Hitchhiking to the Boardroom – Presentation Pitch for SXSWi10

Find the plane where Awesum & Audience intersect

Here’s my (Dave Olson’s) submission to SXSW Interactive 2010 – Starting August 10, you’ll have a chance to vote for SXSW Panels and Presentations until Aug. 28th and your vote constitutes a portion of the selection process along with staff and an advisory board.

After the enjoyment of presenting F@ck Stats, Make Art spiel at SXSWi 2009 (which garnered favourable reviews BTW), I mulled over my options and have some pretty entertaining in mind which will entice me to dig deep in my older travel files and more modern Internet biz binders of artifacts to support my story-telling.

For F@ck Stat, Make Art, i went fully analog with no projectors, laptops etc. but this time i will  use some photos to share what i have in mind including stories from time spent as mushroom farmer in Japan, beach club host in Guam, searching for the kind in Palau, gathering grapes and chestnuts in Germany or following the Grateful Dead through the hinterlands of America in a VW bus.

Listen to a recap of my SXSW 2009 core conversation and after-hours hi-jinks in SXSW Stories from Middle Earth – Choogle On #79 podcast.

Also for your voting consideration:

• Rock N Roll Photo Panel Pitch for SXSW Music 2010 – Panel with Kris Krug etc. moderated by Dave Olson
• ‘From a Web of Pages to a Web of Streams’ Presentation for SXSW 2010 – Kris Krug
• Intelligent Online Media Monitoring Tools & Strategies Panel for SXSW Interactive – Kris Krug, Amber Case et al

Art = craft + intent x integrity

Details of pitch:

Title of panel or presentation (maximum 8 words):

Hitchhiking to the Boardroom

50 word description of this panel / presentation

Not all business lessons are learned in an MBA program, nor management skills gained in seminars. This inter-disciplinary conversation distills a decade of working odd jobs in 20+ countries, followed by 14 years of Internet biz endeavors, into unique problem-solving skills as well as inspire attendees with a replenished toolbox of usable tactics.

10 questions that will be answered in this panel / presentation

1. How can I reach the top without a fancy degree?
2. Why should you bring “yourself” to work?
3. How do you diffuse a$$holes (especially when they are your boss)?
4. How can I find mentors, teachers and miracles?
5. How can I develop recession-proof business ideas?
6. What are the advantages of communicating with an audience in their language?
7. Why should I forget pre-conceptions and surprise myself?
8. Why is an inter-disciplinary perspective important?
9. Why should I consider hitting the road (and not look back)?
10. How can I figure out what truly matters to me – and make it happen?

50-word bio for this speaker

Dave Olson is a world-traveling renaissance guy who has published essays, poetry and fiction, wrote and produced a documentary film, and traveled to 20+ countries working jobs from mushroom farmer to private beach club host. An experienced story-teller, Dave’s presentation style is unique, visually compelling and free of jargon, cheesy buzzwords and bulleted lists.

get out of the cublicle you deserve more! (photo KK)

I am qualified to speak on this topic because:

{pardon the 3rd person} An experienced media pundit, Dave made dozens of TV/radio/newspaper appearances discussing web media technology, public policy activism, entrepreneurship, hockey and more on outlets ranging from CBC to BBC to High Times.

Most recently, he’s worked as a professional web community builder and marketing evangelist for a variety Vancouver web companies.

He regularly speaks at events and conferences about using technology to enable artistic expression and using social media for social change.

He graduated in 2004 from the noted Evergreen College in Olympia, Washington with a degree in Inter-disciplinary studies after studying public policy, philosophy, global affairs and writing – he also attended the Universities of Utah and Guam.

A podcasting pioneer, Dave creates several long-running series including Postcards from Gravelly Beach – a spoken word literature show, Choogle on! – gonzo international sound-seeing adventures, and Canucks Outsider, a wildly-popular audio magazine about Vancouver hockey culture.

Has this person spoken at SXSW before?

Yes – See the recap of F@ck Stats, Make Art at SXSW 2009

Spieling to the People of SXSW 09- photo by KK

The scales of sharing - Free for Taking or Don't Take

Recent Publications:

• Depth Perception (poetry) – 2009
• Letters from Russia (epistolary lit) – 2006
• The First Rule of Longboard Hockey is … – Heads Magazine 2007
• Rebagliati Positive for 2010 – Head Magazine 2006
• Zen Rambling in Japan – Heads Magazine 2006
• Hemp Culture in Japan – Cannabis Culture 2000

For Your SXSW Voting Consideration:

• Rock N Roll Photo Panel Pitch for SXSW Music 2010 – Panel with Kris Krug etc. moderated by Dave Olson
• ‘From a Web of Pages to a Web of Streams’ Presentation for SXSW 2010 – Kris Krug
• Intelligent Online Media Monitoring Tools & Strategies Panel for SXSW Interactive – Kris Krug, Amber Case et al

Seabus Station Evacuated due to Smoking Vessel

Now Public: Seabus Station Evacuated due to Smoking Vessel

The Seabus (not sure if it was the Otter or the Beaver) began smoking heavily upon docking at Waterfront Station. After passengers disembarked and crew investigated the problem, the station was evacuated and firetrucks responded. The counterpart vessel waited in Burrard Inlet and didn’t immediately dock.

Nothing more to report at this time. Video forthcoming.

See also:

One SeaBus breaks down The Province, Published: Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Flickr public photos tagged with seabus

Uncle Weed Flickr photos tagged seabus

Jupiter Beer Berkeley

Whilst on a recent trip to the Bay area, ’twas so busy with conference and such that hardly had moment to explore but managed to enjoy the a most excellent Berkeley bar and restaurant Jupiter twice.

A great bar with their own house beers (though they were out of the Porter and a few others ;-( and fine guest taps too. I mixed it up a bit but mostly enjoyed their Dry Stout (on Nitro), the Red Spot – tried Death and taxes but fond it a bit hoppy for my taste. Also enjoyed a few New Belgian 1554s which is an all time fave.

Three levels of seating, a dumb waiter upstairs, friendly wait staff, a stage and an outdoor terrace with trees, the inky sky, the moon, smell of limes – playing the first night was a jazzy/proggy rock quartet (guitar, bass, drums, sax) and the second night was a mellow Latin conga, vocals, guitar act (i recorded asnippet around here somewhere).

Best part though is i came home with a heavy duty Jupiter beer glass – they don’t sell them (or serve in them so you can’t steal one) – instead they sit as decor in a locked glass case. I offered bribes but managed to score one on kind words alone.

I made an oath to never drink schwag beer from this vessel so i am quaffing Howe Sound Hefeweizen (made in Squamish) with lemon while listening to Elvis in Paradise and Joe Jackson’s 3-sided LP Big World on scratchy vinyl and listening to the rain fall on the skylight.

Just though you should know.

documenting pleasing mundanity of Vancouver commuting

Tis oft remarked that a what constitutes a commute in Vancouver may be considered a pleasure sightseeing adventure in other cities. My treks starting from the North Shore and heading across Burrard inlet via Seabus or Lions Gate bridge are certainly visually inspiring albeit a wee bit crowded at busy times (which are almost always in transit-hungry Vancouver). As such, i often join the tourists in snapping pics along the way. Heck, i film Seabus voyages and Skytrain rides when i can score that very front seat.

Anyhow, along with a rabble of techies, I tested a Nokia N95 phone for 8 days and used it to create a group project so to speak in which Roland, Richard, Rebecca, Kris and I all documented part of the Vancouver commute experience in order to try out different features and engage with one another using mobile technology. The quest: Return and report both the phone’s functionality/usability as well as the mobile presence-ness mojo conjured up during the experiment.

Of course, Canada’s absurd mobile data plans really limit the usefulness but the wi-fi ability and 5MP camera (with solid video) made for some fun times documenting and getting up quick. I connected to the freethenet.ca connections but having to go through the web screen caused an extra clumsy step.

I also extended the phone’s ability with Shozu which allows direct photo upload to Flickr. I found the tool useful but set-up painful and wouldn’t have pulled it off without the help of Shozu warrior Roland Tanglao. I wish there was a direct upload of video as connecting via usb and then dragging the vid files to the ‘puter and then ftp upload was more steps then i’d like. I also didn’t pre-tag in Shozu but did later in Flickr (typing tricky with small keys).

Really, the phone’s user interface lacks massaged usability polish which remove the intimidation for all but the geekiest users. We all provided frank opinions to Jean Hebert (great hockey name eh) who was research project dude for SFU at Harbour Centre. We also commented on what we’d like to have in a portable communications device. I want flexibility, versatility, ruggedness, ease of use, big buttons, quick response – not too much to ask right? {Gonna test an OpenMoko phone next.}

My artifacts from the test are the a stretch of 5 vidcasts on Out ‘N About with Uncle Weed vidcast – now tuned-up and ready for subscribing baked into a feed and/or available on iTunes (along with a bunch of other video odds and ends) both from my commute from North Van to Gastown and also a roadtrip to Olympia WA where i saw The Dirty Birds rock out at McCoy’s and connected to Zhonka Broadband’s free wi-fi hotspots. There are also a solid batch of photos snapped from the office roof to the Trans Canada trail park by my house in Vancouver Commute set.

North Vancouver to Gastown Commute, annotated

A bus ride and stroll from a North Vancouver bus stop in front of a pet shop to downtown Vancouver’s rather seedy Main and Hastings and then into tourist-laden Gastown to 1 Alexander with comments on urban transition and the Nokia N95 phone.

Formats available: MPEG-4 Video (.m4v), Flash Video (.flv)

Tags: vancouver, north vancouver, north van, translink, nokian95test, commute, hastings and main, crab park, out n about, uncleweed, downtown eastside, dtes

Stoney Creek Rest Area Tour

A brief update and tour of a rest area north of Everett, Washington featuring a giant cedar stump and a State Patrol Office en route to Vancouver, BC.

Formats available: MPEG4 Video (.mp4), Flash Video (.flv)

Tags: vancouver, everett, restarea

An In-Car Briefing about Lynden, Washington

While in-car on a roadtrip in Washington State, Dave shares some miscelleaneous factoids of little consequence about this conservative small town in Whatcom County known for traditonal Dutch influence, NW Washington Fair, tasty dairies, an rock n’ roll manorhouse and the odour of cow poop.

Formats available: MPEG4 Video (.mp4), Flash Video (.flv)

Tags: lynden, washingtonlynden, washington

This video was originally shared on blip.tv by uncleweed with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.

The Dirty Birds Rock McCoy’s

Olympia Washington’s legendary bar band The Dirty Birds rock the house at McCoy’s Taven on 4th Ave. on Arts Walk evening, Oct. 5th, 2007. Feautures Jimmy on sax and vox, Scott on guitar, Mike on drums and Tim on bass.

Formats available: MPEG4 Video (.mp4), Flash Video (.flv)

Tags: dirtybirds, rocknroll, music, olympia, olywa, mccoys

Railyards

On the roof of 1 Alexander, Dave points out passenger trains, freight haulers, cruise ship docks, helicopters, the noble Seabus plying the waters of Burrard Inlet and points out the potential for seaplanes and the patina’ed copper top of the Sun building.

Formats available: MPEG4 Video (.mp4), Flash Video (.flv)

Tags: vancouver transportation nokian95est

This video was originally shared on blip.tv by uncleweed with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.

Lt. Magnum’s Philipines Exploits Exalted by the USN

My brother who did some time in Iraq as an engineer for the US Navy (long story) then shipped out aboard a vessel USS Peleliu - named for the my fave island
Peleliu, Palau – for the Philipines to tend to some humanitarian tasks for the people dealing with the strife caused by a recent typhoon.

Turns out, the goodly Lt. performed such noble service, the USN wrote a press release article extorted his efforts. The article twas found ‘in the wild’ by brother #4 who is bound to be the future mayor of some small town in Alberta.

 

The photos mentioned in the release were not attached (i’ll write the military attache for help) … but instead, here are a few photos Lt. Magnum snapped while in the islands plus one from my trip to Peleliu back around 1995 or so.

His tasks remind me of a great podcast episode on BicycleMark’s Citizen Reporter about the Rainbow Family helping out down in the Gulf Coast region in the wake of Katrina.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Aug 2, 2007 [0711]

Navy Engineer Makes a Difference

NAVFAC Far East Engineer Recounts Pacific Partnership Humanitarian Mission

YOKOSUKA, JAPAN – When Lt. Robert Olson volunteered to be an embedded engineer for the Pacific Partnership Humanitarian Mission in the Philippines he knew the area needed help, but he didn’t know the full extent of the difference he was going to make. He went as part of an advance team – his part, to plan projects for the Seabees. Olson, whose primary responsibility is as an engineer for the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Far East, Public Works Department, learned about the assignment while he was serving in Iraq. He returned to his home in Japan for two weeks and left for the assignment.
The areas where he worked in the Philippines had been hard hit by volcano and typhoon damage from eight months ago. Entire areas were buried.

“It was the kind of contribution I wanted to make from the very beginning,” he said. “Everywhere I looked, there was something needing to be done – they needed help!”

Olson identified the projects to be worked on immediately, such as a hospital in desperate need of repair, where most of the doors and windows were missing. The roof was damaged with ceilings handing down.

Olson said he learned a lot from retired Senior Chief Builder, Ed Guillermin, who worked with him from the onset. “Guillermin had a lot of experience,” Olson said, “especially with preparing the bill of materials.”

The next hurdle was getting the materials, but they had quality help there too. Olson explained that a retired marine named, Duane McDavid, working in Singapore was the contracting specialist. He said this man also made a difference. He was able to award contracts to vendors to deliver materials locally – getting the materials on site when they were needed while helping the local economy.

“Another plus was that the materials were to the local standards,” Olson said, explaining the importance of this issue as events unfolded.

He went to Manila to work out materials but acquired more than materials on his trip.

“I stopped in to the headquarters for the Philippine Seabees and met with their Rear Admiral and asked if he could spare five Seabees. He gave us fifteen! Additionally he put us in contact with the Philippine Army Corps of Engineers who provided us with an additional 25 enlisted and officer engineering personnel. So we went from having 20 Seabees to having a work crew of over 50!”

Olson put them to work, coordinating work efforts in several locations.

“It made things interesting,” he said.

One of the projects included a river clogged by debris. They started by clearing a section with the one bull dozer that the Seabees had.

“We started with that,” he explained. “When the Army saw that – they wanted part of the action too, so they brought their bull dozers and it turned into a real international cooperative effort.”

Olson discovered the value of charitable organizations saying there was a great spirit of volunteerism. They provided lunch time meals, coordinated equipment needs free of charge, and provided transportation for the Medcaps.

The medical portion of the mission was part of Olson’s job too, scouting for landing sites and making ready for on-land needs for the USS Peleliu – a ship carrying doctors, dentists and other specialized health care personnel.

The Pacific Partnership Humanitarian Mission resulted in 2844 pediatric patients and 4987 primary/acute care people being seen. Health care providers filled 21,112 prescriptions and specialists made 3683 eye glasses. A total of 14,133 patients were seen in all areas of patient care.

But that’s not all. . .a river now flows free.

PHOTO

Lt. Robert Olson snaps a photo while at the Headquarters of the Philippine Seabees.

PHOTO

Lt. Robert Olson photographs river project

Barcelona Travel Tips for tokers and foodies

Some amigos are Barcelona-bound and since i’ve been to this fine city, i’ve assembled a few travel tips and resources for them. Ergo:

Stuff to See:
Picasso’s museum – a wide-ranging collection from youth paintings to pottery to blue period classics by the local boy made good housed in a classic manor house

Antonin Gaudi’s architecture – especially Parc Guell and Sagrada Familia – this master is less known in the west but will blow your mind with melting buildings and a bewildering rethinking of space and material

Las Ramblas – this is *the* main strolling drag of the city, put on big sunglasses and stop a dozen times for a glass of wine here, tapas there, rent a chair to gaze a little while, take your time – every one else is …

Make sure to:

Eat lots of Gelato – better for ya then ice cream so eat more! a variety of flavors makes hard to choose especially when each is laden with fresh fruit

Tip the posers – along Las Ramblas you’ll see are elaborately-costumed street performers striking poses for tips – throw in your coin and get a brief performance and a chance for a photo

Mmmm ham – it seems in every cafe you’ll see ham aging, tied from ceilings – this marbled meat is served impossibly thin and tasty and makes a great picnic – This guy agrees

Tapas – the aforementioned ham along with hundreds of other small tasty snacks are the norm for eating – be sure to stop along the way for one or many of these small appetizer plates most are displayed in counter case for easy ordering

La Boqueria Market – this meandering indoor market displays the finest the region has to offer from fresh seafood to whole piglets – load up with bread, cheese, meat, olives and Mediterranean fruit for a vast movable feast

I haven’t even mentioned the street musicians in cobbled courtyards, the happening late night vibe, the cable car over the harbour, the fabulous beaches, Columbus statue, clubs and pubs galore, huge steaming paella feasts …

More Tourist Resources:
Dopefiend’s trip to Barcelona – Dopecast #81

He says: “In a special Dopecast partially live from the scenic surroundings of the Port Vell in Beautiful Barcelona, the Web’s Favourite Cannabis Commentator tells what makes Barcelona an ideal stoner location and re-lives some favourite memories of the city while smoking some very tasty Moroccan pollen.”

Bonus: Uncle Weed’s podcast with the Dopefiend and Max Freakout  – Choogle On #38

Tourcaster – Getting To Know Barcelona – Getting to Know Barcelona feed

National Geographic Walks of a Lifetime (.mp3)

“Take a ramble with Traveler on tree-lined Las Ramblas, a thoroughfare in Barcelona that actually incorporates five streets and comprises one of Europeâs most electric pedestrian foot fairs. Some say it’s the most famous street in Spain. For our money, it’s one of the world’s greatest promenades–with no intersections and no motor vehicles. Our walk can take you several hours–or all day–depending on how much you decide to sample the city’s world-class art, street performers, and tapas bars. And if you venture the route at night, well, you’ll probably see the sunrise before you get home.”

Rick Steves’ Travel in Europe podcast on Spanish travel and culture

You probably already know that the flamenco, Sunday evening bullfights, tapas, and sangria are some of the flavors of Spain. Now, as part of the European Union, Spain is a re-energized democracy that might also provide us examples for coping with the threats of terrorism.
Also, we’ll learn how the Spanish tradition of taking a midday nap — the siesta — has been helping Spaniards beat stress for centuries…and how its days may be numbered in modern, urban culture. Julio Astor of the Spanish Tourism Board joins Rick to explain the role of “the siesta.”

Thanks to my Mom on Flickr for Barcelona photos
Here’s an interesting Barcelona tag on Flickr in case you want fancier photos

US/CAN border line-ups – BC to Washington cameras

Borders are a drag and I often travel o’er the USA/Canada territorial line in the sand via Peace Arch, Pacific (aka Truck) or Lynden cause sitting in a long border line is an exercise in boredom and inefficiency.

I always mean to add these hand resources, so here they are: cameras, wait times, back routes and more.

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/general/times/menu-e.html

http://www.borderlineups.com/

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/border/

photo Lee LeFever