You probably know what receiving bad and unhelpful feedback feels like. It’s easy to recognize because it’s usually one of the following:

Infuriating. You put a ton of work into something, expected to knock people off their feet, and instead you get blank stares.
Confusing. It’s obvious that the person giving the feedback doesn’t like something you did, but impossible to tell what that thing might be or how you might fix it.
Fluffy. These are comments that feel nice, but don’t help you grow or get any better.
Just plain mean.

Fortunately, TED-Ed Clubs has developed guidelines for giving honest, effective feedback on a talk. Try these tips the next time you’re asked to give feedback:

Get in the gift-giving mindset. Know that warm, fuzzy feeling you get when you give someone a present and know they’re really going to like it or get a lot of use out of it? Think of giving feedback on a Club Member’s talk as a gift to someone you really want to help. This mindset will help you set the stage with generosity.

Make a feedback sandwich. People hear constructive feedback SO much better after they’ve gotten a little bit of love. When you give feedback on a talk, have the first piece of bread be something that worked, then share something that could work better, then top off the sandwich with another piece of compliment bread! (Anyone else hungry?)

Try the Playing Card Method©. Know that deck of playing cards in your junk drawer? Well, it can teach you a whole new feedback language!

The learning wizards at LifeLabs New York have come up with a way to divide feedback into four categories:

Hearts: Heart feedback is positive but unspecific (ex. “Sam’s intro is great!”)
Diamonds: Diamond feedback is positive and valuable, because it is specific (ex. “Sam’s opening story about pizzacat caught my attention right away and built up suspense that got me excited for the rest of his talk.”)
Clubs: Negative and unspecific, this kind of feedback clubs someone over the head and just hurts (ex. “I didn’t like the part about Widget World because it didn’t make sense.”)
Spades: Just like the little shovels they’re named after, spades can help people dig themselves out of a hole. This feedback may be negative, but also specific, which makes it helpful (ex. “I was a little confused by the part about Widget World and wonder if Sam could explain a bit more about the snack incident, especially since his talk is about how WW made him afraid of popcorn forever.”)

When you’re offering feedback, try to give diamonds and spades, rather than hearts and clubs. That kind of feedback will make it easiest for people to repeat the stuff that’s working and decrease the stuff that’s not!

Author bio: Ashley Kolaya manages the TED-Ed Clubs program. The TED-Ed Clubs program supports students in discovering, exploring and presenting their big ideas in the form of short, TED-style talks. In TED-Ed Clubs, students work together to discuss and celebrate creative solutions to problems worth solving. Students also receive TED-Ed’s flexible public speaking curriculum to guide their club and to help inspire the next generation of leaders. To learn more about TED-Ed Clubs, go here: ed.ted.com/clubs.

TED-Ed is about sparking curiosity and celebrating ideas. TED-Ed Clubs bring this spark and celebration into the classroom by providing a platform for students to discover, explore and present their big ideas in the form of short TED-style talks. Now there’s a new addition to that platform: the TED-Ed Clubs Channel on YouTube.

The TED-Ed Clubs Channel is a global library of student ideas that aims to inform, inspire and introduce you to brilliant young minds in all corners of the globe. Want to know what ideas are relevant to youth right now? The TED-Ed Clubs Channel on YouTube showcases some of the biggest, smallest, boldest, bravest, quirkiest student ideas you’ll find anywhere — and gives you actionable ways to be the change you wish to see in the world. Need another reason to subscribe? Check out the curated playlists of ideas shared by TED-Ed Club members. For example, here are 10 student life hacks for a better world:

1. Turn up the wow. Everyone has the power to entertain — spend some time thinking about the special effects that you can put into the world.

2. Savor the flavor of failure. When your perfect dish ends up tasting terrible, take another bite. Then start again.

3. Discover the joy of taxes! See what schools could be doing to arm us with the skills we really need in life.

4. Stop and smell the sound. We have more tools to help us communicate with the world than we think: let your senses play a little!

5. Take a navy shower. You are the key to creating a more environmentally sustainable future; own your contribution to Earth’s future with a few simple moves.

6. Invest in thrift! Learn how books, not money, can be your own personal stylist.

7. Get into the “flow” zone. When you spend time in creative flow, your brain is happier; when your brain is happier, the world is too.

8. Embrace chaos. To find your center in this shaky world, let your perfectly alphabetized bookshelf be just a little out of order.

9. Pay more attention to the road. Reduce the danger of car accidents by paying just a little bit more — not money, but attention.

10. Pay less attention to my nose. Help decrease the suicide rate in young women around the world.

Want to start a TED-Ed Club at your school? Sign up here.

Because TED-Ed Club members demand to explore the furthest corners of the world, we recently held our very first EXPLORATION: Connect with underwater archaeologist and TED speaker Jill Heinerth! To learn more about what students discovered on their virtual tour, read on.

During this Exploration: Connect, 11 TED-Ed Clubs from the US (NY, GA, SC, CA, AK, MA), India, and Canada toured Jill’s expedition site (a WWII shipwreck off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada) as she prepped for her next dive. Club members asked and learned about some awesome stuff:

• 100-year-old graffiti done by iron miners
• aging caves by cutting stalactites/stalagmites and counting the rings…just like trees
• dive mapping tool that Jill used (under water) is being sent to explore Jupiter’s moon Europa
• SODAPOP HEARTS (did you know that decompression sickness is caused by inert gas bubbles that form in a diver’s heart from the pressure of the depth?)
• bouquets of sea anemones where war weapons used to be

More than 10,000 students are now sharing and presenting their ideas in TED-Ed Clubs around the world. Interested in starting a TED-Ed Club at your school? Find out more.

Last year, TED-Ed Club Connect Week launched a spontaneous global dance party that began trending in the TED community and hasn’t stopped since! Who knows what 2016 will bring? Connect Week is Jan 19-25: Reserve your spot now! 

Connects are global online meet-ups for TED-Ed Club members from around the world. When you join a Connect, you join an hour-long, real-time dialogue with club members all over the world.

During Connects, club members have the chance to learn and chat about everything from the local favorite midnight snack to the latest trending hashtags. But the main purpose of Connect sessions is to let students share their Big Ideas with each other and trade tips, tricks and supportive feedback as they prepare for their TED-Ed Club Video.

Our last Connect Week of 2015 brought together more than 500 students from over 29 countries. Our goal is to double that number in 2016, and we need your club to help.

Make sure to secure your club’s spot (or let us know you’re opting-out) by FRIDAY JANUARY 8! Sign up here.

If you still need more convincing, check out this video of Connect Weeks past.

More than 10,000 students are now sharing and presenting their ideas in TED-Ed Clubs around the world. Interested in starting a TED-Ed Club at your school? Find out more.

TED-Ed Club Connect Week gives students a virtual space to discuss ideas with other students around the world. Last week, more than 500 students in 29 countries met up in 25 video calls to talk, laugh — and dance! Check out some highlights from the week:

IDEAS: Students shared their ideas for TED-Ed Club Talks, such as:

• How the whole world can — and should — create a “culture of readers”
• Why jungle cat extinction puts us in danger, too
• Why we should spend more time exploring oceans, not space
• What women’s soccer has to teach us about global gender equity

More than 97 schools participated in the October 2015 TED-Ed Club Connect Week. On every video call, student ideas ruled. In this one, students exchange ideas from TED-Ed Clubs in the USA (California) and Pakistan.

CULTURAL EXCHANGE: Students asked questions about each other’s countries, like:

• Do you use huskies to pull your sleds in Canada? (Answer: not in Toronto. But in some places far north.)
• Why do you think so many Muslims are stereotyped? (Answer: the media doesn’t give us a chance to really learn about the faith and its believers.)
• In Greece, do you cook everything in olive oil? (Answer: yes. Yes we do.)
• If you live in Kansas, does everyone ask you about The Wizard of Oz? (Answer, again: yes. Just…yes.)

Students led the conversations: All we did was give them a virtual space to gather, pass along instructions to ask each other questions, and get out of their way. In this video call, TED-Ed Clubs start dancing in UAE, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

FUN: TED-Ed Club Members LOVE to dance!

• Check out a few of their dance moves in the video below. In this video call, TED-Ed Clubs are dancing in the USA (South Carolina; Georgia), and Canada (Ontario).:

We are thrilled about the way this Connect Week went, and we can’t wait to find more opportunities to put all these brilliant minds together and see what world-changing ideas they come up with! Stay tuned for more Connect Week excitement in the months ahead.

More than 10,000 students are now sharing and presenting their ideas in TED-Ed Clubs around the world. Interested in starting a TED-Ed Club at your school? Find out more.

SIGN UP FOR OCTOBER CONNECT WEEK HERE!

If you’re involved in the TED-Ed Club program, chances are good that you’re pretty passionate about celebrating and amplifying the voices and ideas of students. TED-Ed Club members will spend their year creating and sharing their inspired and inspiring TED-Ed Club videos. What better way to kick off the inspiration cycle than by connecting and brainstorming with other TED-Ed Clubbers from around the world!?

TED-Ed Club Connect Week is your chance to digitally connect with students and educators around the globe to share what’s got you excited for the upcoming club cycle and start to hash out presentation topic ideas. Our last Connect Week was a highlight for the year, and we’re thrilled to bring it back in an even bigger and better way this October 19-23!

Connections are hour-long online meet-ups during which TED-Ed Club Members join a video call made up of club chapters from all over the world. Throughout the week, Club Members have the opportunity to meet and speak with as many other clubs as possible. We’ll provide multiple time slots so clubs can sign up for days/times that fit within their schedule.

During Connections, club members have the chance to learn and chat about everything from the local favorite midnight snack to the latest social media trend. But the main purpose of the discussion is to give Clubbers a chance to share presentation topic ideas and provide each other with tips, tricks and support for preparing their TED-Ed Club video.

SIGN UP HERE!  And, check out some of the moments captured from our last TED-Ed Club Connect Week below!

Do you want the opportunity to create your own TED-Ed Club and connect with students from all over the world? Find out how to get started here »

Already have a TED-Ed Club and want to participate? Email tededclubs@ted.com for more info.