Wanderlust and Words

We view annual reports as an obligation, and we stuff them full of facts and figures. Are they interesting to read? Do they generate interest and support for your organization? Not usually. But they can. Let me show you two annual reports that are fun to read and provide greater understanding of the organizations’ purpose and culture. Although these are online reports, you could use the same storytelling techniques in written reports. Victoria Police Department The Victoria Police Department in British Columbia set out to create a positive public image with an online, interactive annual report. Real staff tell real stories. Sergeant Alan Cochrane explains how the seizure of a drug vehicle uncovered a case of identity theft; Karen Wallis tells us about one of their most active crime prevention volunteers; and the section on the Call Centre includes actual examples of receiving and responding to 911 calls. There are a few technical glitches, but those don’t seem very important ...

Capture the audience’s attention with the title of your presentation. Take a stand, starting with the presentation title, recommends Scott Berkun in Confessions of a Public Speaker . Don’t try and address a broad, abstract topic. Argue a specific point of view, one that you are passionate about. If you’re bored, your audience will be too. Ensure that your title is concrete and focussed so that the audience immediately grasps what you will be covering and why it will be valuable to them. And include a hook that grabs people’s attention and helps you define your topic. For example, “Green Eggs and Brainstorming: How to Learn Creativity from Reading Dr. Seuss” is far more interesting, for you and the audience, than “Creativity for Beginners.” Note: This is the first of a series of public speaking tips based on my research in this area.

When applying for a job, it’s essential to stand out from the crowd and to demonstrate that you are the best person for the job. The most effective way to do this is by providing concrete examples of your achievements. Don’t just state that you are a great chef or a great salesperson – show us. And turn it into a story. Tell us about the time that your client’s computer crashed and you stayed up half the night to identify and fix the problem. Tell us about the time there was a power cut half an hour before you were supposed to serve dinner to 500 people. Describe the wine tasting and culinary day trip you developed and marketed to international tour operators. It’s a story with a hero – YOU – and action – the problem you solved – and a happy ending – satisfied customers. Seeing is Believing Now take your storytelling one step further by not only telling us what you can do but by showing us. It’s standard practice for artists and designers to maintain a portfolio of their work. Y...

Ask the right question, and it’s the start of a great discussion. Ask the wrong question, and you bring the conversation to an abrupt end. In an interesting article on How to Ask Better Questions , Judith Ross says that questions can empower the other person by conveying respect and encouraging the development of their problem-solving skills. Or they can disempower the other person and undercut their self confidence by focusing on failure or on promoting the questioner’s personal agenda. Ross states that, "the most effective and empowering questions create value in one or more of the following ways: 1. They create clarity: "Can you explain more about this situation?" 2. They construct better working relations: Instead of "Did you make your sales goal?" ask, "How have sales been going?" 3. They help people think analytically and critically: "What are the consequences of going this route?" 4. They inspire people to reflect and s...

In past decades, North Americans turned their back on downtown areas and moved to the suburbs. Jennifer Keesmaat, an urban planner who specializes in mid-size Canadian cities, speaking at last night’s Great Places lecture in Saskatoon, says that this trend has been reversed. Young people are choosing to live in an urban environment that offers vibrant culture and commerce, human interaction and a sense of authenticity. Suburbs, regardless of the city or the province, all look the same. But the downtown core of each city is unique. Keesmaat says the time has come to reinvest in the downtown core of mid-sized Canadian cities. But how do you do it? 1.  Be intentional. You need to develop a policy framework that will ensure predictable outcomes. You need a vision that is large enough to inspire and mobilize with leaders who are prepared to go beyond consensus so as to expand the possibilities. You need to nurture champions, political and community leaders who will advocate for ur...

When we’re applying for a job, we focus on the potential benefits to ourselves – more money, more interesting position, convenient location. But that won’t help us land the job. The focus in a resume and cover letter must be on, “What do I have to offer the potential employer?” Unique Skills Each of us offers a unique combination of skills and experience. Stand out from the crowd by identifying in your cover letter what you have to offer that nobody else can offer and that makes you a perfect fit for the job. If you are a great cook and you enjoy teaching, you’re the perfect person to teach a cooking class. If you are an accountant who has worked in several different countries, you are well equipped to help international businesses. Concrete Examples Resumes and cover letters are a form of show and tell. Don’t just say that you are good at sales, demonstrate it by providing concrete examples of how many sales you made in the last quarter and how much new business you have gener...

We are barraged by experts telling us we must use social media to market our products or ourselves. Far too often the focus is on which social media tools are available rather than how they can help us meet our goals. Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies by Charlene Li & Josh Bernoff is well worth reading as it focuses on how the different social media tools can be used. Create: My blog satisfies a desire for self expression. Listen: If you’re an information junkie like me, you thrive on finding new sources of information and ideas online. React: Many of us rely on TripAdvisor and Amazon for their hotel or book reviews. Connect: Socially-minded people flock to Facebook because it provides an alternate way to chat with friends and family. Organize: Google Reader , Delicious and Picasa are invaluable. They help me organize my online files and make it easy for me to share pertinent information with other people. Collaborate: I firml...

Monday, April 19, 7 pm, Broadway Theatre, Saskatoon Jennifer Keesmaat, a founding partner of Office for Urbanism, a Toronto planning and design firm, will give a free public presentation on how we might direct our efforts to unleash the full potential for civic life and quality development in Saskatoon's downtown through ambitious planning and urban design. Ms. Keesmaat is an award-winning city planner. She is leading the production of the City of Mississauga's new Official Plan and has completed streetscape, transportation, culture planning, community engagement, urban design and place-making projects across Canada and internationally. She recently completed downtown plans for the City of Regina and the Regional Municipality of Halifax. Following Ms. Keesmaat’s presentation and open discussion there will be a reception hosted by the University of Saskatchewan’s Regional & Urban Planning Program and the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. The talk is sponsored by Gr...

I have been struggling to write the Help for a software application that has two separate groups of users and two separate interfaces. What a nightmare! And yet, it’s been really positive because it forced me to focus on the users and their needs. Who are they? What are they trying to do? What do they see when they look at the screen? Software users don’t care how a program works. They want to know how to use it. So I don’t simply explain all the different fields and functions. I also provide step-by-step instructions on how to do specific tasks – How do I set up a satellite interface, How do I import fuel downloads. The focus of every writing project must be its audience, and it must address the question the reader will be asking, “What’s in it for me?” It can be great prose, but if it’s not relevant to the reader, they won’t bother to read it.

I used to take a lot of pride in my job title. It was effective shorthand for demonstrating to myself and other people what I had accomplished. Going out on my own and establishing a freelance business involved taking a risk. Expanding my business is even more frightening. But it always revolves around the same question: How brave am I? Am I prepared to risk failure? And, perhaps even more important, what will other people think? I am filled with admiration for people who are so driven by passion that they stop at nothing to achieve results. Charlie Hamilton James has been photographing kingfishers for over 20 years. He skipped school to photograph them. He’s prepared to spend motionless days in a hide or a pit in the ground in order to try and obtain the perfect shot. And his obsession has paid off. The photographs in his book, Kingfisher – Tales from the Halcyon River , are absolutely fantastic. Wildlife photographer Greg du Toit was determined to capture the perfect photograph...