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Which Idea Wins Over 4,000 People? | Amman | TED Idea Search

TED43:30Added Aug 30, 2026

The TED Idea Search wraps up in Amman, Jordan, in a 2,000-year-old Roman amphitheater and in front of a crowd of 4,000. What unfolds inside those stone walls...

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Contributed by 刘嘉琪

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  1. Intro

  2. 00:02I promise by the end of this you're all going to be besties. It's just so exciting. Everything in my life has led
  3. 00:07me to this moment. Oo. See, I forgot this. I feel really nervous for them. They're a mirror into the deep
  4. 00:14inequality shaping our world. This is the time to rethink teleprompters. Yes.
  5. 00:19No, we have to go wash it off in a river of cheese. I love how much fun she's having up there.
  6. 00:24Sorry, emotional again. It is wild out there. How am I going to go through life again? How am I going to
  7. 00:30move forward? I died. I died. Oh,
  8. 00:38my name is Reggie Watts and my life changed forever when I got the opportunity to speak at TED.
  9. 00:45Now TED is searching the globe for ideas that could change everything.
  10. 00:51Nine TEDx events around the world, giving a global voice to the unknown.
  11. 00:58Six minutes that can inspire, motivate, and change their lives forever.
  12. 01:04But that's not all. Coached by an expert panel, one lucky speaker will be
  13. 01:10surprised with the opportunity of a lifetime. A chance to speak on the TED Main stage
  14. 01:16and have their voices heard by millions. This is the TED Idea search.
  15. 01:32Jordan, a land shaped by ancient civilizations and vast deserts.
  16. 01:38And at its heart, Aman, where modern ideas meet deep history.
  17. 01:45Today it's home to our final group of TED hopefuls ready to share their ideas
  18. 01:51with the TED team. My name is Dina Halles. I'm from Jordan.
  19. 01:58I've been a brain trainer for some time and I've seen brain training change so many lives.
  20. 02:05I've seen kids struggle. Parents cry in front of me just worried about their kids, not sure what to do with them.
  21. 02:14No one thinks you're born an athlete. No one thinks you're perfect doing sports. But somehow when it comes to math, it's
  22. 02:20either you're good or you're bad. No one actually thinks about training that skill.
  23. 02:26So I wanted to make sure to get my idea across to as many people as I can that
  24. 02:31something can be done and their brains can actually change.
  25. 02:36When I found out that I'm going to be delivering a TED talk at this like global stage, I I can't tell you the
  26. 02:43happiness I felt. I think I'll be honored. I'll be grateful. It's a really big deal for me. I really am excited
  27. 02:50about this. I've been trying to spread hope throughout my life, throughout
  28. 02:55everything that I do. There's always hope. There's always a better tomorrow. I think if you have good intentions and
  29. 03:02your heart is in the right place, things will happen for you.
  30. 03:07With 24 hours until the speakers take the stage, they have the opportunity to get invaluable feedback from the panel
  31. 03:15to help them perfect their talks.

  32. Rehearsals

  33. 03:24We're going to go through, we're going to have everybody run through their talks, give a little like last minute feedback. You're in good shape now. You
  34. 03:31were selected for a reason. You're going to be amazing up there. and we are just here to really support you and I promise
  35. 03:37by the end of this you're all going to be besties. Let's welcome our first speaker of
  36. 03:42rehearsal. It was interesting. It was hard cuz like
  37. 03:49I thought I would remember everything obviously brain trainer. I'm good at memory but then standing there having
  38. 03:55everyone look at you it's completely different. This is the most important part if I want anything out of this talk
  39. 04:01is for you to remember these three facts. Number one, you're trained your
  40. 04:07your brain can be trained. I was nervous. I was nervous cuz not like
  41. 04:12practicing at your own home or when you're practicing in front of family. I think it's okay to be shaky and I
  42. 04:18think it's okay to be nervous because that's so human. And I think what shines brightest is when you can tell someone
  43. 04:24really cares about what they're talking about. As many of you know, Sadi was quite different back then. Sports was
  44. 04:30not accessible to women. I felt a strong urge to teach dance classes. I didn't
  45. 04:36have a venue to teach. So, my stepfather offered a temporary solution using a
  46. 04:41warehouse in his office building. Bless my stepfather. He thought it was a temporary solution. Mm- We ain't going
  47. 04:48nowhere. I really resonate with Nelly's talk. I think it really touched my heart. I just like the emotion of the roller
  48. 04:55coaster. Yeah, I went up a mountain, down the mountain, I danced, I I've
  49. 05:00lived through all the emotions and I think it's wonderful. My name is Nali and I'm from Lebanon.
  50. 05:10The big idea I want to share with the world is only by taking risks can you find out how far you can go. This idea
  51. 05:18is so important to me because it's my dad's favorite quote and my dad's no longer here today.
  52. 05:27Climbing K2 was one of my favorite moments. Standing on top of that summit,
  53. 05:32making history for the Arab region, making history as a woman in a male dominant sport. I wouldn't be here today
  54. 05:38if I didn't take risks over and over and over and over again. Everyone tries to
  55. 05:43shy away from discomfort, but I think this is where the best things in my life have happened. Once you see that there's
  56. 05:51great things on the other side of fear, you never want to go back. Move is not
  57. 05:56just a dance studio. It was a national movement. The national movement the Saudi needed.
  58. 06:03Imagine I had not taken that risk of teaching those horrible classes from the hospital. I listened to Nelly Atar talk
  59. 06:10and she was like in Saudi Arabia. Uh he was forbidden to do like everything about for women like dancing uh walking
  60. 06:18even at the streets. Nelly is kind of born to do this. Looking at performance
  61. 06:23alone, she's definitely top tier, but that's not what that's totally about. We have to also look at the idea and see if
  62. 06:30it's strong enough. The work that you've done is incredible. And I think just really making sure that part of it
  63. 06:35really lands dials up the impact that you've made. Can we have another rehearsal? Right. Yeah.
  64. 06:41Oh, the TED people have been so helpful. This has been a learning journey of its own. Just, you know, from delivering a
  65. 06:48standard talk to no Nelly, you know, speak to people. It's from human to human.
  66. 06:54These paradoxes are not just noise. They're a mirror into the deep inequality shaping our world. Every
  67. 07:01headline news a brutal reminder of that one family returning veteran hero is
  68. 07:08another civilian tragedy somewhere in the global south.
  69. 07:13My name is Rema D Rosas. I think everybody in our region is going through the same this guilt of being able to
  70. 07:19have a meal and think big in the corporate world when really the next door people are dying of hunger and
  71. 07:26there's nothing we can do about it. That paradox of our daily lives is eating us
  72. 07:33up. The minute you start losing empathy, that becomes the biggest danger that we
  73. 07:39have. And that is the root cause of all injustices from the beginning of time. I
  74. 07:44just want people to dig deep beyond the headlines and redefine success to the
  75. 07:50impact you've done to the world. When I teach resiliency in corporate settings, this is the first image that comes to my
  76. 07:56mind. Feeling burnt out. It's okay. Resiliency will help you get back on
  77. 08:01track. Psychological safety in the workplace. Promoting an environment where people feel safe to speak up and
  78. 08:08be seen. You guys see where I'm going with this? I think you could actually dial up the
  79. 08:14contrast a bit more like by kind of getting a little somber about the image.
  80. 08:19When I'm thinking about um you know resilience in the workplace,
  81. 08:24this is the image I think of. Yeah. You know, to kind of like and to bring us down to like match the tone of the
  82. 08:29image. As an empath, I have like I don't know what my reaction should be. It's
  83. 08:35been challenging in some cases to get speakers to to really like dig into the
  84. 08:41topics and go super deep on the talks. Remma has this like really personal talk
  85. 08:47that should be a longer in-depth talk. Oh, they are clever. They know their
  86. 08:52stuff. So, yeah, feedback was so important for us, all of us. Words that we use about mental health
  87. 09:00don't describe reality, they shape it. When you use words of dignity, you give
  88. 09:07people voices and you make them feel they are heard.
  89. 09:14My name is Tala Alud and I'm from Alman, Jordan.
  90. 09:20My main idea here is that mental health is not really a foreign idea. It's not a western idea. Taking care of our mental
  91. 09:28well-being and mental health is rooted in our own culture, our faith, and our own poetry. I've personally worked in
  92. 09:36mental health for over 20 years and I've seen the impact of mental health as a
  93. 09:41field growing in Jordan. I'd like to have people start their discussions and start talking about mental health and I
  94. 09:47really felt like mental health has to take stage on a big platform like this especially in our region and our area.
  95. 09:55It's really a universal language. I'd sit in meetings where the people discuss
  96. 10:00bold ideas, strong voices. But when you mention mental health, voice drops, eyes
  97. 10:06dropped, and the shame sweeps in. See, I forgot this.
  98. 10:14Okay, can I stop? During rehearsals, a number
  99. 10:19of speakers still had some work. And I think here, people are maybe not used to taking the stage as much. The stakes are
  100. 10:26high for these people and I think they're feeling it. See, I'm I'm I'm mixing it up again. I'm just trying to remember it.
  101. 10:32So, our culture has always known uh our culture has always known hardship
  102. 10:38and it has always known resilience, right? This is this is the time to
  103. 10:44rethink teleprompterss. Yes. No, we don't like teleprompterss because
  104. 10:49you are connecting with us human to human. She struggled a bit in rehearsals. He was forgetting lines
  105. 10:55quite a bit. Make sure that you like know what's on the slide so that you can
  106. 11:01glance at the slide versus read the slide. Everyone on the team has been really great in kind of helping us not
  107. 11:08only tweak our talk but actually get up on stage and be able to do it. So now I'm much more comfortable than I used to
  108. 11:13be a few hours ago. Some of these ideas left me in tears. I was so emotional the whole time. It's
  109. 11:20just it's bigger and it made me feel like it's this is real. this is the real thing. This is where you get your point
  110. 11:25across. It was surreal. It was like a a whole different thing, a whole different experience. One of my first students,
  111. 11:33the first thing he ever said to me was, "I'm stupid. I won't be able to do this." We started working. We we started
  112. 11:41working and we worked on those little skills that he needed and then suddenly
  113. 11:46towards the end he started saying, "I'm a genius." the
  114. 11:53Oh, I lost my track with Sammy. Okay, so
  115. 11:58Oh, time is up. All right, Dina is trying to pack a lot into six minutes. I feel really nervous
  116. 12:06for them. Oh, feedback.
  117. 12:11How far off were we on time? Like minutes. You got a little choked up at the Sammy part, which is fine when you
  118. 12:18do, but I think it threw you sort of. I think I can manage to control my
  119. 12:23emotions on stage. Um, but I've been waiting for a long time to share that
  120. 12:28message to make sure people can actually hear that. I've actually learned a lot about
  121. 12:33myself. I think I've always been a shy person trying to avoid the limelight or maybe the spotlight, but I just feel
  122. 12:40like yeah, I do have something to say and I think that's worth sharing. I'm believing in our amazing speakers.
  123. 12:46Like it's going to be something really, really, really, really amazing. I feel like we have the full spectrum of
  124. 12:55preparedness from people who are pretty much ready to go for tomorrow. And there's some people that I feel like
  125. 13:00that didn't have their talk really rehearsed at all today that I bet will pull it out for tomorrow once they see
  126. 13:06the audience. Some of them as they've heard each other, they've been motivated to level up a little bit. I would
  127. 13:13definitely say some people have a lot to do in the next 24 hours. I can't wait to see them tomorrow. I'm so excited.
  128. 13:22Nothing can prepare our speakers for the red dot until they step onto it for the very first time. And in this epic 6,000
  129. 13:30seat amphitheater, composure will matter just as much as content.
  130. 13:37It felt really nice standing on that stage. I felt connected to everything.
  131. 13:42Anxiety. I feel like that's going to be the dominant emotion, but I think it's it's trying to shift that anxiety into
  132. 13:50excitement. I try to control my movement and energy.
  133. 13:55It's just so like it's big delivering a TED talk at this like global stage. It's
  134. 14:03just so exciting. It would be a great opportunity for our voices here to be heard.
  135. 14:10Just want to make sure that this idea gets to every single person out there because I've seen life-changing results.
  136. 14:18Sorry, emotional.
  137. 14:30With the desert sun rising, it's show day in Aman. In just a few hours, the
  138. 14:36Roman theater will be filled with an audience hoping to be educated and entertained. We're going to do a little exercise to
  139. 14:43help us calm the nerves and feel a little bit more present. Okay.
  140. 14:48I just want to be myself, to be honest, and I want to have fun with it. And I want to see, you know, what the
  141. 14:54day is going to bring. You're in this moment. Tap tap tap tap tap. It is here. You're real. You're in
  142. 15:01this place. I want to make sure that the voices of the students that I've trained, the lives that I've changed can actually get
  143. 15:08there. Stick out your tongue and say, I want people to feel if Nelly could do
  144. 15:15these things, I could do crazier things. one.
  145. 15:24I never thought I'd reach to to where I am right now. I want to leave the next 6 minutes with something that's powerful
  146. 15:32and impactful and will help people realize that if you're going through something, a struggle, know that you're
  147. 15:38not alone. I feel everything in my life has led me to this moment.
  148. 15:46I'm ready for it. Final preparations are complete. The
  149. 15:54open air seats begin to fill and TED X aman is just moments away from

  150. The Talks

  151. 16:00beginning. Let me just tell you how incredible it is to be here in Aman. Please help me by
  152. 16:07giving a warm welcome to our first speaker, Reema Das.
  153. 16:14All right, TEDex Ammon. This looks like a massive event. I wonder how the
  154. 16:21speakers are going to connect with everyone in a venue this big. Well, hello.
  155. 16:26Hello. Hello. Wow. It is wild out there. This this theater is so impressive and so crazy.
  156. 16:34It is 2,000 years old and it's a little tricky because the audience is kind of
  157. 16:40far from the stage and it's just grand. We're going to hear from Remma. She had
  158. 16:46a really strong rehearsal. She was really well prepared. I wonder if there is enough meat to this talk, enough deep
  159. 16:54substance. Yeah. I'm interested to see how the audience here will connect to it. Yeah.
  160. 17:00Have you ever been stressed out and someone came up to you and said, "It's okay. It's about resiliency."
  161. 17:08Now, imagine hearing that standing underneath an F-16 firing jet dropping bombs over your head.
  162. 17:16still feeling inspired. You know, it's tricky because I think when you stand up there, you feel like
  163. 17:23you have to kind of project more than normal. Um, and so it's like that comes across
  164. 17:29too. Yeah. I feel like in a space like this, it's really hard to make a talk a conversation and it's very much speaker
  165. 17:36audience. I'm also from the global south of the world, a region too well defined
  166. 17:41by war, displacement, and headline news that reduce human lives to just numbers.
  167. 17:48My people have been dehumanized. And yet here I am teaching resiliency in
  168. 17:55the workplace. So yes, you might say I have become a little bit of a cynic
  169. 18:04when I teach resiliency in corporate settings. This is the image that always comes to
  170. 18:09my mind. Feeling burnt out? It's okay. Resiliency
  171. 18:16will help you get back on track. Psychological safety in the workplace.
  172. 18:22Promoting an environment where people feel safe to speak up and be seen.
  173. 18:28You guys see where I'm going with this? In rehearsal yesterday, we gave a few notes. I think she really did her best.
  174. 18:36Even outside the boardrooms, as I flip through my Instagram feed, on one side
  175. 18:41of my story, children in a famine crying out for food, and on the other side,
  176. 18:50AI perfecting my next matcha latte.
  177. 18:56All been there. I mean, the content is just such a reality for so many people.
  178. 19:01It's a weird duality that's happening in life. Like she said, matcha lattes. She got an applause when she said that,
  179. 19:07too. Like, I think it's connecting because she's not the only one. Yeah. We don't live on this planet
  180. 19:14alone, you guys. And yet, modern mindsets tell you you do. They glorify
  181. 19:20individualism. Be careful from that because the danger lies is that you start to lose empathy
  182. 19:26for the people around you and the rest of the world. And that is the root cause
  183. 19:31of all injustices since the beginning of time. That lack of empathy.
  184. 19:39Global south has always been about the collective and perhaps those learnings
  185. 19:44are something we can share with the rest of the world. You can see the way she's moving back and forth. There's a lot of
  186. 19:50ground to cover. Yeah. With all that said, I mean her delivery really is on point. She is doing a
  187. 19:55beautiful job. I have seen ex CEOs and ex-world leaders doing master classes on
  188. 20:01leadership who are actually on the human rights watch list and the biggest polluters of this earth.
  189. 20:08Where is our due diligence? Be conscious of who they tell you your role models are. I guess what I'm trying
  190. 20:16to say is we need to fix the systems that imprison us before we fix ourselves. And the only way we can do
  191. 20:23that is in service of others and speaking the truth. Thank you.
  192. 20:30She's getting a good applause here. I mean, she did a great job. I'm pretty sure it did connect with the audience.
  193. 20:35She seemed really happy and that she felt connected from her spot on the stage and I I loved seeing that. I'm
  194. 20:43going back through everything. Uh even though I did a slip up, the audience was responsive. It resonated with them. I'm
  195. 20:50very proud of myself and I I did what I came to do. So that's relief.
  196. 20:56It's a deep topic and it's tough to go deep enough and make sure it's deep.
  197. 21:03It's complex and in 6 minutes is it possible to go deep enough? That's a
  198. 21:08little it's a little tough. Next up we have Tala who who's giving a talk about
  199. 21:15the importance of having conversations about mental health in the region. I'm
  200. 21:20really looking forward to this. Think of the last time someone asked you, "How are you?" What did you say?
  201. 21:28I'm fine. Alhamdulillah. I'm good. But if you're really honest,
  202. 21:34you would say, "I'm tired." Here's the thing. We don't know how to talk about
  203. 21:41our mental well-being. Although our culture is packed with words of care and
  204. 21:48resilience. Take this one.
  205. 21:54You say it to your mom and she softens. You say it to your boss
  206. 22:00and the deadline is no longer urgent. You say it to a stranger in the street
  207. 22:06and you've earned yourself a smile. She is really doing a good job on the stage
  208. 22:13of not stepping too much into the grand place. She sounds like herself.
  209. 22:19She really does. The words we use about our mental health
  210. 22:25don't just describe our reality. They shape it. They label it. But that's the
  211. 22:32thing. This is not a new idea. Think about al- mutabi where he said
  212. 22:39wounds to the spirit can be heavier than wounds to the flesh
  213. 22:45already making a distinction distinction between the mind and body and saying
  214. 22:52they are both vitally important our poets from dwish's affirmation of
  215. 22:59life to jabraman's thread of hope's metaphor of love and renewal
  216. 23:05turned our pain into poetry, our grief into resilience, and our exile into
  217. 23:13belonging.
  218. 23:27I think once people in the audience heard the Arabic words come up, they probably zoned in quite heavily on her.
  219. 23:34Yeah, I think she did such a beautiful job of working Arabic into this talk so
  220. 23:39that it connects easily with the people in the room. And if you're an English speaker only,
  221. 23:45we don't miss a beat either. And she's not, you know, exactly just translating whereas it just works in the two
  222. 23:50languages. Do not despair of God's mercy.
  223. 23:58Our faith also tells us your body has a right over
  224. 24:04you and your mind has a right over you. Already telling us that
  225. 24:11mental health or our health in general has a right over us because it is
  226. 24:16holistic and it's a balance between both. It's really hard when a slide has a lot of words on it and I think this is
  227. 24:23a really important slide, but I think people's attention are probably so divided between reading the words,
  228. 24:28hearing what she's trying to talk about and seeing what they could take with it. Mental health is not a weakness. It is
  229. 24:34not foreign. It is not a taboo and it's definitely not shameful. It's in our
  230. 24:41greetings, in our music, in our poetry, in our art, and in our faith.
  231. 24:48It is a return to our roots and it starts with two simple words.
  232. 24:59Thank you. Look at that. The audience reaction is great. They were definitely connected
  233. 25:05and that's some good strong applause right there. I really enjoyed that. It was fun. The
  234. 25:11energy is great. The audience is great. you know, you're one's family and friends and it's it can't be more
  235. 25:16beautiful than this really. It's a tricky thing to judge, I think, for us because we do talk about mental
  236. 25:23health pretty openly in the West. Like this is a cultural difference that
  237. 25:28we've learned about in the last 24 hours and I think the audience is really appreciating the fact that she's making
  238. 25:35a case here to talk about this. You know, part of our tour is that we're really getting to learn about how
  239. 25:40differently different parts of the world approach ideas. Nelly is really an amazing human. I
  240. 25:48think the way she trains as an athlete. She has trained for this talk. She was in great shape in rehearsals. She is not
  241. 25:56feeling well today. We saw her backstage. She's quite sick. So, let's see if we can tell here because that's a
  242. 26:02tough thing to overcome. I love sports.
  243. 26:10Sports has taught me over and over again that only if I risk going far can I find
  244. 26:16out how far I can go. I felt a strong urge to teach dance classes. I wanted to
  245. 26:23move. Now the idea sounded simple but it was quite a risk.
  246. 26:30Music was not allowed in public venues. organized sports for women was
  247. 26:35unconventional. How will this be received? Can I even
  248. 26:40teach a class? Do I know how to teach a class? Well, there's only one way to know. I risked it.
  249. 26:46You cannot tell she is not feeling well. And I think she is really bringing the energy.
  250. 26:52So, I started running the classes from the warehouse and so many women showed
  251. 26:57up to my surprise. So, I quit my full-time job and I focused entirely on
  252. 27:02this community. And I honestly had no idea what I was doing. I just took risks
  253. 27:08and I went with it. In a span of 5 years, we went from being an underground
  254. 27:13community at a warehouse to becoming Saudi's first dance studio.
  255. 27:23I love this. That is just Yeah, that's an incredible story. And it it really does exude the main point
  256. 27:30she's making about taking risks. And when I was not coaching and running the studio, you'd find me training. I
  257. 27:39immersed myself in sports completely. And I wanted to pave the way for women.
  258. 27:44I wanted to show them how they can do outdoor sports in this tricky environment.
  259. 27:50So I went from barely being able to run 400 meters to running marathons around
  260. 27:56the world. eventually triathlons. In 2019, I found myself standing at
  261. 28:048,848 m above sea level. Do you guys know where that is?
  262. 28:10Everest. She summited Everest. Listen to them
  263. 28:17cheer. They are so proud of her. People are really responding to this, you know.
  264. 28:22They're clapping and really cheering her on along the way. That's that's great to see.
  265. 28:28Little did I know what was to come. November 2020,
  266. 28:34my father passed away. Allah
  267. 28:39from top of the world in 2019 to the deepest darkest rock bottom in
  268. 28:452020. How am I going to go through life again? How am I going to move forward?
  269. 28:51What would my dad want for me? Only those who risk going far can find out
  270. 28:59how far they can go. This is my dad's.
  271. 29:06Oh, that's a beautiful moment. I love that she said those words along with him. And he would want me to take risks.
  272. 29:14So, I took risks. A few days after dad passed away, I started an initiative in
  273. 29:19his honor called Sunday Sports because Baba loved doing sports on Sunday. So
  274. 29:25people all across the world join me virtually to train with me. And one year later, I made it to the top of the world
  275. 29:32again. This time around, I made history for the Arab region by becoming the
  276. 29:38first Arab to stand on the world's most dangerous mountain, K2.
  277. 29:51My flex, my biggest flex is not my grip strength or my lung capacity.
  278. 29:58It's my capacity to take risks. And when I hit rock bottom is when taking risks
  279. 30:04mattered the most. It's when taking risks propelled me the furthest.
  280. 30:10Guys, I really hope that my story today inspires you to take a risk towards what
  281. 30:16you're afraid to do. You don't know where it's going to take you because only those who risk going far
  282. 30:24will go far. Thank you.
  283. 30:31That was just so well delivered. I mean, she is just the coolest.
  284. 30:39Uh, I feel great. It's done. Oh, I feel awake. I feel alive. I'm so happy. I
  285. 30:46don't think I could have done better considering, especially that I'm sick. So, really happy. 5 years later, I still
  286. 30:51cry every time I talk about him. And I wouldn't want it any other way. He was there with you, huh? I hope so. And I hope he's proud.
  287. 31:04When you have these kinds of talks, they can so easily fall into this trap where they're just like your typical
  288. 31:10motivational speaker type of talk. You have to have the credentials. She's got
  289. 31:16that. I think she truly brought a unique lens to this topic. I feel like I
  290. 31:22learned something from her. Next up, we have Dena, who is giving a
  291. 31:30talk about training your brain. She was amazing in rehearsal yesterday. She had
  292. 31:35her entire talk memorized. But given the subject matter, it'd be kind of embarrassing if she didn't.
  293. 31:40Yeah, that would be ironic. And I hope that does not happen to her. I know. We live in the world of AI. Our small
  294. 31:49devices in our pockets can get any information in a matter of seconds. But
  295. 31:55we were never taught how to use that information, how to be creative with it, how to analyze it, how to remember it,
  296. 32:02and how to focus. So today, I'm going to tell you three facts about your brain. Fact number one,
  297. 32:10are you guys ready? You can. Yeah. Okay. Look at her. She's like calling to the
  298. 32:17audience to make sure she's getting their attention. I think she maybe felt she was losing them, but she knows how
  299. 32:22to get them back in. you can actually train your brain. All right, so to in order to explain that, we're going to
  300. 32:28try it firsthand. Let's assume we're going to the store and we have to buy a list of things and
  301. 32:36you have one minute to remember that list. What do you think? Is that easy?
  302. 32:42Can you do it? Let's try it my way. All right. So, the first word is milk.
  303. 32:49Let's imagine us, we're just pouring milk into a cup.
  304. 32:54The milk splashes. One of those splashes turns into an egg. Uh the bread feels
  305. 33:00sticky and sticky and we have to go wash it off in a river of cheese. A river of cheese. Like this is such a
  306. 33:07fun story. It's so visual. I love how much fun she's having up there. Can you imagine like those apple slices
  307. 33:13turning into a boat? There's a chicken riding the boat and the chicken is just
  308. 33:18so excited throwing confetti of rice everywhere. Rice everywhere. The rice
  309. 33:24hits the tomato and the tomato explodes into the cup of coffee. There's coffee
  310. 33:30all over the table. We just give up and let's just have some ice cream. Now I
  311. 33:35want you to try it. What was the first word? Milk. What happened? The splashes.
  312. 33:42Eggs. Then Bread. Bread. Cheese. Exactly. Reverse of cheese.
  313. 33:50Apple. All right. What was riding the apple? Chicken. Chicken.
  314. 33:56Rice everywhere. Confetti. And finally, let's just have a break with
  315. 34:01ice cream. What do you guys think? It really works. Sometimes when you have
  316. 34:07some kind of interactive element to a talk like that, you know, really keeping it simple and straightforward and
  317. 34:14something that people can engage in quickly without a ton of instruction really works and I think we just saw that. I'm impressed with her because
  318. 34:21this is a hard thing to do in such a big venue. This takes me to point number two. If
  319. 34:26you can train your brain, then you can become smarter. I'm just going to share a story of one of my students. This was
  320. 34:32like 13 years ago. His name was Sami. He was only nine and he had so many
  321. 34:38learning difficulties. He couldn't read, write, focus, and do math. When he first
  322. 34:43came to me, the first word he said was, "I'm stupid. I can't do this." Can you
  323. 34:49imagine how heartbreaking that is? Can you imagine a mom or a dad seeing their
  324. 34:54kids say that? Sorry. I think that moved her cuz you could
  325. 35:00hear her voice just change a little bit. That kid we trained every day and towards the end that I'm stupid turned
  326. 35:07into I'm a genius. A kid that was denying
  327. 35:13turned into a genius. And that takes me to point number three.
  328. 35:20May you need to make sure that you treat your brain like a muscle. With time, I
  329. 35:26promise you, your brain will thank you for it. Thank you.
  330. 35:34Yes. Oh my gosh. Look, Listen to that applause for her. That exercise definitely got the audience engaged.
  331. 35:41It's fun and useful. That was amazing. Honestly, it was scary at first cuz like it it's a lot of
  332. 35:48people. Like the whole place is filled. I finished it with 30 seconds left to go.
  333. 35:54Now I can get the energy going. I think I need to exercise. Where is Nelly? Give me Nelly. I need to do something. When
  334. 36:00you think about Vancouver, you do have a lot of brain scientists there. We're going to have a lot of big, hefty ideas.
  335. 36:07And I think this is like it's an incredible tool. Is it enough? Does it have enough weight for the Vancouver
  336. 36:14stage? And with that, the event draws to a
  337. 36:19close under the cover of night. But there is no time to rest just yet, as
  338. 36:24the TED panel have a difficult decision to make. You guys, I don't know. Everyone was so

  339. Deliberation

  340. 36:32amazing today. This is so hard. So hard. Oh, it's really a very, very, very hard
  341. 36:38choice. But for me, I'm going to choose Nala. Okay, Tik, it's your turn.
  342. 36:46It's very hard. Talks were amazing. I love them all. I love Tala.
  343. 36:53They both really actually made me cry and I felt very moved by both of them. Dina is amazing. Amazing.
  344. 36:59This is amazing. They did all They all went up like two letter grades from yesterday in rehearsal. They were
  345. 37:06just in incredible. And I mean, I'm like so proud of all of them. It's really hard choice.
  346. 37:12This is so so painful and hard. With the local judges opinions
  347. 37:18considered, it's up to the two Kelly's to decide who has done enough to secure a spot on the TED main stage.
  348. 37:27Rema, she was speaking from her experience here living in the Middle East. To talk out of a region that's in
  349. 37:33conflict, but to me, you know, a lot of people around the world can apply.
  350. 37:38Oh, yeah. What she said, it it matters. Tala. Tala. Tala ruined me today.
  351. 37:45In the best way. That was by far the best delivery I ever
  352. 37:50saw her give, too. Like, she rocked it. She was like so powerful. Like you could feel her talk about resilience
  353. 37:58like echoing through the room. Mhm. Nelly, I mean, she was so great. She was amazing.
  354. 38:04Her talk had everything. It was powerful. It was emotional. It was inspiring. It's so hard to even imagine.
  355. 38:10Yeah. What she overcame. She spoke the words that her dad was saying on screen.
  356. 38:16I died. I died. Dena, I will forever think differently
  357. 38:22of my grocery list. I love Dena so much. Yeah, her talk was so interactive. She
  358. 38:28had the whole audience talking with her, which I think is hard to do. She really had fun up there. I mean, she
  359. 38:33really had fun. This was incredible. I'm having a hard time saying cons about anybody. Everybody did such a beautiful
  360. 38:40job today. And this is so so painful and hard.

  361. The Winner Is…

  362. 38:49You guys killed it today. You did something absolutely incredible that you
  363. 38:56should be so proud of and I mean that from like the bottom of my heart. You guys all gave it your best today and
  364. 39:04it was such an honor to be able to watch all of it. All the work that you all
  365. 39:09have put into this and all of the care that you put into it. Be really proud of yourselves, each one of you, because you
  366. 39:15are spectacular humans. One of you here will go on to take the
  367. 39:21stage in Vancouver. The winner is
  368. 39:33Nelly.
  369. 39:40I'm in shock. I can I can I give you like an air mug?
  370. 39:47and I'm happy. Thank you. Really feels like a dream. So many emotions came out
  371. 39:52because I was talking about my dad and this around this time 5 years ago is when he passed. So I felt so much last
  372. 39:58night and I woke up today and I was just like just try to pull through the day. Just try to pull through the day and whatever happens, you know, Allah
  373. 40:05chooses what happens. Just do your best. And I can't believe I really can't believe that I've been selected. It's
  374. 40:11surreal. I've always loved Nellie's talk. I thought hers was just so powerful. She's
  375. 40:16got the raw materials. She's got the stage presence. I think she's going to be spectacular in Vancouver and really
  376. 40:21shine on the stage there, too. It's her next mountain. Thank you. You represent us all.
  377. 40:26Really, thank you guys. You're welcome. The flag. Thank you. And you all inspired me. Seeing you all today just wonderful.
  378. 40:33Feels emotional to leave Aman. You all have just so welcomed us. It feels very special here. And this feels like a very
  379. 40:40special community. Thank you so much and I'll see you guys in Vancouver. Yes.
  380. 40:47A winner is chosen and it's Nelly who is selected as Aman's voice and the final
  381. 40:52speaker chosen for the TED main stage. And with that, the TED Ideas Durge draws
  382. 40:58to a close. From ancient ruins to modern mega
  383. 41:04cities, it's a journey that took us across the world. Different places,
  384. 41:09different stories, united by ideas. Ideas shaped by culture, experience, and
  385. 41:18change. My talk will save lives. It's so big. This is the real deal.
  386. 41:24It's a really powerful idea. It can make so much impact. Such an encouraging, warm environment. I'm getting goosebumps
  387. 41:31right now talking about it. I couldn't take my eyes off you. You're going to make me cry. It's making
  388. 41:37me emotional. I want everybody in the world to feel that ideas born in homes, classrooms, and
  389. 41:44conversations. Ideas that ask us to look again at the world we think we know,
  390. 41:50but the stories we're told don't always match reality. What will it be like when we all get
  391. 41:56involved? He pulled it out of the bag.
  392. 42:06Oh, look at that. Come on. 1 2 3.
  393. 42:23you. What began as a search ends as an invitation to keep listening, to keep
  394. 42:30questioning, and to keep sharing.
  395. 42:48Joshua Johnson.
  396. 42:58Because ideas left alone change nothing. But ideas shared,
  397. 43:04they have the power to move the world. 1 2 3
  398. 43:12change everything. This was the search. What comes next is
  399. 43:19where it begins.
Which Idea Wins Over 4,000 People? | Amman | TED Idea Search — Transcriptly