Networking 101: Name Tags and More

This evening I was at the Green Drinks here in Fort Collins.  Now the Green Drinks group in Fort Collins seems to be heavily dominated by Green Builders.  I think Green Builders are great and they are promoting a new way sustainable living.  But as they talk of big development projects or wealthy people who can afford their products, I think “Aren’t we missing the point a bit here?”  Should we not be building less, reusing more, building more compact, living smaller?  I just need to realize those are my values and not necessarily others. 

 

Where was I?  Oh yea, I was in a networking delema!  How can I find the Environmental Activists here amoungst all these Green Builders.  First off, I arrived just late enough that there were no more name badges.  This put me at a serious networking disadvantage.  Then I went on a hunt to find other activists.  I scanned each persons name tag to see what they were up to.  Some people had there own corporate plastic name tags that were really easy to read with their company logos.  This made me realize how I should have brought my TheClimateProject.org reusable name tag along.  Others had written in thin pen on their adhesive name tags and I struggled to read them.  And some wrote large and clear and just put very catchy things like “Be Green” under their names.  It was this last group of people that usually caught my attention.  The learning: catchy name tag = attention.

 

This evening when I got home, I had the latest newsletter from www.TheNetworkingGurus.com (Cindy Rold and Donna Feldman).  I wished I had read it before I left.  It was a great refresher in becoming a better at networking.  This month’s newsletter featured an article from the Mark Hiatt, President of Just Networking and Colorado Business Leads.  In it he talks about his FOREST™ program that stands for Family, Origin (place-of), Recreation, Entertainment, Special interests, Talents (what are you good at doing) as the great fall back point when conversation gets dry.  It made me realize how much more networking practice I could use.

New Noonshiners Toastmaster Web Site

I am happy to announce that the Fort Collins Noonshiners Toastmaster Group has a new web site.  You can visit it at http://noonshinerstoastmasters.org/. We are looking for new members!  Improving your skills in public speaking can benefit you in work and play.  Consider joining in the fun.

 

Do-A-Deed.com supports random acts of kindness.

Patrick V. emailed me to let me know that he had gotten his Pay it Forward group going to support random acts of kindness. It is Do-A-Deed.com. Please check it out.

I also need to appologize to patrick form my ealier posting that exposed his email on the web. Hope the spam level is not too high!

Is SaveThePoudre.org a lost cause?

I am reminded by Laura Butler that SaveThePoudre.org reciently had a meeting at River Rock Cohousing. My question is simply “Is it a lost cause?”

Seems that few Coloradoans have read the Colorado College State of the Rockies Climate Change Report. Those who have, realize that even under good conditions we are likely to see an April 1^st snow pack decrease of 50% in the next 75 years. The good news is that overall precipitation should be about the same. Simply said this means that there will be more rain and less snow. The climate change trend is for more precipitation in the fall and less in the spring. So overall you can expect more runoff in the fall when the growing season has ended and more drought in the spring supported by poor snow pack.

The question now becomes how to create a strategy to maintain water supplies moving towards the future. Colorado already has a problem with population growth. It will become even more difficult to meet this growth as supplies in spring and summer start to shrink. It is clear that the goal of conservation that has been promoted by SaveThePoudre.org and the Western Resource Advocates must be embraced! At the same time, it would be prudent to start planning for the future.

I suspect that part of the future of Colorado living through climate change will be the construction of new dams. The planning for these projects must be thought out carefully. Commissioning a new dam causes a loss of interest in conservation programs. At the same time with the near arrival of peak oil as well as expected future carbon taxes, the construction of dams will likely increase sharply in the next 25 years. From a financial situation, sooner is better. I support the guidelines the Western Resource Advocates have laid out for such a projects in the future.

I encourage everyone to read the Colorado College State of the Rockies Climate Change Report. It highlights the fact that almost all other environmental efforts are deeply impacted by this one major environmental crisis.

Feel free to leave your comments and feedback.

My blog is stale

Why has my blog gone stale.

1.       Margaret went to CTI Leadership for a week and I was a single parent.

2.       As a single parent the time for work was cut back and I have been spending this week actually catching up on my work for CoCreate.

3.       I have been doing a lot for www.CreativeSwordPlay.com

 

I have a lot to say and I will make some efforts to keep stuff fresh.

 

Great Weird Al Yankovick Concert Last Friday

I along with my son Will along with his friends Beau and Ryan along with Ryan's father Micheal went to see Weird Al Yankovick in concert last Friday. It was a great show with no intermission because he uses videos between sets to give himself time to rest and change costumes. It was pretty PG13 on the material. I don't think it scared any of the nine year olds who were with us. He did play "The Saga Begins" along with "Yoda" which really made Will's day. Will is a big Star Wars fan. In addition he did do "White and Nerdy" which is my personal theme song. It was interesting to here, because he slowed the tempo in order to get all the words out. I have tried to sing that song, and it is very difficult to sing at the speed of the production version. Here is another nerdy video for your entertainment.

On the Effectiveness of Aluminium Foil Helmets

Ray Frush sent me this one. I, in my unparinoid way, was unaware that of the aluminum helmet craze. This MIT study by Ali Rahimi, Ben Recht, Jason Taylor, and Noah Vawter had some interesting concusions.

Abstract:

Among a fringe community of paranoids, aluminum helmets serve as the protective measure of choice against invasive radio signals. We investigate the efficacy of three aluminum helmet designs on a sample group of four individuals. Using a $250,000 network analyser, we find that although on average all helmets attenuate invasive radio frequencies in either directions (either emanating from an outside source, or emanating from the cranium of the subject), certain frequencies are in fact greatly amplified. These amplified frequencies coincide with radio bands reserved for government use according to the Federal Communication Commission (FCC). Statistical evidence suggests the use of helmets may in fact enhance the government's invasive abilities. We speculate that the government may in fact have started the helmet craze for this reason.

Read the whole study ...

Laura Johnson an employee from Agilent says: "It's always good to see how real customers are using Agilent instruments."

LEGO SERIOUS PLAY in the News

People in my network have directed me several LEGO SERIOUS PLAY articles in the last few days. Marketing efforts by Robert Rasmussen and the LEGO Group seem to be putting LEGO SERIOUS PLAY in the news lately. Here are some articles:

Lego training helps workers boost creativity
Atlanta Journal Constitution, USA - Aug 27, 2007

Play while you work
Canadian HR Reporter, Canada - Aug 30, 2007

DCF rebuilds with Legos
Palm Beach Post, United States - Aug 23, 2007

I had a wonderful conversation with Robert last Wednesday and was very impressed with the depth of his knowledge on collaboration, team building, and idea synthesis. I encourage anyone who is not familiar with his program LEGO SERIOUS PLAY to check it out at http://seriousplay.com/.