June, 2013 Archive

TEDxSeattle Highlights: My Top Three TEDx Seattle Talks

One of the highlights of my career was to have been privy to the behind-the-scenes activity at a TED conference in Cannes a few years ago.

Sitting at the back of the room next to Emily MacManus (who was Tweeting for @TEDTalks) was such a treat, as was interviewing some of the speakers – Nicholas Christakis, Naveen Selvadurai and Stefana Broadbent – all who gave me some unique insight into what it was like to be there up on stage.

Fast forward a year or two and June Cohen appears in the book I’ve co-authored – Pioneers of Digital – telling her story about how she brought the talks into the online video arena and generated over one billion views of TED Talks on the web.

So when I was invited to attend TEDxSeattle I was pretty intrigued to see what an independently organized event would turn out like………and it was very good!

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Aside from a hiccup at registration in the morning, the Seattle TEDx event was well executed by a merry band of enthusiastic volunteers and curators from the local area. The venue was The Children’s Theatre down by the Seattle Center and we were comfortable in our seats for the three “Acts” that were about to unfold before our inquiring minds.

Quite rightly, we were asked not to take photos (the above was taken just prior to starting) or live Tweet, so I furiously took down as many notes as I could.

My brother-in-law (Josh LaBelle from the Seattle Theatre Group) and I stayed  until the end of the second set of talks, so we didn’t see all of them.

Here were my three highlights:

Matt Chan

Creator of the reality show “Hoarders”, Matt’s talk caught my attention before he came on stage as it was called “What Great Storytellers Know” and he immediately had us hooked with his philosophy of tapping into shared experiences and trying to engage with an audience on a deeper level. The reason why “hoarders” is so successful is that we all hoard at different levels. We all have that drawer with knickknacks we can’t get rid of; objects that hold some emotional currency. What the program does is suck us in through that lens and then take us on a crazy journey through the eyes of someone who’s got the hoarding thing way worse than us.

“Start with what you and your audience knows to get them engaged and then you can take them anywhere.”

What I liked about Matt was he was self-deprecating, funny and obviously very wise. A great storyteller to learn from.

Kelly Bloom, PHD

This was thoroughly entertaining and thought-provoking. Kelly came on stage to talk about “Lost and Found: Awakening the In-between”. A computer science drop out, Kelly’s second attempt at higher education found herself studying parks and leisure. Why, as she has said has happened in the past, some people find that kind of thing dull and boring I don’t know. I’m personally fascinated by what might seem an obscure study paths.

Kelly’s ethos was that parks are places where we can most be able to be ourselves. Where we’re one with nature, strolling, having fun and being able to rest our minds. In my talks about social media, I’m always banging on about authenticity in communications, so it was fascinating to hear Kelly giving us some tips on how to “make space” for being authentic and happy in our lives. She mentioned a story about playing basketball with a polar bear (yes it really happened) and how that day she’d decided to be open to more experiences.

She taught us a new word – liminality – and talked of the time while staring at a rock on the bottom of the Grand Canyon that was billions of years old, she realized she was temporary in the world and encouraged us to embrace our tiny time on this earth and attempt to be peaceful, joyous and generous.

Apparently her appearance at TEDxSeattle happened because she met one of the organizers on a plane. Hope and pray Kelly’s sitting next to you on your next flight. It’ll change your life.

Greg Gottesman

Previous to Greg’s talk on student debt, the hilarious data scientist Nick Berry had talked about all the data on the internet running to a zettabyte soon, which is (if one grain of sand is a byte) the equivalent to every grain of sand on every beach in the entire world.

So he set Greg up nicely for his rousing speech (visually enhanced by HaikuDeck) which talked about the ONE TRILLION DOLLARS students in the USA owe post-education.

Now, some TEDTalks inspire, some make you laugh, some make you cry, this just made me angry.

Angry that the rise in tuition fees is so disproportionate to the rise in anything else like wages or house prices.

Angry that student debt is the only debt that can’t be cancelled out by bankruptcy. Not that I think students should be able to take an easy way out, but that the law lets some businesses get away with taking risks, while the youth of today are lumbered for simply trying to make their way in the world and achieve the American Dream.

Greg, MD of VC firm Madrona Ventures Group, did a great job of spelling out the depth of the issue and pledging to do his bit to try and affect change. Here’s a link to his deck.

We were all fired up as we left his talk for the break and I’m already onto my financial advisor about starting to save for my 22 month old daughter’s education!

So there you have my three highlights. The other talks were good. I’d encourage the organizers to be be even more vigilant of thinly-veiled company sales pitches. Company names on some slides wasn’t cool. But the pace, balance and attention to detail of the event were all first class.

Can’t wait until next year!

How to Submit a Winning Entry for the US Search Awards

 

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It’s less than month until all the entries for the highly coveted US Search Awards need to be in on 19th July!

I’m a judge on the panel representing sponsors Majestic SEO, and having judged a few awards before have a few opinions on how submissions should be made that maximize the chances of making the cut and eventually winning a gong!

Thankfully the organizers have beaten me to writing about it and provided some advice that I am sharing below.

Take onboard these best practices and you’ll be well on the way to Vegas baby!

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When writing an award entry it’s difficult to assess how the entry will be perceived, so how to make an entry stand out and simply what the judges are looking for?

Here are five great tips for entering this year’s US Search Awards.

Don’t miss your opportunity to enter your fantastic work in Search, PPC and by entering it into the US Search Awards – entries are now open and you have until July 19th to enter.

Step 1: Simple

It may sound obvious but sometimes simple is best. Judges have many categories to peruse over and if your entry is full of ‘fluff’ and extra information that has to be waded through – you’re making their job difficult. Make sure your awards entry is clear and concise.

Step 2: SMART

It can often be difficult to assess what came next when objectives are written in a pitchy matter. An easy way to set out your objectives in your Search entry is to think of the mnemonic, SMART, this way it is clear to the judges what the objectives are:

– Simple

– Measurable

– Achievable

– Realistic

– Timely

If an awards entry is award winning the clarity is often the key – with the story being concise, coherent and ultimately convincing.

Step 3: Clear ROI

An award-winning entry is one that exceeds initial objectives. ROI is what you are being measured on – so if you want to be commended for your campaigns – you need to make sure you prove your ROI is strong. However, it is not always big figures that impress because it throws into question how much it cost to achieve those results. Some of the most impressive ROI figures are from relatively low –budget campaigns.

Step 4: Innovation

Creative, Innovation and intuition are three key elements which judges really take notice of when assessing award entries. What makes your campaign special? It is great to see campaigns that have, in some way, shape or form, pushed boundaries and are therefore different to other campaigns which have been seen before. If your campaign has a sense of pushing the Search industry forward, with brand new ideas and thoughts – this will set your entry apart from others.

Step 5: Presentation

To make a good first impression it is important that the small things count when writing your award entry.

A first point about an award entry presentation is that all entries should be well written, spelling mistakes look sloppy and lazy. A suggestion would be to write your entry in bullet points to break the content up and make it easier for the judges to read.

Finally, the award categories are now open for entries for the US Search Awards – view them here.

The deadline for award entries is: Friday 19th July 2013

Good Luck and get entering!

Read Julia’s Story and Donate to HSDC Seattle Pretty Please!

Just over 3 years ago my wife and I got the fabulous news that her sister Colleen had gone in to labour.

We were living in London at the time, so the anxious wait to see what Colleen and her husband Josh had produced – boy or girl – was exacerbated by the 8 hour time difference.

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Colleen and Josh’s Miracle

When the phone eventually rang, we found out that there were complications.

Colleen had given birth to a beautiful baby girl they had called Julia, but Julia had inhaled meconium and had been rushed to Children’s  Hospital in Seattle to be hooked up to an ECMO machine, a piece of (very expensive) apparatus that was helps make the heart and lungs work when using a ventilator has failed.

I won’t dwell on the ensuing 18 days (many more than most patients spend hooked up to the machine) but suffice to say a true miracle happened.

Julia, slowly but surely, started to pull through.

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Julia On The Mend

Soon she was off the machine, home and happy after some amazing care from Children’s and of course, her amazing, strong and doting parents.

But one of the side effects of time spent on ECMO can be deafness. And after a few weeks it became clear after extensive testing that Julia was deaf in one ear and she could lose all sense of hearing at any time.

It’s one thing as parents to have been through the trauma of nearly losing your child, but to have your child that was so strong to pull  through run the risk of losing a vital sense completely, was the catalyst for them to seek out specialist help and support.

They found it at HSDC – the Hearing, Speech & Deafness Center – in Seattle.

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Julia signing “I Love You!”

Like clockwork once every couple of weeks for one-to-one time during the first couple of years, and every Monday night and the odd weekend since, Julia and family have attended classes and spent time with other children and families who are valiantly learning to live with, and overcome issues associated with the kind of difficulties hearing loss can bring.

But much of that time has been a celebration; a celebration of Julia’s resilience, fabulous personality and the fact that she has NOT had any further hearing loss.

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Julia Graduates The HSDC Infant Program Aged 3

A couple of months ago we celebrated her turning 3 and graduating from the HSDC infant program, a proud moment for the whole family.

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Julia with my Daughter, Maggie (Such a Fabulous Big Cousin)

So now Colleen and Josh have asked us to give a little back.

So next week we all fun run for HSDC in the Leaping for Literacy fundraising event that the whole family is participating in. Even Maggie (not even 2) is determined to get through the 5K course.

Thanks to the amazing generosity of so many, we’re already two thirds towards our target of $1000, but I think, through the power of social media we could hit that number and then some.

So please, click on this link and pledge some cash to the amazing work that HSDC does to help children like Julia.

Here’s the link again just incase you missed it.

Please donate and help other children with communication disabilities and share Julia’s story as inspiration for others.

Thank You So MUCH!

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