Ericast 134 - A MinneBar Debriefing

An interesting mix this week: A stereo podcast (using my typical two-channel interview setup with an old Olympus WS-320 digital recorder) while I was wandering around in our neighborhood at 3 a.m. on a beautiful 77-degree Minnesota evening, talking about my 2010 MinneBar (un)conference experience. Killing "two stones with one bird," as Dad always said.

Apologies for the wind noise and squeaky shoes and I-35E traffic and random screeching and screaming in the distance (listen for details!)... but, hey, I'm keepin' it real. :)

(Seriously, please do let me know what you think of the "production values" of this particular episode as you play it in your personal environment -- too distracting? perfectly fine to listen to? richer and more interesting than usual? too hard to hear? file size too big for the small gain stereo brings you? stereo too confusing while listening? etc.)

Anyway, on the MinneBar topic... Here are the sessions I attended:

1. Non-profits: Strengthening Gives in a Social Media World
2. Schumpeter’s Hive—Consciously Weaving Our Collaborative Innovation Networks
3. Curation FTW
4. Social media for learning spaces in work, schools, and communities
5. Growing communities of practice
6. 2 for 1 - Neighborhoods Online and Social Advocacy via Twitter
7. Drupal Experiments

The interesting thing to me is that the MinneBar experience could have been a radically different one depending on which sessions you went to -- and for some, "radically different" from my experience would have been a good thing. For me, what I got was incredible; I couldn't have designed a better track for myself if I'd tried.

I'm curious what you -- the particular, individual, Ericast listener -- think of these sessions. Which one strikes your fancy? Let me know, and I'd be happy to talk about that topic more: 206-339-3742 (206-339-ERIC) or e-mail me (eric) at ericast.com

Ericast 133 - My Fantasy Project

Yup, there's a bit of a pun in this week's title, but its true meaning is "a little project that I sure think would be cool to see happen by someone, somewhere."

Basically, we're talking about studying "physical attraction" and tools that might help people discover what they find particularly attractive in others.

A couple links: A good example of my "haircolor box" illustration is to look at Garnier boxes, and I figure I better include a link to some photos of Robyn Lively because a doubt many people in my audience have heard of her.

Think it's... Crazy? Creepy? Brilliant? Does a tool like this already exist? Share your thoughts or reactions at 206-339-3742 (206-339-ERIC) or to me (eric) at ericast.com

Ericast 132 - The Rockstar Experience

A discussion this week of a concert a few weeks ago by Casting Crowns -- something that's interesting in and of itself given that I'm really not a concert-goer in general.

Obscure Rush song reference (video - go to 2:00)
Stomp
Ginny Owens, Geoff Moore and the Distance, Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua
Boy George and Culture Club
Tenth Avenue North vs. Lisa Loeb and Nine Stories

Faxes or calls of any sort to 206-339-3742 (a.k.a. 206-339-ERIC) or e-mails to me (eric) at ericast.com

Ericast 131 - Possibilities? Trends? Vision?

A topic this week is a "thought in progress" based on a post I made over on my Posterous blog (which isn't the same as my old "educating eric" blog), all about "vision" and whether we should place a value judgment on having it (in the same way we often do for "leadership")

Anyway, here's the framework:

Ideas/Facts -> Possibilities -> Trends (prediction) -> Vision (decision)

Does this fit in with some other framework? Does it ring a bell? If so, what's it from?

Let me know what you think of this episode, and help me flesh out the concept I'm working on. E-mail to me (eric) at ericast.com, or call 206-339-ERIC (206-339-3742)