TED talks and PR

The best PR professionals have a varied ‘content diet’. In our busy day-to-day work life, we tend to focus on consuming the information most relevant to our profession and the brands we work with. However, creativity is the product of a diverse range of opinions. We’re at our best when we’re delving into abstract concepts, injecting tried and tested messages in new contexts and framing problems through fresh lenses.

Broader horizons

Something that really inspires me are ‘TED Talks’ These passionate speeches are not only interesting and entertaining. but also motivating. TED Talks have been a way for me to broaden my horizons and open my mind up to new ideas – and particularly helpfully, they come packaged in a commuter-friendly format!

With the human brain constantly hungering for fresh information, feeding your mind with successful stories, innovative approaches and varied outlooks, from a field outside your own, is the best thing you can do to fuel your creativity. There are now over 100,000 talks on TED Talk’s YouTube channel, covering topics spanning from science and technology to business to global issues. If you committed to 15 minutes on your train to work or over your morning coffee, you could choose to learn something new every day.

Radio hour

‘The TED Radio Hour’ is another of TED’s educational resources that I’ve come to love – and it’s even better when you’re on the go! The podcast organises TED talks by theme and then interviews are conducted with the speakers, allowing the listener an even deeper insight into what makes them tick. These candid conversations capture real stories and events in the lives of the world’s most famous thought leaders.

I try to push myself outside of the PR world as much as I can. My latest attempt has had me trying my hand at producing some original content on a topic that interests me. Decrypt, a co-authored blog covering all things blockchain and cryptocurrency is the project my friend and I launched on Bitcoin’s tenth anniversary in October. Talks like: ‘How the blockchain is changing money and business’ (June 2016) by Don Tapscott, or ‘The future of money’ (May 2016) by Neha Narul were an inspiration to us both and have influenced the blog greatly. These were credible sources of information at a time where there wasn’t much on the topic for anyone that wasn’t a coder, elsewhere on the web.

Explore new realms

So here’s the thing, if you’re to spark ideas that are truly inspirational, you need to be consuming information far and wide, whether it seems relevant or not. The most creative ideas, that are impactful and easy to execute on, are the ones which have been inspired by what you have consumed from beyond the PR industry.

As a TED Talk starting point, I recommend this playlist: 11 must-see TED Talks.

Written by Martyna Borys, programme executive at PR agency Hotwire