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Mindmapping - a keen alternative for online video tutorials

Yesterday I gave an update about the vBook project I've been working on.  The new year is looming and, well, I think I'm making great progress. 

I'm pleased to be able to say that most of the content of the paper-based Social Media Report has now been converted to video.  You've already seen some snippets of these in previous blog posts.  (See "About our next video book project" and "The Long Tail in 4 Minutes".)

What I'm trudging through now is developing bonus material that responds to some of the feedback I got about including tutorials for each of the social media platforms we discuss in the book. 

Below is another snippet showing an overview module for one of those tutorials.  The format is to give an overview of the platform discussed (Facebook in this case), and then to follow it up with another video that drills down into more detail about "How to".  The format of the actual tutorial is similar to what you'll see below, except that it'll have more live shots of the platform itself and the "buttonology", as I like to call it.  (I.e., The click-by-step / step-by-click procedure.)

Thanks for the feedback received so far.  Keep 'em coming and let me know if I'm still headed in the right direction.

An update on the vbook to the Social Media Report

On the MindBridj web site today I posted the update above about progress we're making with the vbook (video book) we'll be launching next month. 

In case you're new to this blog, the vbook will be an online complement to the Social Media guide I authored this year with Stefan Swanepoel. 

Though we're still mucking around with enrollment pricing (including the "F" word...Free), we've at least decided to do just that (that is, make it free) for the first 3 months after rollout for everybody who signs up to be notified when we launch.  (For convenience, I put the sign up form just beneath the video above.)

But, here's the thing.  I'd really appreciate some feedback.  Specifically, I'd like to get at least one topic you think absolutely needs to be included in an online program about social media.  I'd like to make sure the online guide is as relevant as I can make it and your feedback would really help.

So, after signing up, please take a moment to post a comment below with one idea that comes to mind.  I really appreciate it.  Thanks.

The 3 Rs of social media engagement - a model for corporate policy training

As I was preparing for a social media round table I'm facilitating next week, I came across Telstra's eLearning program for social media.  It's not really a "how to" manual for using social media platforms.  Rather, it's designed to inform its employees about the company's guidelines for social media engagement.  

Those guidelines are rooted in: Representation, Responsibility and Respect.

It's worth a look.  (Click the image below.)  Especially if you're in the business of training and learning.  I thought the interface and layout were quite engaging--especially their use of an avatar named "Lilly". 

I've typically been fairly lukewarm--and sometimes downright cool--to the use of avatars in eLearning programs.  (I've seen one too many examples of avatars that did nothing more than simply recite text that could just as well have been left for the user to read.)  However, Telstra's use of Lilly to punctuate key concepts of the program was effective as a reinforcement tool.  I think it was a solid "Level 2" on Bloom's hierarchy for cognition, and should be effective in distributing Knowledge and Comprehension across Telstra's workforce.

But, don't take my word for it.  In a bold move, and in line with the culture of openness and sharing inherent in social media, Telstra has made their entire course available online.  Click the image above... check it out. 

It's worth a looksee and, I think, serves as a compelling model for the rest of us.

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I'm not taking anything for granted this Christmas

I'm sitting in the airport waiting for my sister to arrive. By this time tomorrow we'll have a full (very loud) house. But, that's not a complaint. I'm blessed in that way and don't take it for granted.

And since my sis' plane is running late (and I having arrived a bit early) I thought this would be an opportune moment to tap out a few words of thanks to you. (I'm tapping away on my iPhone so I hope you'll forgive any fat-fingered typos I happen yo miss.)

Thanks for hanging with me this past year. It's in that way that I am also blessed. And that, too, I don't take for granted. I hope you'll continue to hang with me in 2010.

Anyway, I'll be taking the next couple of days off from blogging in order to spend some quality time with my siblings, wife, and relatives for the holiday. I hope you have similar plans.

I'll check back in on the other side of the Christmas holiday. I wish you a very Merry Christmas.

Hubs-and-spokes in social media - video book excerpt

Here's another excerpt from the video book series I'm producing.  The video book is the online/visual version of the book I authored with Stefan this past summer on the topic of social media for real estate professionals.  It's now looking like the video book will roll out in January.  (I was shooting for this month, but I'm afraid I've been OBE'd these past couple of months. [OBE = "Overtaken By Events".])

In this opening excerpt from Chapter 3 of the video book, I introduce some of the sites and tools to be discussed in that chapter.  What do you think of the format?  Anything I should change?  Anything I should do more of?

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By the way, sign up in the form below if you want me to keep you posted about the exact release date for the video book.  It's totally cool, you can take yourself off the list at any time and I think many of you know I won't be selling your email address to any third parties.  Thanks again for taking time to visit!

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Changing Behaviors By Making Things Fun

At the ASTD-OC learning event the other day, one of our colleagues teed up a structured networking event by discussing the key precept in the video below:  changing behaviors by making something fun.  The video was produced by Thefuntheory.com. 

If you liked the experiment above, I also found the one below as compelling, if not more, because the repetition encouraged by the "fun" factor really demonstrated the potential for this approach to really "clean up."  (Pun intended.)

One day into my term as the new Communications VP...

Heads up.  This post has a local focus.  Specifically, it highlights our local ASTD chapter's December meetup yesterday.  ("Death by Chocoloate".)

The clip below shows promotional highlights we produced from yesterday's event.   

It's now official.  I'm the new Communications veep for our local chapter.  There's a lot to do.  Definitely a lot to get my head wrapped around. But as you know, I'm not without ideas.  There are definitely lots of things to get ramped up for in 2010.  And I'll be navigating all those activities even as I navigate activities related to my day-to-day livelihood with client projects.

What?  What's the payback, you ask?  Well, after you factor in the base pay, along with fringe benefits, revenue share agreements and, oh yeah, the retention bonus, geez, I'd say it adds up to... (calculator button-pushing)...$00,000 (zero dollars) per term.  Clearly, the payback isn't in the money. 

Your thoughts?  Why in the heck would I and my colleagues--many of whom are VPs, Directors, Senior Managers, and business owners in their "day-to-day life"--choose to go through all this work?  Clearly, they have better things to do?  What do you think?

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4 Things I'm Jonesin' to Change in 2010 at Our Non-Profit Association.

Today's going to be a pretty cool luncheon.  Not only will I, and a bunch of my friends in the Training and Learning profession get to eat a whole bunch of chocolate at what has been billed as our local ASTD chapter's renowned annual "Death By Chocolate" event, but I'll also be one of the proverbial "guards" to whom the reins will be passed for chapter management.

Today, I'll be taking over the reins as the new VP for Communications.  I'll hold that spot for the remainder of 2010.  My predecessor(s) did a great job of laying a foundation for me to build upon.  And build I shall... (*sinister laugh*) I've already submitted by budget requirements for 2010.

The big infrastructure projects I've got in my sights for 2010 include:

• Revamping our web site.  I've been jonesin' for this for nearly two years now.  Our existing site is old, tired and very, very static.  (To wit: our site is down hard as of this writing.)  Be on the lookout for an RFP from me soon after the new year.  I'll be looking for folks who want to bid on helping us install and configure an open source platform (leaning towards Joomla at the moment) with a really slick theme, community features, social media sharing features and...well, be on the lookout for the RFP.  I'll cross-post it here on BusinessCasualBlog.com when I have it written.  (Email me if you think you'll have some interest in submitting a bid.)

• Getting our chapter solidly on track with a new list host.  We need to be able to touch our members and prospective members in a more intelligent way.  The existing (internally-hosted) email campaigning system flies blind.  What I mean is that there's scant capability to see any analytics that will give us insight to what our members find interesting, what our open rates are, as well as click-through rates, bounces, opt-ins/outs, and so on.  Switching platforms will be a relatively easy hurdle (save maybe for having to re-opt in our whole list again), but the real challenge will be in developing coherent, story-based copy and message sequences that our list members will find relevant, informative and compelling.  If you have any copy writing tips for me, let me know.  I'm a sponge, man!

• Installing a membership management software system.  We don't really have one at the moment.  Well, yes we do, but, no, not really.  It's a very manual process today.  A process that finds us ironically foregoing chapter revenue (?!) in favor of pro-rating membership fees when someone joins later in the year. (HUGE opportunity cost!) We have apparently been doing it this way in order to make the bookkeeping and the administrivia of membership expirations easier to manage.  (Tell me if you see the same thing I'm seeing... we're incurring no less an 85% opportunity cost by my reckoning.)

• Increasing our chapter's capacity for social media.  Ha ha.  This is a no-brainer.  I started the year with a pledge to change hearts and minds at my chapter.  I'm still on that mission.  >:)

Here I go.  Wish me luck!

Photo courtesy: LeadingAnswers.com

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A 21-week schedule to help you train for your next marathon or half-marathon

Yesterday I wrote about the role that a community can play in maintaining commitment to some task or challenge.  (Ref., "The reason I quit running.") In the context of yesterday's post, it happened to be a marathon.

It occurred to me that some of you might be thinking about taking on a similar challenge in the new year.  It might help you to have a training schedule. 

Here's the program (pdf file) I'm following right now.  In addition to good tips about exercises, food and nutrition, you'll find a couple of week-by-week training schedules beginning on page 10.  One is for the full marathon; another for the half-marathon. 

This document comes courtesy of the OC Beach Runners.  That's the group I'm training with now and one I can recommend you joining if you're in the area and thinking about hanging a marathon event bib on your wall sometime next year. 

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The reason I quit running.

Big Sur International Marathon
Apil 2008

Well, after over a year's hiatus, I'm officially back in training for the OC Marathon.  The last marathon I ran was in Long Beach back in October...2008.  I can tell you, my body's definitely complaining.

Why'd I take such a long break?  The simple answer is that I lost my community.

All through last year I met pretty consistently with a small group of folks which I had been running with since the summer of the year prior (2007).  We all ran the same 4 marathons last year.  (Some of us ran more than 4 races.)  Those shared trials seemed to be the source of our motivation early on.  It fed off its own momentum through most of last year.  Then, it tapered off.

I can't really put a finger on when, exactly, it happened, but sometime during my preparation for last year's Long Beach marathon, fewer and fewer of us made a showing for our Saturday morning runs.  Some moved away.  Others found alternate running groups.  A few quit.

Right after the Long Beach race, I too stopped coming.  And that was that.

I had a few false starts this year as I tried picking it back up again in solo fashion.  I'd get going for a few weeks.  But it wouldn't stick.  I'd hit a point where my runnin' mojo just didn't seem to be enough and I'd find myself in the doldrums again.  After a few weeks of doing nothing, I'd feel the itch again and start back up...only to put it on hold again a few weeks later.

I knew what was going on.  I needed to find power in numbers.  So, a few weeks back I joined a training group.  So far so good.  Barring any physical calamities, I think it's gonna stick this time.  How do I know?  It rained last Saturday.  Over 25 of us showed.  I was among them.

If you've found yourself stuck in the doldrums with something you've been trying to get moving with some momentum, but can't seem to get there, try finding a small local group to join.  That might just be the key to busting past the proverbial wall.

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