Geronimo Leadership Coaching

What Matters Most for YOU in 2010?

Take the time to read again Seth Godin eBook, a collection of wonderful, inspiring ideas to help you make big things happen in YOUR world -- your business, your personal life, your community.  More than seventy big thinkers have contributed to this amazing eBook, each sharing an idea for you to think about as you head into the new year.

"Now, more than ever, we need to shake things up. Now, more than ever, we need a different way of thinking, a useful way to focus and the energy to turn the game around." Seth Godin

Ask yourself: what matters most for YOU in 2010?

Pick up 5 key words for your 2010 Project.

Mine are:

  Generosity   Women

Speaking (((((RIPPLE))))) eDO  

  Generosity 

"When the economy tanks, it’s natural to think
of yourself first. You have a family to feed a
mortgage to pay. Getting more appears to be
the order of business.
It turns out that the connected economy
doesn’t respect this natural instinct. Instead,
we’re rewarded for being generous. Generous
with our time and money but most important
generous with our art.
If you make a difference, people will gravitate
to you. They want to engage, to interact and to
get you more involved.
In a digital world, the gift I give you almost
always benefits me more than it costs.
If you make a difference, you also make a
connection. You interact with people who
want to be interacted with and  you make
changes that people respect and yearn for.
Art can’t happen without someone who seeks
to make a difference. This is your art, it’s what
you do. You touch people or projects and
change them for the better.
This year, you’ll certainly find that the more
you give the more you get. "   Seth Godin

Women

"We live in a world that is owned by men, designed by men and managed by men, and yet we expect women to participate.

But did you know … 

1. Women dominate higher education. Most college and university campuses across North America are 60-40 female. 

2. Approximately 70% of all American females work outside the home, and women make up nearly 50% of the total workforce.

3. During the recent recession,82% of job losses befell men and mothers are the major breadwinners in 40% of American families.

4. The earning power of women globally is expected to reach $ 18 trillion by 2014.

Paco Underhill is the CEO of Envirosell and the author of "Why We Buy" and soon to be published "What Women Want".

Speaking

"Here’s the final measure of your success as a speaker: did you change something? Are attendees leaving with a new idea, some new inspiration, perhaps a
renewed commitment to their work or to the world?
Be honest, be authentic, and speak from your
passion. Yes, it means taking a risk. But the results
might surprise you. "
Mark Hurst runs Gel  and founded Creative Good, a customer
experience consultancy.

(((((RIPPLE)))))

"Education has a ripple effect.  One drop can initiate a cascade of possibility, each concentric
circle gaining in size and traveling further.
If you get education right, you get many things
right:  escape from poverty, better family health,
and improved status of women.
Educate a girl, and you educate her children and
generations to follow.
Yet for hundreds of millions of kids in the
developing world, the ripple never begins. Instead,
there’s a seemingly inescapable whirlpool of
poverty. In the words of a headmaster I once met
in Nepal:   “We are too poor to afford education. 
But until we have education, we will always be
poor.”
That’s why there are 300 million children in the
developing world who woke up this morning and
did not go to school.  And why there are over 750
million people unable to read and write, nearly 2/3
of whom are girls and women.
I dream of a world in which we’ve changed that.  A
world with thousands of new schools.   Tens of
thousands of new libraries.  Each with equal access
for all children.  
The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. 
The second best time is now. "

John Wood is Founder & Executive Chairman, Room to Read,which has built over 850 schools and opened over 7,500 libraries serving 3 million children.  He is the author of Leaving Microsoft to Change the World.

eDO 

"The 21st Century challenge for education is to integrate
learning into the growing richness of digital life where
students are active and engaged every day.   The Internet is
where they already enjoy autonomy, where they see
themselves as doers.  Combining cell phones and web
services, students are hands-on learners who adapt
technology to their own personal uses." 

Dale Dougherty is the founding editor and publisher of Make
Magazine and the creator of Maker Faire.

  Generosity   Women

Speaking (((((RIPPLE))))) eDO  

  Geronimo Leadership Coaching

 I  use my Generosity, Creativity and Passion to Boost Your   Next Online Presentation !

  And I really love to work with women from all generations, speaking all languages or with men who believe in women's leadership and actively support them!

What are YOUR 5 Key words for 2010 ?

Do take the time to read the eBook and pick up the five most relevant for you, thinking of what you value most, but also what you want to focus on next year, personally and professionally. You might be surprised...

 It's free. Download it here. Seth's big goal is to get this free eBook in the hands of 5 million people. Share with anyone in your world whom you care about. 

Wishing you all a Happy Happy New Year!

En vous souhaitant à tous une très douce et heureuse année 2010!

J

Je vous souhaite à tous une très douce et genéreuse année 2010!

Learn To Speak Less. Speak Better.

In the very near future,presentations are going to look:

• More simple
• Shorter
• More personal
• More Interactive
• Collaborative
• More Fun

Today's lesson: Learn To Speak Less. Speak Better.

• Shorter

TED conferences last 18 minutes maximum. I love them, and posted a few on this blog.I used to watch them entirely, now I switch to shorter extracts, and wish they also offered "MicroTED".

Audience attention spans have grown shorter and shorter, so unless you have been assigned a talk of a specific length, make your talk as short as possible.About 10 minutes is ideal for a "classical" presentation, unless you are an exceptional speaker.

If you want to create an online video presentation, (a pitch, a tutorial, etc...), aim for 3 minutes. That's the maximum of time we will give you :)

Recently, I had to answer a tender for a major European bank. It was in a very challenging and innovative way.I had been asked to include a short 3 minute video of myself, presenting my CV and why I was  best suited to do the job. There was a very short notice to perform this exercise, and most of my colleagues, who also got the tender, had no clue on how to start with this video and eventually, missed the opportunity.

Among those who courageously took the challenge, they admitted the result was a poor reflect of what they expected.Anyway, it was an excellent experience which taught us to be ready, prepared for new way of presenting ourselves in the Corporate World as consultants and coaches.

I believe presenting with video in a limited amount of time requires a minimum of training, mentoring and coaching.

And practice, naturally...

If you really want to get attention, create micro presentations, lasting just a few seconds. Ridiculous? Not at all!

Do you know Ellen McGirt ? She's the Dean of a very special MBA The 30 Second MBA on Fast Company.

Yes. Thirty little seconds!

Yet, every week, Ellen McGirt and her team interview a very eclectic range of "30 Second Professors" who answer a question like "Leaders born or made

Look at what Andy Dunn , CEO of Bonobos, says: 

For Twitter, you have Bubble Tweets.
Bubble Tweet add Videos to your Twitter profile, called bubble messages. They are 30 second video clips that appear on a side when someone visits your profile.You may notice that I already have created mine, couldn't resist! It's at the top right of the blog navigation bar.

Still not convinced that we need to learn to make shorter and shorter presentations?

Have a look at what Robo.to .They aim for ...4 seconds!

"We have microblogging, so why not microvideoblogging. That's the idea behind Robo.to, a website that lets you publish micro videos - or visual status updates - that are no longer than 4 seconds in length. The videos can be distributed on Twitter, Facebook and other social media websites."

Okay, I stop there!

• How comfortable are you with watching a video of yourself?

• Have you ever tried recording a video presentation of you in less than 3 minutes?

• Why don't try, right now, from your office or from your home, with a flip cam, hand held or simply with your integrated video camera?

• What added value would it bring you if you were be able to present yourself shortly and efficiently?

Read related post How to pitch Yourself in less than 5 minutes

You know how to make me happy before Christmas? Join the discussion, and start right now by commenting, sharing YOUR stories of short (or too long!) presentations. Thank you! :)

Augmented Presentation

Let's imagine you're Dan.

It's 8:15 am.Dan is in his bathroom.

He's getting prepared for his next presentation at TAT.

He checks himself in the mirror, and also looks at his own reflection in his mobile mirror, (which looks like an iPhone on steroids).

He selects which social networks he wants, including Twitter, Slideshare, Facebook, YouTube,etc...

As he clearly comes out of a very joyful and busy party night, he doesn't want it to show on his public profile. So he switches off face book and Twitter and morphs into more professional appearance, leaving only slideshare and contact infos (he could have added LinkedIn)

It's 9:30 am. The presentation has started.

Through their mobiles, people can now easily find and use Dan's information.

They can also rate Dan's presentation and comment ("Backchannel on Twitter"), and even chat while Dan's presenting.

So, imagine you're Dan. How do you get ready for the backchannel?

• I received yesterday this link via Twitter " @cliffatkinson Free webinar Dec 18 "Getting Ready for the Backchannel – with guest @OliviaMitchell" 

• If you want, you can also read at Pistachio How To Present While people are Twittering by Olivia Mitchell or better, download her free ebook on her site

This is happening now, not in 2020...

When I first watched this video on Michelle Martin's  Blog, The Bamboo Project, I thought it belonged to Science fiction. Even now, I must admit it still scares me to "scan" people like  a bar-coded product...

Images of Minority Report, George Orwell's 1984 and even excellent Wall-E rush to my mind (as you can see, my tastes are quiet soft, because that's the scariest it gets!)

• Read in Fast Company  if you want to understand what augmented reality is

" Augmented Reality Is No Longer Science Fiction" 

• Oh, and just when I'm writing this, on friday afternoon, I google "Augmented Reality" and discover an Article by Kit Eaton, from Fast Company, written today... Read more Exciting new examples of applications to travel and Art...

As he says    "The mind boggles as to how this will get used." 

Change  is happening now. Let's understand it and be prepared.

Do You Want To Play The Presentation Planning Game?

 Have you ever felt this growing anxiety at the idea of planning the structure of your presentation?

If you're a bit of a perfectionist,  passionate about your subject, and a little lacking confidence, you might have the temptation to spend phase one of the preparation in gathering ideas, information, data, examples, anecdotes, images, etc.... Great brainstorming! The danger is to get caught into that phase and start acting as a starving squirrel before a freezing winter.

 

(Scrat, from Ice Age,  an American film created by Blue Sky Studio and released by 20th Century Fox.)

Collect as many nuts as possible, avidly,compulsively and stock them in dreadful fear of being caught "illegitimate".

Here is a tool which works like a game and adds the fun and clarity usually lacking at this stage of the preparation. Simple, easy, fun and friendly!

Created by CleaveFast, part of Bunchberry & Fern

The simple, yet brilliant idea, is to turn things upside down.

Instead of starting by collecting and brainstorming, opening more and more windows at the risk of losing your time , purpose and nerves (and totally your audience, by the way!), you start by the end.

In CleaveFast 's game, the first questions to ask yourself are:

"What will be different about the world when I've finished?

What will these people know that they didn't know before?

When people are telling their friends about this presentation, they will say..."

Even if we already knew this, nothing really new under the sun, the necessity of finding your Key Message, we all seem to forget it at the minute we start preparing, and rush like the good zealous student for more data and content.

Three added values in CleaveFast's Pyramid Tool

1. Make it look like a game

Children still trapped inside of grown-ups LOVE playing games. Well, I do, anyway!

And Play is Good for You! The purpose of the game is to get your ideas climb the pyramid.You have three basic instructions.

• Decide what your "Global Message" is
• Find three powerful stories, images, anecdotes to illustrate your global message
• Only then, brainstorm and gather ideas in many forms (words, images, audios, movies...)

That's when a Mindmap is pretty useful and fun to do!

Once you have done this, you can start climbing  the Pyramid. Your ideas will get to the top if they belong to the Rules of Three and add real value to the three stories you already have

     2.  Make it visual and easy to remember

 

     3.  Integrate the rule of Three Stories

Remember Steve Jobs announcement speech at Stanford?

Well, you don't have to be Steve Jobs to do this, the very old and simple idea of using three stories to illustrate your speech. Back to the origins of storytelling, ancient myths and religions in all cultures have used the rule of three . More about it in How To Use The Rule of Three in Your Speech by Andrew Dlugan in Six Minutes Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blog.

So, what's in it for Your Next presentation?

• Take a deep breath before you dive into your subject and take the time to reflect, project yourself in the future and ask yourself very simple questions, aimed at your Audience 's needs.
• Then, play the game and follow the Simple Plan in 3 steps!

The idea is to relax, knowing you already have the essential : Your key message. How to craft it? "C'est une autre paire de manches!" *Some clues in Speech writing articles to be followed...

*"That's another kettle of fish?"

A Totally Millennial Birthday Card!

Saturday November 28th, was my birthday.

Usually, I receive a one or two hilarious & creative electronic birthday cards, mainly from my American friends .

I also have still some faithful friends (2) who write by hand and post by traditional mail a hand picked birthday card.

Mainly, I'm lucky to have my big family around to give me birthday hugs, and that's the most precious.

This year, however, was different...

Look at what I received,thanks to my wonderful friend @elizeweiland, from all other the world!

Boulder, Colorado, London, Mubai India, Brussels, Montreal, Hadrian's wall UK, Warsaw, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Fort Collins, Colorado, Ascott UK, Mexico

 

This is a personalized & worldwide video birthday card

Are these international friends geeks , professional actors, or both?                                                        Well, most of them aren't, except maybe @TanveerNaseer..., from StarTreck Production. But look at what they've created, altogether, with "genuine fondness" (@TimDouglasHR 's quote!)

Apart from the fact that it moved me to tears of joy, and will remain one my best birthday surprises,it also shows us the impact of new technologies in our daily life and the necessity of adopting with simplicity and confidence this new online media.My tittle, "Millennium Birthday Card" refers to Gen Y, also called "Millenniums", who grew up with social media and the web 2.0. (More about Generations in Five Generations Of Speakers, Which One is Yours? )

Here are a few tips for you!

Recording a video may be easier than you think.                                                                                

 " Maybe your laptop comes with a camera. If you have a Mac, click on your QuickTime Player, select File, and then New Movie Recording.  Click on the red button at the bottom of the screen, and viola, you’re recording!  Easy, peasy! You can record and trash as many attempts as you need. (I must have tried a couple of dozen times until I got my recording down to :14 seconds.)

If you have a PC, here’s one link that might help you get started. You can search & find others, as well:

http://dvr.about.com/od/tvcapturemethods/ht/ht1.htm

You can use a fancy home video camera and upload it to your laptop and then to our site. Even small digital cameras often have video features that allow you to do the same." 

by Janice Jensen, Executive Producer , creator of TweetaVision.

Follow her on Twitter, she's creating the Next Generation of Television!

My warmest thanks and hugs to , (in order of appearance...) :

Elizabeth Weiland Boulder, Colorado, USA.

Tim Douglas Ascott UK.

Amy Bryant Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.

Skip Zilla Cleveland, Ohio, USA.

Gurrpriet Siingh-Joy Mumbai, INDIA.

Dorothy Dalton Brussels, BELGIUM.

Tanveer Naseer Montreal, CANADA.

Monica Diaz Mexico City, MEXICO.

Colin Lewis Warsow, POLAND.

Sharon Eden London, UK.

Kendall Thiessen Boulder, Colorado, USA.

Andrew Crane Adrian's Wall, Northern UK.

Lolly Daskall New York City, USA.

Peg Rowe Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Ava Diamond Fort Collins, Colorado, USA.

Each of them is exceptionally talented, with a genuine gift that can change your whole life. Visit their websites, blogs, twitter streams, believe me, they're precious and you'd better watch them in the coming years, they're going to "Play Big"!

International Thanksgiving!

When I watch this video

• It makes me want to dance the crazy Matt's dance
• It makes me want to travel the world
• It makes me want to laugh
• It fills my heart with gratitude for Humanity

Wherever you're from, wherever you are now in our big big world

                Happy International Thanksgiving!

Thanks to Mark Raison! I found this fantastic video this morning at 5 am on his site Yellow Ideas. Funny when I think about it, Mark is also the reason why I started on Twitter. I told the story there. And when I'm on twitter, I feel very much like I'm doing the crazy happy dance like Matt, having fun learning and playing with each of you around the world!

When you think about it, Matt's idea is pretty simple. He shows up, does his silly crazy dance, smiles and he gets watched doing it.

Sometimes, it's just what presentations are about : show up and do your dance!

And it takes a lot of courage!

Olé to You! Don't Be Afraid, Just Do Your Talk!

Why a whole post on Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat, Pray,Love ?

1. I started a series on Powerful Women Speakers
2. In this TED Video, Elizabeth Gibert is totally "naked"
3. She illustrates the magical power of metaphors and stories

The secret impulse, which triggered this post, is that it's one of my favourite TED Videos, along with Jill Bolte Taylor's Stroke of insight and a dozen of others I will share here in this blog.

What can you learn from this presentation, that you could use in Your Next Presentation?

• You can perform on a stage with nothing else but your presence,yourself, no technology.
• You can rely on stories and myths to give flesh to your talk.
• You can be perfectly structured with elegance and flow.

• Another Naked Presentation

If you look at this video, you will notice that Elzabeth Gilbert embodies simplicity.

She is all dressed in black, with a very simple and casual black turtle neck (is it the new Steve Jobs Fashion?), black pants,ballerines, no jewels, very little make up.No laptop, no remote control, no visual aids, no notes,not even any back screen image. Black stage. Empty

Yet, she's shining

We follow her expressive face, her hands like butterflies, we watch her "dance" on stage and hear her inspired voice and delicious humour charm us along her talk, very simply.

No PowerPoint, no beam of light except the light that shines through her eyes, and her Passion.

And she's not a one woman show professional actress! She's a writer!

I know corporate settings don't always allow us to make such simple presentations and that when it comes to presenting charts, graphs and results, slides are necessary.

However, speaking in public doesn't only refer to formal presentations settings.

Every time you're asked to speak during a meeting, or in any professional conversation, you're having an opportunity to make an impact, be heard, be understood, make a change.

This TED presentation show us that you can achieve that very simply.

• Again, the Power of Stories and Metaphors.

Elizabeth Gilbert takes us back to Greeks and Romans.

She's looking across time, other societies," to see if they might have had better ideas about how to help creative people manage the inherent emotional risk of creation".

• When she talks about demons and geniuses, she does it by giving examples (Socrate) and also evocative images (hilarious when she compares the greek Genius divine entity to Dobby the House Elf)( In Harry Potter Publishing  JK Rowlands)

• How does she make us understand that during the Renaissance, we did a "huge error"? She uses a fantastic metaphor"It's like asking somebody to swallow the sun"

• The presence of god in the artists projects ? "It's like rubbing fairy juices on their projects"

• I'm going to leave you listen to her two stories of the American poet Ruth Stone and the musician Tom Waits. Commenting on them would only give you a pale idea of the wonderfully evocative power of her words. Her language is multisensorial and it just gives me "goosebumps" (and not "goosepumps", like I thought it spelled...)

She speaks about her meeting with Ruth Stone two extraordinary minutes (from 10 to 12 min in her talk). Really worth watching!It's actually like watching the scene with her playing all the roles. She's miming with her whole body  the beautiful phrase:

"Ruth Stone would catch the poem by its tail and she would pull it backwards into her body"                                                                                                        (This reminds me of Robert Frost definition of poetry, a way of "taking life by the throat")

Her interview with Tom Waits is also a peak moment of her speech, which brings unexpected laughter.Watch it, it's between 13 and 15 minutes in the talk.

Now, is she just very gifted and just improvising?

• How to structure your talk with elegance?

Let me guide you through the underlying structure of this talk, which seems to be flowing spontaneously like a river from her. Again, this hides careful preparation. ( When Elizabeth says her creative process is one of "a mule", I suspect she may have prepared this talk, with "mulishness", in order to be caught by the "glimpse of god")

Observe how she very elegantly, and with humour, keeps her audience on track:

"Stay with me, because it does circle again back!"

She gives us some clues about where she's going to take us, how she will do it, and how she will take us back... Beautiful, very clever!

So her plan looks more like a circle:

Starting her circle with:

 Her personal story, how having written this huge success "Eat ,Pray and Love", could have driven her to anxiety or depression.

1. Brief history of demons and genius in ancient Greece and Rome
2. The huge error of rational humanism and Renaissance
3. Story of the Poet Ruth Stone
4. Story of the Musician Tom Waits

Circles back to: 

The impact of these stories on her writing and how accepting this "glimpse of god" could save TODAY creative people from madness.

My tip: The more aligned you are with your words, the better they will flow...

Again:

• You can perform on a stage with nothing else but your presence,yourself, no technology.
• You can rely on stories and myths to give flesh to your talk.
• You can be perfectly structured with elegance and flow.

Elizabeth Gilbert is the author of Eat, Pray,Love, the mega Best Seller which is soon to be a movie starring Julia Roberts.

So, Olé to you , show up for your next presentation, and do your job!

If the glimpse of god visits you, Ole!

If not? Ole to you anyway, just for having the courage to show up and talk.

The Future of Story Telling

 "Don't worry sweetheart, I 'll bring my iPhone!"

Just imagine yourself, with your kid or grandchild, reading his (her) favorite bedtime story,with a classic children book

 and ...your iPhone!

Watch this incredible (very short 1:53 min) video where a classical children book is being read WITH the kid, thanks to an iPhone touch screen inserted in the book (I love the moment when the little red fishes are attracted like magnets by the finger)

"I was completely blown away by this video the first time through. Such a simple, low-tech, solution produces such an amazingly rich, engaging experience that’s just bursting with possibility for further creativity.

While it’s just a concept at this point, you can see how it can make a new kind of storytelling available to the masses in a way that wouldn’t have seemed possible not that long ago."

Alex Rainert. His twitter bio:" I love design. I'm partial to the intersection of mobility & social behavior. Years ago I co-founded dodgeball. I currently run the Design group at Schematic NY".

So, what does it have to do with Presentation Skills and Public Speaking?

I see the future of Presentations including Storytelling, interactivity and creativity.

I'm not sure yet how it will be implemented, but there is room for innovation, and this could just be fantastic!

Imagine if we could design workshop books and masterclass like that?

Our audience would be able to follow what we say and show and at the same time experience with their touch the discovery of new concepts..., at their own rythm.

Therefore, we need to develop storytelling skills, as well as creative narrative design and skills.

I'd love to collaborate with designers and learning experts to create innovative learning tools...

Mixing the most ancient oral tradition with the most sophisticated technology.

Anyone interested?

How to develop discipline, when you're Curious and Eclectic...

This is the second post, after The Naked Speaker, of a new serie I have started in November. My Blog is just one year old and during this time, I have been writing on plenty of interesting topics, when I felt like it, when I could squeeze some precious time, but not really disciplined nor focused on anything special.It turned out as a very fruitful and joyful experience,teaching me a lot about myself and my wide and eclectic range of interests, but now I want to take it at the next level.

• I decided to select my "categories" strictly in relation with presentation and communication skills (for instance, I refrained from blogging today about Claude Levi-Strauss, it would have carried me away too far...)
• I decided to also limit the blogs I follow and comment on (I used to read and comment many fantastic blogs like leadership blogs, creativiy blogs, learning blogs, design, story telling , innovation, etc...)
• I commited myself to post twice a week. (Ah, I've said it, I've written it, now it's going to be the toughest point to keep!)

My objective is to use this blog as a platform for giving and sharing my reflections and tips , just like I did receive and learn from Olivia Mitchell and Garr Reynolds 's blogs (to quote only two...please visit any of them on the column on your left. They're all excelent.)

Please give me your feedback and comments, so that I can share what is the most valuable and interesting for you.

This post is "naked" too. No make up. No glossy pictures (I miss them) no cartoon, no video, no hyperlink . Plain.( Hmmm, maybe a little too minimalist.)

But it's friday, and tomorrow we celebrate my father in law's 80 th birthday, with 35 family members, the whole week end at home!

So, here we go! No time to put any make up, wanted to post my "declaration" to you. :-)

#FollowFriday Interactive Mindmap

Et voilà!

I am a little of a mother-hen, you know, and I love the idea of seeing all my Tweeples around me!

If you want to know who my favorite tweeples are : Click here   be a little patient for Mindjet player to appear, it can take one minute or two max!

(bare in mind that it's a living organism and will go through many changes...some chickens may escape, I may adopt some new ones..)

Meanwhile, I wanted to share this with you.

It has only be possible thanks to @michaeldeutch 's great help!

Michael is offically Mindjet Chief Evangelist in San Francisco.

In fact , he's a Mind Mapping Whiz Artist :)

Thanks a lot, Michael!