Data Commentary: Hans Rosling at TED 2006

I’ve talked about Hans Rosling in class a number of times. Here is a link to his well-known presentation at TED 2006. The presentation combines statistics and his rich experience and engaging personality to challenge and change our preconceptions about the state of the world.

It is a good example for academic presenters because it shows us that passion and energy are powerful presenting tools. I like how he interacts with the data in such a physical way – it is very engaging.

Some notes:

• Gapminder: the software used to create the statistic animations; it is primarily linked to world health and population statistics; if you visit the website you can create your own ‘gapcasts’ through accessing UN and other international databases.
• TED: an international conference bringing together some great speakers from around the world; videos of their presentations are made available online for free viewing and download; definitely a valuable resource; Hans Rosling’s presentation is also available.