Words from the wise: China’s answer to TED Talks finds many deep thinkers but few good speakers

One day in 2011, Dai Jianbiao, a Shanghai university professor and IT businessman, heard about the TED Conference in the US and was drawn by its idea of inviting thinkers and doers to share their stories. He decided to set up a similar forum on the mainland, naming it TnDao, or “listening to wise words” in Putonghua. Other TED-inspired platforms have sprung up one after another over the years, but Dai still holds on to his initial concept of TnDao as a place to encounter “new ideas, new thinking and new findings”. He spoke to CELINE SUN

Why did you want to set up a TED-like forum on the mainland?

I'm always interested in new things. So when a friend told me about the TED conferences, I found it an innovative way to spread knowledge. The nature of the forum is also similar to what I was doing as a teacher. So I decided to do it on the mainland. The first issue that came to mind was whether there were good thinkers and speakers in China. I did some research and spoke to friends, and we found that while there were indeed many good thinkers on the mainland, good speakers tended to be rare. After we started the project, we found that good speakers were even fewer than we had expected.

What should a good speaker be like and how do you select them?