Dr. Hans Rosling is one of my presentation heroes; he's been featured or mentioned in all my books and several times on presentationzen.com over the years. If there is a Jedi Master of presenting data clearly, visually, and simply, then it is Hans. He proves time and time again, that data are not dull—and when you are trying to change the world, there is no excuse for boring presentations. Most people are aware of Dr. Rosling through his popular TED Talks, but just in case you've never seen him present, below is a nice 5-minute piece he did on CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS. At TED.com you'll…
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Most Topular Stories
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Hans Rosling: The Jedi Master of data visualization
Presentation Zen26 Jan 2012 | 11:31 pm -
Creative Like a Fox! Dan Roam and I Compare Notes on Creative Process
Duarte Blog3 Feb 2012 | 6:15 amDan Roam schools me on creative process. His new book, BLAH BLAH BLAH, offers awesome tips on how to utilize visual and verbal concepts to refine ideas to their most pure state. -
Teaching Presentation Design in College
The Extreme Presentation(tm) Method2 Feb 2012 | 6:06 amI have heard from a number of faculty members recently that they are adopting Advanced Presentations by Design for use in college level presentation courses. Dr. Carolyn Bailey Lewis, of the Scripps College of Communication's School of Communication Studies, has kindly shared the syllabus for her COMS 403 Advanced Presentations course, which you can download here. If anyone else has syllabi to share, please forward them to me and I'd be happy to post them. -
Interview: Timothy Tosta – transformative listener
Professionally Speaking3 Feb 2012 | 5:30 pmTimothy Tosta is a cancer survivor, a seasoned hospice volunteer and a widely acclaimed speaker and lecturer. He is the author of two books and a featured columnist of the Daily Journal, California’s leading daily legal newspaper. Tim is an executive coach to legal and business communities. He also is recognized as one of California’s [...] -
Pick your battles when pitching
Sticky Slides8 Feb 2012 | 7:30 pmArguing until the bitter end about small facts, when the VC thinks she right because she has a reliable source (in her opinion) is not a good idea. You might be right, BUT you will not convince her, you will do no good to your credibility, and you raise doubts about how the future CEO-Board Member relationship is going to pan out. Better focus that energy in disagreements that are really worth arguing about. Pick your battles.
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Presentation Zen
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Hans Rosling: The Jedi Master of data visualization
26 Jan 2012 | 11:31 pmDr. Hans Rosling is one of my presentation heroes; he's been featured or mentioned in all my books and several times on presentationzen.com over the years. If there is a Jedi Master of presenting data clearly, visually, and simply, then it is Hans. He proves time and time again, that data are not dull—and when you are trying to change the world, there is no excuse for boring presentations. Most people are aware of Dr. Rosling through his popular TED Talks, but just in case you've never seen him present, below is a nice 5-minute piece he did on CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS. At TED.com you'll… -
New: Presentation Zen (2nd Edition)
18 Jan 2012 | 10:36 pmFour years ago my first book Presentation Zen was published by Peachpit Press. Since then I wrote two other presentation books and a sketchbook/storyboard book and a DVD (plus an additional DVD/Book just for Japan). Although a lot of time had passed, I was still happy with the original Presentation Zen. And yet, the original Presentation Zen book could benefit from a little freshening up in the form of a 2nd edition for 2012. This 2nd edition of Presentation Zen has the same look and feel as the original book and I still did all the design and layout myself. The biggest difference is the book… -
10 great books to help you think, create, & communicate better in 2012
10 Jan 2012 | 4:54 amIn the spirit of personal kaizen, I have listed below a few books that I read (or reread) over the past year that you may want to read as part of your own continuous improvement journey. (Clicking on the book's icon takes you to Amazon.com.) (1) Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long. Over the last 10-20 years scientists have made many remarkable discoveries concerning the brain and how it works. David Rock is not a neuroscientist but he is a good "neurotranslator" of the scientific evidence and does a good job of… -
Progress and the intentional selection of less
30 Dec 2011 | 5:26 pmMany people today talk about presentation technology as if it were a panacea for boring lectures and ineffective presentations. Technologies such as our laptops, iPads, and cool software packages are wonderful tools that can, when used well, increase the quality of communication and engagement. This is especially true when we need to engage with people live on the other side of the planet via tools like video conferencing, webinars, Skype, and so on. However, while technology has evolved in dramatic ways over the last generation, our deep human need for visceral connections, and personal… -
Steve Jobs: "People who know what they’re talking about don’t need PowerPoint"
20 Dec 2011 | 5:12 amOne thing we need to constantly remind ourselves is that slides and other forms of projected visualization—no matter how "cool" they may be—are not appropriate for every context. Multimedia is great for presentations before large groups such as keynote addresses or conference presentations, but in meetings where you want to actively discuss issues or go over details in depth, slides—especially the snooze-inducing bulletpoint variety, which are never a good idea—are almost always counter productive. I stressed early on in the first version of Presentation Zen four years ago—and ad…
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Duarte Blog
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Creative Like a Fox! Dan Roam and I Compare Notes on Creative Process
3 Feb 2012 | 6:15 amDan Roam schools me on creative process. His new book, BLAH BLAH BLAH, offers awesome tips on how to utilize visual and verbal concepts to refine ideas to their most pure state. -
Are You a Fox or a Hummingbird? Dan Roam Explains Your Brain
2 Feb 2012 | 6:27 amDan Roam uses an animalistic metaphor to explain how your brain processes information, and reveals how to help facilitate communication between our verbal and visual minds. That and more in his new book, BLAH BLAH BLAH. -
Grammar Ain’t Just for Words Anymore
1 Feb 2012 | 8:58 amDan Roam used the rules of verbal grammar to build a Visual Grammar Graph that bridges the gap between verbal and visual concepts. Vivid Grammar is featured in his new book, BLAH BLAH BLAH. -
Quit Talking and Start Thinking
31 Jan 2012 | 4:03 pmDan Roam explains why we talk too much, and how we can use our predilection for vision to become better problem solvers. “Vivid Thinking” is one of the many gems in his new book, BLAH BLAH BLAH. -
Obama’s SOTU: What Is, and What Could Have Been
25 Jan 2012 | 3:46 pmLast night President Barack Obama delivered what could be considered the biggest presentation of the year. In outlining his vision for America and his legislative priorities for 2012, the President attempted to persuade a variety of different audiences – including the United States Congress, business leaders and 25 million members of the American public – that he has a plan to continue improving the lives of Americans. So how did he do? Leaving aside the merit of his proposals, did he tell a story compelling enough to convince such a broad audience? Graphic recording of the State of the…
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The Extreme Presentation(tm) Method
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Teaching Presentation Design in College
2 Feb 2012 | 6:06 amI have heard from a number of faculty members recently that they are adopting Advanced Presentations by Design for use in college level presentation courses. Dr. Carolyn Bailey Lewis, of the Scripps College of Communication's School of Communication Studies, has kindly shared the syllabus for her COMS 403 Advanced Presentations course, which you can download here. If anyone else has syllabi to share, please forward them to me and I'd be happy to post them. -
What Guy Kawasaki learned from Steve Jobs
11 Nov 2011 | 9:35 amThis is not really about presentation, but it's so good that I had to include it here: http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2011/10/what-i-learned-from-steve-jobs.html#axzz1dPyAznnF -
Corporate Researchers Conference Prezi
22 Sep 2011 | 12:20 pmThis afternoon I'm giving a presentation on How to Present Complex Insights and Findings so that they are Acted on Immediately. You can find the presentation on the Prezi site. -
Advanced Presentations by Design in Korean
3 Aug 2011 | 1:57 pm디자인으로 고급 프레 젠 테이션 Advanced Presentations by Design is now available in Korean, from Communication Books. -
Corporate Researchers' Conference - September 21-23, 2011
18 Jul 2011 | 5:00 amOn Thursday, September 22 at 1:20 p.m. I will be speaking at the Corporate Researchers' Conference in Chicago. My topic is "How to Present Complex Insights and Findings So They Are Acted On Immediately."
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Professionally Speaking
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Interview: Timothy Tosta – transformative listener
3 Feb 2012 | 5:30 pmTimothy Tosta is a cancer survivor, a seasoned hospice volunteer and a widely acclaimed speaker and lecturer. He is the author of two books and a featured columnist of the Daily Journal, California’s leading daily legal newspaper. Tim is an executive coach to legal and business communities. He also is recognized as one of California’s [...] -
Urban Life in Modern China: rush-rush to crush-crush
30 Jan 2012 | 6:33 amIn 1985, controversial French sociologist Michel Maffesoli created the term “urban tribe” to describe groups of people who share common interests. The current issue of The Economist has a fascinating article about the subdivisions of urban China into various improbably named tribes (or zu in Mandarin). These include: Yi zu, or ant tribe—recent graduates from [...] -
Relevant Resources: Books to Kick Off 2012
27 Jan 2012 | 3:16 pmI help edit SPEAKER Magazine for the National Speakers Association (NSA). Each month I curate the Relevant Resources column – a list of time-saving tools and technologies. The January/February edition lists books recommended by NSA members as inspiration for the New Year. Go Ahead and Laugh: A Serious Guide to Speaking with Humor, by Rich [...] -
Manufacturing Industry: China will win, hands down
16 Jan 2012 | 6:11 amI download podcasts and listen to them on my drive to work. Today, driving my 16-year-old car which has any number of replacement auto parts keeping it on the road, listening to a 3-year-old Apple iPod, I heard two stories which described how electronics and auto parts are manufactured in China and America. Apart a [...] -
Guest Posting: Worst Brand Name Award of 2011, by Alexandra Watkins
13 Jan 2012 | 6:36 amAlexandra Watkins is the Founder & Chief Innovation Officer at Eat My Words, a San Francisco based creative naming agency known for creating unforgettable brand names. The following post originally appeared in her blog and is reposted here with her express permission. Announcing the most frightful brand name of 2011… the Head Scratcher of the [...]
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Sticky Slides
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Pick your battles when pitching
8 Feb 2012 | 7:30 pmArguing until the bitter end about small facts, when the VC thinks she right because she has a reliable source (in her opinion) is not a good idea. You might be right, BUT you will not convince her, you will do no good to your credibility, and you raise doubts about how the future CEO-Board Member relationship is going to pan out. Better focus that energy in disagreements that are really worth arguing about. Pick your battles. -
Write notes after the meeting
7 Feb 2012 | 7:30 pmIf you are reviewing your presentation with your boss, here is a thought. Write down your notes immediately after the meeting. It makes for a better 2-way conversation as you are not scribbling all the time looking down on a piece of paper, and strangely it makes you remember things better. This article in Wired explains how your brain is refreshing the memory that is only slightly faded, that process makes future recollection stronger: Along these lines, Bjork also recommends taking notes just after class, rather than during — forcing yourself to recall a lecture’s information is more… -
Video summary in stills
6 Feb 2012 | 7:30 pmEmbedding video in presentations has its drawbacks. It adds another technical risk factor when setting up the presentation outside your office environment. File sizes become so big that it is hard to email a document. And a PDF version of the presentation does not show the video. As a solution, you can put in a video summary in your presentation consisting of a few key still images taken from the video. Our brain is powerful enough to make up most of what happens in between, and might even imagine the Star Wars sound track in the background when looking at last year’s Volkswagen Super Bowl… -
No need to show that monitor
5 Feb 2012 | 7:30 pmIn technical pitch presentations, you often have to show the application through screen shots. While a picture of the application inside a monitor frame might look nice, it is a poor way to get your audience to see the content of the screen. I would cut the monitor, cut the window bars above and below your application, and even zoom in to parts of the screen to highlight what is important. Cover everything that is not relevant (ads for example) with white boxes to keep things clean. Having said that, there might be 2 uses for the monitor shot. One for a very quick 5-second slide that enables… -
Not reality, not a cartoon
2 Feb 2012 | 7:30 pmHave a look at these great images (on Fubiz) in the series “Enlightened Souls” by French photographer Fabrice Wittner. He uses images of people with a stencil-like effect and puts them on a background of a real photo. This effect might be very useful in presentation design. It is very hard to a series of images with a consistent look and feel on either stock photo sites, or Flickr. Moreover, I find that using images with real people not working very well in slides. It is too personal. This slight distortion of the characters might just solve these 2 problems in one go.
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Humor Power
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Humor Teleseminar
8 Feb 2012 | 1:13 pmDon’t miss a great humor teleseminar with Judy Carter on Thursday, February 16 at 7:00 pm EST (4:00 PST). Only $25. Using Comedy Secrets to “Funny Up” Your Presentations. Judy is a great teacher of humor and author of The Comedy Bible. This is a teleseminar designed for speakers. I’ve signed up. Don’t miss it. Sign up now. -
Humor Content Versus Delivery
8 Feb 2012 | 11:58 amWhen you present a humor line, the trigger which activates your funny line normally involves something your SAY, or something you DO, or a combination of both. Although it varies from person to person, it’s most often what the speaker says, more than what he or she does, that triggers the joke. Most jokes depend on the content, the words, to establish the humorous connection that results in laughter. But occasionally, it’s the physical action or delivery that makes the joke funny. At a recent club meeting, we presented our regular Observational Humor segment at the end of the… -
New Joke Contest — Being Single
1 Feb 2012 | 5:28 amIt’s time for our Joke Contest for the month of February. The contest theme is Being Single. New Joke Contests are announced at the start of the month (alternating months). New Cartoon Caption Contests are announced at the start of the month (alternating months). The next caption contest is March 1, 2012. Your humor challenge is to compare Being Single with other things; objects, activities, institutions, etc. Here are some examples: Being single is like bath water. It’s not enjoyable when it’s not so hot. Being single is like playing basketball. You’ll… -
Observational Humor — Case Study #76
26 Jan 2012 | 8:36 amHere’s another Observational Humor monologue presented at the end of a meeting. Ten other club members presented a total of 20 observational lines before I presented my monologue. They came up with observations that never occurred to me, yet they didn’t duplicate any of the lines planned for my monologue. The lesson is that the supply of humorous observations is almost limitless…you only have to be looking for them. THE SET-UP (What happened and what was said during the meeting before the monologue was presented.) 1. Scott suggested that Dana was looking for someone… -
Cartoon Caption Contest Results
22 Jan 2012 | 6:38 pmIt’s time for the results of our January Cartoon Caption Contest featuring the artwork of professional cartoonist Dan Rosandich. New Cartoon Caption Contests are announced at the start of the month (alternating months). New Joke Contests are announced at the start of the month (alternating months). The next Joke Contest is February 1, 2012. Here are the top captions for this month’s contest: ** FIRST PLACE ** Perhaps you should have saved the 500 page novel you just finished writing before turning off the computer. Tom Nee, Oak Lawn, Illinois ** SECOND PLACE ** Allow…
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TEDTalks (video)
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TED: Jack Horner: Shape-shifting dinosaurs - Jack Horner (2011)
9 Feb 2012 | 7:59 amWhere are the baby dinosaurs? In a spellbinding talk from TEDxVancouver paleontologist Jack Horner describes how slicing open fossil skulls revealed a shocking secret about some of our most beloved dinosaurs. -
TED: Sheikha Al Mayassa: Globalizing the local, localizing the global - Sheikha Al Mayassa (2010)
8 Feb 2012 | 8:28 amSheikha Al Mayassa, a patron of artists, storytellers and filmmakers in Qatar, talks about how art and culture create a country's identity -- and allow every country to share its unique identity with the wider world. As she says: "We don't want to be all the same, but we do want to understand each other." -
TED: Stephen Coleman: The moral dangers of non-lethal weapons - Stephen Coleman (2011)
7 Feb 2012 | 8:08 amPepper spray and tasers are in increasing use by both police and military, and more exotic non-lethal weapons such as heat rays are in the works. At TEDxCanberra, ethicist Stephen Coleman explores the unexpected consequences of their introduction and asks some challenging questions. -
TED: Neil Burgess: How your brain tells you where you are - Neil Burgess (2011)
6 Feb 2012 | 7:58 amHow do you remember where you parked your car? How do you know if you're moving in the right direction? Neuroscientist Neil Burgess studies the neural mechanisms that map the space around us, and how they link to memory and imagination. -
TED: Mike deGruy: Hooked by an octopus - Mike deGruy (2010)
4 Feb 2012 | 12:14 amUnderwater filmmaker Mike deGruy has spent decades looking intimately at the ocean. A consummate storyteller, he takes the stage at Mission Blue to share his awe and excitement -- and his fears -- about the blue heart of our planet.
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speakfearlessly.net
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Ballast: A Tool for Finding Work-Life Balance
8 Feb 2012 | 6:00 amEditor's Note: This is a guest post by Sabina Nawaz and John P. Williamson An endeavor that goes belly-up after a big launch is a failure, a disaster. That's exactly what happened to the Vasa, envisioned to be the grandest ship in Sweden's fleet, because it lacked the proper balance. In August 1628, the Vasa began her maiden voyage in a calm harbor. But as soon as the ship emerged from the city's lee, a gust of wind filled its sails. The ship heeled sharply. With the next gust, open gun ports took in water. The Vasa sank only 400 feet from shore. Today's leaders often… -
Change How You Are, Not Who You Are
28 Jan 2012 | 2:18 amEditor's Note: This is a guest post by BrillianceInc. Change for Good As an Executive Coach, my job is to help people change for good. Not everyone is ready for such a project. Some people just want everyone around them to change instead. And others worry that if they change their behaviors, they’ll come off as inauthentic—a fake. Truth is, if you’re unable to adapt your approach to people and situations, your relationships will suffer and your career will hit a wall. Authenticity Misunderstood Authenticity is about being real…not rigid. That is, it’s not about stubbornly… -
Is it finally time to ditch PowerPoint?
28 Jan 2012 | 1:54 amI came across this post at Presentation Zen – Garr Reynold's awesome blog. The post is from 2007 and the article was suggesting that the disappearance of PowerPoint might be upon us but here on the dawn of 2012, it's still going strong. Last week an article appearing in The Sydney Morning Herald entitled Researcher points finger at PowerPoint generated quite a stir. The article highlighted findings by researchers from the University of New South Wales, including John Sweller who developed the Cognitive Load Theory back in the '80s. One of the findings mentioned in the… -
Flex Your Do-Gooder Muscles
7 Dec 2011 | 5:00 amEditor's Note: This is a guest post by our partners, BrillianceInc Dr. Jekyll Most of us like to think we’re good people and that, if put in an unethical or dangerous situation, we’d do the right, noble thing. We claim assuredly that if given power, we’d wield it fairly; or that we’d call the police if we saw someone getting abused. Perhaps. But study after troubling study shows that the majority of us, when put in certain difficult circumstances, would act in ways we’d later be ashamed of. The truth is, while on the fringes of society we can talk about saints and sociopaths,… -
Public Speaking: Two Lesbians Raised A Baby
5 Dec 2011 | 12:35 pmI usually stay away from politics in this blog. However, I was immediately impressed with the presentation skills of Zach Wahls speaking about his family. Zach Wahls, a 19-year-old University of Iowa student spoke about the strength of his family during a public forum on House Joint Resolution 6 in the Iowa House of Representatives. Wahls has two mothers, and came to oppose House Joint Resolution 6 which would end civil unions in Iowa.
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The Happiness Project
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Quiz: How Fun Is Your Workplace? Your Home?
8 Feb 2012 | 11:31 amIn The Levity Effect: Why it Pays to Lighten Up, Adrian Gostick and Scott Christopher make an interesting argument that “levity” is an extremely effective tool for helping people to work better. An atmosphere of light-heartedness, it turns out, helps people pay attention, eases tensions, and enhances a feeling of connection. When I read this, I thought, “Well, levity would be tough for me, I’m not particularly funny, and I’m not particularly outgoing.” But what the authors mean by “levity” is really a sense of lightness. It's less about being funny and more about being able to… -
Do You Have The "Quality Of Keeping People Together"?
6 Feb 2012 | 8:11 amAssay: Recently, when I was rereading Gertrude Stein's The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, I was very struck by this observation about the French poet Guillaume Apollinaire: The death of Guillaume Apollinaire at this time made a very serious difference to all his friends apart from their sorrow at his death. It was the moment just after the war when many things had changed and people naturally fell apart. Guillaume would have been a bond of union, he always had a quality of keeping people together, and now that he was gone everybody ceased to be friends. The "quality of keeping people… -
"Quiet Minds Cannot Be Perplexed Or Frightened."
5 Feb 2012 | 6:40 am“Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened, but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm.” --Robert Louis Stevenson I love the simile of a "clock in a thunderstorm." It makes me feel calmer, just to imagine that image. * Check out the Happiness Project Toolbox: eight free tools to help you track your own happiness project. -
A Secret To More Happiness And Energy? Give Yourself A Bedtime.
3 Feb 2012 | 11:28 amAs a result of my happiness project, I've become a sleep zealot. It's just so obvious to me—from reading the research and from personal experience—that getting enough sleep is a key to a happier life. I've noticed something, however. I noticed this in myself, before I became such a sleep nut, and I see it in the people around me: most adults don't give themselves a bedtime. Children have a fixed bedtime; we know they need their allotment of sleep, and we pack them off to bed when it's time. But many adults just go to bed whenever they feel like it. The problem with this approach is that… -
"There's Nothing Like The Comfort Of My Bed To Restore Me To My Happiness."
2 Feb 2012 | 7:06 pmHappiness interview: Agapi Stassinopoulos. Through a mutual friend, I e-met Agapi Stassinopoulos. She has a new book that's just hitting the bookstores, Unbinding the Heart. She grapples with the question of how we can "unbind our hearts" better to experience playfulness, connection, self-expression, and joy. Clearly happiness is at the heart of this challenge. Gretchen: What’s a simple activity that consistently makes you happier? Agapi: Getting together with the people I care for and having an intimate time, where we lovingly share and listen to each other in a safe haven, recharges me…
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Motivational Memo Blog
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How To Develop & Maintain A Winning Attitude
9 Feb 2012 | 8:59 amA winning attitude is something that we need to develop on a daily basis. It very much has to do with what we allow to pass through our lips. Personally, I can tell a person’s attitude level by the words that they speak. So take a moment to consider the following suggestions by best selling author John Maxwell. He suggests that instead of saying, ‘We’ve never done it before,’ say, ‘We have the opportunity to be the first.’ Instead of saying, ‘We don’t have the resources,’ say, ‘Necessity fuels invention.’ Instead of saying… -
Why I Am So Proud Of My Mother
5 Feb 2012 | 8:28 amI want to let the world know that I am so proud of my mother. I want to shout it from the rooftops. So listen up world as I’m going to brag about some of the wonderful accomplishments that she has achieved throughout her lifetime to date. Firstly she gave birth to me. Wow! Now that has to be something to shout about. She gave me the greatest gift that can be given to any human – and that is life. She carried me for nine months before I gasped for air and then loved me throughout my childhood, on through my teenage years and well into adulthood. Of her childhood I know little… -
7 Things You Must Sacrifice If You Want to Freely Follow Your Passion
2 Feb 2012 | 8:42 amPost written by Mohamed Tohami. According to a 2-year study conducted by Northwestern National Life Insurance, 72 percent of American workers experience frequent physical and mental conditions that are directly related to stress in their jobs – that’s 3 out of 4 are getting sick from their jobs. Fact is, if you want to FREELY follow your passion and increase your personal wellness, you must be your own boss. This means that you must quit the job you hate and start for the first time in your life waking up in the morning excited to go to work! 7 Things You Must Sacrifice You just need… -
How To Overcome Fear, Timidity & Self Pity
30 Jan 2012 | 8:30 amAs a boy I struggled with all three of these giants. They particularly played a dominant role in my life when I was nine years old and my parents decided to invite a twelve-year-old boy to live with us. Being super-athletic, on the very first day he attended my school, he was challenged to race the fastest boy in the school. With mixed feelings I celebrated the fact that the boy who had just moved into our house was now the toast of the school and faster than the fastest. He could swim (which I struggled with and in fact nearly drowned in a twenty five meter swimming race in front of a crowd… -
From That Heart
29 Jan 2012 | 4:28 pmI remember the first time that I fell in love with poetry. I think it was when I heard read to me The Owl & The Pussy Cat as a child. Then as a teenager I had a teacher introduce me to the works of Geoffrey Chaucer and John Donne. So from time to time I play with words – and as I was a song lyricist for many years and a librettist, I from time to time wander back and tinker with words. Some time ago on Facebook I published this poem – and thought that it deserved a place on my blog. So here it is entitled – From That Heart. Enjoy! There is a beat That beats Within the…
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xkcd.com
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Car Problems
7 Feb 2012 | 9:00 pm -
Wake Up Sheeple
5 Feb 2012 | 9:00 pm -
Wrong Superhero
2 Feb 2012 | 9:00 pm -
Baby Names
31 Jan 2012 | 9:00 pm
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The Art of Non-Conformity » 3×5
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What to Do About Those People Who Sidetracked Your Life
9 Feb 2012 | 4:30 amThis article doesn’t have much to do with travel hacking or unconventional work. And in fact, it will only apply to a minority of the people who read it. If you’ve always had a great life and nothing truly unfair has ever happened to you, feel free to skip this one. There’s lots of other great reading out there elsewhere. But for the rest of you—this one goes out to everyone who has had terrible things happen to them that weren’t their fault. I had a list of examples here that I thought fit the subject. But then I took out the list, because who am I to judge what is terrible and… -
The Feeling of the Entire Day Unfolding Around You
6 Feb 2012 | 8:45 amIn JFK I got on the 16-hour Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong. It was 3pm in the New York afternoon, and 3am in HKG—exactly halfway around the world. The Boeing 777 took off, I had lunch, and I took a short nap. I always set my watch to the destination time when boarding a flight, so it was now sunrise in Hong Kong… with 13 hours to go. What’s next? I like long flights, but this was pushing it even for me. I had the whole day set out before me, with nowhere to go and nothing much to do except what I made for myself. I ordered coffee and sparkling water, then set up shop and got… -
Questions and Answers on Travel Hacking
2 Feb 2012 | 7:55 amA few weeks ago I mentioned I had created a page on the site that lists current airline mileage credit card bonuses. With just a couple of new cards, you can earn 100,000 miles or more—and then book round-trip plane tickets all over the world. Much to my surprise, card bonuses have continued to get better and better over the past couple of years. It’s never been easier to earn a large stash of points or miles that you can quickly convert to plane tickets and hotel stays. I’ve now created a whole minisite to serve as a free resource for those who are interested. We’ll keep… -
World Domination Summit: Final Wave of Tickets
31 Jan 2012 | 10:19 am*World Domination Summit: Final Ticket Sales* Earlier this morning we opened the final wave of ticket sales for WDS 2012. We sold out all 400 remaining tickets immediately (well, in 9 minutes), but due to various transaction errors, about 80 tickets were put back in the queue. These tickets are now available on a first-come, first served basis here –> #WDS2012 Registration UPDATE: All tickets are now gone. *** Here are a few answers to questions I’ve received: Can you stream the event online for those who can’t come? No, sorry. I love the internet, but #WDS is all about… -
Intentions, Decisions, and Outcomes
30 Jan 2012 | 4:28 amI recently posted a question to readers about what to do in an uncertain airport situation. This was the scenario: You arrive very late at an airport you haven’t been to before. Security takes forever, but the flight is on time—which means you’re even more rushed. You walk into the terminal and look for your gate: A70. Damn… you’re currently at A18. Above you is an “Express Train” that runs between A1 and A75 with an unknown number of intermediate stops. You know if you take the escalator up to the train and catch a ride it could be faster—but remember, you’re unfamiliar…
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So Not Zen
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Party Like a Rock Star
26 Jan 2012 | 7:22 pmYou know you are a mom when...You are extremely excited to spend the night alone in a motel, even a crappy one that smells like nachos and feetYou are in your granny night gown flipping channels at 7 pmYou are thrilled to be in control of the remote even though the TV only has, like, six crappy channelsYou go to the bar for dinner and enjoy wine, happy hour snacks, and a library book, alone, in the most well lit corner of the barThe fun activity you brought with you, just for kicks, is individual false eyelashes and eyelash glue. And a library book -
Adventures in dumpster diving
16 Jan 2012 | 7:12 amWhen we decided to downsize to a condo from a larger home in 2009, we weighed the pros and the cons. Less space but smaller utility bills. No yard, yet no yard work. Losing vintage charm, but gaining modern convenience. In other words, we thought this shit out.Once of the pro/con items that didn't seem significant was the garbage situation. In our old house, we had curbside pickup for garbage and recycling, one day per week. In the condo, we have a dumpster for garbage, plus dumpsters for recycling, that we can use any/every day of the week. We have to walk a skosh farther than the curb, but… -
I am so controversial...
12 Jan 2012 | 9:19 amI received an email about a complaint about my blog, and a link to click to view it, and blah blah blah, SPAM, so I deleted it. Because I? Am no fool. I do not clink links in ridiculous emails.Then today I logged on to take a peek at my blog for the first time in, oh, a while, and lo and behold, a big, bold message greeted me: We have received a DMCA complaint for your blog, So Not Zen. An email with the details of the complaint was sent to you on 11-Jan-2012 , and we reset the post status to "Draft"; you can edit it here. You may republish the post with the offending content and/or link(s)… -
Deck The Halls.,,,
7 Dec 2011 | 5:06 pm... with $1 loofahs from Walmart.This idea? All Carlie. This photo? My new iPhone. Fa la la la la -
Send help, STAT
30 Nov 2011 | 3:50 pm
