Unhinged TED Talk
Total confidence about a theory you invented on the walk over.
Five slides, one big idea, and no qualifications. Make up the data, tell a personal story that goes nowhere, and finish with what it all means for humanity. Rated on Thesis, Unearned Authority and Standing Ovation.
How it works
- 1.Everyone gets a different big idea
- 2.Make up your data and put it in a chart
- 3.Include one personal anecdote
- 4.End on implications for humanity
Your deck is already started
Nobody starts at a blank white slide. Every player gets these 5 slides pre-laid-out in the Chalkboard theme, with a prompt on each one telling you what goes there.
The Big Idea
The Data
A chart that loosely supports your idea
A Personal Anecdote
A personal story that starts specific and goes nowhere
The Implications
Why this matters for all of humanity
Thank You
Say something that sounds profound and means nothing.
How you're scored
After each presentation the room votes on three things specific to this mode, not generic “was it good”.
The Thesis
Was there a real thought underneath?
No idea there → Genuinely interesting
Unearned Authority
How qualified did they sound, despite everything?
Uncertain → Tenured
Standing Ovation
Did the room want to applaud?
Seated → On my feet
Unhinged TED Talk prompts
Every player is dealt a different one of these.
- The hidden economics of the aux cord
- Why group projects predict divorce rates
- A unified theory of why the third slice hits different
- What your water bottle says about your attachment style
- The case for permanent name tags
- Queueing as a moral system
- Why every friend group has exactly one driver
- The correlation between phone battery percentage and trustworthiness
- Elevators and the collapse of small talk
- Why nobody knows how tall they are
- The economics of who pays for the taxi
- Seating position as a predictor of life outcomes
Ready to run Unhinged TED Talk?
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