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Dear Stomp: Are you hiring?

I saw this show with my Mom in London, England.  It was amazing.  AMAZING.
I’m not sure how, but my Mom fell asleep.

She told me afterwards that she was surprised that there were other people out there who were like me (referring to the performers).  She was half-joking, but I will admit, I gave her a hard time growing up “making music” with my tap shoes (on the forbidden tiles) and with the pots and pans (as I was doing the dishes or putting them back in their respective places in the cupboards less than steadfastly).

Anyway, if anyone wants to start a Stomp-like show for amateurs in Toronto …. Find me and let me loose!

Making sense of blogs and blogging

This is a great explanation about blogs, produced by Common Craft.

This post is for people who ask me what blogging is and still don’t really get it because I never seem to have any cut-out images handy to aid in my over-gesticulated explanation.

They have created a few other videos explaining social media and social media tools, available on their blog and YouTube.  I would say that they probably explain them better than you, I, or even Wikipedia can.  Their videos are concise (a few minutes long), use plain language (no tech or other jargon) and are entertaining to watch.

In fact, I love what they do.  To me, this demonstrates what great communications should be:  easy to understand; easy and quick to consume; creative, unique and stylish.

The most sought after gift on your list this season: sleep.

How to squeeze in more ZZZs in three steps or less

Getting a good night’s sleep isn’t just for beauty-sake. It’s for you.

“You-time,” is a necessity, and to many, a luxury. Always in high demand, but always in seemingly low supply. You can blame the kids, the weather and while we’re at it – why not the economy? But the reality is—you can’t get that extra hour or two back once it’s gone (not even if you’re armed with a crackberry and a pot full of that magical Starbucks’ brew).

Companies know this all too well. In fact, many products never fail to capitalize off of this concept. Consider Nintendo Brain Age, Scratch n’ Win lotto tickets or even KitKat chocolate bars– all of which promise an “escape” of sorts, even if for a fleeting moment. But they can’t successfully recharge your mind and body, increase your beauty, nor provide any proven long-term health benefits.

Sleep can. Studies prove it and doctors promote it. But there’s no magic number. According to a recent study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers who observed more than 1,200 Japanese patients with high blood pressure, found that getting less than 7.5 hours of sleep per night increases the risk of stroke or heart attack.

And even if you don’t have high blood pressure, Doctors have linked sleep deprivation to a number of health problems in addition to heart disease and high blood pressure, including diabetes and obesity.

So instead of incurring more stress this holiday season by spending your time, money and thoughts on gimmicks and gooey treats—why not squeeze in some more “you time” by catching some extra “zzz’s”?

More sleep = more “you time” = you win.

Here’s how: (These are the steps that you probably know you should take, but don’t – ie. A “kick-in-the-pants-list.”)

Step One:

Avoid caffeinated beverages in the afternoon or evening and if it’s not asking too much, chocolate. You may also want to avoid scheduling your workout too close to bedtime so your body has time to recover from the adrenaline and post-workout endorphins.

Step Two:

Get everything off your mind before you get into bed. Pack your lunch, place everything you need for the next day in one spot, and write a list of all the things you tell yourself to remember but never can because you were too stubborn or lazy to write them down in the first place. When you wake up, the list will be quicker than your brain—and you can sleep during the 15 additional minutes it would have taken you to remember those things!

Step Three:

Accept that it takes time for your body to adapt to a new schedule. So just like when you train a child, repetition is key. For example, if getting a minimum of seven to eight hours means you have to be asleep by 10 p.m., you should be snuggled up in bed by 9 p.m. Still can’t fall asleep? You may read anything unrelated to work, learning or the economy. The point is to shut most of your brain down. Dreaming is optional.

Finally, good luck, sleep well, and perhaps even if you don’t look younger in the morning, you’ll feel rejuvenated!

Have a wonderful holiday season!

Talking the Doc-talk

doc·tor·speak (dktr-spk) n. Specialized or technical language used by physicians and others working in health care; medical jargon.

The Communicator’s Role:

Take complex ideas and boil them down to simple terms, organized in a logical manner and including only what is essential for your target audience to digest in order to understand the main idea.

Here’s my problem- I’m starting to understand all of these complex terms and instead of using simpler terms, I’m getting caught up with trying to be accurate — and I’m defending using them!

Help!

So here’s my list so far…

1. Utilize. Use? (This one’s easy. Anything with an “ize” is unnecessary.)
2. Facilitate. Help? (Ok, not so hard.)
3. Sequelae…. yeah, I dare you to try to pronounce this one. This is a noun, in plural form, which refers to a morbid condition or symptom following a disease. After-effects?
4. Symptom. I thought this was okay to use, but there is a better word- effect!

There’s tons more, but a lot of it it just unnecessary. So instead of boiling it down to simpler terms, it gets cut because it’s not essential in understanding the main idea or message. Like: “… in the sub-acute phase…”

I must say, this does inspire creativity and more variety for scrabble night!

Nine Tips for Social Media Newbies

#1: USE SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS

Who’s online? Why are they using these tools? Before you develop a presence online, it’s important to try the tools out for yourself. Create your own blog, sign up for Twitter, fill out a profile on LinkedIn – where ever you want to start. They all have something in common: they are tools for researching, aggregating, organizing and conversing—whatever YOU decide they are for. The Internet is about the user, what is relevant to the individual.

Once you have an idea about how you like to use these tools, you can be a better judge of how it makes sense to use these tools as a company. You don’t have to use every tool. You just need to be a good judge of when and where it makes sense to use the tools – where you should be connecting and who you should be connecting with and what the end goal is for the company.

#2: IT’S OK TO SAY, “I DON’T GET IT”

When in doubt, YouTube it. There are so many tools, how do you keep up? Why bother learning about the next one? Well, the good thing about new tools is that hopefully the next tool is better at serving all of our needs at once and even more user-friendly. Better than having an abundance of tools to choose from, is having even more ways of explaining them. If you are a visual learner, or would like to see the tool in action before you sign up for it, or just need a little more prodding – there’s usually a “how to” or mini-tutorial styled video on YouTube.

#3: READ TERMS OF SERVICE

Always read the terms of service (TOS) agreement before you sign up to use any online tools. Most online tools are free. Wrong. They are offered to you free of charge, but in return, they may be collecting your data or selling the opportunity for advertisers to promote their products and services to you. As Adam Smith said, “there’s no such thing as a free lunch.” There isn’t anything wrong with this business model so long as the practice of what they are doing with your information is transparent. For you and me, it’s a question of privacy. You are in control of what you choose to make public, but once it’s up on the screen, do you have control over it? The option to delete it?

THE FIRST STEP IS LISTENING

#4: MONITORING MADE EASY.

What is being said about you right now? Not last year, or even last week – but within the last 10 minutes? Knowing what is being said about you and in response to what you have published online (and offline) is pivotal to anticipating issues or crisis before it hits. It also means taking advantage of opportunities before they surface – before your competition sniffs them out. Using Google Alerts, is a great way to monitor information that may relate to your business or industry. However, key word searches, regardless of how specific your search terms are, may not always return relevant information. So use RSS feeds in conjunction with google alerts. Seek out credible, in-the-know people who blog about things pertinent to your industry or your business itself. Subscribe to their RSS feeds so that it is either placed in your e-mail inbox, or use tools like iGoogle or Google Reader which aggregate all of your feeds in one window. Using a tool like Google Reader is great because your RSS feeds can be read right away, without having to link to the page of origin. Secondly, your inbox will be limited to items that require responses (hopefully).

#5: RESEARCH IS DELICIOUS

Research what is relevant to you, bookmark it so you can refer to it later and now… share your list of favourites, in real-time, with anyone who has access to the Internet and the address for your de.licio.us page site. Social bookmarking tools, like this one, allow you to access a list of links to your favourite or most frequented sites at any computer that has an Internet connection. They can also make research easy. For example, if you are interested in a green lifestyle, you could research the term “eco-friendly,” click on a few links that interest you, check out who saved those links and see if they saved other relevant links on this subject. You can then subscribe to this person’s network and every time they find something of interest on this subject matter, it will show up on your network. It’s almost effortless and if done correctly, you will get targeted, quality information. Instead of spending time searching for the information, you just have to sort through it. Now that’s “e.ffic.ient” (however, “delicious” sounds and looks much better).

THE SECOND STEP IS SPEAKING

#6: BLOGS- Enough listening, have your say!

Blogging can be a great tool to set yourself and your company up as leaders in your industry. It can be a great way to stay in touch with both your employees and your customers. You can control the content that is published, including some, none or all comments from readers. You should start by reading all sorts of blogs. Check out what comments are being made, by whom and how the blog author moderates them. When designing content for your blog think about how it will provide your company with a name, face and personality.

#7: No time to blog? Too busy reading blogs? MICRO-BLOG.

Twitter, Jaiku, Plurk – these are all examples of tools that allow you to say/post/publish something in 140 words or less, as frequently as you see fit. You can use these tools like you would on Facebook, to tell other people on your network what your online status is, what you’re doing at the moment, or maybe post an interesting quote. OR, you can use it to add value to the conversation online by providing a link to an interesting article, posing an interesting question, or sharing a quick tip, piece of information. As a many-to-many medium, I would recommend focusing on the latter. When sharing links, use Tiny URL to free up space.

#8: USER IS KING, BUT USE FIRST-PERSON INSTEAD OF THE ROYAL “WE”

When you communicate online, as opposed to a one-to-many medium (such as television, radio, or print) remember to make it personal or at least conversational. When you respond with a key message, like

“we pride ourselves on providing the best price, selection and service for our customers,”

it is not useful and it’s a little stiff. How can you add value to the conversation? Or solve the user’s problem? “Key messages” sound like this online: “blah, blah, corporate blah, blah, blah.” Solve the problem, provide some options, ask how you can help, or tell us how else we can have our say.

#9: HIT “PRINT SCREEN”

Links expire. Content changes, gets deleted, or becomes hidden. If you want to be 100 per cent sure that the links you provide will take your readers to the right page — every time – use the print screen button to capture an image of it. Also, if someone has said something negative or inappropriate, capture an image of it and ensure that administrators of that site or tool are aware.

In the same light, everything in writing is just that – public record and in writing. The same rules apply online for everyone.

Happy “creeping” surfing!

Do schools today kill creativity?

This is entertaining, intelligent and inspirational. Check it out when you have 20 minutes.