Financial Storyteller

It's one thing to see yourself in the bathroom mirror it's another to be filmed outside in the wild doing something public.

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of chairing the second Mentor panel in this years New Ventures BC competition. I, along with half a dozen or so other mentors, saw eight of the final 30 competitors present their pitch which we then gave feedback on.

The panels are an opportunity for the competitors to practice ahead of hopefully making the final 10 in the competition and presenting to the competition Judges in September. This year one of the pieces of feedback that came out was for one competitor to have their presentation filmed. The idea being that you learn an amazing amount about how you appear to others from watching yourself on screen.

I realised that it had been at least 15 years since I had done this. As it happens the team I am co-mentoring in the competition this year, Singular Software, has a great product for use in multi-camera applications and I was keen to offer the idea of a test application. This week I gave my 11th Toastmaster speech, the first in the Advanced Communicator, Storytelling manual. Bruce Sharpe from Singular came along with two cameras and together with a sound recorder and my digital camera recorded the event.

I've only seen the raw videos as it were, but a couple of things come immediately to mind. Firstly, Bruce's software is quite simply amazing. Basically you load all the video recordings and sound recordings into something like Final Cut Pro and press go. Bruce's software then examines all the clips and synchronises the timing of them. I was able to look at the screen and see three different videos and the sound from the speech all running at the same time and all totally in sync! I was chatting to Bruce while the software did it's thing, but this seemed to take only a few seconds to do.

I'm no expert in video and/or sound recording. However I can see how even with the simplest single camera recording and a soundtrack that getting the two lined up can be a challenge. So to do this with multiple cameras and sound is very very cool. I can see this would save tons of time and as we know, time is money! Additionally of course this enables you to create more interesting videos of an event through using multiple angles. Add to this of course that your sources could be from different people at say, a sports event or a wedding and you can really have some fun.

The second thing I want to mention is that the advise from the mentor panel is spot on. I've only watched myself once but now some of the comments I received from my evaluators make far more sense! I'm really looking forward to seeing what Bruce does with the videos and I'm hoping to put it up on this blog, so stay tuned for some more posts about the experience - it's been a huge learning experience for me.

Looking in the bathroom mirror this morning I saw a different person staring back at me. Now I need to work out who that is :-)

When I moved to Vancouver almost three years ago the city was described to me as a 'branch' town. What this meant then and still does today is that there are not too many big Corporate Head Offices based in Vancouver. Numbers from 2005 suggest that BC is home to a tenth of the Top 500 Canadian Companies [source]. Although I can't lay my hands on the source I was reading that office space vacancy rates are low in the City with the amount of new office space being planned in the next few years minimal. Not exactly easy for a big corporate to relocate to Vancouver, even if it wanted to. So who is here?

In 2006 a staggering 98% of all businesses in the Province of BC were classified as small businesses [source ], i.e. up to 50 employees. Of these 83% were 'micro' businesses with no more than 5 employees! BC and especially Vancouver is the land of the entrepreneur. If we turn to the technology sector, 95% of technology based businesses are small businesses. Which for me instantly raises the question of funding. Much as the big corporates are not here, neither are the big heavy weights in terms of venture funding. So how does a business grow beyond the early stage?

From my perspective I see lots of bits and pieces. Various small business support groups, government schemes, University sponsored programmes, competitions and events, but what is the small business community doing itself to help itself? (see Resources for Founders below!) I've long thought that Vancouver has some of brightest people, especially in technology but the experience or access to resources needed to help them make it big is limited. This is a generalisation of course (there have been successes), but I think the community has been crying out for some kind of leadership. Enter Bootup Labs.

This is a new venture led by Boris Mann and Danny Robinson which aims to take "founders from zero to fundable." I had the pleasure of lunch with Danny last week and shared his excitement about what Bootup is trying to do.  Reading the Bootup labs blog is already a wealth of information, for instance this post of Resources for Founders in Vancouver. What caught my eye though was the post called "Venture Capital is Broken, lets Fix It!" where Danny was responding to a post by Jevon Macdonald on the StartupNorth blog. I won't repeat here but encourage you to click through.

When you do, check out the comments to Danny's post. The post itself is well worth reading, but almost as a demonstration of both the power of blogs to create two way conversations AND a demonstration of how key people in the City are supporting what Bootup are trying to do, it's not only well worth reading, it should be MANDATORY.

As a Vancouverite I am proud of what has fast become my city. What Bootup is doing is an important part of making Vancouver into a world renowned Technology Centre, stay tuned! I'm sure there's much more to come.

It's funny, I thought I had blogged in the past about Jonathan Harris and his We Feel Fine and Universe projects. Hunting through previous entries it appears I have not. Jonathan is a storyteller and the TED website has a couple of his sessions at the conference. There is one below and I encourage you to take a look and also go off to TED and watch the other session.



I especially love the part about doing a week long trip and taking a photo every 5 minutes, even when sleeping. The idea of using this to create a heartbeat of the trip (more photos taken at busy points!) is amazing.
 
This links somewhat nicely to the Blogathon that starts tonight, a whole bunch of people led by Miss604 are blogging every 30 mins for 24 hours. Check out Duane's kick-off post. Sadly I won't be joining them but I will be checking in as often as I can.

In both cases, Mr. Harris and Blogathon, technology is being used in a creative way to address the real world, I recommend both.

I like the band Barenaked Ladies, have done for many many years. I think it was Feb 1999 I first saw them perform in London after listening to their music for many years. I went on to see them in Birmingham then at a couple of their Christmas shows, first in the UK, then in Vancouver. Despite the sad news about Steven Page, I WILL, I hope, get the chance to see them again. (The story is updated here)

The CBC story I link to above has well over 260 comments and it's really quite staggering what they contain. There are fans, fans who are now ex-fans, people calling Page names and informing us they are burning all BNL Albums. Then there is a whole debate about how the biggest problem for the singer is that this happened in the US and not in Canada (that concerns me as well!). This seems to have kicked off a whole debate about Canada, immigration, First Nations, European Nations, Muslims and Palestine. WOW!!

Some of the above I have no comment on, it has nothing to do with the story. However, some of what I have read, from alleged fans, is hugely disappointing. I don't know if the typical BNL fan is someone who comments on CBC, but I cannot believe it reflects the general fan base.

I don't know if he will be found guilty, notwithstanding that I don't know if he did what he's accused of. Whatever, it would seem Steven Page is in a bad place in his life and I really hope he is able to get himself to somewhere better. I've enjoying seeing the band, was genuinely thrilled to meet him at a gig in Vancouver, and hope at some point to see him perform again.



The man is a human being, he needs support, from friends and family for sure, and also from fans. He has mine, I hope he has yours.

I was reading some of the great coverage by the CBC of the iPhone launch and found myself raising an eyebrow. Down near the bottom of the article is a section headed "Only Italy more expensive than Canada." I've seen this in many stories where the cost of the iPhone is presented at Voice Plan + Data Plan + System Access Fee multiplied by 36 months.

The reason I raised my eyebrow was that I already have a Voice Plan, I already pay the System Access Fee, but I don't have a Data Plan. So for me the 'cost' of going to an iPhone is the incremental cost of adding the Data Plan + the handset itself.

From most of the coverage I've seen the people buying the iPhone already have a cellphone. So they are already paying something every month. I would also wager than it's highly unlikely these people will do away with a cellphone completely in the next three years.  So whilst I think the 3 year contract is appalling , I think you have to be carefull when doing the price comparison that you don't base your analysis on a false premis.

Personally, if you want to knock the whole idea of an iPhone, doing these cost comparisons is not the best approach. The cost of the handset itself is not significant, $300 is a couple of meals out, it's really the extra $30 per month plus taxes. If I was a completely new customer, i.e. not only new to the Network, but never had a cellphone before, then maybe there's some value in these cost comparisons.

I've not taken the plunge yet on buying an iPhone - I'm still doing the math. One cost which hasn't been mentioned is that many people took over 8 hours (and a horrible experience it was) to get their iPhone and get it activated. Normally the only time I wait that long is at an Airport, where I have no control over the device! Here though, if I was self employed and charged my time out at $100 per hour, getting my hands on an iPhone yesterday just cost me $800 of billable time!

I'll keep working on my math, find answers to questions like "I already pay extra for caller display on my existing plan, will that work for the iPhone?' and watch the stories which will come over the next few weeks.

You should notice today the blog looks a little different. That's because it is now hosted on Movable Type Version 4, which Zach at Cazinc helped me set up. It's also given me the opportunity to review my existing strategy/design/ approach etc.

The biggest change is that I have integrated all the content from my two previous blogs, this one and Moosehat.com into one place. I wanted a simpler life and have been thinking about having a single blog for a long time.

The design is still a work in progress but for today it is good enough to get working on. I still have a few things to do on the 'infrastructure', such as reinstall Disqus, then I'll work on the whole look and feel.

You will notice the Current Activity and Find Me Elsewhere blocks to the right. These are courtesy of Action Streams, although I did try friendfeed (the widget was not very flexible) and Zach just pointed me at Swurl, which I'll take a look at.

UPDATE: Action Streams is killing the servers in the background for this blog, so has been discontinued. Still looking at different options for this.

One request I do have of my loyal readers, is that if you subscribe through a feed please delete and resubscribe so you are picking up the updated version! Of course any comments and feedback would be welcome.

I've been on LinkedIn since early 2004, when I started using it to connect with people in Vancouver. At that time I was planning a reconnaissance trip to the city, ahead of emigrating from the UK. LinkedIn put me in touch with lots of good people and I went on to meet a bunch of them during my visit. The contacts I made were very very helpful and a number have become the closest of my Canadian Friends, since we arrived as permanent residents in the summer of 2005.

My use of LinkedIn was for the longest time unchanged. I believed that it was a numbers game and the more connections you had the more likely you were to get a few that were of value. Of course that statement 'of value' is the interesting point. What does it mean? My general approach to networking has always been to look for what I can offer my network, rather than what I can take from it. What is 'of value' changes over time and although LinkedIn was helpful in the building stages of my network, especially in Vancouver - I had for a few months been rethinking my approach.

My 'policy' so to speak was to be generous in who I connected with, i.e. I didn't really mind if I knew them or not. Some I had brief email discussions with, but generally I didn't. Apart from a mass invite activity I did in 2004/2005 I've only actually invited people recently that I'd met, so change was on the cards. As LinkedIn added to their offering I started following a feed of my network's activity. Increasingly this has become frustrating.

Most of the updates etc I was reading came from people that quite honestly, I didn't really know. Consequently they were of little interest. What would be of interest would be a feed from people I did really know. That feed I would like to read.

So without pretending I have some highly intellectual plan I decided to reduce my LinkedIn network to what I thought of as connections which I have some kind of connection with. LinkedIn of course is a bit clunky when it comes to removing contacts, but I've finally finished my first pass. Below are the Before/After numbers:

Measure                              Before               After     Reduction

Connections                         1,615                 362            78%

2 Degrees away               489,100            126,800          74%

3 Degrees away            8,230,600         5,150,500         37%

Total contactable         8,721,300         5,277,700         29%

It's interesting to note that the more extended the network, the less impact this has had.  Is this the right strategy going forward? Time will tell, but for now it feels better and just maybe I can start looking at my connections and taking more of interest in what they are all up to.

Note: Due to the number of connections I removed, it's entirely possible I deleted some that I meant to keep. If you are reading this and think you are one of them, let me know!

 

Today I had the pleasure of giving my 10th speech at my Toastmasters Club. This completes the Competent Communicator manual and means I have reached the first milestone in my Toastmasters career. I feel I have really progressed since November when I gave my Icebreaker speech and if the feedback is anything to go by this has been noticed by everyone in the club.

Toastmasters is a funny thing really. Public speaking is an important skill and to follow such an established process as the 10 speech projects has really been an education. One of the main reasons I started on this was because I felt that many of the leaders I had seen speak, clearly missed an opportunity by communicating poorly - even when they had a potentially strong message.

Of course, with only 10 speeches under my belt I am no expert - what I am though is far more aware of what I can do when speaking to increase the chances of achieving my desired aim. I recommend Toastmasters whole heartedly to anyone who has an interest in their own personal development and how they are peceived by others. You will learn lots about speaking, evaluating and leadership but more importantly you will learn more about yourself. Something, I feel is never a bad thing.

For the record, my speeches in order were as follows:

The Icebreaker; The Technology of being Connected; Crows - dispelling the myths; The Inspiration of Mountains; Autogeddon - the motor car; New Ventures BC Competition; Howard Schulz; Talking Sticks; The Simplest Act - walking; Ignite the Spark.

After the speech today I called my boss to tell him I had completed this milestone. He replied "It's good to know I now have 1 competent member of my team!" :-)

I've had some interesting responses when I introduce myself as a financial storyteller. The vast majority of these have been very favourable - I help organisations tell their story through numbers. Depending on the organisation, this can mean presenting what their business actually is to an external audience or informing Senior Management internally about what's going on.

So I was thrilled to see the latest CMA Marketing campaign which was launched last week. The new brand platform is "Creative Accountants" and I agree with David Fletcher who is the CMA Vice President, Public Affairs, when he explained "This is about people, not a criminal practice." I think the same can be said for storytelling. The full comments are contained in this article and I invite you to check them out.

As an alternative you can check our the new website, creativeaccountants.org. I applaud this campaign and the thinking behind it. Whether it's easier to say I am creative accountant or a financial storyteller I can't guess but either way we are on the same page.

The other day my wife and I were discussing the idea that as people become more famous/successful they have less time for the people who made them famous/successful in the first place.  A couple of days later I had reason to question this.

For years I've been reading Robert X Cringely's column. These days of course I follow the rss. When I first read it, about the same time as the Triumph of the Nerds aired in the UK, Mr. Cringely had a really nice feature. Years later, i.e. now I appreciate it more as I think of my Toastmasters speeches and storytelling more widely.

The column would start with something that his wife said/did then go off into the core topic (rumours of a takeover, new product or whatever), then at the end conclude by circling back to whatever it was his wife mentioned/did. For me, sometimes the column was not in my field of interest, but I read on anticipating the conclusion.

Being a wired world we live in I decided the other day to buzz an email off to him. As usual, with these things I did not expect a reply. To my delight 'Bob' - I feel I can call him that based on how he signed the email - reminding me that this was 1987-95 when he did that. Wow! Over 10 years ago it stopped! Bob also mentioned he didn't think it was really appropriate for his current column, which is a shame.

Bob's done some very cool things, which I've read or followed over the years and doubtless more I will discover in future. His email to me probably took less than 10 secs, nothing to him I'm sure. But this simple act sets him apart from many others and gives me another good reason to continue to reading his column.

It's also another reason I should listen to my wife a little more. In our discussion she told me I was being overly cynical and on this occasion (only!) I have to agree with her.

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