X

Why I Love Public Speaking | Thinking Out Loud

Wellington Young Professionals Image

For some people it’s what they fear most. For me, it’s where some of my best thinking occurs.

Yesterday I spoke to 30 young professionals on social media and personal branding—an attempt to advocate for using social to build pedigree which sustains and moves with them.

My speaking preparation style is counter to most (don’t practise or have a script or write out bullet points) although it works for me and manifests two very important things:

  • the talk becomes more of a ‘conversation’ not a rehearsed lecture;
  • forces me to construct improvised value based on the audiences needs with the stories being shared.

In this loose and open approach, new concepts are created and interesting ways of presenting or mashing up old ideas occur. Some, are remembered which then form new blog posts or strategic leads. Others are luckily recorded by the tweets of those in attendance (here are just three of my favourite takeaways from the session):

"Blogs are great for metacognition: even if no one reads them, think of them as training your brain to contribute meaningfully" @justadandak

— Shadoe Stone (@shadoesuzanna) November 18, 2014

Damn, that’s a pearl!

So many folks want popular blogs and a readership which validates their effort although in the beginning the process of finding a true authentic voice is far more important than that.

"The currency of online is attention, not clicks" – I like that. Thanks @justadandak and @WellingtonYP for the social media tips!

— Katie Kenny (@kennykatie) November 18, 2014

I like it also.

So much so I added it to the image above (image credit).

Building credible and deep relationships should be the aim not the figures (see Social Media Is Dead | The Marketeers / Advertisers Are Taking Over).

"We are our own gate keepers, we now choose what media we consume, so we must be our own curators" #WYPseries with @justadandak

— WYP (@WellingtonYP) November 18, 2014

Ah the importance of curation as an emerging skillset as a way to combat the saturation and dilution of the signal.

It’s a shame there’s such a small event and speaking scene here in New Zealand. Although come the end of February I’ll be revisiting North America for several opportunities to get back on that stage to think out loud.


Huge thanks to the Wellington Young Professionals for the opportunity to speak:

A huge thank you to DK for his engaging and thought-provoking workshop yesterday. Not only did he open our minds, challenge our understanding and perceptions of social, and dare us to be digital curators, but we’re all heading out to make moleskin pen holders, and feature them on our new blogs!
Behold the new wave of social media users.

Alexis Trevethan, Vice President, Wellington Young Professionals

Other talks
Published

Hatching A Better World | HATCH14

HATCH family 2014

Imagine a cacophony of good souls who lean in to conversations with deep curiousity which always ends with them asking how they can help (very much the opposite of most events). That’s HATCH!

Packed with people who you want to be when you grow up and cradled by the genuinely brilliant folks at 320 Ranch, this four day event is how the world should be: challenging, creative, inspiring, friendly, dangerous, open, vulnerable, adventurous.

Was humbled to be invited back (last years review) and also present a piece on the wisdom thinking I’ve been exploring (more to follow on that in the next couple of weeks).

Deep waist bows to Yarrow and the HATCH14 team for their energy / effort in crafting an experience so that hearts and minds can relate and add value to each others lives.

Personally and through tears and laughter, here’s what I’ve learned:

  • Kindness—the only way to live;
  • Listen—the fastest way to connect, learn and show you care;
  • Create—a body of work so your talent catches up with your taste (see Ira Glass On Storytelling).

Some pics:

INSIDE JOKE: no Rugrats / ferrets this year.
Read other HATCH posts.
Published

Twitter Basics | Plus The Things They Never Tell You

twitter basics

For the beginners and those who have been using it for a while and really should know better.

Be human (the golden rule)—if you need reminding on what being a good human means then maybe stay away from Twitter and other social interactive platforms.

It’s not a marketing channel—it’s a potential market in a channel which thrives on being human (see above).

Complete your profile (with image plus non-cryptic description)—this helps to indicate you’re not a spammer and aids others in getting to know you.

Follow good people and your industry / sector heroes (no celebrities allowed)—the good ones share ideas, links, insights, challenges, offers to help, steerage, provocations etc. (copy from them).

Listen twice as much as you tweet—read, gleam, understand the value is in sharing good content (see above).

Unfollow people adding no value—tweets about cats, lunch and kids is what Facebook exists for.

It’s not Facebook—don’t tweet about your pets, food your consuming or any offsprings you have (if you do, know folks aren’t that interested).

Don’t follow back everyone who follows—see point above.

Retweets are like forwarding an email—it’s always better to add some context though.

Don’t retweet tweets which talk about you—it’s just the same as telling folks who like you, what other folks who like you, like about you. Stop it. It makes you look arrogant and childish.

Learn how to reply or reference others—so many users still don’t know about the power of a full stop (or period if you’re an American).

Be aware that automation devalues—even if it’s an attempt to celebrate how many retweets someone gave you that week, an automated tweet has the opposite effect.

Use lists and hashtags—a built in private or public system to break through the noise and get to the signal.

Be human—see first point.


Have been using Twitter for over seven years and still think it’s a fantastic platform to learn from whilst connecting with good souls. What did I miss from above?

Slightly cropped from rosauraochoa’s image
Published

Connecting | Makers, Design, Technology

elon musk innovating quote

Two fast-paced, highly-edited and short-form-doco style films exploring trends in interaction and experience design.

“Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.”
Elon Musk

Connecting Series is a collaboration between Microsoft Design and Bassett & Partners. The following films have a monstrous amount of sweeping statements, provocative questions and leading thoughts, although do provide an insight into the amount of innovative happening out there:

When everyone is a maker, new possibilities emerge, but with them come new responsibilities about digital transparency, cultural awareness, and the role of the designer.

When digital and physical worlds become one, new behaviors become possible, enabling connected humans with a collective capacity to change the world.


For me, these two films hint at the wider ideas of play, collaboration, experimention, failure, mashups etc—what do you think?

Flickr image credit via jurvetson
Published

Social Media Day Presentation | #HootupWLG

Challenging a community to go ‘beyond social media marketing.’

Decided on a different tact for this International Mashable Social Media Day Wellington meet up / hootup presentation (sponsored by Hootsuite).

Seems like my accent is still creating some happy accidents though:

darwin nuts tweet

Thanks to Katherine, Kalista, Jo, Vanisa, HootsuiteAPAC , BizDojo for inviting me to speak and for making the evening happening—humbled reference / respect also to my fellow speakers: Pete, Jo and Matty.

Thoughts?

YouTube version
Published