Just shy of a month ago, I dropped $100 to attend a day filled with lectures and presentations. TED Talks came to Edmonton thanks to an excellent group of thought leaders here in the city. Before TEDx Edmonton started collecting applications to be one of the audience members — a seemingly bizarre process, I thought, when I first heard of it — I didn’t really have any idea what TED was all about (incidentally, TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design). In my mind, it was some amorphous concept that I occasionally read about on the Internet. I remember reading good things about it, but never actually taking the time to really understand what it was about, beyond a day’s worth of lectures and presentations.

But I applied to participate anyway. And it was worth way more than the money I paid to attend.

TED Talks aren’t just about information or sharing. They’re about exciting, world-changing ideas. And TEDx Edmonton was inspirational.

Since that weekend, I’ve become something of a TED whore, taking most every bit of my free time to watch lectures. If you’d asked me in my first year of university what I’d be spending my evenings doing, I’m not sure what I’d have said. However, I’m fairly certain I wouldn’t have said, “Watching presentations given by global thought-leaders… on the Internet.”

Below I’ve embedded a few TED Talks that I’ve really enjoyed. Unfortunately the ones from the Edmonton event aren’t available on video yet but I’m told they will be soon. (I’ve actually been able to find one, and it’s at the bottom of the list… it’s also my favourite talk from the Edmonton event.) Enjoy these videos in the meantime, which I deem to be awesome.

A Stroke of Insight

How I fell in love with a fish

Bobby McFerrin hacks your brain with music [link]

Ze Frank’s nerdcore comedy

Raising kids to be entrepreneurs

bobby mcferrin, chef dan barber, jill bolte taylor, ted talks, ze frank