so many conversations i've had following ted have involved me adding anecdotes starting with "there was a talk at ted about..." so i've picked out a few personal highlights but these really don't do justice to the breadth and quality of presentations.

rebecca saxe presented her research showing how moral perspective on an event can be changed by firing a magnetic pulse at a particular part of the brain. a scary thought, but thankfully the magnetic pulse is something you would be aware is happening. although, will that always be the case?

90 year old (yes, you read that right, nine zero) elaine morgan is an advocate for the aquatic ape theory, that humans have evolved from ancestors who lived in water. her talk was a fantastic example of always making sure to question assumed truths, lifelong learning and sticking with your passion.

rory sutherland's highly entertaining presentation also encouraged us to question the norm, but this time by thinking about how we create value and how crucial perception is to that. i strongly recommend watching the hilarious diamond shreddies videos used in canada (shreddies that were just 'rotated' from a square to a diamond), the reactions from people are priceless. he also mentioned a (whimsical?) proposal to save money on the railways by hiring supermodels to work on the trains rather than spending millions on engineering faster lines, that way people won't mind if they're slow. along with the laughs, i think he raised a serious point to encourage thinking about what change your work is making and is that the change that's really necessary.

a talk that really resonated with me was dan pink's study of the science of motivation. his claim that the traditional reward based system for motivating employees doesn't work goes against almost every company's policy but is supported by recent examples such as wikipedia or the open source software movement. he suggests an alternative 'operating system for business' based around 3 key employee principles - the urge to direct our own lives (autonomy), the desire to get better at something that matters (mastery) and to be a part of something bigger than ourselves (purpose). sign me up for some of that.

cary fowler has definitely signed up for a job bigger than himself, to create a backup for world agriculture by creating a repository of all the world's seeds (i'm sure you read about the project in wired). in the us in the 1800's there were 7100 named varieties of apples, today there's 300. he describes diversity as options and these options could be crucial in for the future of human food.

and the last talk i want to point out is itay talgam's, who demonstrated alternative types of leadership using clips from conductors in a very entertaining presentation during the final session. i think you'll enjoy the video of that one.

of course, it wouldn't be ted without some live demos. want to power your tv or charging your phone without plugging it in? sure, just ask eric giler about wireless electricity. want to purify drinking water in a handheld flask? michael pritchard has invented that. want glasses that you can adjust yourself? joshua silver has some very low cost, liquid filled lenses that are what you're looking for. want the house from the future? the one where you can know your water and electricity consumption before the bill comes in and remotely control your locks, windows, lights, heating? visit master inventor andy stanford-clark who lives in one.

"the future is already here, it's just not very evenly distributed" and it seems ted has more of the future than most.

a massive thank you to ibm and wired for the opportunity to attend ted global by running the competition for a ticket, if they run it again i recommend you enter.