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The Mic is On: It's about the Great Turning Points …

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It’s Like Open Mic Only Different

The Mic Is On

Here’s how it works.

It’s like any rambling conversation. Don’t try to read it all. Jump in whenever you get here. Just go to the end and start talking. EVERYONE is WELCOME.
The rules are simple — be nice.

There are always first timers and new things to talk about. It’s sort of half “Cheers” part “Friends” and part video game. You don’t know how much fun it is until you try it.

… in our Lives!

sign.jpg

Let’s start with:

  • Graduation
  • Birthday
  • Marriage
  • a HUGE Decision

And, we’ll talk about whatever else comes up, including THE EVER POPULAR, Basil the code-writing donkey . . . and flamenco dancing (because we always get off topic, anyway.)

Oh, and bring links about great turning points in life to share!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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What is Tuesday Open Comment Night?

Image source: sxc.hu – standard restrictions

Open Mic 7pm Chgo Time: It's about Great Turning Points…

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Join Us Tonight

… in our lives!

We might talk about graduation, a birthday, a marriage, a HUGE decision, and whatever else comes up, even flamenco dancing.

Oh, and bring example links to share — about great turning points in life.

The rules are simple — be nice.

Do be nice. 🙂

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related article
What is Tuesday Open Comment Night?

UK Trip 1: From Heathrow to Edinburgh to a Question at City U in London

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From Heathrow to Edinburgh to City U

My son and I landed at Heathrow on Saturday the 10th. The first part of our journey was by car up to Edinburgh to visit with Joanna Young. On the way, we had a meal with Chris Garrett and his family at a pub called the Red Kite in Wakefield. He sent us up to York for the night.

The next day we traveled on to Edinburgh to meet up with Joanna Young and Amy Palko. Amy left us after a few hours. Joanna housed us, fed us, and educated us as if we were family. Wow! Joanna drove us to the airport Monday evening. She’s now moving far away . . . hmmm.

Tuesday is when business began. We got to the renown Journalism School of City U, signed in, went to the office to stow our stuff. We watched through a doorway as our host, Mary Ann Kernan, worked with masters degree publishing students. She spotted us and made us comfortable as she finished up. Immediately my son and I pulled out our gadgets — my iPhone, his palm — to check for wifi. NONE. We’d been looking to jump online since we’d gotten to that part of the world . . . Joanna’s house had been the only haven.

Mary Ann took us the lounge where we met Adrian Monck, Head of the Journalism School, past investigative reporter, and blogger, who was that day finishing a move of his blog from blogspot to WordPress. You might enjoy this piece he wrote for the Guardian on whether the media can be trusted.

“Blogger’s Studio” at the Bayes Business School

We headed over to the Bayes Business School — a beautiful building with a wall of corporate partnerships proudly displayed behind reception. Limited wifi — in the library for students and guests with laptops only. No luck for the Strauss family travelers looking to connect with you and others.

The event began with informal networking outside a 21st Century classroom — well, 21st Century, except for the wifi thing. Then it settled into an interview / conversation on how City U might respond to the social opportunities of the Web. The format was much like the TV show Actor’s Studio and all was caught on video. The interviewer was the distinguished Director of the Cass Learning Laboratory, Clive Holtham. I was the interviewee. The audience included Adrian Monck, Mary Ann Kernan, Susannah Quinsee, Head of Learning and Development, senior staff and professors, my son, and students from both schools.

The university seems to be particularly concerned with “blogs” rather than “social media.” The blogs I saw and heard about were mostly used for reflection and to extend or supplement teaching. We had some discussion about how to encourage conversation, community, and interaction. One professor came in prepared to be disappointed and was glad he wasn’t. One journalism professor was heartened to hear that bloggers were gaining stature. AND Adrian Monck signed on to Twitter during the session. How cool is that?!!

The best question of the day was: What is a blog’s competition?

How would you answer that one?

More to come about what’s going on at UK universities.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

The Attraction of Blogger Conversation

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I've been thinking . . .

about folks getting lost in the blogger conversation.

Meeting friends on the Internet is seamlessly efficient. We click in, look around, and stay only if we find thoughts that are attractive. If we choose to click away, we cause no pain. We’re merely blips — stats in a calculation. If we stay, we often become part of a conversation.

We become part of a community of bloggers.

Bloggers like to think with each other. We ideate. We imagine. We suggest problems and then solve them. We open our heads and our hearts to each other. When we meet in person we hug rather than shake hands like strangers. A blogger conversation is built on trust and transparency that takes time to find in the concrete world. It’s incredibly attractive.

So we find ways to bring the bloggerly conversation into our 3-D spaces. We talk in taxis, restaurants, and airports. We twitter from hotel bedrooms and during business meetings. We send messages from commuter rail stations.

We talk about blogging culture in our own blogging language. Do you see signs that some of us view the world as “those who blog” and “those who don’t” — with the first being better and more interesting? Do you see nonbloggers who think the exact opposite? Are we becoming “us and them”?

Will we lose the gifts of our on the ground friends while we talk to our tribe of bloggers? Will we one day find that those friends have moved on because we’ve lost the intimate connection?

I wonder. The blogger conversation is so attractive.

Liz's Signature

A Turning Point, a Realization, and Time to Take Back the Keys

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The Turning Point

The Living Web

SOBCon08 had a different effect on each person who attended. It had a stunning impact on me.

A most interesting and pivotal decision came my way on Saturday, May 3rd. The conference I planned was not holding to schedule — I had planned too much to fit in too little time. It was a risk I took come to haunt me. As the day wore on, I realized something had to give. One choice presented itself as the best. I would give up my speaker’s slot. It was the only way to put the conference back on track.

At the time, I knew exactly what the choices were: choose to speak or choose for the event. I chose not to speak, knowing that people who attended for the first time would leave with an incomplete picture of who I am and what I do.

I’ve been tracking the impact of that decision. It’s been there in the blog posts and the comments about SOBCon this year.

I hit a turning point in my life.

The Realization

The part that was harder to face was the realization that had I been fully engaged as a leader, I never would have faced that choice at all. The conference would have had more of my hand behind it and more of voice in it on that day.

I knew what to do, but I didn’t do it, because ghosts from my past got in the way.

Who are ghosts to get in my way?

The clear message of SOBCon was that it’s time to step to the plate. Our blogs, our businesses have to be about serving our customers, but that can’t be at the cost of ourselves.

We each have to own our future. I’ve reflected hard on that thought these past two weeks. Today I’m taking back the keys. I’m walking my own path, shining my light on what I know worth sharing, turning off the noise that gets in the way. I’ll be bringing the most meaningful business and life conversations to this blog now — rather than keeping them behind the scenes.

It’s no longer my father’s saloon. The bar is still open. This time the drinks are on me.

What will you have?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Change the World: Be a Bridge

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Head, Heart, and Meaning!

changetheworld8

I arrived home from nine day journey, thinking about all of the ways we move forward and around in our lives. Some ways are reflective, slow, and private.

horse and carriage by Andrew Dubber

Some take us to a crossroads that require a decision in due time.

Some transport us over calm or troubled waters.
Wacker Bridge by Wendy Piersall

But the best parts of the journey are when we have friends, offering their experiences and insights. They offer hope when we’re on the darkest ride. They’re like human bridges as we move through our careers and through our lives.

Bridges make roads seem more worth traveling. They can shorten a journey or offer a chance to think about where we’re going.

Bridge by xch.hu

Bridges can offer a lighted way to the other side.

After nine days traveling to see people I’ve met here and people who’ve never been to the blogosphere, I look at the Internet with new eyes. The interwoven content, context, and human relationships of the blogging Internet is network of bridges.

We were all new here once . . .

If we could offer an irresistible invitation, a sweet introduction, and a lighted bridge, people who never dreamed of talking might connect in a conversation that was more than meaningful and more than right.

We can change the world — just like that.
–ME “Liz” Strauss

Image sources: Andrew Dubber, bjmccray, Wendy Piersall, xch.hu (see alt tags)