I personally adore everything which gives me inspiration. Being inspired is an enjoyable experience in itself and may also lead to new and potentially useful ideas.

Therefore, I was delighted to find out about TED, an organization which holds an annual four-day conference for top speakers to share their ideas on almost any topic (motivated by three US $100,000 prizes). Most presentations are limited to 15-20 minutes, which ensures that the speakers stick to the key messages.

Attending this event requires an invitation and a US$6,000 fee (the prize money has to come from somewhere), so it is great that TED posts all the presentations online for free viewing.

Below please find a selection of what I consider to be “must-see” presentations:

1. Ken Robinson: How schools kill creativity
   
   [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY[/youtube]

2. Steve Jobs: How to live before you die

   [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc[/youtube]
    

3. Benjamin Zander: On Music and Passion

   [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9LCwI5iErE[/youtube]

   (For more information on how to enjoy classical music please have a look at this blog post)
    

4. Marc Pachter: The Art of The Interview

   [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_NEIwDiCSw[/youtube]
    

5. Dan Buettner: How to live to be 100+ 

   [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-jk9ni4XWk[/youtube]
    

6. Rory Sutherland: Life lessons from an ad man

   [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pV-SkZs5rh8[/youtube]
    

7. VS Ramachandran on your mind

   [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl2LwnaUA-k[/youtube]
    

8. Murray Gell-Mann on beauty and truth in physics

   [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuRxRGR3VpM[/youtube]
    

9. Jill Bolte Taylor's stroke of insight

   [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyyjU8fzEYU[/youtube]
    

10. Thulasiraj Ravilla: How low-cost eye care can be world-class

    [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5QCM1_gVGA[/youtube]

Other presentations I enjoyed watching (among many others):

• Charles Anderson discovers dragonflies that cross oceans 
• Arthur Benjamin does "Mathemagic" 
• Brian Greene on string theory 
• Hans Rosling stastistics 
• Scott Kim takes apart the art of puzzles 
• Barry Schwarz on the paradox of choice
• Steven Pinker on the myth of violence
• Sunitha Krishnan fights sex slavery 
• Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi on flow
• The Raspyni Brothers juggling
• Steve Truglia: A leap from space

Did I miss any?