Laura Enridge Zera's Blog, page 4

Six Tips for Better Public Speaking

Last Saturday, I had the opportunity to give a keynote presentation at Simon Fraser University’s Backpack to Briefcase (B2B) conference. I was riffing on career planning and development from the inside out: building self-awareness, using mindfulness to tap into your heart-center and quiet the monkey mind, figuring out what feels good and then identifying what things about a job–any job!—would foster those feelings.

It was good fun, and my own little heart-center was further filled up by the feedback I received from some of the participants afterward. And, of course, there were also things I learned from the event, which I want to share here to hopefully help you next time you find yourself at the mike.

Tip #1

Ask the organizers if they have done a full demo. By this, I mean checking that everything is in reach and/or properly placed when there’s a live person at the podium. I was the first person to speak that day. I took video of my presentation, and through this discovered that the podium was a tad too close to the projector. Any time I stood more than six inches back from the microphone, I had projector light on my head, and a blob of my head in the corner of the screen. And if any of you refer to the sheer size of my head in the comments below, I will… I will… I will back you up on that observation.

Tip #2

Make big notes. PowerPoint is great for making slides, but it offers no options for how you can print those slides with your notes on the bottom. Hence, your notes might be too small. I found I spent too much time looking down, trying to find my place in my notes (and I didn’t even have that many!). Next time, I’ll create my speaking notes in an entirely separate document, and do like Benjamin Netanyahu with the big freaking font (photo here).

Tip #3

Consider the room configuration. When the room is wide, and people are panned out in front of you from one edge to the other, they have a better chance of seeing your facial expressions and picking up on your energy. If the room is long and narrow, you need to be extra animated because the people at the back can be pretty far away. Emote for them. Don’t worry about overdoing it for the people in the front. They’ll survive.

Tip #4

Keep your energy up through the slide transitions. It’s great to have all kinds of fun and energy during the main speaking points on the slide, but do you have a segue planned to carry you into the next slide? I noticed that I sometimes “petered out” at the end of a slide, letting my energy lag, and therefore, letting the energy in the room lag. My solution: don’t over-think it, just go!

Tip #5

Limit your repeat words and comfy-slipper-fallback phrases. Overuse creates a verbal pattern that starts to sound boring to the listener. I kept saying “so be aware of that.” The more I said it, the more it stuck out. Plus, its repetition took away from the impact of the words before it.

Tip #6

No matter the topic, work in some really personal stuff. I was talking about career development, and so used a lot of examples from my own career. That didn’t stop me from working in a brief story about my mum and two slides with my pug Yolanda on them. Interestingly, those are the times when I felt the MOST connective energy in the room. Personal stories foster an empathy and openness that will make your audience more receptive to the other things you have to say.

Do you have any tips or funny anecdotes to add from your own experience?

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Hello to Hanoi and Halong Bay

Hoàn Kiếm Lake, Hanoi’s Old Quarter

When we visited Vietnam in November, we never expected we’d make it all the way up north (we really weren’t relishing the idea of too many flights, no matter how short). But from Ho Chi Minh to Hue to Hoi An, everyone we met who’d been around for a while said, “my favorite place on this trip was Halong Bay.” So we went. And as much as I like to be the purple sheep, this time, I can’t disagree.

It cost $37.53 each to fly from Da Nang to Hanoi on Jetstar. Once in Hanoi, we stayed in the Old Quarter for one night on either side of our three days in and around Halong Bay. With the way things roll, visiting Halong and Cat Ba Island is one of the times when it makes sense — and is probably cheaper in the long run — to book a tour. We did ours with Vega Travel.

For $160 each, we had hotel pick-up and drop-off in Hanoi, a night on a lovely boat, a night in the beautiful Hung Long Hotel (I’m not even joking) on Cat Ba Island, fantastic six- or seven- or eight-course meals aboard the boat, park entrance fees covered, kayaks provided, and hikes, swims, cycle trips and paddles with the extraordinarily patient and gracious Chuk, our guide. Our group was 16 on the first day, and only 6 on the second, so very manageable, and no fists flew to get the last prawn off the serving plate.

Here are a few shots from this memorable part of our Vietnam travels.
Old Quarter square by day
Old Quarter square by night
Hanoi Old Quarter at night
Hanoi Old Quarter at night
Lingering political statements
Ho Chi Minh lives on
They don’t much like to paint all four sides
Halong Bay
See the little man at the bottom?
Halong Bay fishing village
A quiet bay, accessible only by kayak

 

 

 

Cat Ba Town at night
Mystical and magical

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just for a bit of fun, the population of Hanoi is 7 million. Guess how many motorcycles and scooters are in the city?

 

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The Desire Map: What It Is, Why It Might Call to You

Have you ever had something in your life, and you love it so much, and then an opportunity comes up to make it an even bigger thing in your life? That just happened to me.

I love Danielle LaPorte and her work. I got turned on to Danielle in 2011, and immediately subscribed to her blog. Then I started listening to her recordings; the woman has a voice like melted chocolate. I packed the Credo for Making It Happen mp3 with me to a writers’ conference in 2012 and played it before I made my first-ever book pitches to literary agents. (It worked.)

I attended a different conference in 2013–a great one put on by the Women in Biz Network–where Danielle presented twice in two days. Not only did her wisdom not disappoint, it deeply resonated. (Also, the next week, while shopping at Nordstrom, I found the exact same top she’d worn on the first day. I tried it on, but I didn’t buy it. That would have been creepy. It was a nice top. I can see why she likes it.)

Forget “Who Wore It Best,” we both look fabulous.

 

I read Danielle’s book The Desire Map and did the workbook in 2014. More deep resonance, followed by a permanent and transformational shift in my being. And in 2015, I became a licensed facilitator for The Desire Map Workshop. (Every now and again, I squeal out loud.)

I came to this work honestly: I didn’t like how I felt more often than I was comfortable accepting. That was the bottom line. The other bottom line? The whole point of life is to feel good. Otherwise, what’s the point?

In that way, The Desire Map has been revolutionary for me. This book isn’t just intellectual theory; it’s a catalyst for change. It helped me get clear on what was working and what wasn’t. I figured out how I wanted to feel. Every day. And, for the first time in many, many years, I declared that yes, my feelings actually were the best navigation system for designing my life.

So now, as a facilitator and a friend, I ask you this: How do you feel? And, how do you WANT to feel?

Some more good questions: Do you have blocks to move? Self-limiting beliefs you need to burn? Huge, awesome, juicy things you’re jonesing to manifest in your life? Then maybe The Desire Map is for you, too.

The Desire Map Workshop walks you through the process of practically and soulfully creating a life that you actually want to live, while connected to people, experiences and things that you actually want to be connected to. If it calls to you the way it called to me, I would be honored guide you in this work.

First up, an in-person workshop in Seattle on Feb. 21 & 22. All the details are here.

In the future, I’ll be considering other locations and/or a virtual workshop, so for that I have no-spam, lots-of-love email list that will keep you in the loop on upcoming workshops. To join that party, click here.

And if this all sounds awesome, and you still have questions, here’s an FAQ page (it even tells you how to find out more about becoming a licensee yourself). You can also email me at laura at zerapress dot com. I want to be of service, so don’t be shy.

I don’t believe we’re on this planet to just pass through, or to let our potential go unrealized. I DO believe that we each have the power to design a life so right for us that when we lay our head down to sleep each night, our hearts are full of joy and our souls are content. It’s what I want. Is it what you want?

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Year-end Fun: Updates on Past Posts – Travel & More

I’m going to put a slight twist on the “year in review” concept and instead give some updates and add-ons to previous posts that have appeared on my blog.

First, an update on the Heladería Coromoto ice cream shop in Mérida, Venezuela. I first called out this shop in the post Ten Whackadoo Travel Facts, highlighting its Viagra ice cream. Just a couple of days ago, I read that it has shut down until at least mid-January due to a milk shortage. Now the question is: do we blame the socialists or the cows?

I’ve spent a pretty good amount of time talking about edible things from animals’ bums on this blog – Say, Did That Strawberry Flavor Come From Beaver Butt? and My Cup of Wild Civet Coffee are two such occasions. Now my good pal Jo-Anne Teal (seriously good flash fiction author over at Going For Coffee) has brought it to my attention that elephants are now being touted as the next coffee-bean-pooping rock stars. So basically, any animal who shits out a bean is now a market commodity.

One of my favorite stories on this blog was the post Trinidad and Old Friends, which told of a 74-year-old gentleman that I met on a bus in Port of Spain. There was just something about him and his story that stuck with me, and despite asking the bus driver of that particular route to look out for him, and passing notes through the marketing manager for the bus line, sadly, I was never able to locate the dapper gentleman again. So, the mystery of his friend in New Westminster, B.C. remains unsolved.

I also lost touch with the fellow I wrote about in my post Let Me Give You a Quarter for the Shoes. He no longer occupies the corner by the KFC, nor any other nearby intersection, so has probably moved on to another city. There have been plenty of others filling those spots around town, however, as the number for people living in poverty in Washington state has topped 14 percent. Add a severe mental illness into that equation and the odds are stacked against you.

Now to the friends I can still find! I’ve had a number of great people come and guest blog for me over the last three years. Where are they now? Well, here are some updates on a few of them.

Author and blog coach Molly Greene visited in May 2012. At the time, she’d just released her first book; now Molly has five books out and is about to release the sixth. This woman works hard!

There was also Kendall Hunter, my old chum from when we lived in South Africa, and both author and photographer. Kendall was working on a book about female photojournalists around the world. From what she’s told me, it’s morphing quite a lot – oh, how books change shape, hey? In the meantime, she’s creating a really cool website and mobile app called CultureDock, where young people can find and post information about cross-cultural information and experiences.

Then there was Jeri Walker-Bickett, who contributed a moving essay that continues to be one of the most popular on my site. She was writing her novel then, and still is – oh, how books can take a long time to birth, hey? She’s got a couple of short travel memoirs out, set in Yosemite National Park, and has built a solid freelance editing business. If you have a manuscript (or other) in need of some love, drop Jeri a line.

Next, author Nadine Christian (of the Fletcher Christians) came to hang out, and shared all about life on the remote and remarkable Pitcairn Island. Nadine has since staged her own mutiny – okay, maybe that’s a bit extreme – and moved to New Zealand earlier this year. Her Twitter feed photos of her five kids experiencing life in a big city for the first time is a riot.

Chickybus’s Lisa Egle spun through my site about a year ago to talk about one of our favorite things: female solo travel. In 2014, Lisa spent time in Colombia and has put up some fantastic photos and posts about her visit. If that’s a country that interests you, you’ll find more here.

In the travel post Vacation Clothing Essentials, I shared my love for merino wool in all temperatures, freezing cold and blazing hot. An add-on for any of you who are bothered by the itchy factor (which is usually minimal already in a good merino piece): I/O Merino has gathered a bunch of sheep and conditioned the hell out of their sheepy hair – bottle after bottle of Pantene – and as a result, their clothes are beyond soft. I road-tested a t-shirt that was sent to me right before my recent SE Asia trip, and man, it was like wearing jammies. P.S. They’re having a HUGE end-of-year sale right now. HUGE.

It might be stupid to give away intel on my finds of amazing and relatively deserted spots around the globe, but that’s just what I did with Gilligan’s Island in Belize. I’m sad to report that Tobacco Caye has now been approved for a supermall, and construction is due to start in 2015. Noooooo, that’s not true. Actually, it has been completely submerged by rising water levels, a fatality of global warming. Nooooo, that’s not true either. It’s in fine shape, and I’d still advise that if you’re going to Belize and don’t like the vibe of Ambergris Caye (where most people go), head a little further south and you will be richly rewarded.

Finally, it was back in 2011 when I first published a post called Love in the Time of Saran Wrap, all about how the only thing that survived my long-term relationship with a guy named Hank was a 2500-foot roll of plastic wrap. At the time of writing, that roll was 15 years old. A year later, my husband Francis emphatically stated that he wanted to start his own roll of plastic wrap with me, and gifted me with 2000 feet for Christmas. It took until August of 2014 for the christening of that one, meaning that the old Hank roll lived to be nearly 18 years. Respectable for any relationship, I’d say, but my instinct tells me that the new roll will go further.

Stay tuned for another spin of this format in a couple of weeks, where I’ll do updates that are focused on mental health news follow-ups.

Thank you for being here, and I wish you a divine and prosperous 2015, in the way that’s most meaningful to you.

 

 

 

 

Photo of Asian elephant: By Yathin S Krishnappa (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...)], via Wikimedia Commons

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The Neediest Tissue Box in Ho Chi Minh City (and other photos)

Another selection of photos from my recent trip to Vietnam; this time, some of my favorites of Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon). With a population of about 8 million, there is almost one motorbike for every second person, and the “moto life” is a culture all unto itself. Also interesting was the Reunification Palace, where visitors step into a time machine and travel back to see exactly what this perfectly preserved place looked like on the day Saigon fell, back in 1975.

So hard to choose…
Lovely green space
A Comms Room at the Reunification Palace
This measures what, exactly?
A rather delusional view of the relationship
Needy much?

 

Like a gang, but not

 

 

Motos breed the need for this
Determined not to get sun damage: mask, hoodie, gloves, apron and… stilettos
Explaining why American soldiers didn’t fit into the wee tunnels

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Things to See Between Hue and Hoi An, Vietnam

Thanh Toan covered bridge

I’ve got some new visuals from Vietnam this week, having juts spent the last two there. While the long-and-skinny-ness of the country forced a few more flights than I like to normally utilize for getting from A to B, my husband and I decided to take advantage of the scenic drive between Hue and Hoi An (in central Vietnam).

Thanh Toan market

Our hotel in Hue, the spiffy clean Serene Palace, provided two options: public bus, or a $65 private car. A backpacker at heart, I wandered into a hostel around the corner, knowing they’d have less expensive tour itineraries. For $11 each, Francis and I booked a mini-bus tour with Tannhat Travel to take us (and one other guy from Korea) the 140 kilometers, but with an English-speaking guide and four stops en route.

Working the plough

First up was the village of Thanh Toan, just outside Hue. Highlights there included the local market, the carved-wood Japanese-style covered bridge, and the teeny tiny woman in the museum, who turned the tutorial on traditional rice farming into a memorable five-act play.

Next we made a pit stop at Lang Co Bay. Given that the resort hotel was dead quiet and there wasn’t another soul on the beach, it seems like the public toilet in the souvenir shop is what sees the most action these days.

Hairpin curve near Hai Van Pass

Our diesel mini-bus chugged up some serious switchbacks to deliver us to Hải Vân Pass, which means “ocean cloud” in Vietnamese, and sits at an elevation of 500 meters (1627 feet). The trickiness of the road has led to the construction of a tunnel for regular commuters, but the views keep the tourists coming. Notable was an old brick structure that was pock-marked with war wounds.

View from Hai Van Pass
Marble Mountains

The final destination was the Marble Mountains, which lie just outside the city of Da Nang. After climbing the main staircase to the top of one of the five mountains, caves, tunnels, buddhist sanctuaries and an Australian high school rappelling expedition all came into view.

Marble Mountains

 

Cave at Marble Mountains

That’s all for now. Hope you enjoyed these. My current location is Siem Reap so stay tuned for some Cambodia posts, too!

p.s. I will end with a small cat on a chair.

 

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Things, They Are A Changin’

It could be that November is the new spring. Well, I’m going with it, because I’ve just made some big changes.

One is that I’ve updated the look of my website. It’s not perfect yet, but it’s pretty darn beautiful, wouldn’t you say? (The theme is actually called “Beautiful.”) I designed with the help of developer Barb Drozdowich. If you have feedback of any sort, go on, sling it at me like mashed potatoes in a school cafeteria food fight.

The second thing is that Barb helped me move my subscriber lists to MailChimp. The blog post notifications that go out will look different. If you got this post via email, it’s because at one time or another, you subscribed on my old site. And if you don’t want to get them (there will be between two and four per month), then there’s an Unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email for you.

You know how when you launch new things, there’s sometimes a glitch here and there? I hope we don’t have any, but if we do, let me know so I can fix it.

Not so much a change, more of an update here: I’ve started the agent search for my memoir manuscript. I’ve had three rejections so far, with the incredibly tough memoir market cited as the primary reason (as in: publishers aren’t buying them). But they were filled with encouragement: “you have a strong voice,” “the writing is just wonderful,” and “there is much to be appreciated here.” So, what I need is to find my lobster agent, just like Rachel found her lobster in Ross on Friends.

That’s all for now. Hope all is well with you. If you’ve got any news to share, let’s chat in the site’s comments section. And, as always, thanks for being here. You make this blogging stuff fun.

 

 

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Ghomeshi’s Hiring of Criminal Lawyer is More Intimidation

The Jian Ghomeshi story has made me angry. I’m in good company. And now, with his recent hiring of Marie Henein, a criminal defense lawyer, there is even more reason to be pissed off. I don’t need to recap CBC radio star Ghomeshi’s recent troubles, all stemming from allegations that his notion of foreplay is …

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Travel: What About a Gap Year?

It’s funny how even simple concepts evolve to have different practical applications, depending on which part of the world you’re in. Take the idea of a gap year, for instance. The term originated in the U.K. in the 1960s, and it has basically always meant to go on a relatively unstructured overseas trip after high …

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Tips and Tools for the Sensory Defensive, Part II

Going to sling one final post at you with information on the condition known as “sensory defensiveness.” If you haven’t heard about this condition, you can find the basics in my introductory post on what it means to be sensory defensive. The first batch of tips and tools are in this Part I post. Today, …

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