By Francis Moran
Cape Town’s annual Design Indaba conference and expo, which ran here last week, bills itself as “the leading voice on African design, creativity and innovation.”
The conference part, at a hefty R3,000 (C$320) per day for three days, is well beyond the reach of all but the deepest-pocketed around here and was sold out by the time I learned of it a month ago, so I can’t speak to how representative its program of speakers might have been of the rest this vast continent beyond the host country’s borders.
I was limited to attending the accompanying design expo. Even so, I hit the Cape Town International Conference Centre on the city’s waterfront full of great expectations.
It turned out to be about as good as a Christmas craft show back home. A really good Christmas craft show, granted, and one showcasing designers and products that were new to me. But a Christmas craft show nonetheless. And one that failed to deliver much pan-continental flavour as it was dominated not just by South African vendors but by local Cape Town vendors.
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By Francis Moran
The Network of Angel Organizations – Ontario is having its annual follow-on investment forum in two weeks and eight Ontario companies that previously received angel investment will be looking for additional funding to continue their growth. The eight are:
- Brain FX, which creates web-and-tablet-based clinical assessment tools that help healthcare professionals measure the effects of brain disorders on a person’s ability to function in real life.
- ChangeIt, a new and innovative way to automatically round up your payment card purchases, creating virtual change that can automatically be directed to a charitable organisation of your choice. Read More
By Francis Moran
It was freezing cold, often quite dark, and always utterly decrepit at the Bayview Yards a couple of weeks ago, but it didn’t take an imagination any more potent than the woeful propane heaters that were bravely trying to heat up the chilly space to share the city’s vision that this broken-down and vividly graffiti-tagged former works garage will soon be transformed into a funky, design-rich, entrepreneur-friendly, sunshiny bright and — most critically — welcoming space for Ottawa’s startup and technology communities.
We’ve had a few posts on this blog about the city’s plans to turn the old Bayview Yards into an innovation complex for Ottawa’s startup communities, but earlier this month saw the first chance many people had to eyeball the actual space, as well as the enticing draft conceptual design plan developed by local design firm protoypeD.
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By Daylin Mantyka 
Even though we took our usual holiday break in December, we still covered a lot of ground on the blog throughout the month. Leading the pack was a well-received piece by our resident neuromarker, Bob Bailly, followed by a to-the-point post on improving your presentation skills in the new year.
In case you missed any of it, here is a handy recap of our posts, as ranked by the enthusiasm of our readers:
December 11: Would you kill the Fat Man?, by Bob Bailly
December 18: Five keys to your presentation success in 2014, by Anil Dilawri
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By Leo Valiquette
Happy New Year.
The holidays are behind us and it’s time to get back to the grindstone. But while routines are a good thing, slipping back into poor habits, biases, and preconceptions that limit our professional success are not. Consider this a time to wipe the slate clean and make a fresh start.
I personally don’t care to make resolutions. Instead, I look back and consider what lessons I learned over the past year and how I can apply these in a positive way to my life and work over the next 12 months.
So in the spirit of a new year, here are some thoughts to guide founders, executives, and managers of any growing concern as they work to bring their technology to market and earn their time in the spotlight.
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Happy holidays
December 24, 2013 by Daylin Mantyka
From all of us here at Francis Moran and Associates, happy holidays and the very best for 2014. We will resume our regular blog postings on January 2.
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Planning for the New Year
December 23, 2013 by David French
I was recently sitting at a hotel bar and overheard a circle of businessmen talking at a nearby table. I couldn’t help listening in. What I heard spaced over about an hour was strangely familiar [...]
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Great articles roundup: Social media, content marketing, marketing strategy and startups
December 20, 2013 by Daylin Mantyka
It’s Friday, yet again, which means it’s time for our weekly roundup. This one happens to be the last of 2013. Over the week, we’ve read great content from Social Media Explorer, Marketing Sherpa and Startup Professional Musings [...]
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Damn it, Beyoncé: Now all the pundits will say marketing is unnecessary
December 19, 2013 by Francis Moran
It didn’t take long after music megastar Beyoncé dropped her latest release onto Apple iTunes with no advance warning or usual hype-fest for the armchair pundits and marketing deniers to trumpet that marketing was now dead [...]
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Five keys to your presentation success in 2014
December 18, 2013 by Anil Dilawri
The good news – 2013 was a good year for most businesses. The bad news – most business presentations delivered in 2013 still sucked. Whether it’s an investor pitch, an elevator pitch, a customer update, or an important sales presentation, here are five ideas to help make your presentations remarkable in 2014 [...]
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Becoming a more successful you in 2014
December 17, 2013 by Leo Valiquette
It’s that time of year again, when pundits and armchair quarterbacks of every stripe offer up their insights on the year past and their predictions for the year to come. This isn’t one of those posts [...]
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Best of: I’m sick and tired of hearing that Canadians don’t take risks
December 16, 2013 by Francis Moran
This is the next entry in our “Best of” series, in which we venture deep into the vault to replay blog opinion and insight that has withstood the test of time. Today’s post hails from December 2011. We welcome your feedback [...]
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Great articles roundup: Social media, Gen Y, communications and entrepreneurship
December 13, 2013 by Daylin Mantyka
It’s officially the end of the working week, which means that it’s time for the Friday roundup where we’ve compiled a short list of the top articles we read and loved [...]
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Cape Town’s annual Design Indaba conference and expo, which ran here last week, bills itself as “the leading voice on African design, creativity and innovation.”
Twitter
Tweets by @FrancisMoranRecent Comments
Bob Bailly : Your new mode of working means no face to face interaction yet you call yourself empathetic. How can removing yourself from daily human social interactions and possibly understand what makes other people tick. Research from UCLA suggests messages conveyed face to face are understood primarily by reading body language (57%) and tone of voice (35%), and that words convey only 7%. By interacting only through computer based non-video technology is like weightlifting only using your right forearm.
Anna : As a freelancer who spends much of her time on the computer writing, I find that I have a brain which connects empathically to people despite how much time I spend on technology. In fact, I am not happy being immersed daily in what I called 'imposed' social interaction (social interaction brought on by having to interact with co-workers). Such social interaction used to make be egregious, used to make me dislike co-workers, and have a generally negative view on work life. Furthermore, people like me who are generally empathic can 'hide' in our homes and be safe from others while we work; safe from their criticisms and aversions, safe from bullying and harassment. Furthermore, our talents as writers, photographers, or whatever, flourish absolutely under one important condition - freedom. I support moving work to an online domain because I see also how harmful the 9 - 5 is for people; how it drains them, how its endless cacophony of alarm clocks and ringing bells--lunch hours and lunch rooms, forced staff retreats and uncomfortable interactions with bosses--is killing them. I support allowing technology make us more efficient, happier. I support voluntary--not forced--interaction. I support eliminating the workplace altogether and creating NEW modes of working, either from home or through community-based platforms such as outdoor spaces.
5 Ways to Engage With Your Brand Voice - icuc.social : [...] “A strong company voice on social media should emphasize the company’s values, objectives and key differentiators that set it apart from its competitors. These can be expressed in the tone of the communication and the content that is shared with community members and the target audience.The best social media voices are communal, grammatical, dialectical, authentic, original, contextual, relevant, timely, persistent, responsive, helpful, generous and more informal. A company’s social media voice should only be changed if absolutely necessary and should maintain all of these qualities. Any change should be preceded by lots of information explaining the change to community members to ensure they know it is deliberate and that the company isn’t suffering from some form of instability, which jeopardizes relationships.” [@TechAlly, Francis Moran & Associates – via Francis Moran & Associates] [...]