Behind the Scenes of TED
Why TED is really in the package design business.
We’re off to TEDGlobal for what’s bound to be the intellectual equivalent of a Roman feast. Starting tomorrow, you’ll be able to follow along with exclusive daily updates, highlights and photos here on Brain Pickings.
But, in the meantime, what better way to celebrate the tremendously fascinating week ahead than with a special behind-the-scenes look at all the incredible energy — physical, intellectual, emotional — that goes into the making of a TED talk?
In a way, this only confirms our belief that TED is very much in the package design business.
TED takes what’s already out there — most speakers have published extensive books, written dry research papers, even given long talks at other conferences — and packages it brilliantly and beautifully. Stuffed in a bite-sized 18-minute box, glossed with shiny production value, and placed in the exuberant context of the (as some would argue, “cultish”) conference itself, each talk is a premium package that makes the ideas inside all the more appealing. It makes them feel richer and more valuable and more meaningful, and thus, it makes them matter more.
And when ideas matter to us, we internalize them, we propagate and advocate them, we tell our friends about them, we make them — truly — ideas worth spreading.
So here’s to intellectual package design — the true currency of ideas.
- Behind the Scenes of Project N.A.S.A. Behind the scenes of the incredible N.A.S.A. collaborative project, featuring some of today's most iconic musicians and animators....
- Jonathan Harris: World Building in a Crazy World 15 short vignettes, full of simple yet philosophical reflection on the current state of the digital world, wrapped in a vision for our shared future. ...
- Brain-picking CurrentTV’s Max Lugavere & Jason Silva A chat with Max and Jason, founding hosts of Al Gore's CurrentTV and relentless cultural curators for the post-digital age....
- Mapping Big Ideas: BIGVIZ Free 200-page PDF book visually captures the talks, themes and connections from the 2008 TED Conference....
- Retrospective on Futurism: N55 200-page tome chronicling 7 years of innovative thinking by Danish art collective N55....
I thought TED was basically selling access; after all they give the ‘package’ they design away for free. What they actually sell with a very high pricetag is the opportunity to rub elbows with the intelligentsia, no? Maybe that could also be seen as ‘packaging’ but it could also be seen as ‘pimping’ but it’s a good thing either way.
Great analogy.
Laroquod,
Interesting. Although I still think it’s mostly packaging in terms of what it offers to the “end-user” – the person at home watching the talks. Because all the content is already free — most speakers’ ideas live in the public domain, as books and research papers and other forms of longer-form, drier, less engaging content. But it’s the package that makes people take heed — people who wouldn’t otherwise have the least bit of interest in reading about neuroscience, reforestation, or statistics. And yet, Hans Rosling’s talk is among the most popular.
Very cool perspective, Maria and thank you for sharing what’s happening behind the scenes! So jealous – wish i was there, but glad we can get your experiences – which is even better.