Launched in 2022 it was 75minutes / 10 video chapters crammed with applicable insights, resources and knowledge, users could take at their own pace. The course made me five figures worth of profit and was accessed by over 200 souls across four continents.
There are several reasons for the pause:
Needs updating: the course was a response to the god awful talks / presentations I was seeing as everyone was switching to online events during Covid. Since then I’ve delivered multiple internal masterclasses on the same subject for a range of clients with 1000s of folks attending and honed my digital skills further. Ergo, got more content, more things to share, more insights to give, more ways to convince people to stop sharing their screen etc.;
Sales have dropped off a cliff: probably because I have no interest in marketing / promotions, just creating, connecting, delivering, learning and adding value (and could have the same issue if I do the below update option);
It costs: it’s $1,228.20USD annually to host through a learning platform plus it’s a little time-heavy to set-up.
UPDATE 25.8.24: I had a poll here with 3 options and asked people to vote. Same thing was also on my LinkedIn and both polls gave the same result of only offering bespoke / webinar versions of the learning experience (instead of redoing the course or leaving it there). Will be updating my about page accordingly:
Results of LI poll.
If there’s an interest for option 2 above please holler in the comments or fire us a message direct to collaborate!
“The vulnerability, which allows the keystroke data that these apps send to the cloud to be intercepted, has existed for years and could have been exploited by cybercriminals and state surveillance groups, according to researchers at the Citizen Lab, a technology and security research lab affiliated with the University of Toronto.”
“By 2013, Netflix had begun entering into a series of “Facebook Extended API” agreements, including a so-called “Inbox API” agreement that allowed Netflix programmatic access to Facebook’s users’ private message inboxes, in exchange for which Netflix would “provide to FB a written report every two weeks that shows daily counts of recommendation sends and recipient clicks by interface, initiation surface, and/or implementation variant (e.g., Facebook vs. non-Facebook recommendation recipients). … In August 2013, Facebook provided Netflix with access to its so-called “Titan API,” a private API that allowed a whitelisted partner to access, among other things, Facebook users’ “messaging app and non-app friends.””
“In 2001, a poet named Bart Droog began attending the funerals of people who had no one to attend them and honoring the dead with a poem based on whatever was known about their life. A year later, Dutch poet and artist Frank Starik took the idea even further, launching The Lonely Funeral project to ensure that someone who cares consciously acknowledges the life of a person who has died. The idea was to create a network of poets who would find out whatever they could about the person, write a custom poem about their life and read it at their funeral. As of 2018, over 300 “lonely funerals” had been attended by poets in Amsterdam and Antwerp (where Flemish poet Maarten Inghels launched a Lonely Funeral project seven years after Starik’s).”
“We find that for 2016–2021: (i) per coin climate damages from BTC were increasing, rather than decreasing with industry maturation; (ii) during certain time periods, BTC climate damages exceed the price of each coin created; (iii) on average, each $1 in BTC market value created was responsible for $0.35 in global climate damages, which as a share of market value is in the range between beef production and crude oil burned as gasoline, and an order-of-magnitude higher than wind and solar power. Taken together, these results represent a set of sustainability red flags. While proponents have offered BTC as representing “digital gold,” from a climate damages perspective it operates more like “digital crude”.”
“Leaked documents show Tory executives discussed exploiting members’ personal data to build a mobile phone app that could track users’ locations and allow big brands to advertise to Conservative supporters. The party would take a cut of sales. The project was considered over several months last year, with the aim of launching the “True Blue” app in time for the party’s conference in October. The idea was developed by the boss of a cryptocurrency firm with a string of failed businesses behind him. Yet senior Conservative officials appeared so captivated by the plan that they prepared to provide the party’s database of members in order to move the proposal forward.“
“A new tool from OpenAI that can generate a convincing clone of anyone’s voice using just 15 seconds of recorded audio has been deemed too risky for general release, as the AI lab seeks to minimise the threat of damaging misinformation in a global year of elections.”
Currently, this site boasts that they’ve “analysed 5667 AI Tools and identified their capabilities with OpenAI GPT-4, to bring you a list of 30257 tasks of what AI can do today.”
If you’re getting your head around automating AI and other platforms to craft / distribute content then check out this LinkedIn video.
Tim Berners-Lee gives predictions for future: – Prediction 1: Everyone will have a personal AI assistant – Prediction 2: We’ll take true ownership of our data across all platforms — including VR – Prediction 3: A Big Tech company could get broken up
The role I moved from NZ to the UK for wasn’t for me so am looking for new adventures—am a creative nomad hungry to add value in the world and I don’t do MUNDANE!
Here’s what I can do as a:
Speaker Coach : tutor leaders (1-2-1 & teams) in honing powerful spoken stories (in-person and online) via masterclasses in ‘purposeful storytelling’ (foundation and advanced learning experiences available, either half-days or full-days)
Creative Producer : consult and / or craft and deliver delicious learning experiences on a scale of 10 to 1,000 attendees with 5,000 people watching online plus do in-studio content creations like this
Speaker-for-hire : about the stuff I’ve done and am doing.
I’m driven to enable people find and have voice.
A fan of reaching beyond my grasp and taking others on that journey. About being bold and ambitious, shying away from business-as-usual and not being held back by fear or risk aversion (see Defining ROI | Exploring New Definitions).
Huge fan of working with people who know more than me and crafting space for them to excel. Collaboration is about combining skills in open spaces for people to shine and not dulling them because you have a lack (see People Are Awesome | The Hope Generator That Is TEDx).
When trying something new I look for those with pedigree and / or aligned successful processes, then either enable that person and get out of the way, or learn rapidly, to adapt / adopt via the evidence on show. Once experience is gained you can then iterate (see Crafting Creative Collisions | 100 Starts).
I cherish difference. If that means you prefer drawing or moving as an expression of communication rather than just writing then I’ll do my best to protect that. Being inclusive means mentoring, celebrating, managing by doing, creating conditions for others to be them, defending your team members if you have the authority to do so, knowing that bringing opposites together for wonderful intersectional creations is what moves us all forward (see Wrapping Up Creative Welly | A Study In Human Intimacy).
One of the precious things I’ve learned in the last decade is that of self-respect. To challenge (always with kindness and politely) those who make you feel small and defend others without agency. If you don’t, toxic / muted environments bloom and those in “power” blame others for what they created (see Authority Doesn’t Come From Titles | Brave Leadership Summit 2023 Review blog post).
developed a 75mins / 10 chapter video course to radically increase your online storytelling & presenting skills: ‘Presenting Engagingly Online‘
spoken & contributed at four TEDx’s (Nelson in NZ, York & Cardiff in UK, Amsterdam in Netherlands)
founded MediaSnackers (a leading social media training and consulting agency from 2006-2011)
spoken and advised on five continents regarding digital strategies for folks like The Gates Foundation, UNICEF, BBC, Ubisoft, Welsh Assembly, Hasbro, global city developer IBI Group etc
Back in September of last year I had the wonderful honour of virtually chatting with Josh Shipp and Jesse Rice for the above podcast.
I’ve slept since then so had forgotten what we chatted about but boy did I love experiencing this conversation again as a listener.
There’s lots of insights here from my lived experience as a speaker coach and speaker myself plus how to present online effectively. I also got to ask some questions also of Josh and got some advice / insights from his brain. Here are the time-stamps:
00:00:00 // Tomfoolery and banter 00:02:10 // Introducing DK 00:07:02 // Helpful tips on how to best use slides in your presentation 00:26:52 // The critical thing DK learned by “faking” his way through a TEDx talk 00:32:26 // An unconventional approach to crafting your speech 01:00:55 // Pro tips on developing and presenting your content virtually 01:25:37 // What your responsibility is toward your audience
I featured Josh in a MediaSnackers podcast back in 2009, met up with him a couple of times during the following years and kept in touch ever since. He’s one of my favourite speakers and humans on the planet. A mentor. Author. MTV advice star. TV personality. Now business leader / youth speaker agency founder. An exemplar of the practice of oratory.
“Google, especially, has relied on the open web RSS protocol to gain so much market share and influence, but continues to engage in behavior that exploits the open web at the expense of its users. As a result, Google has single-handedly contributed to the reason many users who once relied on RSS feeds have stopped using them.”
“When writing by hand, brain connectivity patterns were far more elaborate than when typewriting on a keyboard, as shown by widespread theta/alpha connectivity coherence patterns between network hubs and nodes in parietal and central brain regions. Existing literature indicates that connectivity patterns in these brain areas and at such frequencies are crucial for memory formation and for encoding new information and, therefore, are beneficial for learning.”
“Put simply, the numbers don’t add up. Data from Patreon and Substack suggests the average conversion rate from follower to paying fan is about 5%. This means a creator would need a total fanbase of 20,000 followers to yield 1,000 paying supporters. And building a core fanbase of 20,000 engaged followers is extremely difficult in today’s crowded creative landscape.”
“A Vicar asks his congregation in the valleys the question “What would you do if Jesus returned tomorrow?”. A voice in the flock pipes up; “Move Barry John to inside-centre”!”
“Much furor has been raised in recent months over the unauthorized scraping of the web to train AI models; OpenAI even thanked the faceless “millions of people” who created the data to train GPT-3 in its paper describing the model. But when it comes to data willingly shared with Facebook and Meta, that Faustian bargain was struck long ago.”
Introducing me to his staff for a masterclass session.
Missing you already!
Back in 2007, less than a year into my early entrepreneurial journey with MediaSnackers, I found myself in Portland, Oregon for the first time, speaking at a one day conference on ‘reshaping schools’ for the district, sharing the stage with Sir Ken Robinson, and being exposed to all the wonders that the city and wider region has to offer.
Portland quickly became one of my cherished places on the planet. Not just because of the intentionally weird city vibes, expressive culture and artistic openness, but also because the deep friendships I made there. It’s always been on my list of places to live one day…
…but the reason I was on that stage in 2007 in the first place was because of an invite from a chap called John Weekes (via a recommendation from pal Christian Long). At that time John was still involved daily as a founding principal of Dull Olson Weekes Architects (DOWA) and was one of the leads on the one day conference curating the speakers.
My early email interactions established his character as the living intersection of curiosity, encouragement and someone who asked all the right questions.
When we finally met that May it was further confirmed John was a true gentleman with a kindness of spirit which was cherished by all who met him.
I was lucky enough to repeat my visits to Portland over the years that followed and on most occasions stayed with John. We spent most of our time talking, laughing and troubling converging ideas with our enthusiasm for creative exploration. He introduced me to superb people, got me in front of other opportunities to extend my pedigree (and to enable me to pay the rent) plus I got to meet and spend time with his wonderful family.
John was a legend in the school architectural space, and in recognition of his work was elected to the Fellowship in the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in 2015. He, his company and his schools won many other awards, and in his later career got involved in bigger international consulting opportunities plus started teaching locally as well.
His soul delighted in the possibility and adventurous edges of things, at least that’s what he taught me: to keep playing at those boundaries. He was a dear friend and helped me through some tough times with his honest mentorship and simple solid friendship.
John garnered a respect in others through his bountiful generosity and wicked sense of humour.
He mattered to people because people mattered to him.
I’m so full of honour to have him still echoing in my life, influencing my approach in decision making and keeping hungry for the right questions to ask.
A few chosen narrative examples, to uncover forms, inspire the soul and stir the creative spirits.
Own one of the last remaining video stores in France, invite film-makers and actors in for a look around, strategically place films in-and-around the journey to spark conversation and story, film and share. Very simple and clever. Hats off to Konbini Video Club (who have a lot more fine actors / directors in their store doing the same walk and talk experiences). A fine example of situating the story in and around an array of the medium.
The cartoonist for the New Yorker (Zoe Si) taking a comedian, writer and voice artist through drawing one of her creations in this split screen journey. It’s a fun exploration of the creative process, starting with a brief, through to inking, ink wash, and caption, whilst neither of those involved can see what the other is doing (until the obvious end and reveal).
A written story about the rise and fall of Yahoo Pipes (loved playing with this platform back in the MediaSnackers days and showing clients of the possibility of mashing up web sources to create RSS feeds ). Have a scroll through this visual essay and see the story unfold.
Half a million views equates to 19mins x 500,000 = 9,500,000mins / 158,333hours / 6597days / 942weeks / 18years of watching time.
That’s quite a juicy number in a little over a year and by way of thanks to the community I thought I’d create a fun offer to further aid the promotion of the talk…
…so if you:
share the YouTube video of my talk on LinkedIn / Twitter / Instagram / Threads (or any social media platform), and / or
feature it on your blog, and / or
shout it out in your email newsletter, and / or
leave a comment on the YouTube video
…you will go into the draw for the following package:
1x 75mins of 1-2-1 speaker coaching (for you or whomever you gift the time to); or
1x 75mins Presenting Engagingly Online masterclass for a group (whether it be a bunch of souls you bring together, your own leadership group in the organisation you work for or again gifted on to another deserving project);
Deadline for participation is Valentines Day 2024, February 14th and winner chosen by random.
And if you’re new here or haven’t seen the talk here it is:
Small print: Winner will be drawn at random. My ball, my rules, my final say. (#1) 1-2-1 and / or the (#2) online masterclass to be completed 6-11.30pm GMT weekdays or on a Monday or over weekend, before 31st March 2024. You either must tag me into your LinkedIn post or send me a link to it / other social media platform shares / features in blog posts / email newsletters etc. via my contact form. Many thanks and good luck.
ADDENDUM 14.2.24: thanks to all who participated. Winner has been chosen.
Before I leave, I ask Loeb what is to be gained from looking for aliens, and his reply is surprisingly humble. “We know from our private life that if we find a partner, it gives new meaning to our existence,” he says. “So finding a partner somewhere in the form of another civilisation that can teach us things that we can imitate, that we can aspire to, will give us a meaning to our cosmic existence. The universe will not be pointless any more.
The publication is suing both companies for copyright infringement and asks them to be held liable for “billions of dollars in statutory and actual damages” for allegedly copying its works. It’s also asking the court to prevent OpenAI and Microsoft from training their AI models using its content, as well as remove the Times’ work from the companies’ datasets.
Facial recognition searches match the biometric measurements of an identified photograph, such as that contained on driving licences, to those of an image picked up elsewhere. The intention to allow the police or the National Crime Agency (NCA) to exploit the UK’s driving licence records is not explicitly referenced in the bill or in its explanatory notes, raising criticism from leading academics that the government is “sneaking it under the radar”.
There was confusion in the plenary hall shortly after the agreement was passed as many parties had assumed there would be a debate over the text. The Alliance of Small Island States, representing 39 countries, said it had not been in the room when the deal was adopted as it was still coordinating its response. Its lead negotiator, Anne Rasmussen, from Samoa, did not formally object to the agreement and believed the deal had good elements, but said the “the process has failed us” and the text included a “litany of loopholes”. “We have made an incremental advancement over business as usual when what we really needed is an exponential step change in our actions and support,” she said. Her speech was met with a standing ovation.
Generating images was by far the most energy- and carbon-intensive AI-based task. Generating 1,000 images with a powerful AI model, such as Stable Diffusion XL, is responsible for roughly as much carbon dioxide as driving the equivalent of 4.1 miles in an average gasoline-powered car. In contrast, the least carbon-intensive text generation model they examined was responsible for as much CO2 as driving 0.0006 miles in a similar vehicle. Stability AI, the company behind Stable Diffusion XL, did not respond to a request for comment.
On Friday, the California-based company said in a regulatory filing that the personal data of 0.1% of customers – or about 14,000 individuals – had been accessed by “threat actors”. But the filing warned that hackers were also able to access “a significant number of files containing profile information about other users’ ancestry”. The company confirmed to TechCrunch on Saturday that because of an opt-in feature that allows DNA-related relatives to contact each other, the true number of people exposed was 6.9 million – or just less than half of 23andMe’s 14 million reported customers. Another group of about 1.4 million people who opted in to 23andMe’s DNA relatives feature also “had their family tree profile information accessed”, the company also acknowledged. That information includes names, relationship labels, birth year, self-reported location and other data.
If you do not want your website’s content used for this training, you can ask the bots deployed by Google and Open AI to skip over your site. Keep in mind that this only applies to future scraping. If Google or OpenAI already have data from your site, they will not remove it.
