How to Make Your Idea Impossible to Ignore | Chicago | TED Idea Search

0:00 The big red dot, the dream come true.

0:03 Give the talk of your lives.

0:06 This is the real deal.

0:07 I'm feeling excited.

0:09 The streets of I messed up.

0:11 Woo.

0:12 The way that you said that just is bringing tears to smile.

0:15 Made me cry.

0:16 Perfect timing.

0:16 Well done.

0:18 To be declared the winner.

0:19 That would be the dream.

0:20 I'm attempting something extraordinary.

0:23 He struggled.

0:26 Chemists can be first responders in the fight against extinction.

0:29 I didn't know it could get better, but I think it just did.

0:32 You have to try this.

0:33 I'm gonna kick it.

0:37 No.

0:42 My name is Reggie Watts and my life changed

0:44 forever when I got the opportunity to speak at TED.

0:49 Now TED is searching the globe for ideas that could change everything.

0:56 Nine TEDx events around the world.

0:59 Giving a global voice to the unknown.

1:03 Six minutes that can inspire, motivate, and change their lives forever.

1:09 But that's not all.

1:11 Coached by an expert panel,

1:13 one lucky speaker will be surprised with the opportunity of a lifetime.

1:19 A chance to speak on the TED Main stage and have their voices heard by millions.

1:25 This is the TED idea search.

1:41 Chicago, a place where industry, creativity, and innovation meet.

1:48 Now we're in the Windy City to see what great ideas have blown

1:52 in as a crop of fresh new speakers arrive to take the TEDex stage.

1:58 TED is an incredible platform to reach a very diverse audience of thinkers.

2:07 My name is Tim Cernac.

2:08 I'm a professor of medicinal chemistry at the University of Michigan.

2:14 I'm here to talk about making medicine for endangered species.

2:18 It's a new field called conservation chemistry.

2:21 We imagine that we could use chemistry as a conservation tool.

2:26 The cool thing is that you can make medicines today really, really quickly.

2:30 I've worked in the pharmaceutical industry for a lot of my career and now

2:33 I work in a pharmacy school and I just can't look around at this biodiversity

2:37 crisis that we're in right now looking at all the diseases that are wiping out

2:42 uh endangered animals and and we're trying

2:44 to make medicines to make the situation better.

2:47 With such great ideas to share and 24 hours till showtime,

2:52 the panel spend time with the speakers as they rehearse their talks,

2:56 giving them invaluable coaching and lastminute

2:58 refinement that could make all the difference.

3:05 This is a rehearsal that is like meant to support

3:08 you and so you know everybody's in really good shape.

3:11 You guys have worked so hard on these talks.

3:13 The feedback that you'll get from us is just maybe little tweaks.

3:18 Rehearsing it in front of other people kind of makes it real in a way.

3:22 It's that whole tree falling in a forest thing.

3:24 No, it doesn't make a sound if no one's there to hear it.

3:26 A speech given to an empty room,

3:30 you might as well just shut up cuz there's nothing happening.

3:34 It is time for us to reconnect, even to the people we despise.

3:39 All you really need are a generous heart and a curious mind.

3:44 My name is Joshua Johnson.

3:45 I live in Chicago.

3:46 I am originally from West Palm Beach, Florida.

3:53 I am here to try to help people

3:55 talk to one another without strangling one another.

3:58 That's basically helping to moderate conversations and meet

4:02 people and depict people in ways that helps

4:05 us see one another more clearly and deal with whatever it is that we see.

4:09 We can't have a democracy if people can't talk.

4:12 We can't be free people if people can't talk.

4:15 As simple as that is, it's really not simple at all.

4:20 But nowadays, a little civic CPR could save someone's life.

4:26 Rehearsals are fun.

4:26 I think one of the reasons why it's it's a little bit easier

4:29 in rehearsal is because people don't

4:31 necessarily expect you to have everything together.

4:34 I forgot the whole time that I was supposed to be advancing slides.

4:37 Oh no.

4:39 Wow.

4:42 Yeah, that's why we practice, right?

4:44 The other speakers are phenomenal.

4:46 They are um really really knowledgeable of their subject matter.

4:52 Honeybees are dying rapidly and at the center of this problem is veroa.

4:56 My name is Sammy Ramsey.

4:57 I'm from Boulder, Colorado.

5:02 My big idea that I want to share

5:04 with the world today is that empathy is a skill.

5:08 It typically isn't thought of that way,

5:10 but it's something that can serve the scientific community really well.

5:16 I've been employing empathy even before I knew the word and before I knew

5:20 it was a skill to understand how insects function and how to keep them alive.

5:28 I have seen how empathy can lead us to some really great solutions in science.

5:33 And I've also seen how it's often ignored and thought

5:36 of as something that's foreign to being a real researcher.

5:39 That doesn't serve us well in the long run.

5:43 I'm realizing that a larger audience could

5:46 also be served by having this information.

5:48 And as I can tell you,

5:49 fear and lack of imagination make for lousy guiding principles in science.

5:59 You really nailed it.

6:00 So good.

6:01 So good.

6:02 So good.

6:03 It was like informative.

6:04 It was inspiring.

6:05 It was everything and impressive to say the least.

6:10 Okay.

6:09 I love love love Dr.

6:10 Sammy.

6:11 The only thing is that today he did not have his talk memorized.

6:15 He was definitely reading majority of the time.

6:17 It's mostly memorized, but there are those points where I knew if

6:21 I tried to say the whole thing verbatim from memory,

6:23 I would like just end up with these long pauses where I'm like,

6:26 what's the next thing?

6:27 I really appreciated the feedback.

6:29 People were very encouraging,

6:30 but also the constructive elements of the feedback were really

6:34 targeted towards things that could truly help this talk be better.

6:37 You landed it really well, too.

6:39 You left a little pause there.

6:40 First, like maybe 10 to 15 seconds were a little bit fast.

6:43 I was a little concerned that my speech was too long and it

6:46 came in under time and I could slow down just a little bit.

6:50 So, I feel better.

6:51 8 seconds under.

6:52 That was like perfect timing.

6:54 Well done.

6:54 I don't know.

6:54 I loved it.

6:55 It was so good.

6:56 It really lands.

6:57 It really makes us feel a connection.

6:59 You own this material.

7:02 That was just beautifully delivered.

7:04 I tie this around.

7:07 Oh my gosh.

7:10 I need to practice this.

7:12 Uh yeah, you got rehearsals are never perfect.

7:22 You're never going to have the perfect talk and I've learned a lot.

7:26 I sometimes froze.

7:28 We need to explore the streets of I messed up, but that's okay.

7:32 Can I look at the script really quickly?

7:34 My name is Job and I am originally from Brazil and now I live here in Chicago.

7:45 My big idea for this talk is basically going to be

7:49 me talking about my experiences of running all the streets of Chicago.

7:56 People kind of have this idea that Chicago or just any big city,

8:00 they have this idea that the news portrays that it's very dangerous.

8:05 I want to change how people view cities like Chicago.

8:10 Not dangerous places that people shouldn't go

8:12 to, but places full of ordinary life, ordinary people.

8:17 So, this is the idea that I want to share with the world.

8:19 I do wish like in some parts the slides were up longer.

8:23 I got some good feedback on some things I could adjust in my talk,

8:26 which was very helpful.

8:28 So, rehearsals were fantastic.

8:30 Yeah,

8:30 out of all the cities, definitely this is one of our strongest lineups.

8:34 And what made it even better on top

8:36 of that is the camaraderie within the speakers is so strong.

8:40 Your talk benefits so much from just you going

8:43 slow and letting like the things just sit with us.

8:47 The environment is so supportive.

8:49 I think that everyone here is here to lift each other up.

8:51 And so to get that kind of really constructive feedback in a really warm,

8:55 welcoming environment is quite special.

8:57 What helped me like with hand motion is

9:00 to have the clicker on my non-dominant hand.

9:03 Cuz normally like with your dominant hand, you're doing more of the action.

9:07 So have it in like your non-dominant hands.

9:09 Very clever.

9:10 The feedback was enormous.

9:12 That actually touches me right now.

9:14 Like almost brings me to tears because people were actually in tears.

9:19 When you make room for others, your path to self-discovery is lit.

9:25 I'm Darling Jackson, also known as DJ Lady D, and I'm from Chicago.

9:34 I'm here to share a way for people to feel comfortable with themselves

9:39 and to live a life that's free of judgment and full of grace.

9:45 People are really caught up in the criticism of themselves and other people.

9:51 And what I've learned from my many years and thousands of dance

9:56 floors that I've been on is that real house music dance floors,

10:00 nobody cares about all of that stuff.

10:03 And it's the first way to liberate yourself and to really release yourself

10:08 from the shackles that say you have

10:11 to confine yourself to a certain way of being.

10:15 So I think people should just chill out.

10:20 when you said that thing about like when you find your space

10:24 and like that's that's your dance floor like I mean just meant a lot.

10:30 Darlene the queen of house like just the way that she

10:33 talks about kind of losing yourself on the dance floor.

10:37 It's just this equalizer among people.

10:40 That one really really speaks to me.

10:42 The way that you said that just is bringing tears.

10:46 Darlene had an amazing performance in the rehearsal room today.

10:49 I think everyone really connected with it.

10:51 There were tears and also the topic is just really Chicago based.

10:55 So, I'm hoping that effect is, you know, resonates with the audience tomorrow.

10:59 It's making me emotional.

11:00 I want everybody in the world to feel that.

11:02 For me, I have so many that are kind of even and really

11:06 up high and tomorrow whatever happens is going to push someone over the line.

11:11 And as we are learning time and time again, anything can happen on the day.

11:16 rehearsals, not a predictor of the actual event day.

11:21 I'm looking forward to rehearsing on the main stage to standing

11:24 on the big red dot cuz that's when I'll know for sure.

11:33 Um, the red dot feels bigger when you're standing on it

11:36 than it looks when you actually see a TED talk.

11:40 Just the opportunity to actually be out there on the big red dot though,

11:45 it meant a lot to me.

11:47 I've watched so many TED videos,

11:48 so just to see what that carpet feels like under my feet was fun.

11:54 The lights were brighter than I thought they were going to be.

11:58 I'm feeling nervous because I have a really ambitious

12:04 idea to attempt to deliver here and I really wish

12:07 that I had more time to sit down and memorize

12:10 every aspect of my talk the way that I would like.

12:12 Walking out in front of a large audience.

12:14 I've done it before.

12:16 I've spoken twice at graduation.

12:18 But yeah, I'm feeling excited.

12:20 Uh, and also I've got home advantage because I'm talking about Chicago

12:24 in Chicago and I'm also going to be going out with a Chicago flag.

12:28 So hopefully get the audience riled up

12:32 and excited for for speaking about Chicago.

12:39 You know, I'm a DJ.

12:40 I've performed in front of thousands of people.

12:42 But even when I hadn't been doing it long, I had to do it scared.

12:46 So if I'm scared, I still know that I can be fearless and fierce.

12:53 So the dream scenario for tomorrow would be to give

12:57 the speech of my life and to be declared the winner.

13:00 That would be the dream.

13:05 After a long day, rehearsals come to a close.

13:09 But the work doesn't stop there.

13:11 into the night.

13:12 The speakers prepare for the six minutes that could change everything.

13:26 If you're in the room, you are participating.

13:29 All right, we're going to get our shoulders all the way up to ears

13:32 and inhale and then a big exhale with a sigh and let them down.

13:37 Oh, you all know what you're doing.

13:38 Let's do it again.

13:43 My hope for today is that I walk out onto that stage

13:46 and I deliver my thoughts clearly and that it resonates with the audience.

13:54 Bagada.

13:59 I'm kind of a little bit of a bundle of jitters and nerves right now.

14:03 Greek grapes.

14:05 Greek grapes.

14:05 My anxieties for today are that I trip up and miss a line or two.

14:14 Greek grapes.

14:16 Greek grapes again.

14:17 Greek.

14:17 Greek grapes.

14:19 Greek grapes.

14:21 This is the real deal.

14:22 And I really have to have all of my thoughts composed for this.

14:27 Exhale.

14:28 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.

14:35 I'm going to just go out there and have fun, you know?

14:37 I'm going to have so much fun.

14:39 So, that's what I'm looking forward to.

14:42 Like, when it's finally over, then I'm going to kick it.

14:48 You all are so ready.

14:49 Let us know if you need anything.

14:51 Let's have a great second.

14:54 You are superstars.

15:01 The audience begins to arrive as the speakers

15:03 prepare backstage for their big moment.

15:07 Thank you all for being here with the TED Global Idea Search.

15:11 Thousands of people applied and from the selected speakers you will hear today,

15:15 one of them will be chosen to go on to the TED Main Stage in the spring.

15:21 That is the biggest global stage for ideas in the world.

15:25 So, the stakes are really high for these guys today.

15:30 I'm really hoping that I can actually make it to the main stage

15:32 for TED because I have a really big talk that I want to give.

15:38 There's a lot of content that I had to snip away to make this into 6

15:41 minutes and I really think that all of it together is going to hit really hard.

15:48 Speaking at TED in Vancouver would give me the chance to be

15:52 in a room of the kinds of people I always want to be around,

15:55 which are believers, doers, passionate people.

16:02 It would make me feel amazing if I got to the TED Vancouver stage,

16:08 speaking in front of so many of the world's greatest leaders,

16:13 CEOs, just get my story out there.

16:16 That would be absolutely incredible.

16:18 Please welcome to the stage job verbosa.

16:27 Yes.

16:26 Thank you my friend.

16:27 Appreciate it.

16:31 My name is Joe.

16:32 Thank you very much.

16:36 Kelly.

16:37 Kelly.

16:40 Hi.

16:39 I'm so excited.

16:40 This room is full.

16:42 People are excited.

16:44 Everyone's feeling good.

16:45 I'm so excited to get started.

16:49 I'm just an ordinary bloke, but I'm attempting something extraordinary.

16:55 I want to become the first person in history

16:58 to officially run every single street in the city of Chicago.

17:04 Every corner, every block, every neighborhood.

17:10 And this is how I run.

17:13 Now, here's the thing.

17:15 This journey didn't start because I love running.

17:19 It started because, well, let me take you back.

17:22 In March of 2024, I climbed Mount Washington in New Hampshire,

17:28 home to the world's worst weather.

17:32 And as it turns out,

17:33 this world's worst weather slogan isn't just clever marketing.

17:37 Because on the way down, hurricane force winds threw me onto a rock.

17:42 I was knocked unconscious.

17:43 Hypothermia set in frostbite began eating at my skin.

17:46 Even though I made national headlines for all the wrong reasons, I survived.

17:53 But recovery wasn't simple.

17:56 My first lap in the marathon of healing began when

18:00 doctors told me I need to get my blood flowing again.

18:03 So, I started running.

18:05 At first, it was just rehab.

18:08 But then I discovered the truth.

18:13 I hate running.

18:16 You know, in rehearsal yesterday, he tried putting the flag on during his talk,

18:21 and I think that kind of slipped him up.

18:23 So, I'm glad to see that he just started with the flag on.

18:25 Yes.

18:26 But then it hit me.

18:28 What if running didn't have to be boring?

18:31 What if I gave it a little bit of purpose?

18:34 What if I ran the entire city of Chicago?

18:38 Today, this is my progress within the city.

18:42 The purple is where I've ran over half of Chicago complete.

18:48 But what I found has surprised me because if you listen to the news,

18:53 Chicago's chaos, violence, crime, division, danger, that's the narrative.

18:58 But the reality, the one I see on foot is something different.

19:03 It's ordinary life.

19:04 I've run into kids riding their bicycles,

19:07 challenging me to races in which I always win.

19:11 Neighbors chatting on porches, saying hi to me,

19:14 but wondering why I'm going down a dead end as I pass by.

19:19 Moments which are mile markers of connection.

19:23 Challenges exist, but exploration has shown me

19:25 that the stories we're told don't always match reality.

19:29 And sometimes the only way to find out is to go see for yourself.

19:33 Because the world profits off fear.

19:35 Headlines sell division and polarization.

19:37 Algorithms feed us reasons to stay home, to stay afraid, to stay in our lanes.

19:42 But exploration, the act of stepping outside, of seeing for yourself,

19:46 shows us reality is far more beautiful and far

19:49 more ordinary than what fear wants us to believe.

19:52 So my invitation to you is simple.

19:55 despite what you're told.

19:57 Explore the streets of life in every sense.

20:02 Thank you very much.

20:09 I think what he's doing is incredible.

20:11 I'm not sure if the core of his idea is something that will be new

20:18 to people or is something that is so grand that like everyone will take away.

20:24 learning something really really new.

20:27 I'm buzzing.

20:28 I got everything out and yeah,

20:30 when you're there it's just it's just good cuz um yeah,

20:34 you you you're in that moment and it's like

20:38 the pressure is on but the pressure is good.

20:40 So yeah, amazing.

20:41 Yeah, Dr.

20:45 Sammy yesterday he struggled.

20:49 It was a rough rehearsal and he had a lot of work to do a lot.

20:54 I really hope that he went home and focused.

20:57 You know, sometimes in rehearsals that stuff happens and it's a motivator.

21:01 Yeah.

21:03 Hi, I'm Dr.

21:04 Sammy, your friendly neighborhood entomologist.

21:07 But I wasn't always.

21:08 See, I used to be terrified of insects as a kid.

21:11 I couldn't think of anything more disturbing.

21:14 It actually got to a point where my mom got a call from my second grade teacher.

21:18 Um, hi Mrs.

21:19 Ramsay.

21:20 Um, I I just wanted to give you a call.

21:22 Um, Sammy hasn't been out to recess all week.

21:25 He said he doesn't want to meet any insects, quote, on their own turf.

21:29 So, so my mom took me to our local library

21:33 and parked me in the entomology section all summer long.

21:37 That very summer, I told my parents,

21:40 I'm going to be an entomologist when I grow up.

21:42 And uh, one day in my backyard, I imagined myself as a millipede.

21:48 Hm.

21:49 Uh, I don't like that everything can see me really well,

21:52 but I can't see them because I don't have any eyes.

21:55 I didn't realize it at the time,

21:57 but I was solving scientific problems via empathy,

22:01 something that I had no idea was a skill,

22:04 but I didn't realize just how well well how difficult it

22:11 would be to be empathic in the scientific community at times.

22:15 When I became a graduate student,

22:17 I was so excited to be pursuing my lifelong dream of being an entomologist.

22:22 Uh I can still remember my first committee meeting.

22:25 My adviser looked at me and said, "Sammy,

22:28 something about you just doesn't seem like doctoral material.

22:32 So, I've decided to dismiss you from the program." Now, Sammy,

22:36 Sammy, you just don't have the right skill set for science.

22:40 You have to trust me on this one.

22:42 Uh, and this isn't something that you can learn.

22:47 Now look, some folks just want to play in your face.

22:52 A lack of empathy is a failure of imagination.

22:56 She couldn't imagine that someone like me could be a scientist, but I could.

23:01 Watching this, you would have no idea that yesterday he struggled.

23:05 After six months or nine months of fighting through an appeals process,

23:10 I returned to the program, but with my confidence on shaky footing.

23:14 So, of course, I chose the simplest,

23:16 easiest project that I could think of, global honeybee health decline.

23:21 Simple, simple.

23:23 But as it turns out, the right skill set for understanding

23:27 that complicated subject was curiosity co-mingled with empathy.

23:31 See, our bees are dying rapidly.

23:33 And at the center of the problem is veroa,

23:36 this tiny tick-like might that's apparently eating their blood.

23:40 The difference between yesterday and today is gargantuan.

23:46 I know.

23:48 I looked at the parasites feeding on the bees

23:50 and found that they only fed near the liver.

23:52 I fluorescently stained the liver and found it inside of the mite's gut.

23:58 But if I really wanted to prove that these mites were feeding

24:02 uh on the bee's liver and that it was essential to their diet,

24:04 I would have to find a way to feed them

24:06 blood and liver and track which ones were surviving and reproducing.

24:11 And that is not easy when you're working with parasites.

24:15 You have to figure out every little detail of how

24:18 the host interacts with the parasite that triggers the parasite to feed.

24:21 And if you don't, they just die.

24:24 And look, for several months,

24:26 these parasites dying was my entire life, just watching them die.

24:31 I even made their food look like a little

24:34 baby bee in hopes that they would feed on that.

24:36 And they still did not feed.

24:40 My gosh, I was missing something.

24:43 And if I was going to figure it out,

24:45 I would have to from the parasites vantage point.

24:47 So, I did what I did as a kid.

24:49 I I went through my empathy exercise.

24:52 And y'all, I face palmed almost immediately.

24:56 Why did I spend all that time trying to make this decoy

24:59 bee look like a bee when these little doofuses can't even see?

25:05 No eyes.

25:06 Look at that.

25:07 Not a single eye on that face.

25:10 I love that part.

25:11 And he just changes his tone.

25:13 It's got so much energy.

25:15 When I imagined myself as one of these mites,

25:18 I realized that my world was only smell, taste, and touch.

25:21 And so I took this really thin membrane

25:24 that felt like bee skin and rubbed it up against

25:26 a bee so that it got the bee's smell

25:28 and taste and then wrapped that around my decoy bee.

25:31 And voila, the parasites ate.

25:34 And they lived long, fruitful lives and they had babies.

25:39 But only if fed the bee's liver.

25:42 So, I had cracked the case.

25:45 All these years, these parasites were killing our bees with liver disease.

25:50 And now that we know that, we can give our bees a fighting chance.

25:56 Thank you.

25:59 Right.

25:59 I mean, but consider this.

26:04 That study critical for saving the bees almost didn't

26:07 happen because of how we have intentionally structured science.

26:11 All of the policies that allowed me to be booted from my program on a mentor's

26:16 whim are still in place uh at my former

26:20 institution and at many others around the country.

26:23 This is actually the part where I feel

26:24 like we're going into another talk maybe, you know.

26:28 Yeah.

26:29 Yeah.

26:30 So let's embed in the pursuit of knowledge ethical intelligence as we train

26:35 the next generation of researchers because

26:38 curiosity without empathy is observation without understanding.

26:42 And as Mama Ramsay will tell you, people fear what they don't understand.

26:46 And as I can tell you,

26:48 fear and lack of imagination are lousy guiding principles in science.

26:53 Thank you.

27:00 Thank you.

27:02 He really, really, really did it.

27:04 And I am so happy to see it.

27:08 Yeah.

27:08 And there's something about seeing someone struggle so much in rehearsal.

27:12 I just feel so proud for him to have done that.

27:17 Yes.

27:17 Oh my gosh, the audience was so kind.

27:19 I got a standing ovation at the end

27:21 of that and I wasn't expecting that and now I'm just like,

27:23 "Yeah, I did it." Please welcome to the stage Joshua Johnson.

27:33 Now we're going to hear from Joshua who is a journalist and really

27:37 he's a professional communicator giving a talk

27:40 about how to have difficult conversations.

27:43 I think that's something that a lot of people are wondering how to do right now.

27:47 He was a real standout yesterday.

27:49 So I'm excited to see if he can deliver in the same way today.

27:55 When you have to deal with someone whose views you despise,

27:59 what principles guide you through that?

28:02 I had to do that a bunch in my 20 plus years of broadcasting,

28:05 including three years hosting the NPR talk show 1A.

28:09 Doing that work supercharged my ability to deal with highly problematic

28:13 people without losing my integrity or missing a chance to connect.

28:18 Back in 2017, there was a white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia.

28:22 One of the early episodes of 1A dealt with Confederate Civil War statues,

28:26 which were a focal point of the marches.

28:28 One of our guests was a descendant

28:30 of Confederate soldiers who supported preserving those statues.

28:34 Now, as a black man, I felt enormous pressure to remain objective,

28:37 so I decided I'm just going to deal with the pros and the cons of the argument.

28:42 Well, among other things, he argued that we focus too much on slavery as a cause

28:47 of the Civil War when there are all these other causes like the economy.

28:51 Slavery was the economy.

28:54 Eventually, he just deflated and he said,

28:57 "It really doesn't matter what I say." And the moment

29:00 he said that, I knew I had failed.

29:04 I had missed a huge opportunity.

29:06 See, I asked the questions everybody

29:07 would have asked to interrogate his beliefs.

29:10 What I failed to do was find out why he believed them.

29:15 What if I'd asked better questions?

29:16 Questions like, "Who influenced you the most

29:19 in forming these views?" Or, "What if

29:22 I had asked?" Suppose we let all of these monuments stand just as they are.

29:26 What would that mean to you?

29:28 If I had let myself get a little closer, I might have seen him, the real him.

29:35 And that missed opportunity kind of broke everything for me.

29:40 He works a sage so well.

29:41 He really does.

29:43 No one is objective, but we can all be skilled at objectivity.

29:48 In other words, objectivity is an ability, not an identity.

29:54 Hold it, Joshua.

29:55 Hold it.

29:56 Hold it.

29:56 Learn without judgment.

29:57 Park my emotions.

29:58 So, you just want me to sit there and smile

30:00 at some who's about six McNuggets short of a happy meal?

30:03 IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT?

30:05 NO, be engaged, but do it strategically.

30:09 Here are three tips for your next unbearable conversation.

30:11 Ready?

30:12 Tip one, keep your questions short.

30:14 10 seconds or less.

30:16 Long questions feel like a setup.

30:18 Tip two, find the narrative.

30:20 Get the story behind the belief.

30:22 Help them talk about everyone's favorite subject themselves.

30:26 And third, don't agree, just acknowledge.

30:30 Hey, I know this was a tough conversation, but you leveled with me.

30:33 So, thank you.

30:34 If you're going to write a book on how to give a talk,

30:37 I think you could study this one.

30:39 It's really got all the elements in both the content and the delivery.

30:45 All you really need are a generous heart and a curious mind.

30:49 And unlike a trained clinician,

30:51 I am not asking anyone to do emergency surgery on the heart of the nation.

30:56 Because believe it or not, just a little civic CPR could save someone's life.

31:03 I really appreciate y'all making time for me today.

31:05 Thanks for listening.

31:06 Bye everybody.

31:08 Thank you so much.

31:10 Thank you.

31:13 Thanks.

31:19 He was amazing during rehearsal yesterday.

31:22 I didn't know it could get better, but I think it just did.

31:25 He's going to be tough to beat.

31:27 I'm glad I did not make eye contact with my parents cuz then

31:31 I would have been like an inconclusion and it would have been over with.

31:34 So wherever they are,

31:35 I'm glad that they threw a jacket over

31:38 their heads or something so I couldn't see them.

31:40 Next up, we have Tim who is talking about using

31:43 medicines to bring species back from the brink of extinction.

31:48 This is a big idea.

31:51 And I didn't know chemistry could make me cry,

31:53 but it definitely did yesterday during rehearsal.

31:57 Sadly, we lost 98% of elephant seals in Argentina last year to aven flu.

32:04 The state tree of Pennsylvania, the majestic hemlock,

32:07 is in a battle against an invasive insect, and it's not winning.

32:12 The greatest pandemic this planet has ever

32:15 known is a fungal infection called kitrid.

32:19 It has driven the extinction of hundreds of amphibians already.

32:23 I'm a chemist who has dedicated my life to improving

32:26 health and I cannot look away from these diseases.

32:31 I needed to do something about it.

32:34 When I met Pebbles, the Hila monster,

32:36 she had already lost 30% of her body weight.

32:39 She was infected with a parasite called cryptoperidium.

32:42 And for a reptile, crypto is basically a death sentence.

32:46 There's there's no treatment.

32:49 And yet, you know those diabetes and obesity

32:52 drugs you keep hearing about in the news?

32:55 The first one came from the saliva of a Hila monster.

32:58 How is it that we built a multi-billion

33:00 dollar pharmaceutical empire on the biology of this animal?

33:03 But for pebbles, there was nothing.

33:06 My lab hopped into action and from the Creature Conservancy,

33:09 a wildlife rescue center that cares for pebbles,

33:11 we received a very generous gift of Hila Monster poop.

33:15 poop jokes always a favorite

33:20 and from it extracted the parasite that I show here.

33:23 This is the first electron microraph of cryptosperidium verani.

33:27 You cannot kill this parasite with bleach.

33:30 My lab built an AI agent that could hunt through the entire medicinal

33:34 literature trying to find a molecule that might be relevant to this situation.

33:39 And the one that popped out was called peromy.

33:43 In the lab, we mixed this chemical with the parasite

33:46 in a test tube and obtained this image.

33:50 And as you can see, we have abused this bug.

33:54 Its protective layer is dissolving.

33:56 Its insides are exploding.

33:58 Within days, the creature conservancy started pebbles on a treatment of peromy.

34:04 And I'm very happy to report that following the treatment,

34:06 she tested negative for the disease.

34:09 She stopped regurgitating her food and regained her appetite and vigor.

34:13 and has since put on most of the body weight she loves.

34:17 Thank you.

34:20 He's giving the real science while also making

34:22 it accessible and easy for the audience to understand,

34:25 which I think is a real challenge that people struggle with.

34:29 Chemists can be first responders in the fight against extinction.

34:33 Today, we can make precision health products at rapid pace.

34:38 I know chemists who have invented drugs for all kinds of diseases.

34:41 Let us now turn our attention to those who need it most.

34:44 Thank you.

34:49 This could be a worldchanging idea.

34:51 This is important.

34:52 This is big.

34:53 I think he delivered it well.

34:56 I am left wondering a little bit.

35:00 Was the whole talk clear enough?

35:04 Yeah,

35:03 the audience is so supportive.

35:04 Uh and I just I feel like I was remembering

35:07 uh all the tips that I had along the way.

35:10 I had the clicker in the wrong hand, but it was cool.

35:13 Next up is Chicago's very own Queen of House music.

35:18 And for those of you that don't know this, uh,

35:21 Chicago is the proud birthplace of house music.

35:25 All right.

35:26 Yes.

35:27 Now, we're going to hear from Darlene, who is a legend in Chicago.

35:32 And wow.

35:34 I mean, yesterday in rehearsal, right, she was Oh my gosh.

35:38 I loved Lady D yesterday.

35:42 I mean, she had everyone crying in the room.

35:46 She had our chemist Tim crying.

35:48 Like, it's hard for me to imagine not for people to be moved today.

35:53 I really came away yesterday from the rehearsal feeling

35:57 like I had really learned a lot from Darlene.

36:06 Oh, how many of you would start your esteemed TED talk that way?

36:12 If you would leave, you are already enlightened.

36:16 Namaste.

36:18 If you wouldn't, I'm here to propose a way

36:20 for you to feel comfortable in your skin,

36:24 for you to live judgment free and have grace for others, including yourself.

36:28 I'm a little worried about her holding notes

36:31 because sometimes speakers tend to rely on it

36:34 and I feel like it it could hurt the delivery if she relies on it too much.

36:38 Let me explain a little rewind.

36:42 In Chicago's basement, warehouses, and gymnasiums,

36:48 house music was forged with resistance, resilience, and ingenuity.

36:53 She's a little more nervous.

36:55 I can feel it.

36:56 Queer, straight, black, and brown kids created a new world out of the word no.

37:06 The music was intoxicating.

37:08 Everybody loved it.

37:12 Imagine a place for yourself where you feel fully actualized, free.

37:20 It was like a sanctuary for the disenfranchised,

37:24 for marginalized folks, and it dissolved barriers.

37:30 And so if you have a place where you have ever felt the safest and most trusted,

37:38 that's your dance floor.

37:41 Okay?

37:41 If you've ever had a space like that, hold it up here.

37:51 Oh no.

37:52 Oh no.

37:52 No.

37:53 No.

37:53 No.

37:54 Oh.

37:54 Darling.

37:55 Part of me wants to think that like she's just so passionate about

37:58 this that it's almost hard for her to talk about it out loud.

38:03 It was the feeling of seeing my name on that first flyer with my first

38:07 DJ gig that I knew that I had inherited real power and responsibility.

38:16 Responsibility to create spaces of love and communion

38:22 and justice to elevate moods and to bring people together.

38:26 She's doing well.

38:27 It's just it's a big shift from yesterday's rehearsal.

38:32 And if you want to dance on many dance floors, literal or metaphorical,

38:40 you have got to make space, come without judgment, and teach someone your dance.

38:47 This completes the cycle.

38:50 Give the next generation the tools to find their own rhythm.

38:54 Long live your dance floors.

38:57 That's it.

38:57 Thank you.

39:04 The competition today is so high.

39:07 I mean, I just think like it is a shame and it's just hard, but you know,

39:12 you've got to really deliver the best version

39:15 of your talk and Darlene didn't quite get there today.

39:21 Yeah.

39:21 And it doesn't help that this pool of speakers is so strong.

39:27 Sure.

39:26 I think it went great.

39:27 I mean, I had what, you know, challenges I had,

39:30 but overcame them and made it to the end.

39:33 So, I really had a great time.

39:42 With the talks drawing to a close, it's time for the audience to reflect

39:45 on which speaker has left the largest impact.

39:53 It was absolutely amazing.

39:54 I don't think I've been that encaptured for an hour

39:57 and a half straight in a really long time.

40:01 I loved it.

40:02 I felt genuinely inspired.

40:03 I had full body goosebumps after every single one.

40:07 They were all really good.

40:08 I would have to say my favorite would be Joshua.

40:11 He resonated a lot, especially right now with what's going on around the world.

40:15 I think my all-time favorite was Dr.

40:17 Sammy Ramsay.

40:18 Dr.

40:18 Sammy was amazing and he taught me so much and now

40:21 I think I want to appreciate beans a little bit more.

40:26 I think I liked Joe Barbosa the best.

40:28 The guy that was actually running all of the streets of Chicago.

40:32 Joe the runner.

40:32 His message about seeing the good and what's around you

40:37 and everything regardless of what the mainstream may be telling you.

40:43 Joshua was one of the standouts.

40:45 I love how he's talking about making

40:48 a difference in the world and changing people's perceptions.

40:51 The one that sticks out to me is the guy who invented

40:54 the solution for the honeybees and he's going to change the world.

40:59 But ultimately, it's the panel's opinion that counts the most as they

41:03 sit down to decide who will represent Chicago on the TED Main stage.

41:10 Wow, what a day.

41:11 Okay, we have a tough selection process in front of us right now.

41:14 Yeah.

41:14 So, should we start looking at like we

41:16 got to talk through and make some decisions here?

41:21 Okay.

41:21 Okay.

41:21 What about Job?

41:23 Job killed it today.

41:25 His delivery compared to yesterday's rehearsal was on point.

41:31 My question around this one is like I wonder

41:33 if this idea thrives the most in this local environment.

41:36 That makes sense.

41:37 I I feel that.

41:38 Yeah.

41:39 Okay.

41:39 Dr.

41:40 Sammy, the stage presence was incredible.

41:42 You can hear the audience, you know,

41:45 commenting as if they were talking to him one-on-one.

41:48 They were all making noise.

41:50 He They gave him a standing ovation.

41:53 He did wonderful.

41:57 Joshua Joshua Johnson.

42:00 You kidding me right now?

42:02 He is up there.

42:02 You could hear viscerally how I think important what he was saying

42:07 was and how badly people needed someone to articulate what his message was.

42:12 It pulled something out of the audience.

42:14 It's a talk for now.

42:16 Tim.

42:17 Oh my gosh.

42:18 I didn't think that like chemistry could make me cry.

42:21 Hello.

42:22 It's kind of pioneering and it's also kind of like

42:26 well yeah you know once you hear it it's why aren't we why aren't why aren't we

42:31 doing this you know and darling

42:35 it was a gift to allow that story uh of Chicago house and the foundations

42:42 and that story to be told on the stage I think was a treat this audience

42:47 she struggled to completely connect today when she was

42:51 on the stage And that made an impact in her delivery.

42:55 Yeah.

42:54 But it's it's a wonderful message and it's just it's so resonating.

42:58 Darling, forever.

43:01 Forever.

43:01 Long live the dance floor.

43:03 Chicago.

43:07 Deliberation complete and decision made.

43:10 And for one lucky speaker, their lives are about to be changed forever.

43:19 Y'all, what we witnessed was so extraordinary.

43:24 You guys all took the stage.

43:26 You all moved people.

43:28 You changed minds.

43:29 You changed lives.

43:30 And it was incredible.

43:32 We saw the audience go crazy time and time again.

43:35 It was amazing.

43:37 And us deliberating after was actually the hardest thing.

43:42 Um, you know, Kelly brought her like curator experience.

43:45 I'm like my distribution experience.

43:47 We do have to narrow it down to just one speaker who

43:50 will go on to take the stage uh and join us in Vancouver.

43:57 The speaker who will be coming to TED in Vancouver is Joshua Johnson.

44:18 I am lost for words.

44:20 It's humbling.

44:21 It's amazing.

44:22 I'm not going to do my happy hallelujah dance right now.

44:25 These are new clothes.

44:27 But soon, soon as these cameras are off, don't think we are in church.

44:33 It's going to be a good day.

44:35 Oh wow.

44:37 I have burned enough emotional calories today and I am empty.

44:43 So I'm not thinking about Vancouver until I have to.

44:47 Like I'm going to go live and I'm going to just

44:51 sort of like Vancouver will come to me when it's time.

44:54 But right now, I'm going to go sit somewhere, play Hell Divers 2,

44:58 order a big pizza, and go to the gym,

45:00 and try to act like nothing happened today.

45:10 I'm grateful.

45:12 I'm blessed.

45:13 And I'm humbled.

45:18 No, you can't.

45:18 I'm a star now.

45:19 I'm going to town.

45:25 With Joshua talking his way to a place on the TED

45:28 main stage to have his voice heard by millions, our time in Chicago is over.

45:33 But the TED idea search continues.

45:37 Next time, Wenos and the competition has never been hotter.

45:42 The adrenaline is so high.

45:44 Getting within 6 minutes, that is a big challenge.

45:47 Democracy needs disagreement.

45:50 I'm heartbroken about this for him.

45:52 It's the things we call brain rot, right?

45:55 Viral material.

45:57 The eyes are on fire.

45:59 This is it.