Only a month to go before TEDxUW 2014!
In case you want to know what kind of excellent speeches you can look
forward to this year, here are 6 talks from past TEDxUW conferences
that you have to see TODAY. These inspirational, eye-opening talks
are a great way to give you a motivational boost, and they're a great
display of the talented people in the KW region.
“Why you will fail to have a great
career” — Larry Smith
In this incredibly popular TEDx talk,
UW professor Larry Smith sets the audience straight about their
dreams of a “great career”. Combining humour with harsh truths,
this video warns you about the traps your own mind will set to stop
you on your quest to success. The standout talk was held in TEDxUW's
first conference in 2011, and inspired the next talk about a year
afterwards:
“Why you have to fail to have a great
career” — Michael Litt
While Professor Smith's talk was
focused on avoiding the causes of failure, this talk is all about
embracing it. Local entrepreneur Michael Litt took the stage in the
QNC during the 2012 TEDxUW conference to let you know that failure
isn't as scary as it's made out to be. Talking about his early years
as an entrepreneur and UW student, Litt narrates a disastrous sales
pitch he experienced, and tells viewers why sometimes, failure is
just the thing you need.
“The point where everything falls
apart” — Bill Thompson
Both of the above videos view failure
as a stepping stone, an obstacle which has to be overcome in order to
achieve success. Of course, when you're facing failure in the face,
sometimes it seems less like a stone and more like a mountain. In
entrepreneur Bill Thompson's career as a bartender, he met more than
a few people who were down on their luck, who had hit a wall; the
goal was within sight, but all of a sudden, they had no idea where
they were going. In this tough love speech, Thompson encourages
people to push forward, and to realize that giving up is not the
answer.
“Here's how you get a job at the UN”
— Tanya DeMello
Want to make a change in the world
around you? Then you have to check out Tanya DeMello's TEDxUW talk.
As a United Nations field officer, DeMello definitely knew what she
was talking about when she gave this speech in 2011, which focuses on
the ways you can improve the lives of others. With a title like
“Here's how you get a job at the UN”, you might expect a
step-by-step instructional on working your way up the corporate
ladder until you land a gig with the United Nations. Instead, Demello
gives a touching plea to stop focusing on impressive resumes or
important references — it's all about caring, and putting in real
effort to make the world a better place.
“The poetry of physics, dancing and
life” — Krister Shalm
You probably wouldn't expect a quantum
physicist to be discussing poetry and dance moves, but that's exactly
what you're going to find in this TEDx talk given by Krister Shalm.
This talk encompasses Shalm's transition from an English buff to a
physics major, where he points out that maybe the two subjects really
aren't so different after all, and they're both important in
understanding your place in the universe.
“Who can you trust?” — Andrew
Maxwell
While a lot of business lectures may
hinge on products or business models, there's not enough of a focus
on the people involved in business themselves. In “Who can you
trust?”, entrepreneurial professor Andrew Maxwell tries to change
this, by dedicating his speech towards figuring out which kinds of
people you can rely on, and how to make others rely on you. Whether
you want to know how to make a successful sales pitch or just be able
to tell if your friends are trustworthy, there's a lesson to be
learned in this TEDx talk. It also features a British accent,
Dragon's Den and heavily
paraphrased Shakespeare, meaning there's a little something here for
everyone.