Being Honest Without Being Mean
Last week I finished Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott. Tonight, I heard a prospective political candidate talk.
Trouble with the Internet
Intro: Clients from Hell
Land the Pitch with an Analogy
When you're introducing a new idea, its easy to get wrapped up in its details. You may be justifiably excited about exactly how your idea works, but details make for bad communication. You need to get people hooked. Hooked people will demand the details so they can share your excitement.
Real World Debate Part 3: Communicate Clearly in Debate
I judged PHC Debate Camp’s tourney this year. After two rounds, I was known, apparently, as ‘that judge.’ The judge that requested a team argue in rhyme and told another team to argue alliteratively. Part of this was pure malevolence. More than that, I wanted the teams to communicate well. It only takes a few practice rounds to become proficient at reading cards in response to the other side’s arguments. This, however, is Nerdly communication. It takes serious work to really communicate.
How to Make Competitive Debate Better with Broad Knowledge
Productive debaters cultivate broad, working knowledge across a wide range of issues. Part of this is research. Creating a comprehensive evidence bank is the first step. By this I mean knowing the US policy towards the Arizonan Toad, the consequences of that policy, how that policy compares to other Toad policies in the US and internationally. Having a brief for every potential case and a few cards for each potential issue demonstrates you know something. But more important is real knowledge, the kind that connects the issues and cases into an intelligent frame of reference. By this I mean being able to place ‘toad policies’ into the larger sphere of environmental policy as a whole and understanding how that set of policies works in the US as compared to other sets of policy issues. Having broad knowledge means knowing what the Toad means to Arizonans.
How to Make Competitive Debate Productive to Real World Communicating
I'm doing a series of articles on how to build real world skills through educational debate for Ethos Debate. Their blog is one of the most read blogs in the debate community. They've kindly agreed to let me re-post the series.
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Guilty Pleasure Admission: Real Simple
I responded to the Portsmouth Freecycle ad "free Real Simple mags." A few days later, I picked up 10 issues from the front of someone's garage. Great story about reusing and community, right? No, its a story of lies and deceit. I was not picking up the magazines for "my wife." I wanted them for myself.
Concision: Put Yourself on the Clock
I spent yesterday evening at a "Speed Venturing" event. Entrepreneurs got 12 minutes to pitch their business to potential investors. Most chaffed at the time constraint, especially when the 'winners' had to summarize their business in 1 minute. Hearing their stories during the un-timed networking, I could tell why: most were technologists and engineers that had really cool concepts. They innovated around some really hard constraints and the results were worth talking about. Most could talk for a half hour without even getting started.
The Limits of Technology
Technology is a Poor Substitute for Everything
My original one-line review of Neil Postman's book Technopoly was: If you have a computer or a phone, or have ever used one, read this book.