I am sure most of you are familiar with the wonderful world of Ted.com…a place to spend hours learning about robotics, chess strategies, flag design, psychopaths and everything in between.

As we all adjust to our new ways of working I thought today’s blog should be an invitation to be curious, and so I am going to share an eclectic mix of some of my favourite Ted Talks for you to enjoy. Learning for the sake of learning, we can all get on board with that, right?

The first is one I come back to time and time again, and some of you who have been on a few of my workshops will already be familiar with this. Shawn Achor is a researcher into happiness, and specifically looking at how it links to productivity. There is a really simple call to action at the end which I would encourage you to take.

Next up is an amazing idea to rename all addresses in the world. If you are wondering, the fountain at North Holmes road is ///paths.zest.fetch and my office should you ever want to come and say hello when we are back out in the world is ///wings.parts.snap

Third for today is a longer watch of one of the most viewed Ted talks of all time; 46 million so far. Brene Brown studies vulnerability, that deeply exposing side of ourselves we so often seek to avoid. Right now our vulnerability is being exposed like never before so this felt like a relevant watch.

Finally, I couldn’t let you go without talking about hand-washing! Actually this is about the drying part. I use this video when I’m supporting colleagues in their training role as its a great example of some key presentation techniques – keep your message simple and repeat it often, get the audience involved, include practical demonstrations and be humorous if you think it will work. All in 4 minutes.

I hope you have enjoyed these, let us know in the comments below. I’m hoping to do another selection in a couple of weeks, if you have any favourites you think we should include then get in touch people.development@canterbury.ac.uk

Enjoy your day

Juliet Flynn, Organisational and People Development