Recently in storytelling Category

Today I had the pleasure of giving my 10th speech at my Toastmasters Club. This completes the Competent Communicator manual and means I have reached the first milestone in my Toastmasters career. I feel I have really progressed since November when I gave my Icebreaker speech and if the feedback is anything to go by this has been noticed by everyone in the club.

Toastmasters is a funny thing really. Public speaking is an important skill and to follow such an established process as the 10 speech projects has really been an education. One of the main reasons I started on this was because I felt that many of the leaders I had seen speak, clearly missed an opportunity by communicating poorly - even when they had a potentially strong message.

Of course, with only 10 speeches under my belt I am no expert - what I am though is far more aware of what I can do when speaking to increase the chances of achieving my desired aim. I recommend Toastmasters whole heartedly to anyone who has an interest in their own personal development and how they are peceived by others. You will learn lots about speaking, evaluating and leadership but more importantly you will learn more about yourself. Something, I feel is never a bad thing.

For the record, my speeches in order were as follows:

The Icebreaker; The Technology of being Connected; Crows - dispelling the myths; The Inspiration of Mountains; Autogeddon - the motor car; New Ventures BC Competition; Howard Schulz; Talking Sticks; The Simplest Act - walking; Ignite the Spark.

After the speech today I called my boss to tell him I had completed this milestone. He replied "It's good to know I now have 1 competent member of my team!" :-)

The other day my wife and I were discussing the idea that as people become more famous/successful they have less time for the people who made them famous/successful in the first place.  A couple of days later I had reason to question this.

For years I've been reading Robert X Cringely's column. These days of course I follow the rss. When I first read it, about the same time as the Triumph of the Nerds aired in the UK, Mr. Cringely had a really nice feature. Years later, i.e. now I appreciate it more as I think of my Toastmasters speeches and storytelling more widely.

The column would start with something that his wife said/did then go off into the core topic (rumours of a takeover, new product or whatever), then at the end conclude by circling back to whatever it was his wife mentioned/did. For me, sometimes the column was not in my field of interest, but I read on anticipating the conclusion.

Being a wired world we live in I decided the other day to buzz an email off to him. As usual, with these things I did not expect a reply. To my delight 'Bob' - I feel I can call him that based on how he signed the email - reminding me that this was 1987-95 when he did that. Wow! Over 10 years ago it stopped! Bob also mentioned he didn't think it was really appropriate for his current column, which is a shame.

Bob's done some very cool things, which I've read or followed over the years and doubtless more I will discover in future. His email to me probably took less than 10 secs, nothing to him I'm sure. But this simple act sets him apart from many others and gives me another good reason to continue to reading his column.

It's also another reason I should listen to my wife a little more. In our discussion she told me I was being overly cynical and on this occasion (only!) I have to agree with her.

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Tonight I attended a CMABC Lower Mainland Chapter 'Speaker's Series' Presentation intoduced by Michael Brown, CMA at the offices of Visible Strategies. Speaking on the subject above was CEO, Colin Grant a tall Scotsman who moved to Vancouver a few months before 9/11 in 2001.

Colin started off with a very entertaining 3 min summary of the rise and fall of traditional business models. As I undertstand it, the whole idea of $$$ as the goal is long gone. Business has to take a holistic approach to how it manages it's affairs. Naturally this leads into a discussion around climate change, environmental drivers and how these will dictate the way companies will have to act in future.

It used to be that it cost money to go green, one of Colin's assertions is that companies will HAVE to go green as it will cost money NOT to. Of course forward thinking companies have already worked this out. Enter Novex Couriers, a local same day courier company whose CEO Robert Safrata was next up.

Novex are very interesting, a courier company that last week won an award for ecoFreight Transportation from the Globe Foundation of Canada.  It was amazing to hear how environmentally aware this company is. In fact you can see it for yourself on their website by taking a look at how Novex is managed through see-it™; a product/service provided by Visible Strategies. 

I thought this was fascinating and a refreshingly different way to manage a business. Grant explained how when showing this to a potential new client, they can very quickly get something up into see-it™ in a couple of hours. Impressive stuff and judging by their client list something that is growing.

According to Grant the first thing to do is workout where you want your company to be, then work out how you can get there. According to Safrata, one major step in this is an Environmental Audit. Just make sure you don't end up with another glossy brochure style lump of paper that nobody reads and gets filed in a drawer! Some of the challenges of this are difficult, but according Safrata that is exciting! That is why we are managers - we have to work out how to solve these things! Personally having watched Al Gore's most recent presentation over on Ted, this stuff is critical, but we do have a great opportunity.

We can be the generation that really does save the planet, or more accurately, save the human race. The planet will continue come what may.      

Tags: AlGore, "Climate Change, "Colin Grant, "Public Speaking, "Speaker's Series, "Visible Strategies, CEO, CMA, cmabc, environment, holistic, man, portrait, presentation, see-it, strategic, strategy, "Rob Safrata, Novex, "Novex Couriers, Michael Brown CMA

Looking through my feeds this morning, or in this case a link posted on facebook I came across a post from Kris Krug. 1000 True fans is from a blog from another KK and puts forward the idea that:

A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, craftsperson, performer, animator, designer, videomaker, or author - in other words, anyone producing works of art - needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living.

Something for me to pass on to Leftantler and her exploration of photography. I like the idea a lot and reminded me I must read The Long Tail - it's been sitting there for ages and the term, like the Tipping Point is now part of everyday language. Unlike the Tipping Point I haven't read the book!

A book I am reading and enjoying is Story Factor by Annette Simmons. It's my first foray into Annette's work and I find myself nodding my head and smiling a lot which must be a good sign.

Returning to 1000 True fans, the idea here is that a true fan will spend $100 per year on your art, be it music, photography, writing etc. Find another 999 of these and you can make a reasonable living of $100K per year (the average in BC was $59K in 2005). The accountant (sorry to use the A-word) in me suggests setting a goal of $59K rather than $100K, meaning that's 401 fans I don't need to find! Therefore I'm 40% towards my goal! (this is where the accountant switches into a dreamer!).

Despite the flippant comments above I think there is lots of merit to this idea, but one that requires more thinking. I'll let you know how I get on ...

Tags: kriskrug, 1000fans, longtail, tippingpoint, storyfactor, annettesimmons

My thoughts on the night took me back to what Alex Waterhouse-Hayward was talking about at Northern Voice the week before. There is something special about seeing photgraphy printed, framed and in a gallery. Especially when it's someone you know!

As you can see below the gallery itself became very busy. There are more photos from the opening night on my flickr page which demonstrate the excitement!

It was actually like this for most of the two hours of the opening, with folk spreading out into the hallway and the Gelato shop next door.

Thanks to everyone who shared the occasion and made it such a memorable experience. If you have chance to visit the gallery over the next two weeks I strongly encourage you to do so. After you've been it would be great to hear what you thought, and whether your purchased a piece!

Tags: Leftantler, YaletownGallery, LandscapesofVancouver, Yaletown, Vancouver, gallery, art, photography, show

My thoughts on the night took me back to what Alex Waterhouse-Hayward was talking about at Northern Voice the week before. There is something special about seeing photgraphy printed, framed and in a gallery. Especially when it's someone you know!

As you can see below the gallery itself became very busy. There are more photos from the opening night on my flickr page which demonstrate the excitement!

It was actually like this for most of the two hours of the opening, with folk spreading out into the hallway and the Gelato shop next door.

Thanks to everyone who shared the occasion and made it such a memorable experience. If you have chance to visit the gallery over the next two weeks I strongly encourage you to do so. After you've been it would be great to hear what you thought, and whether your purchased a piece!

Tags: Leftantler, YaletownGallery, LandscapesofVancouver, Yaletown, Vancouver, gallery, art, photography, show

At today's Toastmasters meeting I played the role of humourist. The timing of this made me laugh a little, partly because of a black dog but mainly because last night I completed Michael Palin's excellent Diaries 1969 - 1979, The Python Years.

Michael's (I have to use the his first name as I feel I know him a little bit now!) book was an inspiration, not so much because of Monty Python, but because of  his ability to laugh at himself. So today I decided that instead of telling a joke, I would simply share the thoughts I first expressed in this blog post last year.

Although the speech was only a minute or two, I decided to introduce a new element. Last year at Northern Voice, I enjoyed watching Dave Olson give an entire 30 minute speech using paper slides that he presented then tossed away like a good Bob Dylan video.

I can't pretend to have been as accomplished as Dave was, but the overall effect seemed to work. The feedback was good and even heard a few gentle giggles in the crowd.

Northern Voice kicks off again today, with Moosecamp tomorrow and the conference all proper like on Saturday, when Dave is speaking again - this time with a subject called F*ck Stats, Make Art Dossier. I can't wait! If you are not attending, check out Miss 604's guide to following online.

Photo by Robert Scales

Tags: toastmasters, MichaelPalin, Diaries, MontyPython, NorthernVoice, nv08, Moosecamp, DaveOlson, Miss604

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Last Thursday I gave the my 5th Toastmasters speech. This takes me half way towards achieving the award of a 'Competent Communicator.' The speech was very well received and I was particularly pleased to receive some solid feedback from two visiting DTM (Distinguished Toastmasters).

It's amazing how much head space these speeches take up. Preparing a 6 minute speech doesn't sound like too much of an ordeal, but believe me, it does take some planning. This time round I chose a subject which was slightly heavier than had gone before. Previously my speech topics included Crows and Mountains. This time I spoke about car culture.

I was inspired by the epic poem by Heathcote Williams called Autogeddon, written back in the 1980's. A dark attack on the automobile. My theory was that in real life many of the things I would be called to speak about could be serious, heavier subjects. Kind of less fluffy bunny, more heavy hare ;-)

The corporate Toastmasters Club I am in is very friendly and supportive. The theme this week was Valentines. So when I trotted up to the lectern I suspect it was a bit of shock! This particular speech was much much harder to prepare. Numerous re-writes to tone it down / lighten it a bit. It's easy to let the passion sweep you away and become a preaching bore!

I now move on to speech #6, which has a focus around using tonal variety. I think I have a general subject, but I'm yet to nail the specific purpose or flesh out the details. I have about three weeks to prepare ... I'm looking forward to it!

Tags: toastmasters, publicspeaking, autogeddon, speeches

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I've been meaning to blog about my experiences as I go through the Toastmasters process and hopefully gain my Competent Communicator title in the next few months. To do this I have to give ten speeches, each of which have specific growth areas. So far I have given three of the ten speeches, the last of which I did was called "Crows - dispelling the myths."

At the same time I'm 12 days into my photographic project called "Crows 366." In this project I take a photo of a crow(s) every day for a year, i.e. 2008. You can view the pictures over on flickr. So I thought I would take my speech notes and present them as a blog post. What follows is the result. It is a shortish article which follows the same structure I used in the speech and talks about the same things. I have not elaborated on the points just tried to put them down in a more readable style.

So how did the speech go? Well I ran slightly over time at six minutes and forty seconds but overall I was very pleased. I did refer to my notes far too much and learnt the lesson that I should ALWAYS rehearse! Just doing the speech once before the actual event makes a huge huge difference. I believe this is something that will get increasingly more important as I move through the remaining seven speeches. My evaluator also mentioned that my voice is getting stronger which is great. Being softly spoken is not the best asset when public speaking!

Today I would like to talk about something that has amazed me, thrilled me, amused me and some say obsessed me since arriving in Vancouver two and a half years ago. I am talking about our numerous, noisy, feathered neighbours and fellow residents ... Crows!

Not everyone likes crows - the inevitable reference to Alfred Hitchcocks Film 'The Birds' comes to mind. However, today I am on a mission. I want to convince you to look again at our boisterous black friends and ask yourself:

"Am I judging these birds too quickly?"

To help you along I would like to share with you something of their history, their habits and behaivours and their relationship ship with us humans.

Let's start at the beginning, the very beginning. Crows have been in this part of Cascadia for hundreds if not thousands of years. They followed the first humans over the landbridge from Asia 50,000 years ago. Some First Nations revere Raven (a good cousin of crows) - originally white, who created the world and released humans from the clamshell he found them trapped in. To this day ravens and crows are considered messengers.

"Can I see what Stewart sees?"

Part of my ongoing mission to blog more about things I'm doing, seeing, hearing, experiencing this book review is the start of a trend. 'Start of a trend' ? As it stands today it is one entry, history alone will show whether it becomes a trend! So to say it is the start of a trend now, is perhaps overstating things but it does lead me nicely to the review.

I say that because overstating Shakespeare's impact on English culture is something that is very easy to do. Bill Bryson shows us that there is a considerable amount of doubt around Shakespeare. We have his plays, although many of these are probably not exactly what he wrote, assuming he did write them. We have a real struggle knowing when they were written, that is the order they were written. Bryson shows we know plenty about Shakespeare from his writing, but very little about the man himself.

Is this surprising? Well 400 years have passed and unsurprisingly much of what we could know has been lost through accidents, willful destruction and probably fate. I'm thinking about the Great Fire of London, various theatres being burnt down as well, together with highly questionable behaivour by some of scholars who have studied the man over the centuries. Despite all this the man's work has survived and lives on, notably in Vancouver with Bard on the Beach every year.

I always enjoy Bryson's writing and this book was no exception. He looked at the subject frankly and I have to agree with the quote on the front from James Shapiro "Vivid, unsentimental, witty and fast paced." I started reading this book on Christmas day and finished it in 5 days, suggesting to me a very engaging read.

The book is part of a little series called the Eminent Lives Series, which features brief biographies by distinguished authors on canonical figures. When my book ban subsides later next year (I have lots of unread books to read!) I will be seeking out the books by Chistopher Hitchens and Ross King about Thomas Jefferson and Machiavelli respectively. Earlier this year I enjoyed reading the latter authors title Michaelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling, so it will be interesting to see how he approaches Machiavelli.

Shakespeare - The World as Stage was published by Atlas (Harper Collins) in 2007 (ISBN: 978-0-06-074022-1)

Technorati Tags: books, Bill Bryson, Shakespeare