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
   
   

2. Steve Jobs: How to live before you die
   
    
3. Benjamin Zander: On Music and Passion

   

   (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

   
    

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

   
    

6. Rory Sutherland: Life lessons from an ad man

   
    

7. VS Ramachandran on your mind

   
    

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

   
    

9. Jill Bolte Taylor's stroke of insight

   
    

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

    

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?