The 10 TED Talks every youth leader should watch (2)
In the previous post we already shared 5 great TED talks every youth leader should watch and here are 5 more that have made it into my top 10 of awesome TED talks for any youth worker.
6. Sarah-Jayne Blakemore - The adolescent brain
I'm a big fan of brain research, especially when it's focused on adolescents. The info I've read and watched over the years, like this great TED talk on the adolescent brain, has really helped me to not only understand teens better myself, but help their parents understand their kids better as well.[ted id=1563]
7. Susan Cain - The power of introverts
I'm fairly extraverted, but I have some introvert tendencies as well, like the need for solitude, silence and a great love of reading. But this talk helped me understand introverts even more and appreciate their talents and approach. In a world that favors extraversion, this is a message we need to hear, especially in youth ministry.[ted id=1377]
8. Ken Robinson: How schools kill creativity
A TED talk aimed at educators, but one that we can learn from as youth leaders as well. Is our youth ministry, our way of teaching (for instance in small groups) aimed at one type of intelligence or do we speak to all students? Do we stimulate and foster creativity or do we, like many schools, kill it? Challenging.[ted id=66]
9. Nancy Duarte - The secret structure of great talks
So, the talk itself isn't the best I've seen in terms of presentation, which is a bit ironic given that the topic is how to give a great talk. But you can learn a lot from her talk when it comes to structuring your messages and sermons as I wrote about in a previous post.
10. TED Playlist: Our digital Lives
A TED feature I discovered recently is the concept of playlists. This means that TED has preselected several topics for you into playlists. This one on digital lives for instance is great, it's helped me to really gain more insight into how the Internet, social media and this digital age impact our lives and those of our students. I can't seem to embed the playlist, but you can find it here. Another tip is the 'How to tell a story' playlist.
11. Bonus: The YWS Talks
They're not TED talks, but man are they brilliant. I;ve been a big fan of the British Youth Work Summit ever since I first attended one back in 2011. The cool thing is that they have put most of their talks (which are in TED style by the way and usually are about 10-20 minutes) online. My favorites include Mark Oestreicher's talk on keeping the vision alive, Mark Yaconelli's talk, 'Your youth group is watching porn' by dr. William Struthers and Rebecca Hamer's talk on the power of listening ('You have nothing to say'). Check them out here.