How to Make Awesome Introductions
Being introduced to people is one of the best ways to become part of a community. As a career practitioner, I’m in the business of making hundreds of human connections every year and this article will explore how to make…
Communicate with Success on Camera
Here are three tips for new spokespeople looking to communicate their message through the media Whether you’re an Executive Director telling the story of your non-profit’s fundraising campaign, a neighbourhood association spokesperson who is promoting an upcoming event, or a…
March Madness Builds Community in Six Ways
For the past three years, Alex Grant and I (with the fantastic help of our amazing partners, Robin and Michelle) have analyzed the concept of community through the lens of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, which is colloquially referred to…
Three Lessons on Innovation and Adaptability
We’ve always had to innovate to thrive. From developing better clubs for bonking food on the head to wrapping wheels in rubber or miniaturizing on-off switches and building faster, brighter, and more shiny machines upon which we can design faster,…
Three Tips for Overcoming Mediocre Presenting
Everybody fails. Sometimes we do so spectacularly and sometimes we simply don’t reach our potential; I experienced the latter sort of failure on Saturday when I gave what can only be described as a mediocre presentation – the audience probably thought “it was fine”. For me, though, giving a presentation that is “fine” just isn’t good enough.
Pluck and Persistence Will Drive Your Story into the News
Every company and organization has an interesting story to tell. Finding news and honing it into a finely crafted pitch is the first challenge. You want to make sure you’re “selling” the best “product” that you can. Here are a few factors to consider when it comes to what makes news, well, ‘news’. Once you’ve got your story down, the next step is to convince a reporter or editor that it has a place on a newspaper page as opposed to remaining lonely and forgotten on your organization’s blog.There are many ways to do this.
The Night I Got Away With Murder!
On Saturday, February 18 I attended my very first murder mystery party. The evening was the best kind of controlled, community-minded chaos. Approximately 20 of us put on 1960s-era and/or “higher education” clothing, adopted a “Cold War mentality”, and did our best impressions of students, administrators, academics, spies, assassins, and even a reporter who all found themselves together in Maudlin College, a hypothetical university with a great rowing team somewhere in England.
The Office Holiday Party
Over the next two weeks, communities of working people (and many of their cajoled spouses and partners) will be participating in (hopefully) festive holiday parties. Egg nog will flow, budgets will shrink and awkward dancing will ensue. I love parties….