Future-Proof your Education

Future-Proof Your Education on Prezi

One of the key themes of our TEDxUBC event was around the challenge of teaching for a Fast Forward World.  This presentation by Maria Anderson gets it right!  Great video content - love the IOS video by Xerox.

Prezi Meeting - Best new way to meet and collaborate

I have used Prezi for well over a year now and always find the response to it excellent.  Just wanted to share a feature they introduced this fall which now makes collaboration and presentation sharing even better.  Check it out in the video.

TEDxUBC - Jeffrey Piontek - Teaching Jetson Children In Flintstone Schools

Latest video from our TEDxUBC event.

TedxUBC - Barry MacDonald - Boy Smarts: Making Sense of Learning for Boys

Reflections from TEDxUBC, FastForwardEd

Can we afford to wait for the next generation of educators to “be the change”? Tomorrow’s teachers are in our classrooms today! @terryainge #TEDxUBC

Much more to come from the event, er, movement. One of the most amazing experiences of my life as the TEDx licensee.  What an incredible mash-up of teenagers, university students and adults passionate about helping youth succeed.

TEDxUBC trended at #2 in Vancouver on Twitter (ahead of the Canucks!) during the event yesterday and was one of the Top 10 Vancouver trends of the week according to Trendsmap.com. Over 100 people watching the livestream, others mind-mapping online, prizes for best tweet, entertainment and mostly The Power of Youth.  Here's a screen capture from our Wall of Tweets.

Thank you next generation for letting this generation serve you.

The Directors of TEDxUBC: Faye Chen, Randy Sangha, David McMichael, Judy Eng and myself are amazed and humbled by the talent and enthusiasm of our student volunteers and contestants. Our generation is truly in good hands when your turn comes.

Oh right, it's already your turn.

Here's how you can get involved in rethinking, remixing, hacking and creating a 21st century solution for our education system.  Get involved, starting with the links below:

• Build on the speaker’s, attendees and viewer’s ideas with TED Talk mind-mapping courtesy of Mindmeister.
• Join the conversation on Facebook at www.facebook.com/tedxubc
• Join the Wall of Tweets by posting with the hashtag #tedxubc on Twitter.
• View the TEDxUBC photo stream on Flickr.

TEDxUBC speakers and directors: Bill Jensen, Matt Giammarino, Chris Kennedy, Carla Rieger, Sunddip Panesar Nahal, Dan Pontefract, Paul Cubbon, Yellow Banana,  Josh Klein, Bret Conkin, Alex Jurgensen, Jeff Piontek, Faye Chen, David McMichael (missing: Basil Peters, Barry MacDonald, Elysa Hogg,  Judy Eng, Randy Sangha) 

Join the conversation. The first step to a learning revolution.  

The action step is then up to you!  

Take a cue from best tweet prize winner Terry Ainge an innovative teacher in Delta.  Fittingly, we presented Terry with a copy of TEDTalk speakers  Josh Klein and Bill Jensen's Hacking Work.

@terryainge Can we afford to wait for the next generation of educators to “be the change”? Tomorrow’s teachers are in our classrooms today!

Social Media 101 Small Business Panel -Squamish Oct. 27th

A little event I'm working on....

Fast forward education with TEDxUBC

Leading thinkers and innovators in business and technology education to inspire a new generation

Vancouver, BC – The first TEDx event ever to be held in downtown Vancouver, TEDxUBC, takes place on Oct. 23, 2010. Themed FastForwardEd, the event will help shape the future of business and technology education in British Columbia’s secondary and post-secondary institutions. In the spirit of TED, TEDxUBC is an independently organized, one-day event combining live speakers and TEDTalk videos to spark deep discussion and connection in the education, business and technology sectors.

“How do you educate students for jobs that don’t yet exist? What skills will you need to be successful in the 21^st century? TEDxUBC was created to help answer these questions,” says Bret Conkin, Co-organizer and Licensee of TEDxUBC.

“It’s a grassroots forum on key education issues that will shape secondary and post-secondary education in the 21^st century,” he continued. “We’re bringing together 100 key leaders and innovators in business and education, who together can help spread ideas about the skills needed in the work force vs. those currently being taught, all in the unique spirit of TED.”

Presenters at TEDxUBC:

TEDxUBC will take place at UBC’s Robson Square campus in downtown Vancouver and will feature renowned local and international thinkers.

Josh Klein is a hacker of all things, including social systems, computer networks, institutions, animal behavior and corporate culture. His book, Hacking Work: Breaking Stupid Rules for Smart Results, has been hailed as “one of the breakthrough ideas for 2010” by the Harvard Business Review. At TED2008, he delivered a speech on the intelligence of crows and the possibilities of forming mutually-beneficial systems between humans and animals.

Bill Jensen’s credits include authoring Work 2.0, Building the Future, One Employee at a Time and the recent co-release with fellow TEDxUBC presenter Josh Klein, Hacking Work.  Harvard Business Review, CNBC and Fast Company have called Bill today’s foremost expert on work complexity, helping people to do less and accomplish more.  Bill is a passionate simpleton and an outspoken gadfly against corporate stupidity that wastes people’s time, attention and dreams.

Alex Jurgensen is a young entrepreneur who enjoys speaking about and using technology, with a special focus on products and services designed to be used by everyone. As a secondary student, he is a strong believer in the principles of universally-designed learning.

Barry MacDonald is a registered clinical counselor, educator, and international advocate for learners—especially boys—who struggle with traditional classroom learning. As the founder of MentoringBoys.com and best-selling author of Boy Smarts, Barry was identified as one of 25 Influential People to Watch by the Vancouver Sun for his innovative approaches to mentoring boys for success.

For much more on TEDxUBC, visit http://tedxubc.com

Is Social Media a Fad? - Social Networking Workshop Part II

In part II of my Social Networking Workshop, I cover the key question that small and medium businesses have on social networking (see my previous post).  They include: Is social media a fad?  Will it take too much time?  Does it matter?  These slides address some of those questions and I speak to those points and walk the attendees through exercises to apply the fit check for their business.Snsb section july 30 section ii

Please note that, unfortunately the SlideShare widget, strips out some of the embedded media and links.  There are two key videos that I share that you should spend the time to watch to better understand this matter.  The first is  Is Social Media a Fad?

The second video is by Seth Godin answering the question about Is Social Media right for Small Business. Seth really explains the difference between "friends" and "real relationships" and how the latter is what can drive your business.

Parts III - V will be posted in coming days.  If you would like to book Bret to present a workshop on social media and networking or provide consulting to your business, contact him here.

So, what do you think about Social Media? What's been your experience?  Please add a comment.

View more presentations from Bret Conkin.

Social Networking Simplified - A Small Business Primer - Part I

Simplifying Social Networking for Small Business Part I

Here is Part I of the recent workshop done in Squamish for 50 entrepreneurs.  The response was very positive and I look forward to the upcoming one-on-one consulting sessions.

Unfortunately this widget from Slideshare tends to mess with some of the formatting.  That said, hope you find it useful.
View more presentations from Bret Conkin.

Where do I start with Social Networking?

This is the common question seasoned and new entrepreneurs are asking as they consider jumping on the Social media Bandwagon.  Barraged with news reports and friends talking about Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, small businesses feel like they should be active in social media.

The big barrier is their concern about the time investment to both learn about and execute social media and, most importantly, what to do.  As I consult to and present workshops on the subject here is some of the advice I share with them.  Hope this may be helpful to you too.

The number one mistake made is to jump right into the tactics.  To decide that all of a sudden you are going to blog, tweet or make someone the mayor on Foursquare.  This is folly unless you frame your action by considering your marketing strategy first!

• Who is your primary audience?
• Are they likely to be found on social media?
• What content can you share that would create connection and engage them?
• Who are the key influencers in the social media channels for your niche?
• Do you understand the fundamentals of social media so you can be efficient?   Like tools that publish your content across multiple channels,  or the right frequency to optimize SEO?
• What are the advantages of social networking and social media vs. traditional interruption marketing?     

These are some of the key questions that must be asked to make your time investment worthwhile.  Remember, even if you decide not to jump on the bandwagon, that doesn't mean that your prospects and customers are not talking about you or the problems you can solve!  

Look for my presentation slides from the workshops I have been doing in Squamish for Howe Sound entrepreneurs in a future post.  In the meantime, start to listen and learn by checking out your competitor's social media activity (start with a search on Twitter or Facebook) and by following some key voices that matter in your area of business online.  There are a wealth of resources that just might make your business more successful and sociable!   

Social Networking for Small Business Workshop

This is an overview of a workshop I'm doing for 40 or so entrepreneurs in the Howe Sound area for one of my clients this July.  Just recalling that there was the Whistler forest fire last summer when I did a Selling Skills workshop in Squamish.  While I am looking forward to creating more small business sparks this year, let's hold off on the fires!

Common craft has a great video on social networking in Plain English well worth checking out here.  

Tweet. Yelp. Four Square. LOL.  What the heck are they and why do they matter to your small business?  Social networking is a hot topic but like a second language, putting it into practice can get very confusing.  Like most small businesses you may be trying to sort out social networking myth from reality, whether it can work for you and why.  In this workshop, you will view examples and learn in plain language how social networking can be a powerful and low cost way to connect, prospect, reward customers and gain word of mouth.

Topics include personal vs. small business social networking, social media vs. traditional media, privacy, measurement and hands-on practice applying this learning to your small business.  Plus discover 10 free networking and promotion applications you can use on Monday.  So, get Linked In and avoid having your HUB, LDO (texting acronyms for Head up Butt, Like Duh, Obviously).

Digital Media Investment Trends Panel - Q&A

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Q and A session from May VEF. Part 7 of 7. Danny Robinson of Bootup Labs moderates the panel which includes: Shawn Abbott partner at iNovia Capital Steve Hnatiuk co-founder of Yaletown Ventures Bill Bryant venture partner with DFJ Ventures Kushal Saha Managing Director at Cascadia Capital Digital Media Investment Trends: New Media is a fast growing sector in our local economy. The combined wireless and mobile, video gaming, animation and VFX, web 2.0 and social media, interactive marketing and e-learning sectors includes more than 1,300 companies, it employs 22,000 people, and generates revenues of approximately$3B a year in BC. VEF is hosting an evening with a panel of Canadian and US VCs who invest in the digital media space. They will discuss what they look for when evaluating investment opportunities and give the audience their perspectives and outlook on trends for the sector.