Gets My Vote

The opposition parties have been very smart to make Thursday's election about far more than just Brexit, but about things that matter to our whole lives and our concern for others.

They’ve thereby exposed the single-minded myopia of the entitled comfortably-off for the emotional & intellectual vacuum it really is, underpinned and supported by an unsavoury, blatant, arrogant and unapologetic Trump-lite social media back office.

All the more important then, that with less than one day to go, you don't get disheartened and think that your vote won't make a difference. It really, really will. If everyone who is entitled to vote voted, we will have more confidence in the validity of the result, whatever it might be.

Part of the reason we're in this mess is because so many who were entitled to vote in the Brexit Referendum, didn't. 

But we are where we are, and tomorrow, we all have the chance to deliver an incontestable result that might, just might, start some healing.

The important thing is to get in there and make your mark on Thursday. As a minimum, you will be able to hold your head up and say with pride that you spoke up.

On Message

Today, I'm following the tweets from the eLearning Network's annual conference, eLNConnect (here). I'm a member but, for various reasons, wasn't able to attend. So, as usual in these circumstances, I turn to and rely on good old Twitter and my personal learning network (PLN) to keep me informed as I get on with 'other stuff'.

I use TweetDeck to follow and contribute to Twitter conversations. I find its structure of using multiple columns to separate out different conversational streams to be invaluable, particularly when engaging in tweetchats such as the weekly #LDinsight chat, or to follow events like conferences. 

So today, I searched for the eLNConnect hashtag, and the first few hits came up with #eLNConnect19, which I duly separated into its own column and started following the discussion, as tweeted out by some of the PLN attending.

But then, in my 'Home' feed column, I started seeing some other people tweeting from the conference and using the hashtag #eLNConnect2019. Now I had a dilemma - was it #eLNConnect19 or #eLNConnect2019? Which was the 'official' conference hashtag? What was I going to miss if I focused on the 'wrong' tag? Did I need to create a second Tweetdeck column for the other tag?

So I tweeted out, using both hashtags, asking which hashtag to follow. 

And I got a bit cross.

And felt myself disengaging.

After about 20 minutes or so, the official eLNConnect account confirmed that the hashtag was, in fact, #eLNConnect2019, with an apology for the confusion. Situation saved, my TweetDeck column hashtag adjusted and my attention re-engaged. Happy days.

So, here's a suggestion to all and every event organisers everywhere - before your event, publicise your 'official' hashtag; ensure that it's in all your pre-event marketing materials and critically, announce it loud and clear in the room and across your social media channels at the start of and frequently throughout your event. Avoid hashtag ambiguity.

People like me, who have a genuine interest in your event and the speakers' stories, keen to learn, who want to engage, share and contribute, want to feel part of things but cannot be there, will thank you for it and will willingly amplify the discussions and the learning.

So as #eLNConnect2019 takes a coffee break, my thanks to @elearningnetwk and all the contributors, tweeters and sharers for what has been a fascinating morning already. I'm looking forward to more as the day goes on.

Motivation

Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay 

Ever been in a rush and skipped washing your hands after using a public toilet? 

If you ever did, I bet you don't do it any more, now that modern hot air hand dryers make so much more noise that they can be heard from well outside the room before, and sometimes during, your exit from the room.

Behaviour Change or Reputation Management? 

Discuss.

Taking a Leaf

Photo by Nong Vang on Unsplash

I've just read Andrew Jacobs' (@AndrewJacobsLnD) latest blog A Week of Posts wherein he shares where and how he gets his inspiration for his daily blog posts.

He's a man of curiosity and enquiry, and he's capable of extrapolating ideas from different sources, conversations, podcasts, blog posts, work products, etc that resonate for him and that he can translate into short, impactive, professionally-related daily posts.

It's a skill I envy and am learning a lot from in terms of my own blog posting track record and forward planning.

So here's what I loved about his post today.

• The content: Andrew's sources are many and varied. His skills lie in seeing something in them that he can use and relate to a professional audience. He doesn't over-think them. And it helps that he's also very articulate.
  
  My takeaway: KISS - Keep it simple, stupid!
  
  
• That photograph! His title was "A Week of Posts". His illustration: A lovely photograph in Autumnal tones of a rural pathway meandering into the distance, and marked out by two rows of wooden posts. It was both visually arresting (it drew my attention to the his blog immediately) and it was a gently understated witty play on the word 'posts'. Genius!
  
  My takeaway: Visuals attract people to your content. Great visuals enhance it.
  

So, taking a leaf out of Andrew's book, this post is my own quick and dirty reflection on what I think good blog posting should look like, while I try to walk that talk better myself.

Completion is Mandatory

Photo by Hammer & Tusk on Unsplash

I've just completed a short e-learning course, about which I was informed by email on Monday of this week.

"Completion is mandatory for all... and needs to be completed by Friday 18th October."

Classic e-learning: a short video of someone holding a document and talking about it as they turn the pages; links to some graphic files and policies; several statements confirming I get it, and a 'Declaration' that I know how to follow the process and apply it.

I've gone through it twice. I'm not sure I really understand where to find the links in the real systems, nor how to follow the process when required to so do.

But it's Friday. So, I've clicked the Declaration button anyway. 

I've complied.

No-one will check.

And if and when I need to do it for real, I'll ask someone.

Just like everyone else who has ever had to complete an e-learning compliance course.

Dying of the Light

I'm pretty unsentimental about pets.

I didn't grow up with them around and didn't actually own any until just before Mandy and I got married in 1985. Two cats, sisters, acquired from my soon-to-be-Brother-in-Law. Deferred children, right?

They moved with us from London to Hove in 1990. We had our children and they grew up with cats around. Inevitably one cat disappeared one Bonfire Night and the other got old and had to be put down a few years later.

We got two more cats. Natasha and Sam got to choose and name them - Rocky and Pepper.

In 2014, the very weekend that Mandy and I decided we wanted to move and put our house onto the market, Rocky disappeared. We just thought he'd gone walkabout. Turned out he got run down and killed locally and his remains picked up and disposed of by the Council (no collar, no chip).

Pepper moved with us to Worthing in 2014. And she got old. In the Autumn of last year, at the age of 16, she developed symptoms which were identified as hyperthyrodism. Long story short, we were persuaded to go for the "99% success rate" cure of radiation therapy.

She was the 1%.

Within two weeks of the treatment, Pepper died in my arms, struggling for breath, as Sam and I were getting ready to take her to the emergency vets.

I've lost friends and close family. I've been to many funerals; more so now as I get older. I thought I'd kinda got the death/loss thing squared. I hadn't. I hadn't been there at the moment of their passing.

This time, I watched the light in Pepper's eyes disappear as she gave up whatever the fight was she was having and she became still. She'd gone. Whatever suffering she'd been experiencing had stopped. So had she. Although 'just' a family pet, I was profoundly moved to witness such a fundamental transition from life to death.

We had Pepper cremated and, this afternoon, we mixed her ashes with garden soil and compost and planted a rose bush with and for her in the garden.

I'm pretty unsentimental about pets.

I miss her.

MoonStruck

I was 13 when two humans landed on The Moon 50 years ago today. 

Photo by Stephen Walker on Unsplash

We were on holiday in Stonehaven on the Scottish East Coast. What I remember of that momentous event is that - to my undying puzzlement and regret - my brother Malcolm and I went - or were put to - bed, and slept through the whole thing! 

Even now, I can’t understand that. I was old enough to express an interest and to ask to stay up. Did I really not understand the significance of the event? Did my parents not get it? Did I/we ask to stay up? Or did we just not have a TV in the holiday home? I honestly can't remember.

As an older teenager and adult I’ve always had an interest in space and astronomy, so in the same week that I watched a partial eclipse of The Moon through binoculars at my kitchen window, this week’s commemorative programmes and films have been a joy. 

I’m experiencing the wonder and awe of it this time round with a heightened awareness, combined with a lingering sense of regret for my younger self missing it the first time.

Hope I get to stay up for the next one...!