Labor Day is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers, a needed tribute to the American citizens before and among us that work to make America the great place we call home. Many of us work long days and longer weeks which makes this three-day weekend a real treat. Sadly, it’s hard to enjoy doing nothing when there is so much productivity to be had with this extra time.

In honor of the recent Labor Day holiday, I think we should take a moment and reflect upon the fast-paced American lifestyle. Carl Honore, the man known best for promoting the Slow Food Movement, makes us consider the idea of a slow lifestyle. This video is well worth a moment of your productive day.

(Can’t see the video? Click Here)

Yesterday many of us were afforded the opportunity to spend our Monday with friends and family. I spent my extra time pool side and enjoying the sidewalk sales at the local outlet mall — how did you spend your day?

Sincerely,
- Jess
Are you TEDx Inspired?
http://www.tedxphoenix.com

photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gibsonselectric/3688692197/ / CC BY 2.0

My name is Jessica and I am a new member of the TEDxPhoenix Crew.

As a new voice for the TEDxPhoenix team, I think it is valuable for us to get to know each other. TEDx’ers here in Phoenix, and across the globe, are united not because we have the same passions. Instead, we share the same enthusiasm for learning and an optimistic outlook that anything is possible. It is as simple as that.

We should use this forum as an open dialogue to share stories about people in our communities and favorite TEDTalks. For me, I love anything related to psychology, social change, and market research.

Here is one of my favorite TEDTalks.

A TEDTalk that has influenced me was given by Malcolm Gladwell in 2006. Instead of talking about his own research, Malcolm Gladwell spoke about a true catalyst to change, Howard Moskowitz. Moskowitz, a Harvard trained psychophysicist, played a big hand in creating the endless options, Starbucks-style ordering, that we have grown accustomed to in the past few decades. And this is all thanks to his research on spaghetti sauce.

Gladwell does not boast that Moskowitz’s research was entirely positive nor did he argue that endless options are detrimental for our psyche. Instead, he spoke of Moskowitz’s work with Prego as being a catalyst for the current market place. Moskowitz’s awareness that not all consumers want the same thing doesn’t sound revolutionary today but prior to his work, products were developed on a vertical hierarchy rather than the horizontal consumer segmentation we see today.  In other words, Moskowitz realized that while you like chunky pasta sauce, I may prefer spicy. What you like, I may hate.

(Can’t see the video? Click Here)

Being a professional market researcher, I love reading passionate stories behind consumer behavior studies. Moskowitz breakthrough research has not only impacted the product development and market research worlds, it touches our lives everyday. And it is pretty cool learning why I spend about 10 minutes in the sauce aisle trying to decide which jar of the red stuff fits me.

Sincerely,
Jessica
TEDxPhoenix Social Media Crew

photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrjoro/65708536/ / CC BY 2.0

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Fredi Lajvardi, he’s an instructor at Carl Hayden High School who started an after-school robotics program to help get students interested in science and technology. He’s also an instructor who is quick to point out the outdated teaching methods found in most classrooms, and instead chooses to figure out ways to remove the obstacles that students face in order to foster and accelerate the learning process.

It’s this unorthodox approach to tackling and solving problems that netted the Carl Hayden High School Underwater Robotics Team several victories over top universities including M.I.T.

(Can’t see the video? Click Here)

If you’re interested in knowing what Fredi’s students and the robotics team have been up to lately, feel free to visit the following links:

• One teacher powers up his after-school kids’ hope for a brighter future
• A Teacher Opening the World through Robotics

Sincerely,
The TEDxPhoenix Crew

Dan presented at TEDGlobal in 2009, and his TEDTalk on the surprising science of motivation is a great one that shouldn’t be missed. In other words, watch it as soon as you get a chance.

Yet for this week’s TEDTalk Tuesdays, we decided to showcase a recent viral video that features a hand drawn animation being created from a talk that Dan gave at the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA).

In the video, Dan shares his thoughts on incentives and performance in the workplace, as well as his findings when employees are given complete autonomy in the workplace. It’s an entertaining and unique video to say the least, and we truly hope you enjoy it.

(Can’t see the video? Click Here)

Sincerely,
The TEDxPhoenix Crew

This time around, we’re featuring Dr. Jane Maienschein who is a professor of Biology at Arizona State University and also a recipient of the President’s Professor award which is one of the highest honors for faculty excellence at ASU.

In this talk, Dr. Maienschein channels her inner philosopher and historian to raise important questions about regenerative medicine and stem cell research. Her hope is that others who are not familiar with these fields understand the truths, myths, and history surrounding these interesting, powerful, yet controversial fields of research.

(Can’t see the video? Click Here)

“In the beginning there’s an egg, and the egg gets fertilized and it divides from one cell into two, into four, into eight cells.
 
All of those eight cells are just the same, they’re called totipotent, and they can make octuplets … which we now know in one case happened … no comment on that.”
 
- Dr. Jane Maienschein

Sincerely,
The TEDxPhoenix Crew

To refresh your memory, TED began a new feature on the TED Blog earlier this year called the Best of the Web that offers an insight into the best talks out on the internet that were not recorded at TED.

You can see these talks by visiting the TEDTalks List Page and selecting Best of the Web from the Show by event: drop-down list.

We at TEDxPhoenix felt that this talk by Jack Dorsey at the 99% Conference might just possibly be Best of the Web material, so we wanted to feature it on our ongoing TEDTalk Tuesdays series.

What makes Jack’s story interesting is that it digs deep into his childhood obsession with maps and cities — as well as his fascination with giving dots on a map meaning. The rest of the talk chronicles the creation of Twitter including some early missteps, and some surprising revelations that came to light after watching Twitter users develop their own methods of communicating via the service.

(Click Here if you can’t see the video)

… I had this very rich sense of how metropolis was living and breathing, and I was completely fascinated by it.
 
- Jack Dorsey

Sincerely,
The TEDxPhoenix Crew

photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jackdorsey/182613360/ / CC BY 2.0

We found this TED insider tour via Robert Scoble‘s Scobelizer site, and knew we had to share it with all our fellow TED fans. The video has a lot of great insight into the world of TED including neat tidbits about the infamous TED badge, the TED stage, TED sponsors, TEDTalks production, the TED bear, and of course the TEDx program.

The video embedded below is set to begin at the 3:47 mark where June and Lara begin to talk about TEDx, but do feel free to watch the entire thing from start to finish.

(Click Here if you can’t see the video)

The statistics on the TEDx program are incredible — in the span of a year, TEDx organizers have planned or held 1000 total TEDx events. These TEDx events have been held in 80 countries and represent 25 languages around the world, with 43% of TEDx events held in a language other than English.

Yet don’t let us spoil the video for you — you should definitely check it out for yourself…

Sincerely,
The TEDxPhoenix Crew (…that’s about to get bigger!)

Photo Credit: TED / James Duncan Davidson on Flickr

Dr. Charles P. Gerba is a microbes and germ expert who hails from the University of Arizona’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences — he also has ties to the Valley as he received his Bachelor of Science from Arizona State.

Dr. Gerba has the ultimate dirty job as he conducts research on the process by which germs get passed between people, places, and objects. His research has not only led to articles in the The Washington Post and media appearances on Good Morning America, Today, and Dateline, but it has also led to the development of new disinfectants and drinking water treatment processes.

(Can’t see the video? Click Here)

“If there’s ever an epidemic … run to the toilet, drop your pants and sit on it because it’s the safest place we can find.”
 
- Dr. Charles P. Gerba

We will be posting all our recorded talks in the weeks to come so please stay tuned. Also, we would like to thank John Harris from Carl Hayden High School for his help with the video.

Sincerely,
The TEDxPhoenix Crew

Thankfully, there are no spoilers in this TEDTalk but it’s interesting to note J.J.’s obsession with the infinite possibilities that are brought about by mystery and the unknown.

So whether you loved the LOST! finale or hated it with a passion, we thought you might enjoy hearing Abrams talk about the things that have inspired him in his career as a writer, filmaker, and producer.

(Can’t see the video? Click Here)

Sincerely,
The TEDxPhoenix Crew

This TEDTalk Tuesday is particularly special because Dan Ariely will be speaking at Arizona State University on Saturday April 10th at 12:30PM, so be sure to visit www.arielyasu.eventbrite.com for more information.

Dr. Ariely’s job over the past decade has involved analyzing people’s behavior and coming up with reasons as to why they behave the way they do. One particular area of interest is the reasoning behind why people cheat and steal. In this TEDTalk, Dan explains the “bugs” we each have in our moral codes and why some of us believe its OK to cheat or steal in certain situations. Through some clever studies, he makes the point that we’re all “Predictably Irrational”.

(Can’t see the video? Click Here)

We hope Dr. Ariely’s talk gave you some insight on the thought process behind cheating and stealing, and we would love to hear what you thought about his TEDTalk.

Feel free to leave your comments below, and if you have an idea for a TEDTalk we should feature, please send it to us via our TEDxPhoenix contact page.

Sincerely,
Tomas Carrillo
TEDxPhoenix TED Addict