Capitalogix

What It Is Like to Prepare to Speak at a TEDx Conference (Part 1)

TED Talks are pretty well-know for their quality.  So, I was understandably excited (nervous, even) about presenting at the TEDx Plano Conference this past weekend.

It was fun (in the way that preparing for a marathon is "fun").

For example, in the days leading up to the event, I would give it to the unsuspecting people who chose to use the StairMaster next to me. It seemed like a good way to practice with my heart rate up.

I also gave it one-on-one to employees.  Why? Because it gave me extra practice runs, and I got to experiment with different variations to gauge responses.

How did it go?  The speech, itself, went pretty well ... Though it is hard to believe how much work goes into something so fleeting.  I guess that is why they have video.

They filmed it with a professional multi-camera crew. At this point, I still have no idea how long it takes for them to edit it and then put it online. I will let you know when I get the link.

By the way, my topic was "The Time Value of a Life Worth Living -- An entrepreneur's reflections on not letting life get in the way." It is about a year that brought my Dad's death, the forced sale of my company by venture capitalists, and a divorce (in that order).  Sometimes, life's darkest days bring the greatest gifts ... if you are willing to look for them.

 

Next week, I'll write about what it is like to prepare for a TED Talk, and what I believe are some of the key differences from traditional presentations.

 

EDIT: Here's the video:

 

 

JibJab Lets You Star In Your Own Gangnam Style Video

Gangnam Style has about a billion views, recently surpassing Justin Bieber to become the number one most-viewed YouTube video of all time. 

So, of course, JibJab got in the game. They’ve launched a Gangnam Style video that you can personalize with your face (or a friend’s face). Here's what it looks like.

 

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

 

Hope you are having a happy and fun holiday season.

Here Are Some Links for Your Weekend Reading

Here's a bumper sticker slogan that rings true more often than you might want.

 

 

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.

Lighter Links:

• Seven Truths about Change to Lead & Live By. by Rosabeth Moss Kanter (HBR)
• Good List of 100+ Useful Infographic Tools & Resources. (DailyTekk)
• A Blast from the Past: The New Use for Dormant Fiber from the Dot-Com Boom. (TD)
• ‘Ender’s Game’ Launches Production Blog. A Great Book for a Movie. (MoviesBlog)
• Five Leadership Lessons from Captain Kirk. Knowledge from the heavens ... or at least from the Starfleet. (Forbes)

 

Trading Links:

• How 9 Tech Giants Traded Just After Going Public [INFOGRAPHIC]. (Mashable)
• Tech IPO Pipeline: 65 + Startups with $100 Million+ Valuations Since 1/11. (CBI)
• New Kinds of Funds for Commodities. (WSJ)
• Why Do Investors Sometimes Make Bad Investment Choices? (KnowWPCarey)
• Billionaire: "All I Know About Investing In Startups I Learned Playing Poker". (Insider)

Send the Year Out with JibJab's "2011 Buh-Bye" Video

From Charlie Sheen's #winning tweets, to the debt ceiling crisis, and global protests ... it seems the whole world went nuts in 2011. Let's reminisce about the most notorious moments of the year!

Here is the video.

 

Oh well ... crazy how fast time flies.  Best wishes for a great day and an even better year in 2012.

 

Around the World in 3 Minutes - Watch the Move, Learn, and Eat Videos

Inspiring and Fun!  Seems appropriate for the start of the Holiday Season.

Beware, these three short videos may encourage you to travel, learn something new, move your body, or create something.

3 guys, 44 days, 11 countries, 18 flights, 38 thousand miles, an exploding volcano, 2 cameras and almost a terabyte of footage… all to turn 3 ambitious linear concepts based on movement, learning and food.

Click to Watch.

 

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

 

 

LEARN from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

 

 

EAT from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

 

The Magic of Creating Potter

I went to see the newest Harry Potter movie this weekend.  Apparently a bunch of other people went too, because it conjured up box office records.

 

 

The movie was great.  But what left me in wonder was thinking about how it came to be.  The scope and scale of the series is literally amazing.

Even just for this movie, the number of people listed on the credits was astounding. 

Yet, think about how many people were involved in producing the movies, books, and merchandising.  And that's not including the theme parks, promotion, and the eco-system that forms to support a project of this magnitude.

When did it become real ?

• Was it when the first book came out?
• Perhaps it was when J.K. Rowling got a contract to have the book published?
• Even earlier ... how about when she finished writing the book ... or
• Did it happen when she started writing it?

It is arguable that it became real when she started thinking about it.

On some level, Rowling probably agrees.  Here is a quote she wrote from Dumbledore, in response to Harry asking whether something was real or happening in his head.

"Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry; but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?"

The real magic of creation happens in the mind.

In a very real sense, there is "infinite possibility" ... because in every moment there are an infinite number of possibilities.  To a great extent, though, our automatic habits preclude seeing them.  This may seem to make it is easier to focus on the path taken; but it unconsciously limits the future.

What would have happened if, back in the early 1990s, J.K. Rowling had the idea for Harry Potter ... but thought she couldn't write a book (or even if she did, who would read it?).  Her "new world" didn't exist yet, while her "old world" didn't have a path from there-to-here.

Einstein spoke to this. He said:

“You cannot solve a problem from the same consciousness that created it. You must learn to see the world anew.”

There's magic in choosing a path that energizes you.  Reality is what you bring to it, and what you hold in awareness.

If you are interested in this, pick up a copy of "Do You QuantumThink? New Thinking That Will Rock Your World" by Dianne Collins. I've been reading it and have found a bunch of interesting concepts and useful tools.

Related articles

• Life After "Deathly Hollows" (underaglassmoon.org)
• Here's Your Full Harry Potter Recap To Prepare For The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (kroq.radio.com)
• JK Rowling 'writing hard' on new work (guardian.co.uk)

A Video Tribute to the Beauty of Pixar

This video is a mash-up of 500 scenes selected from 11 Pixar feature films.  It an amazing tribute to Pixar's animation and story-telling genius.

Here is the video.

 

via.

Related articles

• Pixar Lore: The Day Our Bosses Saved Our Jobs (blogs.hbr.org)
• Pixar's President on Management, Creativity, and Admitting Ignorance [Management] (lifehacker.com)
• A Few Thoughts on Steve Jobs / Apple (ritholtz.com)

Inspirational Video from Facing the Giants

"If you think you can do a thing ... or think you can't do a thing; you're right."

-    Henry Ford

I love football season, and I'm a sucker for plot devices like this.

Here is a clip from the movie "Facing the Giants".

 

 

There are times in life when it is hard to imagine finding a path to victory.

So often the answer is as simple as committing to the outcome desired, showing-up, playing full-out, and giving your best until there is absolutely nothing left.

Related Articles:

• Learning to Inspire Yourself (blogs.hbr.org)
• Movie 'Facing The Giants' Review (lockergnome.com)
• What movies inspired you as a youngster? (ask.metafilter.com)

 

Augmenting Reality

Sometimes new technology seems like science fiction. Other times, science fiction introduces us to new technology.

I remember watching Minority Report and having a sense that I was watching a future closer than it seemed. There's a scene where Tom Cruise is walking through a shopping area and each time he passes a store there is a personalized ad; and in other scenes there is a "Terminator-Like" text that overlays the physically real world. That is called "Augmented Reality". 

Well, your phone may not be as cool as that, yet; however it's getting there pretty quickly.

The next picture doesn't look like much; but it's using the iPhone's built-in camera and GPS unit to recognize highly rated restaurants in real time. The application doing this is Yelp. This feature is currently hidden by default; but you can turn it on by shaking your phone vigorously, until the "Monocle" feature activates.

Soon, I imagine this will be enhanced further with a discount coupons and the ability to place orders before you walk in the door. Nonetheless, it's an example of what's coming.

Where Else Will This Be Useful?

Imagine what this could do to the real-estate industry (as price per square foot, tax rates, etc. overlay the properties as you drive by). Or, imagine traders looking at a chart displaying the most relevant indicators, patterns, setups, and triggers for the company or market they are analyzing.  It gives a whole new meaning to real-time business intelligence.

A Trend-Following Book Worth Reading

People often ask me which trading books I'd recommend. I've read a lot of books about trading; and though some of them are good, only a handful stand out.

Michael Covel wrote a couple of the trading books I consider worth reading. The first is called "Trend Following", and the second is called "The Complete TurtleTrader".

Many books are little more than marketing for their author or an attempt to sell a "magic bullet" to less experienced traders. In contrast, both of Covel's books are simple enough that a novice would gain valuable information from them; yet there's enough content and nuance that experienced traders also will benefit from the books.

I've always loved Jack Schwager's "Market Wizard" book series. Covel's books are different than these because they deal with a narrower subject ... more deeply.  Yet they are similar in terms of the value-added content they provide and how accessible they are; and that's high praise from me.

Covel has an engaging writing style. He keeps things interesting by telling stories rather than simply providing a mechanical "how-to" textbook.  You get enough narrative and detail about accomplished traders to give you a sense of their personality, thought process, and some of the key ideas and distinctions that help make them successful. In addition, he backs-up his research with lots of data, charts, and links to additional information.  This makes it easy for you to continue on your own.

What is In the Trend Following Book?

The "Trend Following" book:

1. explains the basics of trend following;
2. introduces you to the some of the great trend following traders;
3. explains the positives and negatives of the technique from a performance standpoint;
4. shows how trend followers did during big events, crashes, and panics;
5. and the later part of book focuses on the human-nature side of trading, decision-making and building trading systems.

I like how Covel segments his books logically, and in bite-size chunks.  That means I can pick it up and read something without feeling compelled to start at the beginning and read all of it at once.

For example, I just opened Trend Following (to page 253) and saw "Five Questions for a Trading System". In this section he lays-out things to consider when evaluating a system.  Examples include how the system determines which market (and how much exposure) to trade, as well as what constitutes entry and exit triggers? Then, in addition to explaining the basics, there are examples and quotes from other traders about the topic.  And he extends the discussion to include emotional issues like how much money you intend to make, the level of time and effort you intend to invest, and the strengths and weakness you bring into the equation.  Bottom-line, he goes out of his way to give you a thorough understanding ... while getting his points across in an easy-to-understand, informative, and interesting ways.

I found myself referring to both of these books several times in the past several months. If you're looking for something to read (or for some new ideas about trading and money management) I recommend you check out these books.

Other Links:

• Here is a link to Covel's Blog.
• Here is a link to Covel's Videos on YouTube.
• Here is a link to his TrendFollowing website.
• Here is a link to his new movie, Broke.