What do TED conference participants use for intellectual relief — and why the most serious meetings and meetings should be interrupted by showing beautiful and funny clips.
Not so long ago, the next TED (Technology Entertainment Design) conference ended in the Canadian cities of Vancouver and Whistler — a forum where leading scientists and artists, civil activists and public figures share the brightest and most original ideas. For 5 days, more than 90 speakers addressed the audience, and the working day of the participants sometimes stretched up to 12 hours. This is a real intellectual marathon, and it is very difficult to keep the freshness and clarity of perception in its course.
However, the organizers took care of unloading. The performances were interspersed with the demonstration of short videos designed to play the role of “cleansers for the mind” – to clear the minds of the listeners. “If you train the same muscle for two hours without a break, it will get tired and burn out,” TED conference curator Chris Anderson told QZ (1). “The same thing happens with the brain. For example, at many scientific conferences, participants have to constantly overload their left hemisphere, which is responsible for analytical work.
Probably many of us experience similar overloads. How else to explain the general habit from time to time to “stick” on videos with “seals”? But the organizers of such a respected event as TED, of course, should not be content with banal “seals”. Therefore, the clips to be shown at the conference were meticulously selected from among the winners and prize-winners of various international festivals of animation, advertising and short films.
“People should be given different opportunities to discover information – and open up to it,” says Chris Anderson. “And if US senators were to interrupt their meetings every few hours, for example, to listen to a little Beethoven, the US might very well be a different country.”
(1). QZ.com
Here are some examples of «cat substitutes» — videos that were shown in between speeches at the last TED conference.