Monday, December 31, 2007

Cost/benefit of membership Scott Abel does a little cost/benefit analysis on membership in certain organizations on his Content Wrangler site: Joining Membership Organizations: When $100US Is A Big Waste Of Money. [TheContentWrangler.com]. I agree with his thoughts on AAA (despite their lobbying against public transportation), STC (although I spend a lot less than he does on SIGs), and IAI (which must be the bargain of the century). But most revealing are Scott's insights on CMPros; I have considered joining several times, especially since the organization theoretically relates to the work that I do at IBM, but I never saw what I stood to gain by being a member. Scott's confirmed that evaluation. Thanks, Scott! 6:54:21 PM    Questions? Comments? Flames? []

Robert Scoble, Zen student Scoble posted a long list of lessons-learned for this year; some I can relate to, others are less relevant. But, IMHO, #6 should have been #1: What I've learned in 2007. . . 2007 was an incredible year for me in terms of life teaching me lessons. The lessons came at me fast and furious, so here[base ']s some that had an impact on my life. . . . 6. Everytime my ego tells me I[base ']m important for some reason bad things happen in my life. Which is the key lesson of Zen Buddhism. So, welcome to the zendo, Robert! 6:41:54 PM    Questions? Comments? Flames? []

Presenting a new year Garr Reynolds' Presentation Zen blog is one of the great Web resources; I seriously look forward to the day that I can put Garr's insights to into practice on one of the ubiquitous PowerPoint presentations that choke my work mailbox. The blog is good enough that I ordered the book (Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery (Voices That Matter)) as soon as Amazon allowed pre-orders. A few days ago, Amazon told me it would ship late, sometime in January; today the tell me it's shipped, and I'll have it Wednesday. Cool. Garr says: Hau'oli Makahiki Hou (Happy New Year!). . . The sales of the book have been greater than expected. Amazon lists the book now as "out of stock" but more are being printed and shipped to Amazon and others quickly. The bookstores in the US such as Borders will have the book very soon as well. I have heard from some readers that they have indeed received the book and "love it," while others are still waiting. Many have reported speedy results by ordering directly from the publisher. If you have not received your copy, it really does exist, even though it seems hard to get. . . Presentation Zen] And a Hau'oli Makahiki Hou to you, too. 1:48:20 PM    Questions? Comments? Flames? []

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