The TED Ten Commandments and The Social Web

I enjoy following TED because it’s like drinking from a fire hydrant of amazing new ideas and stimulating discussion. The conference challenges some of the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers to give the talks of their lives (in 18 minutes) and what results from that challenge is consistently entertaining, informative and inspiring. This list of the “10 Commandments of TED speakers” came to me via an emailed ezine article by Dana Bristol-Smith. While all 10 in the list apply to presentations, I’d argue that the first 8 (with some minor language tweakage) could be called “The 8 Commandments for blogging and social media”…Enjoy.

1. Thou Shalt Not Simply Trot Out thy Usual Shtick.
2. Thou Shalt Dream a Great Dream, or Show Forth a Wondrous New Thing, Or Share Something Thou Hast Never Shared Before.
3. Thou Shalt Reveal thy Curiosity and Thy Passion.
4. Thou Shalt Tell a Story.
5. Thou Shalt Freely Comment on the Utterances of Other Speakers for the Sake of Blessed Connection and Exquisite Controversy.
6. Thou Shalt Not Flaunt thine Ego. Be Thou Vulnerable. Speak of thy Failure as well as thy Success.
7. Thou Shalt Not Sell from the Stage: Neither thy Company, thy Goods, thy Writings, nor thy Desperate need for Funding; Lest Thou be Cast Aside into Outer Darkness.
8. Thou Shalt Remember all the while: Laughter is Good.
9. Thou Shalt Not Read thy Speech.
10. Thou Shalt Not Steal the Time of Them that Follow Thee.