It was unusual to see Bono in a most “un-rock” moment recently. U2’s latest album was automatically added, free of charge, to all iTunes users’ libraries globally. This sparked not gratitude but ire and complaints. In a Facebook session to apologise for the presumptuousness, band frontman Bono said the move was “a drop of megalomania, a touch of generosity and a dash of self-promotion and deep fear that …
More power to your palette
My local shopping strip has recently mounted a campaign to get us all to shop locally. It’s interesting how the campaign organisers have presented variations on the same message. You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy local, and that’s kind of the same thing; “Keep calm and buy local!”; and Did you know if you spend $100 at a …
The grass is resting
When was the last time you tuned into the safety briefing on board a plane? It’s amazing to consider that even when our lives could depend on the information, we are recalcitrant with our attention! Similarly, every day our audience battles an information tsunami. Unfortunately, it multiplies our challenges as communicators: How do we grab eyeballs (attention)? How do we …
Lonely in Las Vegas?
What do you do when you are bumped off two flights and stuck in lonely, deserted Las Vegas airport overnight? Shoot a music video on your iPhone lip-syncing Celine Dion’s All By Myself to share with all your friends, of course! This is exactly what Dion super-fan Richard Dunn did and he was amazed when his video went viral with over 3.7 million views …
How would you like….?
“How would you like your hair cut?” a talkative barber asked a client. “In silence”, the man replied! This is one of the oldest recorded jokes, attributed to Roman times. Most people shy away from silence as it is awkward and scary. We often see silence as a vacuum that needs to be filled, quickly and furiously. Yet silence can also …
Emotion: Tapping the final frontier
The roar of the crowd watching football on a large-screen TV on Saturday immediately drew me into the cafe. And it wasn’t even my team playing! What makes sport such a spectacle to watch is the emotional rollercoaster it unleashes on players, fans and even unsuspecting passers-by. Could you imagine watching sport and feeling nothing? No emotion – that would …
$US80 million and counting: The recipe for going viral
David Beckham and Brad Pitt have done it, and Kim Kardashian even caved in. But in a classic Kim moment, she stopped to take a selfie first. “It” is the ice-bucket challenge, which involves dumping icey water on your head, then challenging others to follow suit. The challenge raises money for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) – known as motor neurone disease in Australia. …
David Bowie is…
I’m a huge David Bowie fan and was excited to learn that an international touring exhibition on David Bowie is coming to Melbourne. The exhibition is simply titled David Bowie is… The title is alluring as it is an open loop. You immediately start to add to it. David Bowie is… a legend, a performer, a superstar. In a world where …
The overlap between happiness & a great presentation
I was sitting next to a wellbeing expert recently on a plane and she said there are three simple keys to happiness: laughter, music and exercise. We hopefully do a reasonably good job at incorporating one or two of these keys into our daily lives. Sometimes exercising to old eighties aerobics videos lets me integrate all three keys. Did I just over-share there? …
Look who is talking (too much)
A few weeks ago at a council community engagement forum, a gentleman stood up and made a powerful point and followed it with a snappy example. You could see a lot of heads nodding around the room. Then he went to explain, elaborate, add, elucidate, state, repeat and reiterate his point for another five or so minutes, all without drawing …