More importantly, do you know when to not get in there and muck about?

I had an instructor once who spoke about the difference between delegation and abdication. She really helped me understand the difference between rolling up your sleeves only when I needed to and always putting yourself in a place to have to.

Delegation – Assigning duties to someone, providing parameters and having them meet scheduled milestones.

Abdication – Assigning duties to someone, and getting mad when the result doesn’t turn out the way you secretly wish it did.

What’s the key difference? Set expectations.

For instance, when I was in charge of Marketing for my Toastmasters District, I would have to delegate Demonstration Meetings for prospective clubs (groups that wanted to start a new club). I let the lead know how many people and what roles needed to be filled, gave some advice on certain skill sets, and required them to provide me a draft agenda three weeks out and a final agenda two weeks before the event.

If they missed the first milestone, I could roll up my sleeves and help them finish the draft (getting the last few volunteers to sign up). That way we didn’t miss the second deadline, or have a poorly planned event.

Rolling up your sleeves at the right time can help your team be more successful, and setting the right parameters up front can make sure you only have to do it when absolutely necessary.

This evening I attended a writer’s group at a local Barnes & Noble. Don’t die of shock. Yes, I was at a Barnes & Noble today.

What is a writer’s group? In this case, it’s a diverse group of people (tonight 14 strong) who come together twice a month to discuss their writing and provide one another support and useful critiques about their stories.

This evening, I heard a grandfather’s story about his young granddaughter staying over, a teen’s fictitious island off the coast of Greece and a scene from a novel about 8th Century Europe.

All were well told stories, and made me wonder whether or not this group was right for me. After all, my genre is non-fiction. Maybe I didn’t stay long enough to hear from the others.

What I did hear was the dialog between many of the writers in the group. Everyone in the group was given equal opportunity to read their work, and the group provided useful (I thought) feedback in the post-reading conversations.

Back to the title question, “Do you need a writer’s group?”

Can you answer yes to these questions?
1. Are you a writer? (when asked tonight, I asnwered, “I think so”)
2. Do you want actual people to read what you write?
3. Can you handle some constructive feedback?

If so, then maybe a writer’s group is for you. Try one. And if you’re in Kansas City on the 2nd and 4th Mondays, maybe this writer’s group is for you.

For me, I just bought and set up a new site that I plan to launch by 1 June. My next “if I had time” task is to create 3 videos, one as a promo for the site, one as the initial lesson for folks that sign up and also the second lesson.

Take that next item on your list and figure out how to chop it down and get it done.

Tonight I’m writing the script for the promo video.

What is your next step? Go!

If you looking to prove that you are misunderstood, on the right track with the wrong people, or just plain right when everyone else is wrong, then you’re wasting your time as well as mine.

But if you are willing to try a new approach, hear that you need to make some adjustments and work to keep getting better, then you are in the right place.

The weakest leaders and speakers I know are the ones who aren’t willing to admit they are wrong.

Stop looking for validation, and you’ll be free to do the work to keep getting better.

About 200-300 people filled a local church to here Willie speak on attitude. Specifically, Willie talked about the need to take on an Attitude of Excellence. He said there were 5 simple steps. But before that, we heard 7 principles that I thought were just as important:

1. Don’t panic – remember, this to shall pass
2. Don’t buy into the gloom and doom
3. Don’t let your pride poison your prosperity. He told the story about having an MBA … a Mob and Bucket Attitude – willing to do the hard work to have success…this is not personal and it is not permanent…get over it…if its legal and moral, it’s honorable work
4. Don’t stop thinking about the power and possibilities of tomorrow…keep one eye on the problem and one on your dreams
5. Be proactive…don’t wait for your ship to come in, swim out to it. 
6. Be creative
7. Be prayful — actually number one. He saved it ’til last because he doesn’t want us to just pray and do nothing else.

The 5 simple steps?

1. Wake up and dream
2. Show up … They only lane where there isn’t any traffic is the extra mile. If you do the things others won’t do, you’ll get things that others won’t have. – Les Brown
3. Stand up – become the leader of one. Become a life long learner…read more books. Commit to one per month.
4. Step up – to the plate and swing for the fences. Go all out. The doctors can give you the diagnosis, but God gives you the prognosis.
5. Make up your mind to win.

Change is good when your attitude is great
Your best is yet to come

I looked at the clock at the top of the iPad, and noticed that in the last few minutes, Willie had been speaking for over an hour. Yeah, he was that good.

In his wrap up, he quickly ran through the steps: Wake up, Show up, Stand up, Step up and Make up…your mind to be successful. When you think about it that way, doesn’t it make sense?

Willie was awesome, and worth the side trip on my way to Joplin for the weekend. If you aren’t familiar with him, I’d say take a look at http://www.williejolley.com and see for yourself.

If you had been sitting there at the Toastmasters District 22 Conference in Joplin, Missouri…

“Don’t overdo it.” – Craig Valentine

Okay!

Sunday we had Craig Valentine for a 2-hour mini-coaching session on storytelling. There isn’t enough pure unadulterated awesomeness in the English language to help you understand what you missed. But I’ll try…

(Actually, these are my notes)

Why use the stage?
- make a point
- transition – structure your speech
- best: the action in your story prompts you movements on stage
- timeline
Make everything clarify your message, not confuse it
Don’t overdo it – subtle 

Don’t tell … Ask
Most people don’t want to be most people
If you want to know when to say “you and I” or “you and me”, remove the “you and” from the sentence and see which one makes sense

Coached Arlen
Leave your embarrassment in the lobby
Be more subtle in your vocal changes (character voices)

Curiosity – tease them before you tell them
- tap, tease and transport … 
  – Tap “what’s the number one thing standing between most people and their dreams?”
  – Tease – elicited answers and told the audience they were wrong
  – Transport – put them in the scene – Check the VAKS

If all of the questions are answered, your story is over. Even if you keep talking.

Circumstances - 

Characters – Just a few facts 

Coached Heather
Maybe change “perfect family” question
“Have you ever” felt there was a barrier to 
Figure out your foundational phrase – your tap should tie into their takeaway

First check in – 10:05 – these are things the audience took from the first hour:
Timeline on the stage
How to measure a pause (inner voice exercise)
Tap tease and transport
Don’t speak like I write- i.e. “get over here” she said
Don’t speak to impress, speak to inspire
Don’t tell…ask
Speaking is not a monolog , it’s a dialog
Check the VAKS

Conflict
when you introduce your character, throw them into the conflict
Conflict is the hook
Conflict invites them to solve the problem
Establish the conflict as early as possible 
Conflict – titanic hits the iceberg
Escalation – water raises in the titanic 

Come up with two or three events or conversations that escalate the conflict
Escalate until “the battle at boiling point”
Then comes the cure – with the guru – never be the guru of your own story
Be similar, not special
Put the process, not the person on the pedestal 

Ed – Better voices for better choices

Change 
After the cure, how did that cure change you?
What’s the delta

Credibility – who has more credibility about your story than you
Connection - 

We all have different stories, but we all have the same emotions – David Brooks

Conversations and dialog
Never add humor, uncover it
Use dialog – humor is in the reactions
It’s the look before and after the line that makes the line
The need to hear it just how you heard it
Always put the conflict before the cure

Last discuss and debrief – 11:10
What you pick up in the cure, you hand them out the door
Don’t re-tell it, re-live it
DC – be under the influence of your own emotions 
The cure can’t be in the title
If it’s too emotional, rehearse until you can give it without getting visibly emotional
Cliche – have them fill in the blanks
Most people don’t want to be most people

Awesome!

This morning, Craig Valentine opened the Toastmasters District 22 conference in Joplin, Missouri with Getting Remarkable Results in Leadeship and Life.

As always Craig Valentine inspired!

Some of the tidbits:

Never seen a positive leader with a negative team.

What you are speaks so loudly I can’t hear what you say. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

No neutral people. There either on the way or in the way.

Be driven by your vision, or you’ll be driven by someone else’s.

When we make excuses for someone, we invite them to never change.

I’ve been waiting a long time to see Craig here in District 22. As always, he delivered!

Craig Rocks!

If you set aside time for reading, learning, Toastmasters or anything like that, remember to also set aside time to “do”.

Learning is great, but doing pays the bills…

I’ve only had mine for a day, but I feel ready to pass judgement. Awesome!

Going from an iPad version 1 to the iPad 3 clearly seems worth it to me. Here are a few reasons:

The enhanced display. This new “Retina display” is fabulous. Although it isn’t significant in the HD movies (already HD on the iPad 1 & 2), apps and pictures look a whole lot better. One small detractor (for non-models) – the hi-res is a bit too good for looking at yourself in the camera.

Cameras. Not a big deal to iPad 2 owners, but having the two cameras is a great reason for iPad 1 owners to upgrade. Although I still intend to use my flip for videoing my speeches, the iPad 3 will make a great option and allow me to capture stuff I might otherwise miss. (It’s drastically better than my android phone’s camera).

Footprint. A little lighter and thinner than the iPad 1. Not a deal maker, but a plus.

Facetime. Video conferencing can be a nice perk, especially for travelers.

iCloud. I haven’t tried this yet, since I need to upgrade the OS on our home system to use the full features. I’ll post an update once I try it.

There are a couple of small detractors – nothing new to Apple fans:

Every extra thing costs more than it should. Although, you can find some iPad 2 products on sale now, even though they fit the 3.

Right this second, really, a woman two seats over (at Barnes & Noble) is on Facetime on her iPad (could be a 2 or 3). I’m trying to be at Barnes & Noble, here…

Everyone in the family will want to borrow it. Yeah, that happens. Deal with it.

Overall, I’m glad to have The New iPad. I think it’s worth a look for iPad 1 owners, and stupid-rich iPad 2 owners could do worse with their money…

Note: This post was written on the Worpress app for iPad. All hail WordPress.

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