Merlin @ Webstock 2011: Keynote + Two New Workshops
Wow. Talk about an honor. As was just announced yesterday, I’ve been asked to keynote at the famously awesome Webstock conference in Wellington, NZ. (Registration →)
Sure, that’s all well and good for me and everything, but did I mention the other speakers? I mean, holy crap:
Yeah, I know. No pressure or anything.
Truth is, I’m also really excited because Tash and Mike have very kindly asked me to host a couple of pre-conference workshops. Which I’ve never done before. But, brother are they ever on two of my favorite topics: futureproofing your passion and saying true things.
Details on my workshops (cribbed from the Webstock site):
Workshop 1:
What’s (Maybe, Kinda, Sorta) Next for You? Steps Toward Futureproofing Your Passion
When: Tuesday 15 February, 9:00-12:30pm
Where: Civic Suite, Wellington Town Hall, 111 Wakefield Street
With: Merlin Mann
Register now! ($375 if attending conference, $495 if not)
Everybody who cares about what they do wants to get better at it, right? But, how do you know if you’re getting better at the right things?
And, perhaps as importantly, if you crave the independence and agency of working on your own stuff for real money, what sort of modest, baby steps might help you start walking in the best direction for now?
In this half-day workshop, we’ll unpack some of the real (and perceived) barriers to both gaining expertise and achieving independence (and, yeah—you better believe they’re related).
Through a lively mix of seminar, discussion, and focused exercises, we’ll work to discover (and potentially start moving) any block to discovering the thing for which we’re most willing to work our asses off.
Recommended for:
- fed-up cube-dwellers
- belly-aching malcontents
- unruly trouble-makers
- nervous geniuses
- anyone with the fire to make something great
Workshop 2:
Killing your Sailboats: Managing Innovation by Saying True Things
When: Wednesday 16 February, 1:30pm-5:00pm
Where: Civic Suite, Wellington Town Hall, 111 Wakefield Street
With: Merlin Mann
Register now! ($375 if attending conference, $495 if not)
There’s a shameful open secret inside many companies that nobody likes talking about. It’s the “third rail” of office culture and it unnecessarily electrocutes the spirit of great teams every day:
Truth be told? Managers often say untrue things.
We’re not talking about lies or deceptions in the usual sense; we’re talking about the much more nuanced problem of saying one thing, then doing (or rewarding) something entirely different.
- It’s the culture that demands nothing but unadulterated success, while claiming to foster innovation.
- It’s the manager who’s a broken record about the need to “define your job,” while demanding you check email all day and tell him when you’re going to lunch.
- It’s the C-Level who bellows about employees’ poor productivity and lack of focus as he updates Facebook from his CrackBerry.
In this half-day workshop, we’ll talk about the institutional gulf between what we say is important and what we do to prove, fund, and defend it.
If you’d like your organization to foster an environment in which no one ever needs permission to be awesome–and if you have the stomach for the unconventional cure–you may find this interactive workshop to be far more useful than simply mounting another motivational poster of a sailboat.
Recommended for:
- anyone who manages anything
- rapidly-growing tech companies
- reluctant fibbers
- insufferably honest nerds
- people who loathe corporate BS
Like I said, registration is open, so do get in while you can.
As for me? I’m sitting here trying to figure out what the hell I can do to follow frickin’ Scott McCloud.
But my spirits are high; I’m planning my workshops and alternating between listening to The Clean and Split Enz.
This is going to be seriously great. Hope I’ll see you in New Zealand.
Share this post which was tagged talks and keynotes and categorized as Appearances when posted on September 24, 2010