What Is Your Favourite TED Talk?

Here's a sneak at Two of our favorite TED talks and why you should watch them

Oreofe: Do you listen to TED Talks, Jose?

Josemaria: Yeah, a lot! That’s one of my evening hobbies—I barely miss a day. What about you?

Oreofe: Same here, though not every day. But I really enjoy them too. So tell me—if every TED Talk in the world was about to be deleted and you could only save one, which would it be?

Josemaria: Hmm, that’s easy—The Danger of a Single Story by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Oreofe: Interesting choice! Why that one?

Josemaria: Because it’s powerful and timeless. Chimamanda explains how stereotypes don’t come from lies, but from incomplete truths. “The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.”

She showed how Western narratives about Africa often reduce the continent to poverty, war, and helplessness—ignoring its beauty, diversity, and creativity. At the same time, she admitted her own bias, confessing that before visiting Mexico, her perception of Mexicans was shaped by negative media portrayals of crime, poverty, and border struggles.

One of her deepest points was when she said we cannot talk about the single story without talking about nkali—an Igbo word that means “to be greater than another.” In other words, who tells the story matters, because power decides which stories are heard and which are silenced.

She also explained that the easiest way to dispossess a people is to “start their story with secondly.” For example, if you begin the story of Native Americans with their defeat, instead of their culture and heritage before colonization, you erase context and diminish their identity.

Her clever use of humour and anecdotes made it quite unforgettable. Brilliant delivery. Definitely a must-watch!

Oreofe: Hmm, powerful indeed. Well, my favourite TED Talk is Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator by Tim Urban.

Josemaria: Ooh, why that one?

Oreofe: Because it explores procrastination and what really goes on inside the mind of a procrastinator. He presents it in such a comical way, but it’s also very deep. It helps you see procrastination differently—not just as laziness but as something we can understand and manage.

Josemaria: Wow, that sounds interesting!

Oreofe: It is! But what’s even more amazing is the way he breaks everything down with simple doodles and slides. I think everyone should watch it, especially students. It really helped me personally.

Josemaria: That’s really nice.

Oreofe: And you?

Josemaria: Who, me? I just told you mine!

Oreofe: No, not you, silly—I mean you, the reader!

Josemaria: Ohhh 😅 Right—yes, you! Dear reader, what’s your favourite TED Talk?

Leave  a comment, and tell us the one TED Talk you’d save if all the others vanished—and why we should watch it too.