BLOG – Hello, I'm DK – creative producer and speaker coach

Ending The Year With A UK / Europe Adventure | Are You Around?

There for the Crimbo and New Year months so lets explore undenting the universe plus moving slow and fixing things.

Even though it’s a family / friends focused trip am open to the usual creative collaborations in the following arenas:

FIRESIDE.RS WORKSHOP

From my new venture fireside.rs, which focuses on unlocking creative productivity by gathering humans effectively.

This unique offering is a 90min workshop designed around the simple idea that how we gather matters, and as been delivered across this year with approx 250 participants—check out two recent Australia ones and testimonials:

“I always welcome a chance to collaborate DK, even when I’m not entirely sure what’s involved. When I saw his idea for fireside.rs, I knew we had to test it out with the Liveris Academy Scholars. The idea that the shapes of our meetings determine the shapes of our conversations seems straightforward, but it’s a deep insight. And DK has an incredible skillset for transforming that simple idea into a meaningful and fun experience for everyone involved.”
Professor Tim Kastelle, Director, Andrew N. Liveris Academy for Innovation and Leadership, The University of Queensland, Brisbane (host of 6th workshop—related LinkedIn post with timelapse / Brisbane, Australia: 20th Oct 2026)

“Many thanks for bringing this big hearted practice and the fireside work to Creative Agency research lab RMIT School of Education! You have reminded us of the power of in-person connection, human interaction, and communities built on connection to place.”
Professor Daniel X. Harris, Director of Creative Agency research lab, The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne (host of 8th workshop—related LinkedIn post with timelapse / Melbourne, Australia: 22nd Oct 2026)

It can be run as an internal staff session / lunch & learn / evening community experience / part of an existing conference etc. (full details and delivery requirements listed here) and is currently provided as a ‘no-fee’ experience (just cover any expenses).

After this trip the ‘no-fee’ offer ends and will evolve into a paid service.

PURPOSEFUL STORYTELLING TALKS / MASTERCLASSES / 1-2-1s

Helping leaders to develop and deliver powerful presentations, whether it be 1-2-1 or as groups via my half or full day masterclasses (for up to 12 participants).

Massive impact with these leaving participants with the skills and confidence to continue their oratory practice.

Check out the offers and testimonials here.

TEDxNelson thanks - justadandak.com - bows — From my ted.com featured / viewed over a million times TEDx talk.

CREATIVE CONSULTS

From one of my solo-produced Creative Leadership NZ conference.

Simple per hour consulting, aiding the development of activations / events into delicious learning experiences.

All based on my extensive experience of selling out nearly 20 TEDx’s experiences / creating totally unique things like Creative Welly, building delegate experiences which surprise and delight etc.—see more here.

CREATING ART

Been busy creating my artistic practice over the past couple of years and sharing for a piece of work every day since the beginning of the year.

Happy to get to together for a sketch / doodle hang.

PERSONAL HANGS

Lets get together and be curious / kind humans.

Keen to hear what you’ve been up to and how I can add value!

Always up for brain tingles and side conversational quests with good souls.

Throw in a peppermint tea (or beverage of your choice), plus a hug or two, then we have a winning formula for good times!

If any of the above tickles your fancy bits let me know via my contact page.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

#93 October 2026 | Monthly Digital Breadcrumbs

A bunch of things I’ve found on my digital strolls in the past month (which I added to my Tumblr although for a few weeks it was terminated so not everything appeared there) for your eyes / ears / brain to spend time on (as no longer active on Twitter or on LinkedIn much).

READ

“The day all billionaires died…”
by u/thisecommercelife in thisecommercelife

“Happy birthday, Lara! This month marks 30 years since Ms Croft first swan-dived into our lives with her unique blend of athletic prowess, archaeological expertise and giant knockers. More than 100 million Tomb Raider games have been sold since. We all remember the good times: the bold design and sheer playability of the original titles; the establishment of Lara as a 90s icon, embodying both lads’ mag culture and girl power; the way she made games cool, even appearing on the cover of the Face. We’ve had blockbuster movies, big budget reboots, and shiny reissues. And who could forget the time we got to powerwash her house? But no one gets to 30 without a few skeletons in the closet – or in Lara’s case, butlers in the freezer. So here’s a look at the darker parts of her past.”
Lara Croft is 30! We look at the video game icon’s biggest blunders | Games | The Guardian

“It’s like trying to communicate with a complex, unknown civilization, but without a bilingual translator, Gruber says, comparing it to the science fiction film Arrival, where scientists race to decode the language of aliens from outer space. He can’t wait to find out what the whales are saying. Maybe their intelligence is expressed in something like epic poetry or oral history, recounting great deeds from the deep depths of the sea in clicks. Perhaps there is a Homer among them, he muses. We simply don’t know… yet.”
Decoding whale language with AI | Introducing the CETI project

“The sagas say that the most famous settler, Erik the Red, arrived in Iceland in around 960 after his father was banished from Norway for murder. In the year 932, the Icelanders had established a parliament, the Althing. It was an open-air assembly of the whole nation, meeting every summer for a fortnight for legislative and judicial purposes – and it took place in a remarkable setting, inside a ravine that made an extraordinary natural amphitheatre. “It isn’t just the acoustics that make this place special,” Lethbridge told the BBC. “This is a natural fault line. We’re on the point where the North American and the Eurasian tectonic plates meet.” The first Europeans to explore North America happened to have sited one of their parliaments in a rift valley between the two continents.”
‘They were people who took chances’: The Vikings who reached the Americas 500 years before Columbus

“We downloaded the full history of 23 pieces of software that phones, browsers and servers depend on, and counted everyone who made ten or more changes to each one between October 2025 and October 2026. Then we listed what is actually installed on an Android phone, an iPhone and a Windows PC. 11 of 23 projects had one or two people doing the regular work.”
The people holding up the internet | Data Drop

“Citizens’ assemblies can be a powerful social tool for fostering understanding across social strata, says Buklijaš. “Although we all live in the same city, we don’t necessarily talk to each other.” People tend to cluster with others of similar education and social background – and are less often members of clubs and political parties, where people might gather across such divides. “This is where the problem with democracy starts – once we don’t meet, and we don’t talk with people who are politically different, and maybe socially different,” says Buklijaš.”
Can a room full of strangers solve problems MPs can’t? – Newsroom

WATCH

EXPLORE

Check out the Experience House Mastermind Artist Grant which provides a scholarship (a $9,600USD value) to join a year-long program as part of this intriguing event / community.

Destroy Any Website is an in-browser crazy mad game where you get to literally shoot up any website you want!

motba.art is a curated and growing list of artists who commit to long-duration and daily creative practices.

BIGWORDS.PAGE turns your screen into a sign, timer, countdown etc, for free with lots of creative use cases.

Checkbox Olympics is a bunch of in-browser mini-games to test your clicking accuracy and speed.

Lofi Cities is a cute in-browser pixel-art city representation plus lofi music composed.

ascii.rest: curated / created animated ascii art for web pages.

LISTEN

The latest episode of the fireside.rs podcast where we feature and celebrate plus learn from those who craft spaces for humans to actively belong and be creatively productive—for full show notes check out #10 Sapience + Podcast With Trent Yeo | November 2026.

Subscribe to the monthly newsletter and podcast via fireside.rs.

All monthly digital breadcrumbs posts.

Christchurch & Queenstown fireside.rs Workshops | Final Call

Register now for the remaining opportunities to attend this free and unique learning experience focused on amplifying creative connections and productive collaborations.

As a recent participant commented on my new fireside.rs venture: anything which takes us out of our heads and into our hearts is so important these days!

Join us (and / or feel free to share with those in the region), for the final free workshops this year before they transition into a paid-for-service, hosted by these wonderful orgs:

16th November 2026, 5.45-7.30pm, hosted by Ako Ōtautahi Learning City Christchurch & LIANZA at Tūranga:

REGISTER FOR CHRISTCHURCH WORKSHOP

2. 23rd November 2026, 12-1.30pm,hosted by / at Te Atamira:

REGISTER FOR QUEENSTOWN WORKSHOP

Last week I was in Australia delivering a few speaker coaching sessions and whilst there got to deliver three fireside.rs workshops also:

“DK ran an experiential learning session for our team at Hear and Say, and days later our staff are still buzzing. If you want your people genuinely engaged rather than just informed, DK is my first recommendation.”
Scott Miller, CEO, Hear and Say (host of 7th workshop)

Have exceeded my goal of running eight workshops during this trial period, ALTHOUGH, I’d be happy to offer one or two more before the no-fee offer ends this year. So if you’re interested in hosting a workplace lunch-and-learn or have a community that might enjoy one of these unique experiences, please get in touch (workshop venue needs listed here).

Presenting Wisdom Early Bird Offer Ends 19 October 2026 | BE QUICK TO SNAG A SPOT AT THIS PRICE

Images from the 1st Cohort showcase event

SOLD OUT AGAIN!

As part of the 2nd Cohort (read / see 1st Presenting Wisdom Cohort Showcase Event Completed | The Day After), you will guided via the speaker / storytelling coaching to craft an impressive 15minute presentation and then deliver it to an audience of peers at an exclusive-invite-only event, produced specifically to create the following content:

the full talk, which will also be edited down into…
a 90second ‘sizzle-reel’, along with a further…
3x 30second versions for the socials, plus…
high-quality photos from the in-house professional photographer…
all custom branded for you to use wherever and for whatever and for how long you choose (you get all the rights).

So if you’re an author, founder, leader, consultant, brand-builder, community leader, creative etc. looking to establish your story / brand / product / service with coaching support, the outcome of which produces high-end marketing collateral all for a good deal, then please:

#92 September 2026 | Monthly Digital Breadcrumbs

Watch more of my art + sign up via https://art.justadandak.com/

A bunch of things I’ve found on my digital strolls in the past month (which I added to my Tumblr although for a few weeks it was terminated so not everything appeared there) for your eyes / ears / brain to spend time on (as no longer active on Twitter or on LinkedIn much).

READ

“Perhaps most explosively, Microsoft Director of Applied Science Brent Hecht repeatedly warned in documents that scraping news for AI training was “an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions,” calling it perhaps the “largest theft of labor in human history,” news orgs said. In another document, Hecht contradicted Microsoft and OpenAI’s argument that training AI on news content is fair use, suggesting that the plan to widely scrape news made “a complete mockery of the idea of ‘fair use.’””
Microsoft exec called AI scraping the “largest theft of labor in human history” – Ars Technica

“In the book, Klein and Taylor introduce us to the religious fundamentalists, Christian Zionists and Christian Nationalists in the US, readying themselves for the second coming. Describing a “bunkered state”, the authors connect climate-related disasters, a rabid anti-immigrant standing army in the form of ICE and a politics built on false promises and misinformation to depict a febrile, riven society that doesn’t know what to believe. But the truly terrifying bit is the bridging section, on tech billionaires. The super-rich have apocalypse fantasies of their own, built not on faith or ideology but on a calm and rational evaluation of how best to maintain their position; they would genuinely rather reign in hell than share in heaven. And they have all the money to make sure they get there.”
Naomi Klein: ‘Extreme wealth has a deranging effect. It turns you into a supremacist’ | Society books | The Guardian

“A watermark is a visible mark embedded in a physical or digital medium to verify authenticity or assert ownership. A spymark is a hidden signal that makes your work traceable without your knowledge or consent.”
Spymarks, not Watermarks – brand