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You will never fit everything in

 

Here is a secret for all speakers:

“You will never fit everything in”

I have seen many presentations where the speaker says “I have three points to share”, and then about five minutes before the end, he says, “Ok, and now my second point…”. This inevitably ends up in his presentation going overtime, or on him rushing through the last two points of his presentation.
This usually happen because the speaker is desperately trying to fit everything in!

The  trick is to realise that you will not fit everything into your speech.

http://www.craigstrachan.com/blog/2009/01/you-will-never-fit-everything-in.html

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Seminar Success Strategies – How to profit from your investment

I've recently returned from a 3 day seminar, full of renewed enthusiasm and information that, when actioned, will make a dramatic difference to all aspects of my business and my personal life.

There were also many other people there, who like myself attend seminars and conferences to gain more knowledge so they too can improve their lives.

However, it's not the knowledge that makes the difference, it's the application of that knowledge.

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Today’s Must-read – The Hour I first believed

hour_first_believedThe Hour I First Believed: A Novel

by Wally Lamb

Wally Lamb's two previous novels, She's Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True, struck a chord with readers. They responded to the intensely introspective nature of the books, and to their lively narrative styles and biting humor. One critic called Wally Lamb a "modern-day Dostoyevsky," whose characters struggle not only with their respective pasts, but with a "mocking, sadistic God" in whom they don't believe but to whom they turn, nevertheless, in times of trouble (New York Times). In his new novel, The Hour I First Believed, Lamb travels well beyond his earlier work and embodies in his fiction myth, psychology, family history stretching back many generations, and the questions of faith that lie at the heart of everyday life.

The result is an extraordinary tour de force, at once a meditation on the human condition and an unflinching yet compassionate evocation of character. The Hour I First Believed is a profound and heart-rending work of fiction. Wally Lamb proves himself a virtuoso storyteller, assembling a variety of voices and an ensemble of characters rich enough to evoke all of humanity.

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Caldecott Medal Goes to Artist Beth Krommes

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Book – One Boy by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

 
A CLASSIC IN THE MAKING FROM THE 2008 CALDECOTT HONOR WINNER

ONE BOY is a perfect example of why Kirkus Reviews calls Laura Vaccaro Seeger the “emerging master of the concept book”—a die-cut book exploring counting and words-within-words, and the power of art and imagination.

 

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Audio Visual Presentations

 

Even the best messages can be ruined by a bad presentation. To get your information across effectively and to generate the right response from your audience, you need to know how to use audiovisual technology to your advantage.

Interested in how to improve your presentation? Read on for some audiovisual presentation dos and don’ts.

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Book – Sorry by Gail Jones

 

sorrySorry                                                                 Shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award

 

by Gail Jones

A story of sacrifice, silence and forgiveness from Jones (Dreams of Speaking, 2006, etc.).Perdita Keene is a little girl growing up in the Australian bush in the late 1930s. Her parents are English. Her father is an anthropologist, but his studies of Australia's native people are never going to produce bold, revelatory theories about primitive humans, and he is never going to return to Oxford as a renowned scholar. Her mother had no idea, when she got married, that her husband would take her to the remote ends of the world. Her only consolation is Shakespeare. He is her religion, and she knows whole plays and sonnets by heart. The Keene marriage is a loveless one, and they make no effort to shield their daughter from the knowledge that she was a mistake. The only kindness Perdita has ever known is that of Aboriginal caretakers, and her only friends are misfits. Billy is deaf and mute - generally considered to be an idiot - and Mary is a native and an orphan. The fulcrum around which this novel revolves is the murder of Perdita's father. The narrative returns to it again and again, each time revealing new information. When Perdita finally understands what really happened, when she struggles to find a proper response to her new and horrible knowing, the story resolves into an allegory about Australia, about the lopsided and lamentable relationship between white settlers and natives. Allegory is not, of course, a form known for its rich character development, and readers seeking narrative intimacy will be disappointed. Jones has a cool, ornate style. She always chooses the philosophical over the mawkish, the universal over the particular. This keeps her tale of neglect, abuse and murder from descending into melodrama, but it also keeps the reader at a distance. Jones's rhetorical flourishes are often arresting, but her psychological insights tend toward the trite.Poignant, but unsatisfying. (Kirkus Reviews)

Click here to bubuy this book from Amazon.

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Book – The Geography of bliss

The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World
by Eric Weiner

Fortified with Eeyoreish fatalism—I'm already unhappy. I have nothing to lose—self-confessed grump Eric "Whiner" took a yearlong tour of a very unusual assortment of countries (sample: Holland, Qatar, Bhutan and Iceland), most of which have been chosen because they are home to some of the happiest resident populations in the world, (although a couple are chosen to present a contrast). Weiner is confronted with a few inconvenient truths. Contrary to expectations, neither greater social equality nor greater cultural diversity is associated with greater happiness. In the end, he realized happiness isn't about economics or geography. Maybe it's not even personal so much as relational. There are some interesting conclusions drawn about what does and doesn't make for happiness, about the importance of democracy and wealth (so revered in the US) and how they are part of the answer but far from being the solution.

In the end, Weiner's travel tales provide great happiness for his readers. Weiner has a lovely turn of phrase (reminiscent of Bill Bryson) and although The Geography of Bliss wasn't as laugh-out-loud funny as I expected (more dryly amusing), it is both immensely readable and packed to the gills with fascinating nuggets of information.

If you're looking for a definitive answer to the book's premise, i.e., that happiness is about place, you might be disappointed. If, however, you are game for a journey about exploring that concept, Eric Weiner's book is for you. At once intelligent and witty, Geography of Bliss takes the reader to unfamiliar places to meet strangely familiar people. That's because the essence of what makes us happy (or unhappy) is basically the same everywhere, alloyed only by our culture and circumstances. Weiner has studied the scientific literature on happiness, too, and weaves it into his narrative, which he leavens with a steady stream of clever quips. It's a book that will make you think and laugh on the same page. And, it might just make you happy.

The book can teach Americans some valuable lessons and I recommend it big time.

It takes a chapter or two to decide you like him, and another to realize that you like him a lot, but by the time the trip is over, you find yourself hoping that you'll hit the road together again someday. The Geography of Bliss is a journey too good to be rare.

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The goals you never hear about

From Seth Godin

Doing goal setting with friends and colleagues is always motivating and invigorating for me. You hear things ranging from, "I want to help this village get out of poverty," or "I want to double our market share," or "I want to be financially independent."

What you rarely hear is, "I don't want to fail," "I don't want to look stupid," or "I don't want to make any mistakes."

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/01/the-goals-you-never-hear-about.html

John Updike, Author, Dies at 76

John Updike in the Boston Public Library in 2006.

NEW YORK (AP) -- John Updike, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, prolific man of letters and erudite chronicler of sex, divorce and other adventures in the postwar prime of the American empire, died Tuesday at age 76.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/01/27/books/AP-Obit-Updike.html?_r=2