Digital Leadership Blog
~By Dianne ClarkFree and Available; Useless Information! | 2012 01 28
Last evening I watched a TV show with a controversial guest. I quickly erased it from the PVR and went to the Net to Google him. I was frustrated when nothing was posted anywhere about him.
Today I heard about a ‘pop-up’ event going on right here in Toronto. Here I was, already onto Twitter as I wanted to find out where this elusive StreetCar Party was RIGHT NOW! Complete silence greeted me for the last 12 hours about the event.
I know I’m a middle aged techno-queen (no kidding). I always go to my computer for instant answers. Still I was disappointed.
Recently, the popular site Wikipedia went dark for a day. It was supposedly to protest anti-piracy legislation in the USA. Instead it became clear that the opportunity of obtaining instant answers became the focus. Often protests produce outcomes not intended, and this event was no different. It reinforced the reality how much we value getting information consistently and immediately.
There it goes… another bell going off! The ‘how and what we value in communication’ was reinventing itself! Currently it’s about every six months the products, services and devices we depend on to communicate, influences trend watchers and developers of such offerings. Soon we can expect this transformation to occur every 4 months.
My prediction…
While outrageous videos, word definitions, promotional and non-informative tweets remain free we’ll soon have to pay (yup real dollars), to get inside the door of what we really want to know, right NOW! Filtered, quality information, specialized for individuals who want to lead full and productive lives at our doorstep… hopefully.
Don’t get me wrong, I love open-source and the freedom it gives the community to expound on ideas and make them better. I thrived (once) on that culture’s arrival and even made my case on it. I ran for City Council in the mid-90’s and community influence hadn’t even become a fad yet. Many will remember me knocking door to door saying. “But, the Community Has a Voice!” Little to say social planning was still in vogue and an experienced candidate, the one saying they had all the expertise was the one who got into office.
So now… if the time has come, then it’s already going! Twenty years for the voice of the community to become important and now it’s watered down so the real good stuff can’t be found.
Filtering has got to be where we’re at now. Actually paying people to filter: clip our newspapers, and research and analyze the best insurance, phone plan and way to obtain our TV programs should be more common place, I predict.
Oh and that guest on the TV program I was watching, had just called Canada a socialist country?! That’s why I wanted to see his credentials. We’d better get filtering soon, if we want to be taken seriously.
Influential Thinkers | 2011 12 30
Here’s a win-win idea…
Everyone knows at least one person who has great ideas or a claim to fame of some kind… Ask them if they would mind doing an 30 minute interview with you, where 20% of the cover charge would go to their favourite charity. If they agree, they would be known as the Guest of Honour.
This interview would happen online, so participants paying the cover charge could view the interview from anywhere in the world. FWIW, this requires very little equipment and yet the event can be very interactive.
Here’s the agenda….
People arrive in the virtual event rotunda, each paying a cover price to participate in an extraordinary opportunity, each viewing the interview (closeup) and be able to ask questions of the Guest of Honour. Kind of like ‘Inside The Actor’s Studio’ but with a smaller audience all sitting in the front row.
- Arrival and Introductions (15 min)
- The Interview (30 min)
- Q & A (15 min)
Here’s when YOU decide if you are the Host or the Interviewer!
Imagine… if you are the Host, your job would be to support the session and make sure everyone is comfortable. Your take home pay for the hour -> $100
If you are the leader or interviewer… Pose some questions to the Guest of Honour… You can insert some multimedia clips into the mix to make the interview more fun and engaging… Perhaps your Guest of Honour has some pictures of his journey on his ‘claim to fame’. Your take home pay for the hour -> 40% of the money taken in for the event.. A minimum $400. Now you may wish to share this amount with your Guest, the charity (or keep it for yourself for all your hard work).
Imagine now, if you are the Guest of Honour… You are raising your profile and online credibility just by doing the online interview! Not only that, but you will be able to donate money for your interview time, to your favourite charity. 20% of the money taken in for the event to be exact.
For example: Say the cover price to be an audience member for the online interview with your ‘idol’ was $39 each… and say about 30 participants attended. Here is the breakdown benefits to all involved…
The audience members see a revealing interview and then get the chance to ask their questions of the Guest of Honour and how they accomplished their goals, plus attendees know that part of their cover price paid for the event went to a good cause.
The Guest of Honour feels good, because they were able to help their charity (of choice) PLUS they spent some quality time with people who are passionate about their life experience.
The NetCoach gets to lead the interview and takes home $468 for the hour.
The NetHost who took care of the comfort of the participants, takes home $100 for the hour.
The charity of the Guest of Honour’s choice gets a check for $234 just for reverse-sponsoring this virtual event. They will likely want to advertise and thank the Guest of Honour on their web-site to ensure everyone is aware of this fund-raising opportunity (for next time).
Wow… and all it takes is to get Certified at LeaderNet to make it happen.
Head on over to http://www.leadernet.ca and get certified… Your future with these tools in hand could be very bright.
LeaderNet Graduates can discuss this topic/article in LeaderNet forums here!Links to Newspaper Columns | 2011 10 01
Topics Include:
• Helping Youth to deal with problems
• Government Restructuring
• Friends for over 30 years
• One-Stop Web Site Resource
• The future requires tolerance and flexibility
A columist for Niagara Voices for The St. Catharines Standard in 1999, Dianne contributed several columns. Find them here!