it may be increasingly hard to see other forms of presentation as valuable--genuinely to attend to them. Odds are that it probably is already happening to you. Good luck.

• Learn by watching
• Posted by Rebecca Hedreen , Library Coordinator for Distance Learning at SCSU on May 17, 2010 at 9:30am EDT

• So, every time you have to sit through a long winded, boring (etc.) presentation, make a note to forward the speaker a TED talk. When working with students, show them TED talks both for content and as examples (get 'em while they're young). Push TED TV to widen the viewer population even more.

  And, of course, model your own speaking after TED talks--brevity, humor, appropriate use of images/slides, etc.

• Yes and no
• Posted by Cedar Riener , Asst. Prof. of Psychology at Randolph-Macon College on May 17, 2010 at 12:15pm EDT

• Yes, I agree that knowing the characteristics of a good presentation ruins many a bad presentation (although, this can be done without TED).

  But also, echoing earlier commenters, TED is a particular form of a good presentation. Brevity, humor, passion and targeted to general audience are often characteristics of a good presentation, but this need not hold for all good talks. I often think of Tufte's principles of design of good visualizations, and how he doesn't like powerpoint, or chartjunk. But he does like data tables, which are incredibly dense, and not often immediately comprehensible. Sometimes, you need to assume some background knowledge, walk your audience through dense data that is not fun, and then tie it all together in the end. This can be done in a very effective, but non-TED way. I love TED talks, but sometimes when I consider using them for my classes, I realize that they are long on passion and inspiration, and short on content and details that I want students to have.

  But agreed, just like in any expertise, having a more sophisticated knowledge of the difference between good and bad, when there is a lot of bad out there (food and movies also come to mind) is a surefire way to stop enjoying a lot of what is generally available.

• Well said
• Posted by Sriram , Assoc. Prof. at WOU on May 17, 2010 at 12:45pm EDT

• Agreed.

  I use TED talks in many of my courses, and every time I am all the more impressed at how much the speakers easily convey wonderful ideas and arguments within 20 minutes, and how engagingly they do it.
  And, yes, I am now spoilt. TED has raised my expectations, a lot. It is not only academic conferences, but even campus committee meetings are striking contrasts. It has also made me wonder how I come across to audiences when I do presentations.

• Posted by Derrick Tittsworth on May 17, 2010 at 3:30pm EDT

• I would respectfully disagree.

  You learn nothing from the words that come from your own mouth, and to think you have more to offer others is rather arrogant. The beauty of TED is that it delivers an engaging message that has the sole purpose to start a conversation. If you want to criticize TED, talk about how it doesn't celebrate education. A proper Op Ed in this venue would be focused on changing the E in TED from entertainment to education.

  You don't need the skill to sit patiently, you require the skill to teach and know your students have learned something. Any lecture that lasts for forty minutes should spur a conversation that lasts all day, but that's not possible, unless you're middle initial is E. So why not learn to deliver and earn their attention. Otherwise you are just repeating yourself or others, and not fostering learning. Most get so wrapped up in these talks, making it more about themselves and not the those listening.

  
  A poor presentation is due to a lack of resources, preparation, passion or ability. Why waste your time listening to a presenter that has none of the aforementioned? Too much time is wasted on details and not the big idea. Step back from watching these talks and craft your own. Try comparing your work to even greater talks, such as Dr. King, A. Lincoln, W. Clinton, or even S. Jobs. Don't confuse marketing a message and teaching an idea. At the end of the day all ideas will be challenged and most messages will be forgotten.

  Individuals presenting to TED attendees are at the top of their game and care more about the message being delivered than you will care about anything. Stop consuming and deliver a message the world can benefit from. And remember, you're not competing against the talks on TED, competition comes in the form of that big letter E in TED.

• hahahahah
• Posted by clarisseteagen , Student at International College of Music on May 18, 2010 at 11:30am EDT

• I might be wrong. of which i'm not sure. :P

  but i think some of the commentars missed out the sarcasm. :D

  i find that funny.

  I agree. Ted has ruined me for boring talks too.

  But then again. ICOM has brilliant lecturers who are like TED, so i'm not into the whole complaining thing. However when I'm outside and if the speaker doesn't prepare for his talk. i usually walk. cause i don't like wasting time and usually the message never comes across when the person doesn't speak well.

• Posted by Kelly Roberts at UCLA on May 18, 2010 at 1:00pm EDT

• The irony is killing me. Nick Carr talks about how the internet and screen culture is eroding our attention spans, our ability to concentrate on ideas in meaningful ways. His Google article annoys you. Why? Because your attention span is eroding and you have a hard time concentrating on ideas... unless, apparently, they're presented on a screen in an entertaining format.

• Posted by L. Eckstein on May 19, 2010 at 3:15pm EDT

•  

  Last night I sat through four readings of playwrights' works-in-progress. Two were good, two were tedious. Instead of just being bored, I found myself being a bit angry. How dare someone whose goal is to hold an audience’s attention, not manage to engage me for 20 minutes. I’m afraid the TED is out of the bag, and yes, the bar is high. Not everyone will be hitting it every time, but we all now know where it is.

  L. Eckstein, http://allmyeyes.blogspot.com/

   

• Quality....
• Posted by bob bradley , director, technology integration at Tennessee State University on May 19, 2010 at 5:15pm EDT

• is a bitch.

  I'm just sayin....

• Polish matters
• Posted by Colin Fredericks , Teacher at Hyde School (Woodstock) on May 21, 2010 at 2:00pm EDT

• Good presentations don't make us stupid - they just make us look that way if we continue to make bad presentations.

  Presenting and public speaking are skills that can and should be learned, and can be taught in almost any context.

  If we present our ideas in a boring and difficult-to-grasp manner, where even experts are falling asleep, that makes us stupid.

• About time
• Posted by Maryjane , Doctoral Student at Walden University on July 6, 2010 at 11:45am EDT

• It is time we took note of the brain research that is out there. Lectures should be short, get us thinking and then engage us in dialog. Hurray for TED for getting the word out to the world!