Believing it’s possible at Bells

My friend Chris Corrigan introduced me to rock balancing, so it was only appropriate on a recent visit to Bells Beach (when the surf was pumping BTW) that Chris took the opportunity to do some rock balancing on my home turf. I hope to do the same on his home turf, Bowen Island, some time.

Walking towards Southside (away from the rocks), I looked back. A surfer was making his way towards the surf when suddenly the balanced rock caught his eye. He stopped dead in his tracks and stared. Then he walked around, maybe trying to figure out how it was done. There is no trick however. As Chris once described to me, you simply have to believe it’s possible. I’m sure the surfers on those huge waves understand. Believe it’s possible. Yes!

Beyond Open Space

At the end of each and every Applied Improv Conference is an Open Space Day (we’re still working on the whole conference being in Open Space, but that’s another story). I’ve had great fun the last two years opening space, and this year enjoyed Chris Corrigan taking on the opening – providing a new voice for AINers to hear, and selfishly, providing an opportunity for me to see how someone else opens space.

I just loved the way Chris quickly applied the language of improvisation to Open Space and named it a long-form frame game known as The Harrison.

And I can’t describe how much I love this – from the incomparable Rich Cox (so much talent in one person, it shouldn’t be allowed!) Post Open Space were two more sessions (after the conference had finished) – Open Pub and Open Tub. Here are the Laws and Principles…

oPubSpace

law of two drinks – If you find yourself in a situation where you are drinking alone, meet at least one more person before beginning your discussion.

the four principles – Whatever someone orders is the right drink. Whoever comes is the right pubgoer. Whenever it starts is the right time. When it’s last call, it’s over.

oTubSpace

law of two towels – If you find yourself in a situation where you are soaking alone, meet at least one more person before beginning your discussion.

the four principles – Whoever comes is the right hottubber. Whatever someone wears is the right swimwear. Whenever it starts is the right time. When someone pees in the pool, it’s over.

Riding a dead horse

Hat tip to Dave Pollard

This is one of my favourite sayings in workshops (for some reason I seem to find people riding dead horses quite often!) so I was pleased to read this:

The tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians, passed down from generation to generation, says that when you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount. In the public service, however, a whole range of far more advanced strategies is often employed, such as:

1. Change riders.

2. Buy a stronger whip.

3. Do nothing: “This is the way we have always ridden dead horses”.

4. Visit other countries to see how they ride dead horses.

5. Perform a productivity study to see if lighter riders improve the dead horse’s performance.

6. Hire a contractor to ride the dead horse.

7. Harness several dead horses together in an attempt to increase the speed.

8. Provide additional funding and/or training to increase the dead horse’s performance.

9. Appoint a committee to study the horse and assess how dead it actually is.

10. Re-classify the dead horse as “living-impaired”.

11. Develop a Strategic Plan for the management of dead horses.

12. Rewrite the expected performance requirements for all horses.

13. Modify existing standards to include dead horses.

14. Declare that, as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overheads, and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line than many other horses.

15. Promote the dead horse to a supervisory position.

16. (added by another commenter) Issue Collateralized Horse Obligations

This week’s cool links

• This simple idea is so effective, and creative – love it! Thanks to Patti for the link.

• I’m tempted to make the trip to Wellington just for this Presentation Zen masterclass!

• Les Posen is a fan of Keynote and audience-centred slideshows (as am I, and that’s where the similarities end!). I aspire to his level of understanding and competence with Keynote. This is is an interesting post about his recent meeting with the Keynote developers. Here’s a few bits to whet you appetite:

…my take on presentations was both complementary to Garr [Reynolds] and Nancy [Duart], but also came from a different place, away from designper se, and more from human learning and the brain sciences.

I showed how contemporary media are employing some of the graphical designs I too employ in my slide construction, and why.

What’s at the heart of Presentation 2.0? Think for a moment where we are now with Web 2.0. There is a direct line between service and product provider, and consumer, such that consumers or end users can blog, or tweet, or facebook about providers and influence the decisions of other potential consumers. We get valid information about product reliability for instance from bloggers and commenters on blogs, as much as we do from mainstream media reviewers. Think about the reviews you read on Amazon which includes “official” editorial contributions and reviews by purchasers, perhaps much more like us, and thus to be considered more reliable than biased writers.

Put these the concepts together, as I did to the KN team, and you come up with two properties in short supply currently (or more than ever before): Authenticity (who do you trust) andAttention (who should I attend to, given competing sources of information and competition for my time?).

I wanted the Keynote team to understand that when I construct my slides these two ideas stay in my mind, and they are more to do with my audience than they are with me. I need to establish my Authority and Authenticity for my audience to keep engaged, and I need to know how the brain works, so that despite my endeavours to increase the former two A’s, I embrace the challenges to the other A, Attention, which can wander due to how our brains function.

I spoke of these concepts early in my presentation, because it helps explain why I choose to perform certain slide constructions, and how I contemplate the intended impact on particular audiences.  Now I don’t know how any individuals in the KN team responded to my audience-centric approach, but I do know on occasions in responding to their questions, I had to work a little to get my point across, given the team is very much about the end user experience. But in my case the end user is myaudience, and Keynote merely a tool to achieve a particular series of effects upon my audience.

• And if I had the means, maybe I should introduce Graeme Pearman to Les Posen. Graeme Pearman is one of Australia’s most eminent scientists with an international reputation in climate science. I heard him speak once. There was no doubt about the veracity of his science, the urgency of his message and power of his evidence. Pity about the powerpoint preso though! There’s an article in todays’ Melbourne Age newspaper by Jo Chandler (yep, I still read newspapers) that explore’s Dr Pearman’s excursion into behavioural science to try and understand our inaction on the climate change message. Here’s a taster:

[Pearman] had a revelation. He had  been suffering under the delusion that as knowledge of the physical world improves, ratoionalt-based information would lead to rational responses to such threats as climate change.

What behavioural scientists tell us is that rationality is circumstantially based. So what is rational to me is not rational to the next person because they come from a different circumstance. They also tell us that when we are confronted by a threat such as climate change, people experience many alternative emotions, and employ different coping mechanisms. The anxious might deny; the sad might avoid; the hopeless become resigned; the frustrated, cynical; the depressed, skeptical; the angry, just fed up.

• The Unconventional Writing Contest is on right now over at The Art of Nonconformity. Be quick – the deadline is July 11.

Indonesian Cat Haiku

I like this photo. I snapped it through the glass while working in Lembang, Indonesia. This cat would visit the roof often. I wondered what it thought of the strange humans inside?

I wonder about

its life – This cat on the roof.

Escaping from… what?

Learning from mountain biking skills

This mountain biking video is going viral on the web. I’m posting it here for two reasons – because it’s amazing to watch, his skills take my breath away. And because it reminds me of passion, skills, confidence, practice, sharing and spontaneity. That’s right, similar skills required for facilitators – but with less danger (usually) LOL

My all-time favourite planning quote

I get up every morning determined to both change the world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning my day difficult.

E B White
US Author (1899 – 1985)

Heels. Up. Kick.

He lives on my wall, just outside the back door.

He comes from Sedona in Arizona and reminds me to kick up my heels occasionally.

What does he remind you of?

Here’s some alternative Christmassy stuff too

And as we rush headlong into Xmas – here’s a song from Tripod, another amazing Aussie comedy group. It may be a year old, but it’s a good’un. If you like this, also check out one of their latest Xmas songs, Fabian. Language warning.

And if that’s not enough Xmas fun and hilarity for you, head on over to Geoff Brown’s blog to see what he’s done to his family. Hilarious!

Australia! The alternative view

With all the hype about Australia – The Movie, here’s an alternative view. Australia – For The Adventurous! by the Scared Weird Little Guys, known locally as the ‘Scaredies’