Every once and a while you stumble across a resource that is truly amazing, and this is one of those. I was wandering around in the education area of the Itunes store and found this.

Every year in Monterey an invite only conference is held - TED, short for Television Entertainment Design, founded by Richard Saul Wurman and Harry Marks in 1984. I almost rode Russell Browns coattails into this conference when I was working for Adobe, but haven’t gotten anywhere near it since. Someday.

Let’s face it, most of the conferences I have been to [IIT’s Design Strategy conference largely excepted] have been mainly pretty lame occasionally rising up to very weird [adobe max]. Ted has created a powerful myth because it is not.

This conference has always been a cool & pricey ride since I first heard rumors about it in LA; now it is more of both, though the model seems to have be rapidly evolving under Chris Andersen’s new management. For a mere 6k, and an invite, you can walk among them.

On the other hand, you can download the video talks for free. Bonus, no speaker gets to talk for more than a half hour. Even ex presidents. Be brief or just piss off. Hey, good advice for people who write requirements too.

Lest I make more wild assertions without any evidence, check it out:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=160892972
[if this link works, it will open in Itunes, if not search for TED in the Itunes store]

You should subscribe, these are worth the drive space, except for the Rives stuff. You know it’s going to be bad when middle-aged white guys dressed in chinos start to rap. Don’t try to sing any Muddy Waters songs either, while I’m giving out free advice.

In particular, I have to recommend a few starters:
Sir Ken Robinson [2006]
Any parent or anyone concerned with development creativity and cognition should watch this riveting talk. Multiple times.
Al Gore [2006]
The importance of the topic aside, he is really funny. Like stand-up funny.
David Deutsch [2005]
The famous physicist explain why Stephen Hawkings is full of bollocks. Who knew.
Malcom Gladwell [2004]
I always thought he was a bit flash, but this is a very compelling talk about the blindness of market research. This changed my mind about him, now I read his books.
Pilobus [2005]
If you wondered why Pilobus was on the Academy Awards, it’s because they played here in 2005.

And kudos to BMW for sponsoring it, shows more than a bit of class. There must be designers in that thing somewhere.