My Stories
First IPO is a winner
Well this week i took advantage of Airbnb’s offer to hosts to get in on their IpO go live on the stock exchange. It’s an experiment. Buying individual stocks is usually not a safe bet. like gambling, you need to be prepared to lose if all.
The final cost for hosts was $68 per share. I bought 100 shares.
I’m happy to report in ons day it more than doubled!
Cool Tool: SkillSoft Percipio
May 13, 2020
Here’s a #CoolTool that you can get for free if you register today! If my help you during a #CoronaSabbatical or keep your family busy while you are working, or preparing yourself after the loss of a job.
Today I am attending the SkillSoft Perspectives conference. This is something I usually travel to and attend each year. I get to learn about modern learning and network with other professionals tackling similar challenges with learning for the workplace.
This year, they have moved the entire conference to online and are making it available for FREE. But you need to register today, though. You don’t need to attend today, just register today. This will give you access to all the recorded conference sessions and access to their catalog of e-learning courses for 60 days.
To register, click the image below or this link
There are all kinds of topics available as traditional eLearning, audio books, videos, etc. The topics are both work and non-work related.
One benefit of all the crazy covid world is that it is a great time to invest in your professional and personal development.
Cool Tool: Vyond (GoAnimate)
May 10, 2020
This cool tool has helped me at work to make fast and easy user support materials. It’s also been helpful to make funny, light hearted videos to cheer up a hard-working team. (Visit me on YouTube to see more). But here’s a new cool way to use it. A lot of people are looking for jobs. It is hard to get to know someone from text on a screen or page. So this is my take on learning a new tool and sharing about myself in a unique way. The response has been very positive! Click to play the video:
Vyond was formerly known as GoAnimate. It is a cloud-based tool that enables you to make simple animations. You can choose the scenes, characters, and props. You can add narration and choose from a library of voices or record/upload your own audio. You can import your own images. Like many of these cloud-content developing tools, this one has a free level that allows you do to some functions or you can buy in at a monthly rate to get additional features.
In my case, I got the one month subscription so that I could download the MP4 file without “Vyond” branded on it. Then I loaded it up into my video asset managing tool (YouTube or Vimeo).
In this example, I had tons of feedback from over 20+ years across many employers. I wanted to share a snapshot of feedback. So I used animation. I used real comments and sentiments. Real job functions. I did change some names of people whom I could not reach to get approval from.
And my buddy Mary would say, “Am, keep it short! It’s got to be 3 minutes or less or you’re going to lose ‘em.” Thanks Mary!
Slow & Steady Wins Over Productivity
May 4, 2020
If you know me, I love making things better—better user experience, better productivity, better customer satisfaction. At Corning, I helped save $7M+ and 100,000 hours in productivity with changes in how learning was sourced, administered and delivered. It was like a game to me!
But right now, the professionals tell us that we need to “slow our roll” some. Get enough sleep. Not rush rush rush. It’s a time to think quality not quantity. Quality of life!
I was recently reminded of this the other day. For a second year in a row, we’ve had a HUGE turtle making the trip from the farmers pond across the street over past our house to the north famers’ pond. It took awhile, but I did get to see her move. (We named her Tatiana)
So if that game thrill is pushing you to hustle, reconsider Tatiana’s path! What are you doing differently to slow down and smell the roses? I’ve love to hear. Send me a message.
Cool Tool: Articulate Rise
May 1, 2020
I recently had the good fortune to work with SweetRush to develop some custom, mobile eLearning. The experience was WONDERFUL. I encourage you to check them out here. Their process is agile, learning design is sound, and visually the final products are beautiful. They also do cool pro bono work for many charitable organizations.
During the process they walked me through questions to help decide which authoring tool was the best fit for the situation. I was already familiar with Captivate and Storyline, having used them myself to develop other courses. But they recommended another authoring tool also provided by Articulate: Rise.
During my Corona Sabbatical, I decided to learn developing content using Rise. I got a free trial version and sank back into the couch ready to crank. To my delight, the process is very similar to that of using web site authoring tools, like Squarespace. There are standard templates you can start from, then customize the look, feel and function by adding, moving, or removing content elements. I’m still working on the sample, but you can see it here, Learning Value Stream.
Half the battle with content like this though is figuring out how to publish it so that the users can access it on the devise they have and have it function as intended. Thanks to Google, I figured out how to setup an account with Amazon AWS to host the content. Like many online services, there is a freebie level.
Cool Tool: BrandYourself
What did you do during your Corona Sabbatical?
April 15, 2020
Remember when you’d get asked “what did you do during your summer vacation?” Hopefully very soon we’ll be asking “what did you do during your Corona Sebbatical?” Here’s one idea that you can dig into if you have some time to spare.
During your Corona break, a lot of us are taking advantage of the extended down time to clean things up. This #CoolTool helps you to cleanup and optimize your web presence.
BrandYourself is an online tool that helps you to manage your web presence. You can sign up for a free account or upgrade to a paid account for more features. The tool will deeply scan the web for a variety of aspects that point back to your digital footprint.
I recommend starting with the free version. Provide your social media accounts and name and the tool will run a report for you. This is may score as of today.
1. Get Your Baseline
Go to www.brandyourself.com. Create an account. Follow instructions to enter any social accounts you use online. Get your current score. This is your baseline.
2. Improve Your Score
There are four areas you can then review and take action on. Some tasks you can do for free and some are only available if you upgrade. Many tasks are automated by BrandYourself.
Protect Privacy
Clean Up Social Media
Improve Google Results
Build Personal Brand
Under Construction
My personal brand is under construction. So check back later to see how much I’m able to improve my score!
The next day……
2 days later……
Better. The hard stuff is
Replacing big images with smaller that load faster on website, Instragram, etc.
Retiring old accounts with personal information. This requires follow up with the account provider.
Getting better google results, showing up positively in page 1, 2 and 3 in Google search results.
Cool Tool: Be My Eyes
April 14, 2020
Work is changing significantly with digitization. Sometimes the change is hard, when entire professions can be replaced with an APP that anyone can use without a college degree.
One #CoolTool I’m having fun with is BeMyEyes. This APP is used on a SMARTPhone by blind or people who are visually impaired to get just-in-time visual support from volunteers located all over the world.
Sited people volunteer to answer video calls for less-sited people. I had one person need help reading the directions on a box to make dinner. And another person needed help to grab the right product off her pantry shelf. I had to ask her to turn the lights on and re-angle her phone for a good view. Other people need help pulling the right bill out of their wallet or selecting clothing to wear. Simple things that we take for granted.
What cool APP have you found? I’d love to hear!
Performance Muse: Piss Poor Performance
April 2020
Please be gentle with regard to the image quality of this video. This was my very first YouTube video from over a decade ago!
It was for a graduate course I was teaching at Ithaca College’s Park School of Communication, Strategic Communications. I had a semester-long challenge called the “IC Strategic Communications Throwdown” where I’d give the students a challenge each week that they’d have to solve using free digital resources. The winner each week won a prize.
It is ironic that Mr. Amerall’s Trigonometry class was the one I struggled most with in school!
Cool Tool: Kajabi
March 2020
I’ve had fun learning to use an online elearning development tool, Kajabi, to develop elearning experiences. This is an affordable tool for small businesses that allows you to develop and publish your website, design and publish online learning experiences, and promote the courses for sale with eCommerce features.
Users can experience the content on computer, tablet or SMARTPhone via a web browser or an APP. Of course, the content must be designed with smaller screens in mind to ensure a good user experience.
This course is the first course in a series on Tarot for Real Life. The design calls for many learning experiences.
Narrated Tour: Learners’ Experience
Narrated Tour: Learning Experience Designer’s Experience
What did I like?
It was easy to learn to use. The tutorials showed everything you need to get started.
You could record the video right in the application. Although you can get better quality video shooting from a newer smartphone then uploading.
Kajabi does provide a library of image assets that can be used for free. This helps reduce development costs. I’ve found that one of the new required skills for eLearning is graphic design to make or source photos, logos and graphics.
What were the drawbacks?
It definitely helps to have experience as an instructional designer to design good content and source the many media assets used in the course.
The lowest cost level for a subscription is like $149 a month. This is more expensive than what you can pay for hosting just a website using another platform- but it does include both. If you don’t have enough sales, the cost may not be worth justifying.
The other thing is that was a bummer was you can’t put a course on pause without still paying a monthly amount It would be nice to put the course on pause at a reduced price but still be able to publish the website at a cost competitive with other web hosting services, like SquareSpace.
It became clear after the course was launched that you really need experience and time to promote the course. You can’t just “build it and they will come.” This is another new skill required for modern, digital learning: promoting learning like a marketer. You still need to do market research on what courses are in demand and understand how to get the word out to access it.
If money were not an issue, I like using either Canvas or Intrepid for designing learning experiences. They are good for companies that need a model scalable for growth. Kajabi seems good for small business owners.
COVID Reset Button
March 2020
It’s hard to think about anything good coming out of this pandemic. If there is one thing, I hope it helps the world to hit the reset button on compassion and love for each other. The last four years have had so much negativity, lying, disrespect.
Times like these help us to see more clearly about what in life is truly important and what are just distractions to avoid the truth.
In the last month, I’ve seen so many people seizing any opportunity to help each other. It gives me hope in humanity. There is a hunger and thirst for positive human connection! Yes, it is harder with social distancing, but still possible.
Call your people. Don’t forget the single folks out there, too. Even a 1 minute contact with each other helps to not feel alone and afraid.
Corona Fortunes
March 2020
In March this year, the world was assaulted with the COVID19. Our family is sheltering in place, out in the country. It’s pretty sobering to think the entire world is taking a forced sabbatical from everyday life. It’s hard to believe that 700+ people are dying a day in NYC.
The only time so far we have ordered delivery of food was for Chinese food. The delivery person parked way out on the street and left the bag on the porch. There was no contact.
Believe it or not, these are the two fortune cookie quotes we got. So two questions to think about….
What do I want to learn?
I’m learning more about web sites- helping some friends with their small business web site development.. (www.spiritwings.org and www.erikarobinson-lenormand.com). I’ve also learned how to use Kajabi to make and market online learning. There are so many cool sites to learn new things out there!
What am I not putting off until tomorrow?
Connecting more with friends and family. I’m not a big phone talker, but it has been a nice change of pace and easier to do without so many other things pulling at my attention.
Armor Up
February 2020
Image Brene Brown
I love the way Brene Brown talks about the power of vulnerability. We learn to “armor up” after years of experience. Each new experience can add a layer. If our experiences are hard, our armor is hard. Picking layers away enables us to be vulnerable enough to risk having difficult conversations.
Brene on Vulnerability….hard conversations
A Month of Emotions
February 2020
For many, we think of February as the month of love. I immediately think of the Sweetheart candies, also called “conversation hearts.”
I love these candy heart memes. They are like tiny reminders of a broader range of emotions to recognize. And, they are mostly hopeful. With all the stuff going on right now, that is a good thing.
If you were to make your own, what recent emotions would you want to convey?
Expanding our vocabulary of emotions is a life skill many of us don’t learn growing up. Brene Brown talks about how most people can connect with 3 basic emotions: sad, mad, and glad. But there are so many more. She uses this Feelings Wheel to help expand upon our vocabulary.
To hear more, check out this..Brene Brown video on YouTube.
To learn more about yourself, take a survey.
Hermiting Season
January 2020
Hermitting Season is officially over!
Webster’s Dictionary defines a hermit as a longer, someone who is isolated. At our house it means something different. Each year at our house, around November through January-ish, we recognize the Hermiting Season. This is a time to go within yourself and reflect on how the year ending was and what to hope for in the next year. Think about what happened, where I want to go, and what I need to either keep doing the same and/or do differently. It is NOT holing up under the covers in bed watching movies all weekend!
I used a favorite “cool tool”, Canva, to make a graphic to represent my season. It reads left to right and represents the journey. The emotions I started with, the path to get there and the words that reflect where I want to be.
It was fun and very helpful to have the community and fun to learn more about tarot! www.facebook.com/valeriefromteaandtarot/
Christmas Tree Tour
December, 2019
We had a quiet holiday this year. We didn’t travel and did not have family travel to us. So I wanted to share a tour of our tree and share some of my favorite memories.
Follow that Turkey
November 2019
Not long before Thanksgiving, we were visited by a group (flock? gaggle? senate?) of Turkeys. Be sure to watch it right until the end. How many do you count?
We learned that Turkeys travel in groups of the same sex. These are all female turkeys. We are not sure where the male turkeys are.
Puppy Car Time
October, 2019
One of my favorite things to do is go for car rides with Lacey.
Welcome Friend!
September, 2019
Thanks for visiting! Share stories. All models are wrong some are useful. Things that make you go hmmm.