The talk I decided to analyze was the following one:

“The new bionics that let us run, climb and dance – Hugh Herr”

I’ve been watching TED talks for quite some time now just for fun and knowledge, and I have to say that this one would be one of my personal favorites. This is for a number of reasons, but the most important for me would be the topic. Bionic limbs and the like are exactly what I would like to get into the business of designing and making and this video is nothing if not inspiring for me. In terms of the style and techniques used in the video, and I may be biased, but I believe Hugh Herr does an excellent job of showcasing this technology and the work that the Center for Extreme Bionics has been doing at the MIT Media Lab.

This video shows Herr talking not only very passionately about the topic as it has had a profound effect on his own life, but also being witty and humorous when the topic may not seem as lighthearted for some people. Herr goes through some rather complicated technical aspects of how the limbs work and continues to use demonstrations and simple and easy to understand language to explain some of the amazing design at work. There is nothing that I can say that is not quite great about this TED talk. Herr fully covers the material and gives explanations for any of the difficult to understand aspects. He walks around the stage and even has someone dance on stage for him. He is thus taking full advantage of the spotlight and showcasing as much as possible. This coupled with his passion for the topic not only makes the viewer extremely interested as I was, but thoroughly involved with the talk. It sucks you in. I believe that this is the ideal way to conduct a TED talk and I would love to follow the lead of Herr and speak just as passionately and directly about my topic.