360 Degree Self

Musings on well-rounded living...

Follow Friday: Idea Exchange

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Back in my college days, one of my favorite memories was walking out of a class feeling enlightened.  You know, the feeling of having that a-ha moment.  I still remember a media studies lecture which explored small group behavior through the characters in the movie The Poseidon Adventure. That lecture was both profound and incredibly entertaining.  Today, I can proudly admit that I am an idea geek. While I am no longer in school, the internet provides us with many places we can exchange ideas.

One such place is at TED.  While TED originally stood for technology, entertainment and design, their focus has evolved to “ideas worth spreading.” For me, the TED site makes me feel like a kid in a candy store and it allows me to have those a-ha moments over and over again.

This past week, I had the opportunity to attend the TEDx Windy City event, which explored the theme of creative convergence.  I went into the event incredibly tired after a day of painting, but walked out feeling energized and enlightened.

I particularly enjoyed Donald Marinelli’s lecture about blending theater and craftsmanship with computers and technology.  Marinelli, from Carnegie Mellon University, worked closely with the late Randy Pausch.  While his presentation was delivered via Skype due to weather-related travel problems, Marinelli’s entertaining delivery held everyone’s attention.

Other speakers included Dawn Hancock, creative director and owner of Firebelly Design and Zach Kaplan, CEO of Inventables.  Both Hancock and Kaplan, through their example, challenged all of us in the audience to explore our passions and follow our bliss.

If there happens to be a TED event in your area, I invite you to check it out.  Or visit the official TED site.

Another place that I like to visit for some great ideas is ChangeThis, a site loaded with numerous PDFs and manifestos.  According to their site, ChangeThis is “on an important mission to spread ideas and change minds.” On it you’ll find downloadable documents from great thinkers such as Seth Godin, Sally Hogshead, Jonathan Fields and Keith Ferazzi to name just a few.

I really enjoy how ChangeThis gives everyone the opportunity to spread a great idea or find out about new ideas.  Some recent topics include How to Read a Business Book,  The Myth of Overnight Success, Seven Ways to Reinvent Yourself or the Need to Remember Our Aging Veterans. I know I’ve downloaded my share of manifestos over the years.

If you think you have a great idea or if you’re curious about other great ideas, please visit ChangeThis…who knows, maybe it will change you.

Have a great weekend!

Getting to the Point…Pecha Kucha Style

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If you’re like me and you’ve sat through many long, boring PowerPoint presentations then you’ll be interested to learn about something designed to get long-winded presenters to the point…it is called Pecha Kucha (pronounced pe-chak-cha).

I first learned about Pecha Kucha over at Garr Reynolds’ Presentation Zen blog more than a year ago and was instantly intrigued.  A Pecha Kucha presentation is comprised of 20 slides shown for 20 seconds each or 6:40 total. Pecha Kucha started in Tokyo in 2003 and has now expanded to more than 230 cities around the world.

Pecha Kucha, according to its website, was devised by architects “because architects talk too much.”  Topics are typically creative in nature, but there are no rules about who can present or what they can talk about. Events usually take place in a fun setting such as a bar, restaurant or club.

Last week, I attended my first Pecha Kucha event in Chicago and I was pleasantly surprised. The event took place at a club called Martyr’s and it was packed.

Pecha Kucha topics revolved around architecture and design, but my favorite presentations were the ones that were what I would consider the “here’s what I stand for” presentation. It was obvious that the presenters were challenged by the time limitations, which is fine because it kept everything moving and everyone to the point.

I contemplated leaving during the “beer break,” but was glad I stayed because I met some very interesting people and saw some some very funny, entertaining presentations, including one from a musician named Michael Jackson from Yorkshire.

Here’s an example of a pretty good Pecha Kucha presentation from Kris Krug at the Vancouver event from March of this year:

The highlight of the Chicago event for me had to be the last presentation, which when it was completed, had the audience gasp in collective delight.  It was a presentation about a very interesting project and I was blown away by both the topic and the delivery.  I will share more about this last presentation in an upcoming post.

If you’re intrigued about this very interesting, effective style of communication…check out the Pecha Kucha website.  There might be an event near you.