The organizationTechnology, Entertainment, Design, known popularly as TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. They began as a national conference and have evolved to include international conferences, the award-winning TEDTalks video site (riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world) TEDx programs (we had one in Tucson at the Fox Theatre in November) and much more.

It’s always fascinating listening. My sister in Australia even sends me links to stories she thinks I might enjoy. One I especially liked was a playlist called “The truth about stories” posted on the TED blog that features three amazing storytellers, Elif Shafak,  Chimamanda Adichie, and  Jonathan Harris. Take a listen and then cruise around the website.

You can search by speaker, theme, or by the talks themselves. Be prepared to spend lots of time because there is truly something for everyone. I just found the highly entertaining Joe Sabia telling the story of the technology of storytelling and I’m going back for more.

I just got an iphone and I’m musing about the ways stories can be told through this amazing device. First of all I have to say that I’m somewhat obsessed with it, which I think is completely normal given the complexity of this little 4 1/2″ x 2″ marvel of technology. I’m not a novice to cell phones; I’ve had one since 1990 but this “toy” is something else. And it’s not just the iphone, I think that all smartphones are amazing.

I’m sure that it will do so many more things than I can imagine at this point but so far I’ve discovered

• instant email and text messaging
• Facebook and other social media
• the camera for photos and video
• maps and GPS and Yelp, one of many glorious apps (applications), that helps you find anything you are looking for near your location
• Bump an app that allows you to share something on your phone with someone else’s phone by literally bumping your phones together
• Shazam, an app that can “hear” music and then it tells you the name of a song and who is singing so you can read the lyrics or buy the song
• Solitaire and Angry Birds (free or 99 cent versions) and other time wasting games.

And, oh yeah, you can make a phone call too.

What are some of the ways you can think of to use your smartphones for telling stories?

In the address given by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, at the 114th Commencement of Stanford University on June 12, 2005, he introduced his speech by saying he wanted to tell three stories.

His intention was to share knowledge that he’s accumulated over the years with the new graduates but instead of the usual lecture or inspirational speech, he chose a delivery method that inspired his listeners.

The first was a story about dropping out of college so that he didn’t spend all of his working class families money and how he hung around the college taking classes anyway, eating at the Hari Krishna center on Sunday’s and sleeping on dorm floors. Because he was a drop out he didn’t have to take prescribed classes so he took a calligraphy class for the joy of it, not knowing how it would fit into his eclectic eduction. When constructing the Mackintosh this skill and interest was used to develop beautiful computer typography.

The second was a story about being fired when he was 30 years old from his own company, Apple, and how it freed him to have the most creative period of his life. He started 2 new companies including Pixar and got married and had a baby. He’s convinced he wouldn’t have done this if he hadn’t been fired.

The third story was about death.  He was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer and went home to die.  After some tests it was revealed that his type of cancer was curable and he had the surgery and is now well.  But remembering he could be dead at any time has helped him to follow his heart in every decision he has made.

In conclusion he told that  ”Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish” came from the back page of the final Whole Earth Catalog.  His last story was how he adopted that phrase as his motto in the 70s and still lives by it.