I return again and again to Jonathan Haidt's talk on the moral roots of liberals and conservatives. He's got charts with how liberals and conservatives rate similarly with other liberals and conservatives, regardless of culture. It has helped me get a better grip on the differences and gives me better understanding, more patience.
You want to hook your gf on TED? Want her to feel warm and heady. Then you need to show her this talk:
http://www.ted.com/talks/rick_smolan_tells_the_story_of_a_girl.html
That story will melt her heart and make it clear that ted talks can be something amazing.
There's just one mention for Ken Robinson but I need to add a direct link:
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html
It's mostly not about schools, but creative and intelligence themselves.
How about these two:-
Mary Roach's 10 Things You Didn't Know About Orgasms got me hooked - quite an interesting, funny talk that addresses something slightly taboo in a great way.
Ariely is great. He discusses this extensively in his book "Predictably Irrational" for anyone interested in behavioral economics.
The "main TED talks page" is the ted.com. The Ted organization are responsible for diferentes Ted Talks formats. There are 3 events that happen every year, two in the USA ( The springtime TED Conference and TEDActive) and one in UK (TED Global). There are others one-time events made by the organization for discussing specific topics like TEDWomen and TEDIndia. These conferences are organized by the TED staff and when they finish they put the best talks in the "main TED talk page". Another kind of event is the TEDx, that is not organized by the TED staff but by anyone with a TED license who want to make it . These talks are recorded and sent to the "main TED talks page", if the people there think they worth it they put the video on the page. The people that made the TEDx events are free to put the talks in others sites (like youtube). So, what the OP is asking is for good TEDx videos that are not in ted.com.
That's a very good talk, but I think what the OP is looking for is other thing. There is different Ted Talks formats. One of them is the TEDx, where anyone can independently (from the main organization) make a conference. The talks give in theses conference are record and send to the "main TED", if the people there thing is worth it they put it in the ted.com site. What the OP is asking is for good talks given in the TEDxs events that are not in the ted.com (maybe on youtube or vimeo).
Carmen Agra Deedy tells a story. About what? Well you'll have to watch it to see (I'm really not being a smartass, I can't adequately explain it here) She got me hooked, this was the first TED talk I ever listened to and I loved it.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/roz_savage_why_i_m_rowing_across_the_pacific.html
Why would anyone row across the pacific?
Capture her imagination first; Capture her mind later.
EDIT: She'll want to watch until 9:55..........