the [non]billable hour

Right Way Writing

Dumb Little Man has compiled a list of 50 Writing Tools from Poynter Online.  If you write at all, it is worth your time to check out some of the Poynter articles.  An amazing resource!

Last Week on My Idea Surplus Disorder Blog

Here are the posts from last week on my Idea Surplus Disorder Blog:

• The Ride is the Retreat
• Idea Market II FAQ
• The Return of Think Tank Tuesdays
• Strategies that Work for Work
• Question of the Week
• Creativity Links, October Edition
• Question of the Week
• Is Networking a No-No?
• If You Think with Two People, and They Think with Two People …

 

links for 2006-10-24

• LEGO Store - Ice Cube Tray
  (tags: lego fun ice)

The Conference Bike Rocks!

Through a serendipitous series of events, I was able to hook up with Eric Staller, inventor of the Conference Bike.  He just happened to be driving through St. Louis as part of his cross-country tour and I made arrangements to check out his invention.  Eric arrived with his bike on the back of a special truck:

Within minutes, it was ready to go.

I rustled up several friends from my building and we went for a ride around the Soulard area of St. Louis.  It was a blast.  I cannot come close to describing not only the fun we had riding it on the streets around the Farmer’s Market, but the sheer joy and wonderment the sight of seven people facing one another while pedalling a bike caused on almost everyone we passed.

I don’t know yet how to incorporate this bike into my retreat and conference business, but I can’t imagine an easier (and more fun) way to do some quick team building and encourage collaboration.  Very cool!

If Eric is coming through your town, you owe it to yourself to meet him and take a spin on the Conference Bike.  It was the most fun I’ve had in a long time.

Thank you, Eric!

Conference Bike

I wrote about the Conference Bike the other day.  As luck would have it, the inventor is doing a cross-country tour and just happens to be coming through St. Louis tomorrow (Saturday)!  Anyone want to go for a ride?  Call my cell at 618–407–3241 or e-mail me at Matt@LexThink.com if you want to join me.  I’ll know more details on time/place tomorrow.

 

 

World Series, Here We Come!

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This Week's Idea Surplus Disorder Posts

As I posted yesterday, I’ve started another blog called Idea Surplus Disorder.  Here are my posts so far.  Check it out.

Brainstorm Brilliantly

13 Ways to Think About It

In What Ways Might We …

Question of the Week

Creativity: Stop, Start, Continue and the Power of One Percent

The Return of Think Tank Tuesdays

Forty-Twenty Productivity

Focus on What is Possible Instead of What is Not

Creativity Hacks

You Might As Well Jump!

Introduction to Real BIG Thinking

I’ve been a bit light on the blogging lately.  The primary reason is that I’ve been building another web site as a home for my Idea Markets as well as my fledgling personal retreat and consulting business.  While Dennis Kennedy and I are working with the incomparable JoAnna Forshee on several future LexThink events (more on those next week), I felt it was easier to leave LexThink as a legal-focused company and move my other stuff under a different umbrella.

I’m calling that different umbrella real BIG thinking, and I’d love for you to take a look.  The website is not quite done, and I’ll be tweaking the copy, mapping the domain name, adding new resources, and cleaning up the interface over the next few weeks. 

I’m also blogging about facilitation, retreats, innovation and creativity on my new blog:  Idea Surplus Disorder. 

Let me know what you think.

Idea Market is Tomorrow

The second St. Louis Idea Market takes place tomorrow, October 17th.  I expect between 30 and 50 people there, though there could be more.  If you plan to come, please e-mail me and let me know.  Thanks.

Revenge of the Mac Lover

Here’s an extreme example of the power of the blogosphere.

Step One:  Write law.com article about how Mac’s suck, with at least a few technical innacuracies.

Step Two:  Follow up with blog post about article, taking on”Mac Jihadists.”  81 comments and counting. 

Step Three:  Watch others pick up your article and criticize you in their own blogs. 

Step Four:  See how at least one of the critical articles makes it to the front page of Digg.

Step Five:  Watch your online reputation take a major hit.

It is only a matter of time before some of these blog posts show up on the front page of Google.  As it stands now, using Google’s Blog Search, a post titled “Stupid Larry” is the first result.

I know Larry and like him.  I’ve presented with him at ABA’s Techshow.  He’s a very smart guy, and it wouldn’t surprise me if this is all part of a plan to demonstrate how blogging works — a subject he writes and speaks about frequently.  However, it is also a cautionary lesson in the power of blogs and citizen media.  I will say this, I bet his article is the number one page (by far) served up by law.com this week.