Chinese is a super international language. Chinese people, they’re everywhere and you should talk to them! But how? Daniel talks about his journey acquiring the language and gives tips. Learn Mandarin and Simplified Chinese using the Pleco dictionary by practising with people in real life or on the Internet with HelloTalk. Over-enunciate when starting and get a learning partner. With these tools and A LOT of practice, people will think you’re a genius for learning Chinese.
Past Talks
Breaking the Story
One of the biggest problems in writing, is figuring out “out of the infinite amount of directions this story can go, what should I break it down into?”. Clarke brings us through some examples from TV of how it can be done correctly and incorrectly.
Jingju: Peking Opera
Opera is pretty hard to navigate for an outsider. It sounds, looks and feels foreign even if you’re from the culture that it originates from. Mason guides us through Jingju opera by showing it’s motivations, methods and some of the legendary actors that have brought it to fame.
The Magic of Tidying
“When you properly simplify and organize your home once, you’ll *never* have to do it again.” Marie Kondo, a Japanese cleaning consultant, made this bold claim in her New York Times Best Seller “the life-changing magic of tidying up”. Distilled from the book, this talk will share the simple techniques and delightful mindsets about tidying.
How to Retire
How to make a financial plan you’ll actually stick to.
Slides not available for distribution.
Learned Helplessness
An inside look through a depressed person’s eyes and, at one point, from a hospital psych wing. I will discuss depression under social and psychological lenses: methods of treatment, what makes it an illness and not an emotion, why it is just as crippling as physical chronic conditions, how to support people with depression.
Slides available on Prezi.
Play With My Tools – Designing Interaction at the Exploratorium
Last year, a team of 30 neuroscientists, engineers, designers, and artists created the world’s first interactive laboratory of brain technology at the Exploratorium museum. In this talk, I will offer an inside view into our design process, and takeaways for how to creatively communicate scientific topics
Slides available on Google Slides.
The Singing Instrument
Singing comes from a musical instrument just like piano or trumpet music – but the instrument is you! Everyone can sing – learn about how the voice works with lots of interactive activities.
Drug Development Process
Let’s learn about drugs! That is, the process of making the pharmaceutical ones. From R&D to approval and everything in between.
Happiness Hacks
“Some things I tried over the course of 4 months that I’ve found really boosts my baselines happiness levels. Happiness → compassion, courage, resilience, greater productivity, more love, a more fun life!”
