Speeches at a Technology Entertainment and Design (TED) conference can be mind-blowing. So why are TED Conversations so banal?
In February, the online conference, known for spreading ideas through 15-minute lectures, launched its own social network. The move was part of a broader plan to make the 26-year-old non-profit more social.
The site splits conversations up into three categories: Ideas, Questions, and Debate. Of the three, the “debate” produces some really interesting (if somewhat quiet) conversations.
The other two sections, Ideas and Questions, seem largely interchangeable. And most of the conversations in those sections turn into the kind of self-help questions you can find anywhere online.
“Which is the best attitude to face mistakes?” Santiago Gonzalez, of Spain, asked.
“Apart from meditation, what daily exercises can we do to develop healthy minds?” Jerry Keush, of Ireland, posited.
“What is the first thing you tell yourself when you wake up to give yourself energy or courage?” Anwar Kmal, of Ethiopia, asked.
That’s not really much different from the kind of stuff you can find on Yahoo Answers, and yet seems largely typical for TED Conversations.
I’m not pointing this out not to condemn the questions or the people asking them. Banal, big-picture questions can lead to thoughtful discussions, and you might even see similar ones asked in a TED speech. That’s just the problem: Big questions need big answers.
In a TED speech, answers come from experts in the field who usually have data and evidence and years of work digging into these larger issues. The scientists, entrepreneurs, and philosophers who speak at TED conferences have special knowledge and experience. That’s what makes a TED speech so special and educational.
Unfortunately, these speakers seem to rarely jump into the conversations on the site.
If they did, TED Conversations could be extraordinary. When TED speakers do lead conversations on the site, the conversations can be fascinating, as when Sunni Brown recently sparked a discussion on improving visual literacy.
Bizarrely, TED Conversations also enforce an end-date on every conversation, which is at best a misunderstanding of how conversations online work. It seems a stilted and unnecessary attempt to distinguish itself—and an unfortunate layer of control in a part of the web best left free.
So while Sunni Brown’s thread may have launched one of the network’s most interesting conversations, it’ll be shut down in four days. If you have something interesting to say but came to the party late—well, too bad.
Photo by hahatango