My favourite TED talks (Part Four)

I have been passionately promoting TED almost since it started. It is a fantastic initiation that completely re-shaped public speaking and informative presentations by creating a very entertaining and unique formula for sharing information. In today's accelerated world it offers us full engagement in any contemporary subject in maximum 20 minutes. Speakers are carefully selected and well-prepared to meet the high standards, therefore it is a real privilege to give a TED-talk. There are thousands of great speeches in basically any topic that you could imagine, so it is not easy to choose the best ones. Still, in this series I would like to share with you a few personal favourites.

^Source

Julian Treasure is a sound consultant (a very peculiar job, right?) and the chairman of the Sound Agency, a firm that advises worldwide businesses on how to design sound in their physical spaces and communication. His short yet powerful TED talks try to teach us to be better listeners and more effective speakers:

• The first talk I have seen from him was only 10 minutes long and it was giving us tips on how to speak so that people want to listen. It sums up the how-to's of powerful speaking - from some useful vocal exercises to tips on how to speak with empathy.
• In another brilliant talk he gives us five ways to re-tune our ears to conscious, better listening because - as he argues - we are losing this skill in this noisy world that surrounds us.
• Something similar is the topic of another talk that is dealing with our "sound health". He lays out an 8-step plan to soften the sonic assault we are bombarded by and restore our relationship with sound.

Do you have a favourite TED-talk? I would be interested to know. We can learn from each other... 😊 Stay tuned, soon I come back with another suggestion for you.

Previous parts of this series:

Simon Sinek on leadership
Ursus Wehrli on tidying up arts
Dan Ariely on the irrationality of our "rational" decisions