news flash: your employees want to be informed and entertained

Are you attempting the rollout of a corporate initiative to your employee audience? You want them to tune in, care and remember the message, right?  Your time is short and the time of your employees is even shorter, so work some sort of entertainment into your communication to employees. Be irreverent, creative and be sure to involve the audience. Leave them feeling energized, like they've just been a part of a unique event in the history of the company.  

 

Dad Handbook 2.0

You're a parent? A dad? Below is an exerpt from the Dad Handbook 2.0 story by Stan Brooks in the Huffington Post, and it's well worth taking a moment to read this stellar piece of parental journalism. It explains what many of you (and me) are thinking every day.

"So this is the generation that made the choice to be helicopter Dads. Or, at the very least,paratrooper Dads -- making sure to parachute in for all the key battles and moments. We don't miss much. We don't put work ahead of being a Dad. We see more games than we miss. 

And we love it. Even with no role models in the generations ahead of us -- we are certain this is the right choice and we get enormous fulfillment from it. My own personal journey took me through the paternal looking glass and back again. My father didn't show me how to be this kind of Dad -- I had to find my own map and let my sons teach me how. Each new day and new moment I experience as both a Father and son."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stanley-m-brooks/dad-handbook-20_b_747189.html

Stand back or get in

Hey NASCAR fans, racing is back!  To kick off the season, the young Trevor Bayne drove his way to a surprising win in the Daytona 500, crediting a focus on his faith for the victory. Bayne's enthusiasm filled some of the void on the 10th anniversary of the death of legendary #3 racer, Dale Earnhardt. In the spirit of things to come, here's a photo I took from New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, NH back in September 2010. Fasten your seatbelts for a great 2011 season!

Nascar

Barcamp Manchester NH Rocks

Last weekend, I had the good fortune of participating in and enjoying the annual Barcamp Manchester conference at the Amoskeag Small Business Incubator in Manchester, New Hampshire. Much to the credit of the tech conference's lead organizers Kelley and Ian Muir (of Sundermedia fame), the event was a great success. Thanks to the efforts of a lot of tech-minded attendees, speakers and volunteers, solid information about everything geek from creating iPhone apps to HTML5 to best practices in usability testing were happily shared. Be sure check out next year's conference, it's well worth it.

In the meantime, keep up with this year's @barcampNH speakers here: http://twitter.com/#!/BarCampNH/speakers-2010/members

Killing Frost

Here in New England, two Spring frosts in late April and early May have dampened my ambitions for getting the crops planted early. I'm already down a few tomatoes, peppers and some assorted flowers in the square-foot garden bed. So much for pushing my luck with mother nature. But on the positive side, the lettuce, onions, broccoli, are just exploding. It is good to get the planting going with my daughter – kids really like square-foot gardens. Get out and get planting...if you dare!

Silver linings are for pessimists...

"EVERY side is the bright side. Silver linings are for pessimists. Train yourself to treat every experience with deep democracy. Maintain an attitude of is quoque mos vultus mihi, which means, “This too will shape me.” Remember: Whatever you’re going through, the whole damn thing is shiny and brighter than you could ever imagine. What are you converting your problems into?"
- Scott Ginsberg
via hellomynameisblog.com