Craigstrachan.com – Keep talking!

Some of you have asked for a copy of my recent presentation at WordCamp Cape Town. The organisers have loaded all of the sessions onto YouTube, so if you would like to watch my session (or any of the others, look below). If you are at all interested in WordPress and missed WordCamp , I highly recommend that you look out for WordCamp Cape Town 2012, it is going to be a fantastic conference. Here is the YouTube video.

And here are the slides

My friends at Symphonia are running a community building sessions based on the methodology and work of Peter Block. I have been to his workshops and they are great.

“Most sustainable improvements in community occur when citizens discover their own power to act… when they stop waiting for the professionals or elected leadership to do something, and decide they can reclaim what they have delegated to others.” Peter Block

Workshops will be held in Cape Town on 20,21 October, chat to Johleen on 021 913 3507 or email johleen@symphonia.net to book your place.
Contact Johleen on 021 913 3507 or email johleen@symphonia.net to book your place.

Last week I spoke at WordCamp, Cape Town (the WordPress conference), and I watched many of the other sessions as well. Here are a few lessons I learned from my and the other sessions:

1. Keep the sessions short and sharp. If forces the speakers to be concise in their message, and the delegates can focus on a short message. This is something that TED do very well (max 30 minutes sessions)
2. Keep words on the slides large; you simply cannot shot a screenshot of 50 lines of source code (in a technical session) and expect the delegates to be able to read or understand the code. If you need to show source code, only show the important couple of lines. Or course pictures and diagrams are much better, there were some great slide decks (and some bad ones as well).
3. Arrive early. I got stuck in a downpour which stopped traffic. Thankfully I still arrived on time.
4. Get the AV sorted out before you start. It is disruptive to have to stop halfway through your presentation to sort out your microphone
5. Practise, I cannot over-emphasise this too much
6. Get your bio in ahead of time. My bio was read exactly as written, which was great. It was easier for the MC, and for me
7. Hang around afterwards. Some of the most interesting questions came during the tea break after my speech.

I saw this sign on one of the movie cameras at the recent Toastmasters Convention.

A short and simple way to get your message across.

How do you get your message across?

I am working with a large company in Cape Town on some web development. The total value of the project is in the millions of Rands.

Recently I contacted a potential vendor to set-up a meeting to discuss how they could assist and work on the project. They never responded to my  my requests. So we are not going to be working with them, and they have lost a potential huge customer and a lot of business.

I contacted three people to fix some damp in my house. One never got back to me, another quoted over 5 times the going rate for the job, and the other is finishing off the job today. This is while businesses are complaining about the “tough economy”.

Do you return messages? How much business have you lost because you did not get around to answering an email?

A tongue in cheek look at some of the changes in the Toastmasters organisation over the last few years.

You have been a member for more than a few years if:

1. You achieved a CTM award. Do you remember the Able Toastmaster award?
2. Your CTM manual had 15 speeches in it
3. As VP Education, you had to fax programmes to members, and if you were a member the programme was faxed to you by the VPE
4. You remember carbon-copied area visit reports which needed to be mailed to the district governor
5. Club and district performance reports were mailed to clubs and district on a quarterly basis. You could not view them online
6. Membership application forms needed to be mailed or faxed to WHQ
7. Educational awards needed to be mailed or faxed to WHQ
8. You were not admitted to a club meeting unless you were wearing a jacket and tie (ok some clubs still enforce this, but very few)
9. New membership dues was $16, and renewals $18 (or even less)

While this list is in jest, it shows how the organisation has progressed over the last several years, and how it continues to be a dynamic and growing organisation. Now we have:

1. A very strong communication and leadership track
2. Programmes are placed on club websites and emailed to members
3. Area visit reports are electronically processed and automatically emailed to relevant people
4. All club and district reports (as well as archives) are available online
5. Most forms can now be processed online, including new membership applications, dues payment and  educational awards
6. It is far less formal than in the past, and clubs have adapted their formality to suit their markets
7. We now have a podcast, and online training
8. Yes dues are now $20 and $27 respectively, but still astonishingly good value

What should be added to the list?

I’m Feeling Lucky. The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59

Doug Edwards

This book is for anybody looking for an inside view into the growth of one of the biggest brands in the world. Marketers, techies or anybody wanting to learn what it is like working at Google should ready this book. He tells a personal story, describing his own misgivings, challenges and successes as an early employee. He describes the people culture, technical and marketing challenges, and the chaotic and crazy startup days.

The book provides Insights into Google as it grew from startup to large business, and provides some valuable lessons to take into our own organisations. For example, make decisions quickly, but made key decisions.

While the book provides a very detailed and almost daily account of his work, it is sometimes almost too detailed (I sometimes felt a little like I was reading the minutes of every discussion and meeting at Google). If you just want to find out about Google, there are plenty of shorter and easier to read books. But if you are looking for a personal and detailed account for life at Google, this is a great book, and worth reading.

You can pre-order from Amazon.com

Grow your Voice to Speak with Confidence

Dr Petro Janse van Vuuren

This book discusses aspects of public speaking that we often neglect, and that is using your voice as an effective tool to get your message across.  Instead of telling you how to structure your presentation, how to use the stage or to use body language, she focuses understanding, developing and using the core muscles required to have an effective speaking voice.

It is a little like a Pilates or Yoga course for developing your speaking voice. It is written in 6 chapters, each building on the previous chapter to help you to develop your speaking voice. The accompanying CD takes you through the physical and vocal exercise in the book. While the exercise are good for developing the core muscles (hence my Pilates comment), they are also good for general warm-up (thinking about it they remind me of choir warm-up exercises from high school).

Dr van Vuuren has plenty of experience in the theatre, and many case studies to backup her approach. The book is for sale on her website for R190. You can find out more about her book and workshops on her website.

This is a good book to compliment traditional public speaking training, and I see a place in my bookshelf for it.

(Slightly off topic)

Here is something a little unusual. On Saturday. a song that I wrote using Garage Band on my IPAD was broadcast live as the opening song on Geek Speak, a radio show from KUSP (Central Coast Public Radio, Santa Cruz). It is syndicatd via the US National Public Radio podcasts. You can listen to the show here (but you have to wait until the end to hear the credits).

You can downoad the song off my photo-blog here: Geek Speak Theme

Craig Valentine offers 10 simple guidelines for adding impact to your speech. Included are:

1. Don’t move all the time. If you are always moving then no movement will be meaningful. Your audience will never know what’s most important. Move with a purpose. When there is no reason to move, don’t.

6. Don’t use the same gesture over and over again. This is evidence of a habit and most likely distracts from your presentation.

Read the full list with more details and audio-examples here.