The 5 Most Popular TEDxBYU Talks

PROVO, Utah – Feb 22, 2018 – The Ballard Center for Economic Self-Reliance's annual TEDxBYU event brings speakers from all around the world to deliver groundbreaking, unique messages. Here are the five most popular TEDxBYU talks of all time that will change the way you think about yourself, the world, and social change. 

Comedy and Social Problems | Zach Atherton, Daniel Blake & Alicia Gettys

Problems scream, solutions whisper. It’s no surprise that the media, which predominantly highlights problems, screams the loudest. Why don’t we hear more of the remarkable solutions to our world’s problems? Using humor to empower humble solutions is a powerful vehicle for change. Solutions and comedy work in harmony to effectively capture an audience’s attention.

How I Stumbled On A Purpose | Studio C’s James Perry

James Perry made the decision to become an engineer thinking he could pursue a career that would be useful to the world. Instead, he ended up becoming a main cast member on BYUtv’s popular original series, Studio C--a sketch-comedy show that has more than 1.7 million subscribers and 1.3 billion views. While the drastic career change was certainly unexpected, what surprised James most was discovering that doing something that was important to him gave him more purpose than doing something he assumed was important to the world. 

Change Behavior-Change the World | Joseph Grenny

Joseph Grenny, New York Times bestselling author and behavior change expert, tells the story of Jane, a woman born in the Mathare Slum in Nairobi, Kenya. As a child, Jane was sexually molested by her father, had her first baby at age 13, is now a mother of four, worked as a prostitute to support her family on 50 cents a day, and is HIV positive. The world couldn't be more bleak for Jane and the tens of thousands of young African girls with her same story. But Jane completely changed her life. By changing her behavior, she left the slum, moved into a house, and brought herself out of extreme poverty and prostitution.

Failure is Part of Success | Eduardo Zanatta

Humanity: Many desire success. Reality: Not all achieve it. Why? Because of one fundamental element of success: FAILURE. What does that mean to me?

Pursue Your Passion | Jeff Sheets

If money were no object, what would you do? Who would you become? Creativity demands patience, and yet we often give up on our dreams because we are too impatient to see them through. We owe it to ourselves to strive for personal fulfillment; we need to pursue our passions and be persistently patient, all the while realizing that we desire and what we seek after is what we will ultimately become.

Bonus: Pooping Unicorns and the Power of Comedy | Dave Vance

Want to spread your message? Use comedy. Marketer and comedian Dave Vance argues that comedy has a special power to spread messages by making them interesting, safe, and ripe for personal connection.