Author Archives: Kerch McConlogue

What do you want?

Richard Reardon over at his R&R Business Development Blog started talking about the difference between “wanting change” and “wanting to change.” That’s an interesting distinction.

He suggests that looking at what you have now is the place to look for clues to what you need.

I’m thinking that what I have now is not much help in deciding what to change. I have stuff and I have plans and that’s precisely what keeps me stuck where I am. Perhaps if YOU look at my stuff, YOU might get a clue about what I need. But it’s not your life.

But if I think I want to move to a new house that would indicate a specific change and a plan of action to be developed — lots of stuff has to go away from this house and lots of little things need to get fixed on a more immediate time table.

But if I didn’t know that moving was the change I had in mind, then no amount of looking at my stuff would give me the impetus to rent a dumpster.

So I’m thinking a different first clue is to ask what is it that you don’t want? Then look at the opposite of that and see if that is what you DO want — or if maybe it points at least in the right direction.

Personally, I need pencil and paper to figure out the opposites and that gives me a nice list in the end. And I love lists.

Powerpoint: Does it really suck out your brains? Or does it just suck?

For so long I have hated Power Point presentations.
So many speakers making stupid stuff jump and fade and zip… just because they can. Too much attention to the process and not enough to the product. Reminds me of when I built my first website and my hobbiest webguy wanted things to blink… Just because he knew how to do it!

YUK!

Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, AU) reports on a study done at the University of NSW.. oooo, science. In part the paper says:

… the research shows the human brain processes and retains more information if it is digested in either its verbal or written form, but not both at the same time.

They also make a point for presenting students with problems including the answers — instead of asking students to figure them out for themselves. I’m not sure how I feel about that so I won’t comment on that for now. But I digress.

I originally caught up with the story at The Register (whose tag line I just love: biting the hand that feeds IT)

I was also glad to read comment after comment reminding the world that presentations are performances. It takes a certain kind of person to actually enjoy standing in front of a crowd and sharing information — not reciting it from memory, or from notes, or horror of horrors, from a prescripted page.

All this speaks to my current frustration with conferences looking for speakers. They want quality presentations but then they don’t include a way for the judges to hear the speaker or even to get references from people who have heard the speaker. (Hm, maybe speakers should ask for contact information of anyone in the audience who would be willing to say they heard you speak. That sure would be an easy way for people to give you a “tip” for your time.)

No matter how interesting the topic, a poor performer won’t teach much. But a speaker who is really engaged with his or her audience, someone who knows the subject and can make it real, doesn’t need much more than the illustrations on a blackboard, er, powerpoint slide to make the points.

Oh, to get up in the morning

I have a fascination with gadgets and ideas that just might help. Check out my post about practicing yourself out of bed from the other day…

jumpingclock
But how about this! LifeHack.org showed me a new possibility: an alarm clock that moves around the room.. all by itself. Looks like it only moves after you hit snooze. But what if it moved ALL the time? Not being able to even find it to hit snooze would seem to be a real benefit!

More thoughts on Web 2.0 … The Machine is Us/ing Us

Got my speakers going and checked the sound on the link for the last post.
Then I stumbled on this similarly produced pencil and paper reply. I just had to share it.

I’m thinking here about conversation and growth of ideas.

The original Wesch video Web 2.0 … The Machine is Us/ing Us explained something, the follow-up by CoryTheRaven questioned the thought. It reminded me that some time ago I saw this post from ResourceShelf about a Webcast Online: Why Large Companies Should Out-Innovate Small Ones

They referenced a weblecture by Dan Hesse where he suggested that big companies “make it impossible for the smaller guys to compete.”

But the fact of the matter is this: Ideas don’t come from teams. Ideas come from individuals. It is key to growth of the idea that others participate in the development of the full concept. But the idea has to start someplace.

Somebody has to ask that first question. Somebody has to say — out loud — in a meeting, “The Emperor has no clothes.” Somebody has to say, “Wouldn’t it be cool if we didn’t need to use candle light to see?”

Or perhaps better put, someone has to first imagine that there is a question. Ask it and begin to find the answer.

So
Happy viewing. Happy thinking. Happy writing.
Share your thoughts or ideas, or no one gets the benefit.

Tell me what you think.

What is Web 2.0?

Web2_0
Have you been hearing references to Web 2.0 and don’t quite get what that means… No, it’s not a new programing language. If you want the whole magilla on it, check out this piece over at O’Reilly Media for more information than you could possibly need, unless, of course, you DO need it. (BTW, you should know, there is more than one O’Reilly in the world)

But if you just want to get the basic idea so you can sound smart at parties, check out this great video hosted over on YouTube explaining Web 2.0 by Michael Wesch, associate professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University.

I have to tell you that the new set up of my machine is not quite complete and has left me without speakers… but I didn’t want to wait to tell you about great video. It easily gets the message across even in silence. My apologies if the sound is weird… but I’m betting it’s not.

I don’t know how many people might notice that the beginning of this short flick looks an awful lot like “Why Man Creates” the 1968 classic short film by Saul Bass.

I must have seen that movie 20 times while I was in college. Art professors showed it as well as my favorite Math King, Marvin Brubaker, who retired last year from Messiah College in Grantham, PA. (He once told me he was the only democrat there… OK, maybe one of a very few.) But they honored him at a great retirement gig that I was pleased to attend.

Funny how your favorite professor, who you thought really liked you best, really seemed to like everyone best? How cool is that? How fortunate for those of us who felt special … even if it was less than we really imagined.