A bit more of Karen

L.I.F.E

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Strunks) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 17:15:00 +0000

I'm just going through some notes (tip: never throw your notes away, you never know when they will come in handy!)

And whilst rifling through pages and pages, I found this gem that someone once told me:

L - Luck. Keep going and make your own luck
I - Innovation. Take a simple idea and convert it into something
F - Be frugal. Conserve cash in good times. Prepare for lean times
E - Never EVER stop

That's actually just what I needed to read right now and has spurred me on. I've been struggling with an idea this afternoon and that's reminded me I just need to get on and Do It! :)

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Smartie Pants Of The Week

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Strunks) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 12:13:00 +0000

Once upon a time there was a little girl...

That's me by the way!

My Mum has been having a bit of a de-clutter at home and she handed me this brown envelope recently.

It must be about 35 years old (how old?!) but I remember it very, very well...

Seeing it took me back to when I was around five years old and living in London. I went to a little primary school about 10 minutes walk away from home.

My teacher was called Mrs Murray, and it just so happened that Murry Mints were a popular sweet at the time.

The Murray Mints TV advert at the time had a song which went 'Murray Mints, Murray Mints, too good to hurry mints'. So, poor Mrs Murray was tortured by all the kids in the class singing this tune, but the bonus for Mrs Murray was that she was never short of a Murray Mint herself as we all used to buy her these sweets. I'm sure she was delighted. We thought we were great - how funny that our teacher is called Mrs Murray and we could sing her a song and give her Murray Mints!

Mrs Murray was lovely. She was very kind and patient and very pretty with shoulder length blond hair. Every week we had Story Hour.

Mrs Murray would sit on a large comfy chair that was in the corner of the room and whilst she was reading that week's story, she would allow one of us to brush her hair. There was always a competition amongst the girls to be able to do this and we had to take turns.

I can't imagine that happening in a class room these days!

Anyway, during this year at school there was the Smartie Pants Of The Week competition. Whatever child had done something particularly well would win a prize. I think that's how it worked. It was probably something that was introduced to make us work harder and do our homework or something.

Each week Mrs Murray would sit in her chair and we would sit on the floor around her and she would pick a child and give them the Smartie Pants Of The Week Award.

There were about 20 kids in my class, and each week someone would get the prize.

I waited and waited.

Nothing.

*hurmph* I tried hard I think. My drawings were very good and I didn't colour over the lines and I worked on my spelling and reading.

Then one week Mrs Murray had us all sitting around again and she had the brown envelope in her hand (it was always a brown envelope and always the same prize).

"I have one prize left. Who hasn't had one yet?"

I raised my hand.

And Mrs Murray, at last, handed me the Smartie Pants of the Week prize!

Well, it was all of a bit of a disappointment as you can imagine! I had been forgotten about, left out and was an after thought!

But it still didn't stop me rushing home to tell my Mum that I had won a Smartie Pants of the Week award. As soon as I got in the front door I put my prize together.

A jigsaw puzzle of....this....thing! :D

What is it?!

So, I've got my award back again. And I will keep it safe. Despite the disappointment surrounding it, I'm actually quite fond of my childhood prize :)

Around the time I was Smartie Pants Of The week!

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The week that was and what I got up to

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Strunks) — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 12:12:00 +0000

I slept really, really well last night and it's no wonder. When I woke up this morning the first thought I had was, 'Did I really do all that this week?!'.

The answer was, 'Yes, I did.' ;)

So, without further ado, I'm going to give an abbreviated version of the highlights from this week. I'd love to dedicate a blog post to each event, but hey ho!

Day out in Lichfield

Me and my Lovely Mum, @createdineire, had a jolly nice day out in Lichfield last Friday. I hadn't been there before and it's only about 20 miles away. We had a nice time just wandering around this old city, browsing the shops, having a delicious lunch and of course we couldn't leave without visiting the cathedral.

Lichfield Cathedral

Mum lit a candle for me saying "This is for you and that you'll get back to NYC. You have a year to get there", coz I won't shut up about the place lol.

Top Secret

On Saturday, Sunday and Monday I knuckled down to work on something Big (to me anyway!). My Dad used to tell me 'You don't have to tell everybody, everything, all of the time' and in the case of this Big Thing, I'm keeping it under my hat, for now. It required immense use of my brain power and it may well be one of the biggest challenges I've set myself (as well as NYC that is!). I really had to knuckle down and draw on my resources and hopefully it will pay off. If it does, or it doesn't, I will reveal all either way later in the year!

Speaking at Yardley Photography Society

On Tuesday evening I did a talk at the Yardley YPS. I was booked to do this almost a year ago - they plan their speakers quite well in advance.

I first thought my talk was going to be about 20-30 minutes, but soon realised it was for 90 minutes which made this into my longest talk to date!

It was in two 45 minute sections. The first half I went right back to the beginning of my photography career - how and why I started, what I did next, how I turned my passion into a career for myself. The second half I talked about the 4am Project. I showed over 100 photos in all.

The very first photos I took with a digital camera. So out of focus!

My published work in the Birmingham Post and Birmingham Mail newspapers

Professional Photography shoots

My first 4am Project photographs

New for this year! My Wedding Photography Services!

Digital Editor's Network

On Thursday I headed up to Manchester for the day, well to Media City in Salford to be more precise.

As well as looking forward to the Digital Editor's Network event, I was quite looking forward to my first visit to Media City.

I was really impressed with Media City itself. You could live there and never need to leave. It has apartments, a big shopping centre, cinema, restaurants and tons of business and places to work, including of course, the BBC.

The day ahead was all about innovations in Social, Local and Mobile in relation to new organisations.

Speaking at the event were Nick Turner, Head of Digital Content for CN group, Martha Stone CEO at World Newsmedia Network, Francois Nel from Journalist Leaders Programme, Sarah Hartley from the Guardian (and of course talk about local!), Aiden McGrath from Aetopia, Paul Bradshaw from Help Me Invesigate and Greg Hadfield from Open Data Cities.

What a power house of people!

This really deserves a blog post of it's own. This was all about journalism, surviving in these difficult time, how to make money from digital assets (it's the way to go), with some amazing facts, figures and data being produced. You can catch some of the highlights over on the Live Blog and I did a very quick Storify from the hashtag of the day #solomoden (but twitter wouldn't let me catch all the tags) and they are worth a look to get an idea of the amazing discussions that were going on!

Birmingham Social Media Cafe

Yesterday was the 2nd Birmingham Social Media cafe of 2012 (the next event is on Friday 30th March at the Birmingham Town Hall. It's free and for anyone who is interested in using social media for work or play. There were about 40 attendees, so there's always lots of peeps to meet!

One of the reasons I took over the running of the event was that I know that as least once a month I will get the chance to go out and meet people, see friends and Be Social! I run quite a tight schedule work wise so I welcome this event at the end of the month. And if you want to 'pick my brains over coffee', this is the best place to catch me! :)

And that was the week that was!

And the week that will be....

Monday - Liverpool delivering a talk about local workshop

Tues - A day in Fazeley with the talk about local team

Weds - Stoke with Nicky delivering talk about local workshop and Wednesday evening having a phone chat with a lady who loves what I do online and would like help with blogging and starting her own website.

Today I'm catching with with 'stuff' (work) and cracking on with the 4am Project launch (there will be a global date in April), and tomorrow is pretty much the same!

Re availability..... It's very limited at the moment and I'm having to say No more than Yes right now and it will be that way until June, so feel free to ask away, but don't be disappointed/offended if I don't say yes.

Right now, I'm going to do some housework (yaaawwwwnnn!) and try not to throw away my tv (the built-in dvd player keeps switching itself on so I'm having a battle of wills with it at the moment).

Have a fab weekend! :)

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On the road with talk about local

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Strunks) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 19:53:00 +0000

Hello!

Thought I'd forgotten how to blog? No waaaaay!

I've just been a busy bee.

And I've been covering some miles with talk about local delivering workshops and helping people get up and running with their own hyperlocal community websites. I've been to Liverpool and Acton in London (which I haven't blogged about), but I am going to tell you about the Redruth and Walthamstow sessions that me and Nicky covered.

Redruth. It's waaaay down in the corner there and it meant quite a long journey. Probably about 7 hours from door to door for both of us, so this workshop involved an overnight stay.

We were really lucky and found a great 2 bed apartment to stay in and it worked out a great price at only £80 for both of us for the one night. If you are ever down that way, check out the Penrose Apartments.

As soon as we arrived I did a little video tour....

We grabbed a bite to eat in the evening, which wasn't as easy as it sounds as a lot of places were closed in the town centre or didn't do food or didn't cater for wheat/gluten free (for me), but eventually we found a cosy corner in a cafe area inside a cinema.

We had a relatively early night as we had our workshop early the next morning with Questions and Answers CIC. And you can check out Nicky's blog post about it over on the talk about local site.

We had a great turn out of about 18 people from various organisation around the area who were all keen to get cracking with creating their new Wordpress websites.

I see me and Nicky as a Wordpress tag-team on our training sessions! Nicky demonstrating what can be done and how to do it, and I address the raised hands and answer any tech/help queries as we go along. Perfect!

Nicky talking about her hyperlocal website Digbeth Is Good

After the session I took the opportunity to get some Vox Pops and asked people what they thought of the session.

And you can check out what everyone had to say in the video below. It was worth the long journey and the overnight stay! :)

And a couple of Saturday's ago we hit The Mill in Walthamstow!

11.30 - 3.30 Website development

The Mill is a hub for the local community. It runs classes and courses, it has a library, it has a poetry night, and a reading group. There's tons on offer for the people in the area.

I was rather taken with this Awesome Rhino!

And they had a great art exhibition on. This is call Shrine of the Times and it's made out of junk food and drink containers.

And they also had local artists displaying their work themed around LOVE! I took a video.

Sorry, you are going to have to tilt your head to the left to watch it! ;D

This was the first all female workshop we had run! No one planned it that way, it's just the way it happened to work out. Everyone was in good spirits and the session went really well.

On the first Saturday in Feb the talk about local team headed to Local Gov Camp NW in Preston for the day. and we all contributed to a round-up blog post of that day. A very inspiring day, cut a tiny bit short because of the snow.

Tomorrow I'm off to Manchester to the Digital Editor Network event , Monday I'm off to Liverpool for a talk about local workshop, and Wednesday in Stoke On Trent for another workshop!

Oh, and while I'm at it, it's the Birmingham Social Media Cafe this Friday! @birminghamsmc

Yay! I blogged :)

Say hello on Twitter: @karenstrunks

Announcing talk about local unconference 28th April in BIRMINGHAM!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Strunks) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 10:27:00 +0000

It's been a busy month so far, and one of the things myself and the talk about local team have been working hard on is........

TAL12!

What is TAL12?

It's talk about local's unconference!

This is an annual event that's been running since 2009. The first one was held in Stoke On Trent, 2010 was held in Leeds, last year it was in Cardiff, and this year we are bringing it talk about local's home city of Birmingham!

When: Sat 28th April from 9am

Where: Maple House, Corporation Street - Just a few minutes walk from New Street Station.

Cost: Free! And we'll be providing tea/coffee/drinks and lunch to keep you going! Get your ticket here.

Who: Are you a hyperlocal blogger? A community activist? A journalist? A local government employee? Interested in ways to talk about your community and issues online. Want to meet like minded people? Then this is for you!

What's an unconference? An unconference has no set agenda for the day, until the day itself. Attendees come along and at the beginning of the day there's the opportunity to pitch and idea for discussion. Then the idea gets allocated a room and a time slot and attendees go to the sessions they want to go to. It's a very fluid day in that if you don't want to stay in the session you are in, then you are free to wander in/out of other sessions too - there might be two sessions on at the same time - so you can catch a bit of both!

It's a relaxed, informal day and we will all be going for drinkies afterwards!

And not only that.....! There will be the talk about local unawards!

This is where expense spared prizes are given out to members of the community who have done outstanding work during the year. This is not to be missed!

Check out the unawards from last year. Some worthy prize winners, not forgetting the awesome *ahem* prizes. (I won a Michael Jackson alarm clock in 2010!)

You can connect with talkaboutlocal on twitter @talkaboutlocal

See some of you on the 28th! :)

What I have done and what I am going to do.

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Strunks) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:59:00 +0000

I fancy doing a quick re-cap of what I have been up to, and what I've got coming up soon!

One of the things I've loved about having this blog in the last year is it's a great place for me to keep track of what I've done and it makes it easy for me to refer back to an event/occasion - plus I get to share it with you too! :)

Last Thursday took me to Speke in Liverpool to deliver a talk about local training session with my colleague Mike Rawlins. There's a whole heap of potential for this area when it comes to having an online voice, and we helped representatives from organisations in the area get up and running with their own Wordpress website which will act as a 'hub' for all their activities, and we will be going back later in Feb to finalise the training.

Then on Friday it was the first Birmingham Social Media Cafe event of 2012 and it got off to a great start! Over 60 attendees from all sorts of industries met, networked and talked social media and the coffees were kindly sponsored by Meegloo - a great, free social media app! The next event is on Friday 24th Feb at the Birmingham Town Hall. It's free. So if you are interested in using social media for work or play, and want to meet like minded people, then please come along! Check out the Storify from last week where you can see photos/video and what people were tweeting about the BSMC!

Photo by Adam Yosef

On Saturday I had a Very Nice Day Out with my Mum in Warwick. I thought I hadn't been there before, but actually I had, many years ago, but I didn't see very much of it back then. I was really impressed with this small town. I have been to the famous Warwick Castle before - it's well worth a visit. I really loved the dungeon part!

There seemed to be more independent shops in the High Street so that was a welcome sight. And there are lots of antique shops with unique items such as

In the olden days, men with mustaches used to use these tea cups to keep their upper lip dry!

I have my eye on these beauties. If you don't mind, ta ;)

And although I didn't buy the earrings, my mum treated me to a new purse, and I treated me to a new red handbag!

On Sunday evening I went out with a few friends to Loco Lounge in Kings Heath. It was my first time there, and I really liked it! It was quiet as it was a Sunday night, but that more than suited me and was a lovely night chilling and chatting and sharing a few drinks.

This Wednesday I'm going all the way to Redruth (pronounced 're-DRUTH)' in Cornwall and delivering a talk about local workshop. I'm meeting Nicky there and we are staying overnight as the workshop is early on Thursday morning. It's looking to be a great workshop with over 20 attendees! I also can't wait to see Nicky, as she moved away from Birmingham in the new year, so it will be great to have a catch up!

View Larger Map

On Saturday I'm off to Preston to Local Gov Camp North West.

LocalGovCamp is an unconference (no charge, no agenda) for people mostly working in or around Local Government to get together for a few hours and talk about stuff.

There's nearly 100 people going, and there will be lots of talk of new digital developments, social media, data, and how to share what's going on, just for starters!

And whilst I'm in that neck of the woods, I'm meeting up with my best friend for dinner and a catch up.

It's going to be a great day!

There we go. That's what has and will be keeping me busy for now :)

Say hello on twitter: @karenstrunks

Two years since my Dad passed away

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Strunks) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:23:00 +0000

On a sad note, the 20th Jan marked 2 years since my Dad passed away.

I'm terrible at remembering birthdays. I'm really, really bad at it, but that's a date I don't think I'll ever be able to forget.

I'm okay though, I didn't spend the day weeping or wallowing in it all. I acknowledged it in my own way.

I was speaking to someone only the other day (who reads this blog, so Hello, and thanks for the chat), who lost their Mum fairly recently. I was saying that until I lost my Dad, I didn't really understand what other people went through when they had lost someone close. It's only when it happens to you, that you really know how it feels. They said 'Life never looks the same again'.

And that's what it is. Life does look/seem different now. It's hard to pin point exactly how. Maybe it's the different perspective. If anything good can be found in bereavement, for me, it's been an even more determined attitude to make the most of everything. I'm not going anywhere with regrets!

And I guess that's why one of my new year resolutions is to Be Bolder. Just go for things. I might make mistakes, I might do things wrong, but in the grand scheme of things, I'll least I'll have tried, not given up and done the best I can.

I wrote a blog when my Dad was ill and after he passed away; The Old Songs Are The Best. But be warned, it's a very sad read about hospitals and doctors and death and funerals. Looking back I'm surprised I was able to write it at all. I guess I needed that outlet.

I'm not sure I have any words of wisdom re bereavement really. It's a very strange thing, and it's all a bit hard to comprehend, but the passing of time helps with it all.

Something's been bugging me. Community building and being alone.

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Strunks) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:18:00 +0000

There's two things in my life that I love, but that have seemed at odds with each other. It's been on my mind for a month or two and I couldn't really figure it out.

I love community building/facilitating; using social media to garner interest in things and then turning those into offline community events that hopefully people will enjoy. Good examples are the 4am Project, Birmingham Social Media Cafe, and the work I do with talk about local.

I also love being on my own. I spend more time on my own that anyone else I know. I relish it. I work well alone. That's not to say I don't work well with others, I do, but if you tell me I have to work on my own, no problem.

I like doing things on my own too. I've gone on lots of holidays solo out of choice. I'll go to a nice restaurant on my own, or the cinema. I don't avoid doing something I want to do just because it means I'll be alone.

Photo by Nick Lockey

So, how come I love the community building/engaging side AND the solo side? That's what I've been asking myself. They don't seem to go hand in hand.

This article from the New York Times answered that question! I am so happy to have read it and can really relate to it.

It's titled The Rise Of The New Group Think

As I was reading it I was thinking, 'Yes, I get it. The two things (community and solitude) CAN co-exist!'

It's going to be hard not to just quote the WHOLE piece here, so I will just pick out the snippets that stood out to me to the most. Please read it and let me know what you think!

It begins..

SOLITUDE is out of fashion. Our companies, our schools and our culture are in thrall to an idea I call the New Groupthink, which holds that creativity and achievement come from an oddly gregarious place. Most of us now work in teams, in offices without walls, for managers who prize people skills above all. Lone geniuses are out. Collaboration is in

It's certainly a trend I've noticed, and I think that has evolved more now we have the wonderful internet. Being so hyper connected makes it easier to collaborate. Collaboration is seen as a Good Thing. Therefore, let's collaborate, let's Groupthink, let's make something great happen! I can understand that.

And I will add that I couldn't do what I do without other people's involvement or contribution. There's few people that will achieve anything entirely on their own, without other's support, encouragement, perhaps ideas and help and facilitation or simply someone cheering them on from the sideline.

I run the 4am Project alone from behind my computer screen. I do the majority of the work behind the scenes; when there's a global 4am Project date I manage the website, flickr, facebook, twitter account, pr, emails etc. I don't really need to see another person to do that. However, the 4am Project as it is with over 50 countries taken part and 6000+ images would not have happened without the collaboration of other people (and that people love the project enough to give up sleep and take part, I am very grateful!). And when the 4am date comes around, I'll have organised an event in Birmingham and I will show up and take part and make sure everyone is having a good time.

Collaboration is in. But that's shouldn't meet that solo working should be out!

Working alone on my various things, I get a lot done. I haven't got the distraction of a husband or kids. To add to the picture you may have in mind, I also work in silence for the majority of the time. Most the the things I work on I deem important and therefore that needs my full concentration. Sometimes, in the evening, depending on what I'm doing, I'll put the radio on. What a treat! lol. When the clock hits 9 or 10 o'clock, I'll put the tv on and watch something or other and wind down before bedtime.

I have no brothers or sisters, so I guess spending time on my own is ingrained to me. It's not a scary thing at all. Beside, I have all my friends on the internet for company as and when I want! :)

The beauty of the way the internet allows us to work is that we don't have to be in a physical place. Of course, that depends on your job. I mean, I DO have to go out to do some parts of my work. But for the majority of my work, I just need to be online in between team meetings, delivering training workshops in various cities, taking photographs, attending events etc.

Photo by Nikki Pugh

"During the last decades, the average amount of space allotted to each employee shrank 300 square feet, from 500 square feet in the 1970s to 200 square feet in 2010."

And the article goes on to say that when experiments were done in open offices and workers were given their own cubicles, their own 'nook' to work in they were happier and their output improved.

What distinguished programmers at the top-performing companies wasn’t greater experience or better pay. It was how much privacy, personal workspace and freedom from interruption they enjoyed.

Even working from home there are interruptions. That's why I keep my land line phone switched off (no one calls me on that anymore, they have given up lol), and the majority of the time, my mobile will be on silence (but I'll see it flashing and can decide whether to take the call or call them back later). Twitter is usually kept on so I can reach out and connect when I feel like it (though I have switched the 'chimes' off).

Whatever the interruption, whether it's the phone ringing, or a colleague coming up to you for a chat, or answering an urgent email, your brain can take about 15 minutes to shift back into the space it was in doing whatever task you were doing.

As a different New York Times article reports.

In a recent study, a group of Microsoft workers took, on average, 15 minutes to return to serious mental tasks, like writing reports or computer code, after responding to incoming e-mail or instant messages. They strayed off to reply to other messages or browse news, sports or entertainment Web sites.

I tried a co-working space once. A very nice lady sat next to me and chatted the whole day! On that day I wanted to use the space to opt in and out of conversation, but I had no choice with this lady's chatter. I went home early. I got nothing done and was too polite to tell her not to talk to me, even though I made hints that I had a lot to do.

Apparently you can use your ear phones as a 'code':

Two earphones in = I'm busy. Do not interrupt.
1 earphone in = kinda open for chat but keep it brief
Ear phones out = Let's talk!!

If only I had known that back then. Of course, it relies on other people working there to know that code too!

This last week or two has been varied. I met up with the talk about local team in the office. Last Tuesday I went to London to help train people. Tomorrow I'm off to Liverpool to do a workshop. Today I am working alone. Each of those days has a different flow, and I adapt and enjoy that. Even though I'm used to working on my own, I'm not anti-social. I'm out going and friendly and when I do go out socially or go to an event, I have a great time.

Time Square. I spent a month in NYC on my own and loved every minute, though I still checked in with my friends online and met new people in NYC. Screen shot by Sas Taylor

Solitude can even help us learn. According to research on expert performance by the psychologist Anders Ericsson, the best way to master a field is to work on the task that’s most demanding for you personally. And often the best way to do this is alone.

If you want to improve, you have to be the one who generates the move.

Oh the challenges I've set myself! Most recently some website stuff (which I'll mention in another blog post). I don't know that much about the back end of websites or how they work. This year I have spent 50 hours figuring out what I wanted to do and how to do it. Of course, I could reach out and ask for help, or just get someone else to do it for me - save a headache right? But I am very determined, and admittedly I don't like asking for help (maybe too independent), and in the end I worked it out and got there.

Plus, what I have learnt from figuring it out on my own is that I can do things that I intially find hard, and at the same time I will learn something. And I've never regretted learning anything, and that learning has stood me in good stead and nearly always come in useful. It's an investment in myself if you will.

By Dan Johnson Photography

I’m not suggesting that we abolish teamwork. Indeed, recent studies suggest that influential academic work is increasingly conducted by teams rather than by individuals. (Although teams whose members collaborate remotely, from separate universities, appear to be the most influential of all.)

Remote collaboration. We can all do that very easily now! The internet provides the perfect vehicle to do that and we have some many tools at hand within it do aid the collaboration from a distance; emails, shared documents, skype conference calls, and there are many websites that are made especially to facilitate collaboration under their roof.

Photo by Adam Yosef

But even if the problems are different, human nature remains the same. And most humans have two contradictory impulses: we love and need one another, yet we crave privacy and autonomy

And that statement just about sums this all up for me. That's the thing that I was puzzling over. My 'need' of wanting to do what I do with social media and community building, and my other 'need' for independence and to be able to work alone at times. And I now happily realise I don't have to choose between one or the other, or wrestle with the concept, I can do both! :)

In what way do you work best?
Do you prefer working directly with people, or do you crave some peace and quiet to get your work done?
Is the internet a Bad Thing as it removes some of the need to meet up with people face to face?
Do you miss grabbing a coffee and having a meeting with someone? Do you still insist on this even though you could have a meeting online?

I'd love your thoughts!

4am Project event at Birmingham Library

Say hello on twitter! @karenstrunks

Speaking at the Birmingham Girl Geeks launch event

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Strunks) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:04:00 +0000

Last Saturday was the launch event of Birmingham Girl Geeks.

What is Birmingham Girl Geeks you ask?

It's a networking event for geeky girls and women in Birmingham and the West Midlands!

It was a fantastic first event, with about 40 ladies coming along to Urban Coffee. The event organisers, Rachel McCollin, Nivi Morales and Karen Bugg did an amazing job, and considering it was the launch event, it actually felt very established already. A testament to all their hard work.

The ladies asked me to do a short talk at the event, and I spoke about the 4am Project, how it began, how I used social media to make it global, and gave a few hints and tips on managing an online project. Btw, there will be another global event coming up in April which I'm aiming to announce next month!

The star guest of the day was Denise Jacobs from Miami, who is an author, speaker and web evangelist! And quite an inspiration. She spoke about encouraging women to become visible web experts.

Then it was time for my talk. Hope you enjoy it! I tried to squeeze a lot into 12 minutes!

And last, but not least, Rachel McCollin spoke about launching her own web design business and mobile web design!

And there were cakes!

And a raffle - and I won a book! CSS Detective by Denise Jacobs. Hey, I'll be a Girl Geek yet! :)

And I had to draw the next raffle ticket out, and I pulled out my Mum's numbers! What are the chances of that. She was very happy as there was some gorgeous jewellery to be won as well!

I did a Storify of some of the tweets and pics from the event.

There are even some dates set in place for the next events:

Evening of 16th Feb, 17th March, 19th April, 17th May, 23rd June & 19th July! A full schedule for your spring/summer diary. Just keep an eye on their website and twitter for more info. It was a fantastic opportunity to meet other ladies and some new faces too, and I really recommend it :)

My 4am Project interview in Touch Base magazine 2011 and what I've been up to in 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Strunks) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:47:00 +0000

About a year ago I did an interview about the 4am Project with Jayne Howarth for Touch Base Magazine.

I received the pdf recently, so here it is in all it's glory! Thanks Jayne.

If you click it, it will become bigger!

Just wanted to mention that really. I like to keep a note of interviews etc when I can and keep an online record.

2012 is in full swing. I'm just keeping my head down and getting things done.

Though I have had my first nights out of 2012 last weekend. Yeah, party animal!

They were much needed as I hadn't been out properly since before Christmas - when I managed to catch a bad cold.

Night 1 was an evening of drinkies and cocktails with a very good friend who I hadn't seen for far too long! She's a fantastic lady, who is so supportive and amazing to be around.

Night 2 was a party to celebrate Nicky's and Sas's birthdays! Fantastic night and great to catch up with good friends who I had't seen for a while. I also got a bonus belated birthday pressie from Sas!

Perfect! A lovely mix of Red and Animal Print. My favs!

I had a good excuse to wear my Big Hair Bow!

On Monday it felt like New York City was calling me. I received this stunning gift from a friend. The photo doesn't do it justice. I'm keeping on my desk right in front of my monitor so I look at it every day.

Then when I got home, I post card from my NYC pen friend was on my door mat!

They both made me really happy!

Yesterday myself and Nicky went to Acton in London to deliver a talkaboutlocal training workshop. It went really well, and we have got some new people starting their wordpress hyperlocal blogs.

I was catching a train back to Birmingham from Euston and mentioned this to my best friend who lives in Cumbria. Well, she was only travelling home from London from Euston at the same time, so we were able to snatch 10 minutes best friend time together! Yay! It's always great to see her, even though it was for such a short about of time. We are meeting up again in Preston as I'm going to Local Gov Camp and we are seeing each other afterwards for dinner. And I just CANNOT wait for March as we are having a long weekend away in a 17th century cottage in the middle of nowhere in Wales!

Me and my BFF!

This Saturday I'll be going to the first Birmingham Girl Geeks events and doing a little talk about social media and the 4am Project. It's free to come along, and boys can come too! See you there I hope :)

Next week I'm off to Liverpool for a talkaboutlocal training day. We have quite a few workshops coming up so I'll be heading to Cornwall, Southminster, and back to London a couple of times soon!

Then on Friday 27th it's the first Birmingham Social Media cafe event of the year. Come along to that too. It's free, and a great place to meet creatives and businesses who share a love for social media. Meegloo are sponsoring coffee! Check out Meegloo's free app too!

Oh, and I've written a chapter of a book! It's for the Community Lover's Guide To The Universe that Podnosh is curating and the Birmingham edition is called Militant Optimists; people who knuckle down, get things down , give things a go and get the community involved. For my chapter I have written about the 4am Project. The book should be out in the next few months and an online version will be available to download for free. I'll keep you posted!

Okay, gotta dash! Just a flying update. Say hello on twitter @karenstrunks :)

Girlwalk Allday - I dare you not to dance!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Strunks) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:42:00 +0000

Since Girl Talk All Day released their mashup, I have been addicted to it. Listen to it online and download it here.

If I need to boost my mood, I play it. When I do any exercise, it's on my headphones. It's helped power me through the miles when running. Every track hits a button.

And now, in case you have missed it, it's been turned into a film - Girl Walk All Day

The most inspiring and crazy and happy film I've seen. And it's set on the city streets of New York, my favourite city in the world!

The creator of the film, Jacob Krupnick, is interviewed in The Gothamist, and tells of how whole the whole project was funded by Kickstarter and how he went about filming dancers in the streets of NYC. The film received $24,817 from 577 Kickstarter backers!

The tantalising thing about the film's release is that it's been broken down into episodes over the last month. And today, the final chapter went live on The Gothamist (who have been supporting the project) website.

I can't tell you how much I have LOVED every second of every video. I've laughed, and danced and even cried!! It's also made my hunger for NYC even stronger (if that's possible!).

So, get off your chair and watch the story unfold from the Ferry beginning! ;)

Girl Walk // All Day: Chapter 1 from Girl Walk // All Day on Vimeo.

And now go here to watch the rest of the videos!

Thank you Girl Talk and Girl Walk! You have made me a very happy and dancey girl! :))

Say hello on twitter: @karenstrunks

My diary management

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Strunks) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 20:25:00 +0000

Hi! How's your new year going?

Mine is going well thank you! Especially now I am over the cold that slowed me down over my Christmas and New Year holiday. Hurrah!

So, last week I talked about how I have moved my to-do list over to workflowy (one week in and it's working out well so far!).

Today, I want to mention the progression of my diary management over the last couple of years and how I am working on perfecting that. I am also tracking where I spend my time, and I'll blog about that next. I am aiming for a super efficient 2012, and there's always room for improvement!

Up until Feb 2011 I kept track of my commitments with a traditional week-to-view diary. I had been using that type of diary for a good few years (always a silver WHSmith diary. It became a tradition every December to buy one). As the year went by the pages would become more dog eared, and I liked that. This year I haven't bought one, but I kind of feel I should just because I am so used to see it sitting in it's place on my desk!

However, as my work, commitments and areas of interest progressed I knew I needed to take it to the next level, which for me was Google Calendar.

This felt so clean! And I could account for time hour by hour. And all those hours to fill! Whooohooo!

I devised a multi coloured calendar. Each colour representing a different task; social, work, running, time off, blogging etc.

And this is what the result was. Ta da!! So many colours, so pretty! ;)

BUT after a couple of months of this type of diary management I could see it's flaws.

Yes, I could account for every hour, but as you can see, some days involved jumping from task to task. And more often than not, the tasks took longer than the time I had allocated for it. And then I would have to jiggle things about and it became a bit much really. I also hadn't given myself any room for maneuver.

So, I had a think and devised a new type of schedule which allowed longer for each task so I wasn't jumping about so much, plus I gave myself more room and flexibility by introducing Leeway Days!

Leeways days are time I reserved in my diary and keep empty as I've learnt that something unexpected will come up each week, it could be an event, work, or perhaps I need more time to work on something. Or just have some time off! It's handy to have some time in reserve if something needs to be juggled about or re-scheduled.

These leeway days have been a really beneficial addition. I highly recommend them.

These first few months of this year are looking to be busy ones already, and I'm looking forward to them and seeing what 2012 brings.

And if you are looking for some events to fill up your diary with, you won't go wrong with these social media get togethers in Birmingham:

Birmingham Girl Geeks

Website

Twitter

Saturday 21st January

2.30-5.30pm

at Urban Coffee, Church Street, Bham

A meet up for geeky girls and women in Birmingham. And men can come too! Just grab a girl and put your name down. You can come there with me if you want!

I'll be doing a short talk there about social media and the 4am Project.

Wordpress Birmingham Meet Ups

Website

Twitter

Wednesday 11th Jan (and monthly thereafter)

6.30-11pm

at The Old Joint Stock, 4 Temple Row, Birmingham

WordPress Birmingham (UK) is a monthly meetup group based in Birmingham, UK (unsurprisingly), aimed at bringing together WordPress designers, developers and site owners.

And not forgetting of course......!

Birmingham Social Media Cafe

Website

Twitter

Friday 27th Jan (and every last Friday of the year)

10am-midday

at Birmingham Town Hall, Victoria Square, Birmingham

The Birmingham Social Media Cafe is a place for people interested in social media to gather, get acquainted, chat, plot, scheme and share!

There we go!

How do you manage your diary? Any tips to share? :)

Say hello on twitter: @karenstrunks

Tackling to-do's with Workflowy

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Strunks) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 13:34:00 +0000

In an on-going endeavour to manage and fine tune my to-do list I've made a few changes in the last year or so.

This is how I used to keep track of my to-do's. Each had it's own little post it note. Periodically I would go through it and re-arrange into order of importance and put priorities at the top.

It worked. I got things done. I just had to manage/juggle 100's of bits of paper and they would often end up scattered over my desk and made it look untidy. An untidy desk, and untidy mind!

Then I switched over my diary management to Google Calender (more on G Cal coming up) and I used the Tasks function there to keep track of things. Again, it worked, but I found it a bit clunky and a bit of a nuisance to prioritise my to-do's. It could be done, but there's just too many clicks and dragging for my liking. There is also the option to add further notes to tasks, which is useful, but again, I found it didn't work as smoothly as I would have liked.

And now....

I have discovered Workflowy! A new way to organise you brain.

I really like it. I've transferred my to-do's over there now. I love it's simplicity and how much easier it is to add notes to specific tasks, and break big tasks into smaller ones. You can also add tags and use them to search for specific tasks too.

Take a look at Workflowy's intro video.

Workflowy doesn't have an app yet, but it looks like they are working on it, and in the meantime you can access it through your browser.

Workflowy has been going for just over a year and has 100,000 registered users with 30,000 of them being active.

My only concern was 'What if Workflowy goes down or shuts up shop?". Luckily there's an Export option, so you can keep a back up of your latest lists. I'll probably do a save once a week.

Workflowy also have a blog and you can find them on twitter too.

So, happy to-do listing this year!

If you give Workflowy a go, let me know what you think! :)

Say hi on twitter: @karenstrunks

And Hello 2012!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Strunks) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 17:11:00 +0000

Here we go! A brand new year! YES!

It's my favourite time of year, though my usual excitement was slightly subdued because of a cold.

I celebrated the passing of the old year to the new year in my preferred way - at home, alone. It was a time to reflect and plan and be thankful for all that 2011 brought. It was a jolly Good Year indeed.

I've been blogging here for one whole year now! I love this little space. And thanks for reading! I've had a little look at my blog stats this morning and it's great to see so many peeps from so many countries tuning in!

I want to wish....

...a very happy 2012. Hope it's a blast for you!

What's on your plans for this year?

Anything new on your radar?

Keeping things the same, or making a change?

Are you aiming for something audacious?!

I've been having a good think about this year, and I've decided I'm going to recycle some of my goals from last year! (No, I'm not being lazy and unimaginative!). Honestly, 2011 was pretty good. No, it was really, very fab!

I learnt a lot and I'm going to keep on doing what works. I want to keep things moving in the right direction and having some adventures along the way!

There's a few practical online things I want to put in order. Mainly my profile which I feel is a bit scattered, so I want to bring everything together and have a 'one stop' place for what I do and who I am. From speaking to peeps this year it's clear to me that it's not clear to them what I do exactly! Some know me from my photography, some from talk about local, some from the social media cafe, some from this blog etc... So it's time to bring it all together!

There's a less tangible area I want to work on. Like being braver and bolder! Do you know when you want to do something a bit big and out of your comfort zone and there's that moment that causes you to pause because a little voice goes, "Mmmm, should I?". Well, that. I mean, I do pretty much go for things I want in general, but overall I want to eradicate that pause and just go for it!

Positivity! There's a lot of power in positive thought. And a lot of power in having positive friends too! I've got a great group of friends who are just that. Really positive. And supportive and inspiring too! I want to keep it that way and banish negativity and negative people coz they just ain't welcome!

New York is still at the forefront of my mind and is one of my biggest goals.

There we go! That's enough to keep me busy for now. And I'll keep you posted along the way!

Have a Super Duper 2012!

Farewell 2011!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Strunks) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 18:36:00 +0000

You have been good. No, great! Thank you. I've enjoyed pretty much every minute you have had to offer!

Well, except this very minute as I've been smited with a cold which has buggered up my re-charge glitter plan.

Anyway!

It's a time for counting blessings and reviewing.

Being a bit low on energy (due to this cold) I'm going to whizz through this a little bit and try and keep it brief. Ha!

I've loved having this blog this year. It was a great idea and addition to my online presence. It's my place for this, that and the other and I hope you have enjoyed reading it this year!

With that in mind, here's the top 5 most popular posts of the year:

Weight loss update: Balanced diet and portion sizes
Goodyear Spirit of Safety - My blimp experience
Five Star Luxury at Four Season Cairo (I still dream of that bed!)
New Year, New Blog - here's the plan (my first post on this blog)
Palma Live! The photos, the tweets, the videos!

And how did I do with my goals that I set on 1st January 2011? Let's see!

Work:

My talk about local work has been extended beyond it's original 6 months and I'm enjoying every minute. I love the team there and the work that we do and this year has seen me on the road more and delivering social media workshops. Good stuff!

I said I would launch my wedding photography services. Well, it's *almost* ready to go. I've got several more weddings under my belt this year and it's still an area I'm enjoying so that will be a go-er for 2012. ( I was hoping to work on the announcement during this holiday, but this cold has slowed me down somewhat). Anyway, it's imminent!

Consultancy: I said I would set aside a day every month or two for free consultancy to help people. I haven't strictly set aside set days for that this year, though it's worked out anyway as I've helped a few peeps during the year, so this one is getting a tick. Done!

Time:

I wanted to perfect my time management and look at areas to improve and thus be more efficient. I have improved on it (and I'll blog about how soon) and I feel that's worked out really well. There's still room for improvement, but I think it's safe to say there isn't much time this year that has gone to waste. Disciplined and organised. Done!

Social Life:

Hmmm, I don't think I've really improved in this area that much! The trouble is, I'm so happy in my work I find it hard to put it down. Of course I have been social this year, and enjoyed every minute! I can't give this goal a complete tick. Maybe half a tick...

Decision Making:

I think I've improved. I'm listening to my instincts and saying 'yes' or 'no' more easily and that's serving me well. I've stuck to saying 'yes' to only things that are of true interest to me, so that's working out well. Tick!

Self Development:

I wanted to learn more about websites and how they work and are built. This was set to be a spare time activity. I didn't have much spare time, so it didn't happen how I thought it would. But! I have learnt a lot more about Wordpress and it's workings, so this gets a half tick!

However...!

I have been working on self development in the business area and dedicated quite some time for that. It's been well worth the time and I have learnt a lot and that will always put me in good stead

Play

I wanted some more trips away.

I had planned to spend a weekend with my best friend. Done and done.

And a weekend with my aunt and uncle. Not done. And a weekend with my cousin. Attempted, but illness prevented it.

I wanted to do some more press trips. Done! Prague, Cairo, and Palma. All fantastic trips and great experiences!

New York. Don't talk to me about it! I haven't been back. The trouble is, I don't want to go for a weekend or a week. I want at least a month, preferably two months there. It's the source of a lot of heartache, but I'm not giving up. I could write a whole blog about NYC, but I can barely bring myself to mention it here.

Must buy

The only thing on my list - an iPad. Have I got one? No. Would I still like one? Yes please!

Personal

This was the year I got really active. Running, biking, stair climbing, hula hooping! And I reached my weight loss goal to boot! However, around autumn time (and with a running injury) all this slowed down and I am most annoyed with myself. And with that I have put on a stone! It's not the end of the world, but it's a slippery slope that's for sure. I can't become complacent with weight loss, or exercise.

I wanted to get to the bottom of my suspected food allergies. I now know I am ok with dairy. I think I'm ok with gluten, but I'm still very hesitant.

Sunday's were to be 'me' day! A day set aside to not work and chill out. I've pretty much stuck with that bar weekends away and occasional other commitments. It's working well and I'll continue that.

Life blogging. I'm doing it!

So all in all, I'm going to say I did quite well with my goals. Not 100% but not too badly either. They were worth making and sharing and gave me a great basis for 2011.

Personal Highlights of 2011

There's quite a few! Let's see...

Ok, that's enough! There's tons of highlights of this year and they've all been pretty much covered in this blog this year.

I wonder what 2012 will bring! Well, I'll be a bit more proactive than waiting to see what it will bring - I'll see what I can make happen in 2012! That's more like it.

Thank you for reading my blog this year! Thanks to all my friends, and my mum and my best friend and all my twitter friends who have kept me company throughout the year.

Wishing you all a wonderful 2012! See you next year :)

Day 3 of Operation Re-Charge Glitter

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Strunks) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 08:27:00 +0000

aka: The Big Winter Relax

I haven't done a thing for the last 2 days. Not a jot!

Oops, I've already told a lie. I went to the Boxing Day sales in the city centre. Looking back on that experience I can see it wasn't my brightest idea. I blame my naivety in that area. I honestly thought if I got into the city centre early in the morning it would be nice and quiet. By 8am there was hardly a car parking space to be found and packed buses were already delivering loads of shoppers to the city centre. In fact, some shoppers must have had a huge head start (Next!) as they were already loaded down with armfuls of bags. I even saw some ladies trying on clothes in the car park. I only wanted some make up, so I put an invisible shield around me, kept my head down and decided to get what I wanted since I'd made the effort to get up early, and then get the hell out of there. I got speaking to a man waiting outside a shop. He said his girlfriend had already shown him (before Xmas) what she wanted, gave him a list, and his job was to now get these items. He gave me some tips on coping inside the shop, the best one being, "keep your centre of gravity low". Ha. I picked up some make-up and perfume and some lotions and potions and was home again for 10am, but I don't think I'll ever do that again!

But apart from that, I have barely done a tap. The night before last I got 10 hours sleep! That only happens about twice a year. Heavenly!

I have managed to watch a lot of films; March Of The Penguins, Tamara Drew, Monsters v Aliens, Son of Rambow, Rosemary's Baby, The Man Who Would Be King and Mary and Max (again, coz it's the best film in the world, ever. Fact). Lots of bubbles baths have featured in Operation Relaxation too. I've barely tweeted, checked my emails or read my favourite blogs. I've put my phone on silent.

I'm not used to this change of pace at all. It's only been 2 days so far and at times I've felt like I should be doing something more productive, and then I have to remind myself to just chill and stop putting pressure on myself. There will be plenty of time to 'do' soon enough and I want to hit the new year at full speed so I'm seeing this time as reserving and storing energy up for that. I've felt quite tired actually and half suspected I was getting a sore throat, but that doesn't seen to be making a proper appearance.

I spent Christmas day with my ace Mum and my fab step Dad. My Mum wanted to do her own Queen's Speech!

I've just realised that there is only 4 days left of this year! Flip. I haven't been keeping track of the days very well. I'm too relaxed!

I've got a good idea of what I want from next year so I'll be firming up those plans (and having a review of my goals for this year).

Today I think I may do a little light premature spring cleaning, ready for the new year. A tidy house is a tidy mind, or something. I think. Otherwise the day will consist of more bubble baths and films.

Hope you are all having a smashing Christmas! :)

Say Hello on twitter @karenstrunks

Breaking up isn't hard to do

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Strunks) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 16:21:00 +0000

Today is day one of my 17 day break and I'm feeling gooooood!

I managed to do a little Christmas food shop at 8am this morning (and beat the crowds), I've pottered around my flat, I've had lunch at my leisure and had schmaltzy made for tv Christmas movies on in the background.

Last night me and Nicky had the talk about local Christmas do. With the other teams members in various places around the UK, it was only us plus Nicky's boyfriend Karl. It was a jolly good night and I kicked off with a pint (a PINT!) of cider. Whilst I was ordering it I was thinking to myself that it wasn't very ladylike of me to be drinking a pint, but that's what I really fancied. Plus, I don't think I've had cider for over a year! I enjoyed every drop.

We went onto another pub for a meal and some musicians turned up and played Irish music. The little back room bar was really OTT with Christmas decorations, but I loved it.

It was a really lovely night with good friends who I am going to miss very much as they are leaving for pastures new in Cardiff. Of course I'll still be working with Nicky at talk about local and we will be meeting in various cities in the new year when we deliver our social media workshops, plus Nicky and Karl will most definitely be having a house guest in their new Cardiff pad!

I've loved this year. Another great one. One of my busiest and most rewarding. As much as I love what I do, as I've mentioned before here, I'm ready to take the pace down a notch now and the next 17 days will allow me to do that.

I haven't made any plans to do anything or see anyone. No commitments. After a full-on year having a completely clear diary feels so strange yet great at the same time. Jan and Feb are pretty much filled up and March is getting busy now too. So in the meantime, I'll be tinkering about with a few things and firming up plans and goals for 2012 and after my rest I'll hit the new year like a power ball!

Oh, which reminds me, I must review my new year goals from this year and see what's happened, or hasn't!

So other than seeing an old friend tomorrow and my Mum on Christmas day, that's all I have planned! :)

Wishing you a very

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

XXX

I'm re-charging my glitter

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Strunks) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 13:15:00 +0000

Advice from my best friend. Good advice.

I felt SO tired yesterday. I think it's psychological. A coming-to-the-end-of-a-busy-year thing. When I look back on this year I'm fairly impressed with the momentum I've built up and all the goals, big and small, that I've achieved. I wonder how I've done it sometimes.

But yesterday I had a big dip in the energy that carries me forward. I just felt plain tired, but frustrated at that tiredness at the same time. I missed my sparkle! I had a bit of a moan about it by text with my best friend which led to a phone call in which I was reminded that it's OK to take it easy and chill out and that I can't do everything. I can't do everything?! How annoying ;)

So, this is what I am going to do - re-charge my glitter. As I mentioned in my last post, I've got a full two weeks coming up soon where I have absolutely nothing planned and I'm going to use that time to invest in a bit of rest and relaxation without putting pressure on myself with a list of to-do's and deadlines. Though I know I'll do some tinkering and I will definitely be putting plans into place for 2012. There's no way I'm wandering haphazardly into a new year without knowing what I want to get out of it!

I'll take a bit of time to look at my goals that I set for this year and see what's worked and which I've achieved.

I LOVE New Year! More so than Christmas. I love the clean page feel of it. I love relishing the moment the old year passes to the new year. It's such an exciting time!

In the meantime, it's the weekend and I'm going to start on that glitter re-charging :)

Say hello on twitter! @karenstrunks

Winding down for the rest of the year

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Strunks) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 15:19:00 +0000

Or that was the plan. But it hasn't really work out that way. It's my own fault. I find it hard to slow down. Besides, what would I do if I wasn't doing the things I love?

Having said that I've blocked out 2 weeks over Christmas and New Year and there's NOTHING in my diary! And I have the best intentions of keeping it that way. No schedule. No appointments. No commitments. No nothing. Looking back this year, I've only had one week off and even then I was away somewhere or other. I'd like to think I'll spend my two weeks off chilling at home and watching films and pottering about. Let's see what happens with that idea, ha!

A quick blast of some of the highlights of Nov and this month so far.

Fierce Earth Course.

This was 2x two days away at the Stratford Manor Hotel (4 stars! yay). I could write a years worth of blog posts about this course I'm sure. If Fierce Earth run the course again, try and get on it. Before I went on it, I asked an attendee from a previous Metapod course what they thought of it, and would they recommend it - "It's changed my life!" they responded. What a testimonial! But do you know what, I can understand it. It's helped me shape a sharper picture of my work, ideas and business. Things that have been milling around in my mind for the past year are now taking shape with more clarity and focus. If I could do the course again, I would.

talk about local

Myself and Nicky delivered a workshop on hyperlocal blogging in Evesham which went really well and all the participants were up and running by the end of the day. We also had a big team visit to That London. We are quite geographically dispersed as a team, and while it's great to be able to work from anywhere, it's always fab to get together offline too.

York

I've already blogged about a ace weekend I had in York with my mum. We are aiming for a weekend away together in Canterbury next year!

Birmingham Youtube Gathering

A couple of weeks ago I popped along to my first youtube meetup. It was really well attended (over 50!). It was held over the Saturday and Sunday, but I just went on the Saturday afternoon. If you love youtube and love meeting up offline watch out for the next one in 2012. Keep an eye on @chapperztv @jordanngv @gordycamp as they are the organisers. If you can't see my video here, pop over to youtube

Birmingham Social Media Cafe

I held the last Birmingham Social Media Cafe event of 2011. Christmas is in the way of this month, but the cafe is back on 27th January! If you haven't been before, please come along! It's held on the last Friday of every month and it's for anyone with an interest in social media, whether you use it for work or play. It's a great place to meet people offline, make new friends and connections. It's also a really casual and friendly event. You can follow BSMC on twitter @birminghamsmc and join the 500+ member facebook group too! Meegloo is sponsoring coffees in January. Check it out - it's a fab, free, social media app for your iphone, ipad or ipod. If you or your company would like to sponsor coffees (up to £200) at a social media cafe event next year, just give me a shout. It's a great way to reach the social media community in Birmingham!

Birmingham Airport's Christmas Drinks

My first Christmas 'do' of the season! It was held at Hotel Du Vin in the city centre. I've done some social media reporting for the airport on my press trips so it was really nice to get an invite to the night. There was a mix of airports, airlines, media peeps, press and travel bloggers there and it was a fab night out.

Fierce Earth's Christmas drinkies

As this post is a bit devoid of photos - The People's Shop festive window display!

And that brings us up to last night! This get together was for all the peeps that went on the Metapod course this year and was held at The People Shop in Kings Heath. I had my first mulled wine of the season and it was lovely to catch up with peeps and get an inspiration fix.

This week coming is nice and varied. Sunday lunch with a friend. A meeting about Birmingham and mapping city council service request data. A twitter Secret Santa meet up. A day delivering social media training.

In the meantime I'll leave you with one of my fav Christmas songs! Christmas doesn't officially start until my friend Midge posts this video! :)

A weekend in York with my mum!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Strunks) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 19:16:00 +0000

Wow, November has been a bit hectic. All good, but pretty non-stop. I'll try and catch up with events of this month, but to kick things off, here's the story of a weekend in York with my mum from the beginning of the month.

For my birthday present (which was in October) my mum arrange a weekend away for us. We hadn't been away since our trip to Palma, and it's always so much fun hanging out with my mum.

She had it all organised and booked us into a little B&B about 10 minutes walk from the city centre. She also bought a 2 day Yorkshire Pass. You use it to get into all the attractions and it works out great value for money. We did a quick calculation and reckon we saved about £80 between us by using the pass rather than paying to go into each attraction individually.

I was SO impressed with York! I hadn't a clue what to expect really. Normally I try and do a bit of research before I visit a new place, but hadn't got the chance this time. But that made everything even more of a surprise when I got there!

So what did we get up to?!

LOTS!

York Dungeons

Get your scares here! A fab hour long terrifying experience with chilling tales of York and you'll meet plenty of interesting characters along the way.

The Viking Museum

York was the Viking capital of the world once. I think. History isn't my strong point, but viking definitely lived in York at some point and this museum can prove it! There's lots of old viking relics here (pots and jewellry and swords etc) but the bit I enjoyed the most was travelling back in time and journeying through a viking village and seeing how they used to live. They even re-created the smell of the vikings!

Betty's Tea Room

Step back to the 1930's at Betty's Tea Room. It's divine there! And very, very busy. We went late on a Sunday afternoon and just managed to get a table. When we walked passed it at other times, people were queuing around the block to get in. I'm not sure if you can book ahead, but I would definitely recommend doing so. It's well worth the visit.

My mum took the opportunity to read her own tea leaves. (I'm sure she made half of it up!)

York Minster

I'm not really into old churches (or even new ones), but this is impressive just by it's stature alone. It was built between 1220 and 1470, in fact there's building work going on there now. There's actually a lot to see and do when you are inside including a guided tour, plus some vaults downstairs too. And my mum told me that this is where my step Dad proposed to her! So on that fact alone, it make the Minster special to me :)

Haunted House

I love a good ghost story and couldn't wait to visit the Haunted House on Stonegate. You go into it through a magic shop. We went early in the day and had the place to ourselves. The building is 700 years old and an audio story guides you from room to room (9 altogether), and up and down crooked wooden stair cases whilst telling you the stories of the house's past and it's sad tales of it's former residents. It's very atmospheric which is heightened when you are plunged into darkness at times too!

Clifford's Tower

We marched right up to the top of the hill. Then marched back down again. It was closed. It's only open for 2 days a week (weekends I think). Built by William the Conqueror in 1068, it's got quite the horrible history.

York Castle Museum

We visited the museum over two days! There's so much to see. I really liked the recreated Victorian Street and the prison. They also had a street dedicated to the 60's. My mum loved it and she told me lots of stories about her memories of that era. A great place to spend an afternoon.

I was quite taken with this little coin operated machine.

Grand Opera House

We had an even free so booked some last minute tickets to see a show here. We were quite in luck I think, as Fascinating Adia were performing! I remember them from years ago, but didn't know they were still on the go. They've been on the go for 27 years in fact. It was a great night and their song wickedly funny. Here's one of my favs from the evening...

I'm sure I've left something out.

Oh yes! A ghost walk. There's quite a few to chose from in the city. There's the ghost walk, the ghost trail, the original ghost walk, the ghost hunt... take your pick!

And I managed to fit in a hair cut...

And FINALLY I got some new boots! I've been searching high and low for new boots since last winter.

I must have tried on nearly 100 pairs in the last year. There are so many essentials needed for the right boot.

They must be leather, they must be knee high, they must have a little (but not too little) heel, they must have good souls (for gripping on icy streets), they must fit snugly on my calves, they must fit snugly around my ankle, they must be black....

I found them. And I loved them. And then after all that, I nearly didn't buy them as the sales girl was so moody! :D

If you would like the condensed version of the York trip, you I've also handily Storify'd it for you!

A big THANK YOU to my Mum for the best weekend away! Love you lots. You are the best!

Say hello on twitter! @karenstrunks

A trip down memory lane

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Strunks) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 13:10:00 +0000

Yesterday was Operation Garage - almost a full day of sorting out all the boxes in my garage so I can make room for my car in the winter.

Luckily my Mum came over to give me a hand.

When I moved into my tiny flat about 7 years ago I left a large 2 bed house that was packed to the hilt with 'stuff''. I gave away practically everything I owned bar some essentials and some items that had sentimental value.

I wanted to downsize my life and my mortgage payments, and planned to get a local job and work part time. It kinda all worked out. I found a job for 4 days a week and I was able to walk to/from work! Obviously I've since moved on from that job, but I had a design for my life in mind, and that worked out and included living in a more vibrate and creative area, Moseley.

Anyway! Back to the garage.

The first item to leave was my guitar which I inherited from an ex boyfriend who was a musician. It's too cold and damp in the garage and so it went to my Mum''s house. I only ever made a half hearted attempt to play it and the first song (and only!) I learnt was Robin Trower's Bridge Of Sighs - a very basic version I hasten to add!

Guitar

Before the guitar was whisked away, a man strolled past, said hello and picked up the guitar. "Are you selling this?" I wasn't thinking of selling it. He tuned it and started to play a tune on it that he wrote. I took an Audioboo. I'm kinda glad that the guitar had been put to use in some small way before it went back into storage.

Stranger playing my guitar (mp3)

So many leaves had blown under the garage door. Mum is very handy with a broom. Go mum! ;)

Ahh Little Ted! I think I can pretty much say he is my favourite teddy bear of all time!

This is a school art project when I was about 12. It was themed around farms or the countryside. Mum has taken it home. I hope she puts in on her living room wall. It's a thing of beauty and deserves to be displayed! :D

I kept some of my old school books. This one is from when I was 4.5 years old (it said so on the cover of the book).

This was fairly creative: "I am going to the shop with my mum and me and my dad and my sister". I haven't got a sister.

Thumbing through the book, this was a story to be told time and time again. Me and my mum going to the shop. Or, my mum going to the shop and buying me sweets. Sweets! It was all about sweets!

My first album! Doris Day - 20 Golden Greats. Stop laughing! Doris is ace! I think I had good taste as a 7 year old. I remember my Dad taking me into a record shop in London.

I played that record over and over. I remember particularly loving Que Sera Sera.

When I was just a little girl
I asked my mother what will I be
Will I be pretty will I be rich
Here's what she said to me...

Flat Cat!!! I love Flat Cat! Another childhood favourite.

I'd almost forgotten I had kept some of my Ladybird books. The Three Billy Goats Gruff scared me! Sadly I couldn't find the one I read the most: Cinderella.

This is a more recent 'treasure'. A Michael Jackson alarm clock which was presented to be by Talk About Local (before I starting working there) for the best use of photos in a blog at their unconference in '09. Lovely! It's a keeper.

I found Big Ted! When I was about 5 I remember that Big Ted and Little Ted were best friends. My mum would collect me from school and on the walk home she would tell me of all the adventure that my teddy's and other toys had during the day. I loved those stories.

My first comic subscription. Play Hour. The newsagent would keep a copy aside for me and once a week (I think it was weekly) me and my Dad would go and collect it.

Age 12. I think. My drawing skills have improved. A tiny bit. A rooster wearing clothes. I'm not sure why.

By the end of the day we had cleared out a lot. A pile for the tip and a pile for charity shops.

I think my mum would have liked me to have been a bit more ruthless than I was when it came to deciding what to keep and what to throw away.

Admittedly a few items had been ruined by the years and the damp in the garage, but I just couldn't part with them. Some things had got broken (they went to the tip). I found tons of old photos (prints, before the digital age). Love letters. Cards. Ornaments. Shoes! Lots of shoes! (I did part with some).

Looking back at what I found I was surprised at how much I remembered, even from a young age. The items triggered the memories. Pretty much all of them good.

And of course it prompted me to think about where I had been, the different stages of growing up, and where I am now, and where I want to be.

I was a bit tired after all the manual labour, so when I got back home I took a lovely bath (it was very dusty in the garage) and put on my pj's and chilled out for the rest of the day. I appreciated living on my own and having my own space. I love being single and having time and space to do my own thing. I love what I do for work. I'm glad I haven't got children and feel I've retained my freedom. It's all good.

But...! There's still plenty more time to make more memories and have more adventures! I never want to become complacent in my life and work. I don't want to get too settled or waste time. I want to be able to look back and know I've tried things, scared myself sometimes, taken risks but enjoyed every minute.

In the last few weeks I feel like I've been slowing down somewhat, and of being aware that this year is coming to an end. It may be because the days are shorter, and it's just a seasonal thing. Or maybe that it's because my diary is fairly full until the New Year and I don't want to take anything else on and I also want to leave myself some breathing space.

I know I want to leave some space for my 4 day Fierce Earth Course that is coming up soon! I'm really looking forward to it and hoping to get a lot of it in a business and personal capacity. I've got a feeling some of my plans will change after that course and I definitely want to leave room in my diary to implement those changes. I also think the course will challenge me, and also inspire me. I think it's just what I need at this point.

Next weekend I shall be spending a few days in York with my mum. It's her birthday treat to me and she has a full schedule planned! Apart from spending some quality time with my mum it will be good to have a change of scene too.

Looking a little further ahead, I can't wait for 2012! I get so excited about a New Year. On New Year's eve itself I love staying in, on my own, and savouring the second that the old year goes and a new one arrives. A brand new year to fill! That's pretty exciting.

Say hello on twitter! @karenstrunks

Last night I went to The Sporton Inaugural Professorial Lecture and Performance

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Strunks) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 16:59:00 +0000

Academic believes that the digital revolution has helped de-rail global economy.

Well, this lecture sounded interesting. As someone who practically lives via the digital world, as do many others, I wanted to hear about this and how it affected the economy.

It was Gregory Sporton's inaugural lecture. When someone is a new professor, they have to give their first lecture.

I haven't been to many lectures (though did give one at BCU about the 4am Project), but this one was pretty different. With a background in dance, the lecture kicked off with the Dance Of The Little Swans (video) which was choreographed by Gregory.

Gregory then took to the stage. He asked questions and raised points such as:

Are we replacing things (tangible items) for bits powered by the revolution in this digital age? Are we able to measure these bits in the same way as things? We can't see them. How do we know their value?

Is creativity being redifined by technology. 100 years a go, or so, a 'creative' would make something, such as artwork, or sculptures for example, and it wasn't a label people applied to themselves as quickly and easily as they do now.

Are we losing out on real life contact and connections by using tech tools such as Skype, twitter, Facebook etc, which may give the impression of closeness? Does it give us an excuse not to meet up with friends/family etc in real life? Is that healthy?

I was most saddened to hear about care robots for the elderly. How about this for replacing human contact with tech?

But it was not all doom and gloom. Gregory's lecture was sprinkled with humour throughout, and ended the way it started with a dance, (in the dark with coloured balls) in which Gregory himself performed! How often do you see a lecturer dancing? Not often I'd guess.

I'd say the next Professor who has an inaugural lecture will have to come up with something pretty imaginative to make it as memorable as Gregory's! ;)

I made a Storify of some of the tweets from last if you would like to check it out.

Say Hello on Twitter! @karenstrunks

This time last year. Celebrating Halloween New York style!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Strunks) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 19:11:00 +0000

Today I am reminiscing.

This time last year I was getting ready to take part in the biggest Halloween parade in the world. Where else but New York City?!

I had already planned my outfit and as a make-up lover I needed no better excuse to get creative with my 'Glampire' look!

I had bought silver fangs, but they wouldn't stay in.

So I spent a lovely few hours in the afternoon getting dressed and apply layers of make up and glitter and, for the first time ever, fake eyelashes.

I went out of my apartment door, turned right and walked the few blocks to Times Square to meet up with my friend.

I was early, or he was late. No, he was definitely late. So I kinda just hung around. However, being the tourist hot spot it is, I was soon being approached, "Can I get my photo taken with you?" asked one lady. "Sure!"

But that seemed to trigger off other tourists and within a few minutes there was a line of people queuing to have their photos take with me. I thought it was hilarious! Of course I hated ever minute, being so shy n all ;)

I definitely missed a trick though, I should have brought a 'tip' purse out with me! :D

Making my way downtown on the subway....

Now, what should be inserted here is a video of the Halloween Parade BUT my video software is playing up tonight and I've run out of patience with it. So instead, a few photos...

Segway - one way to get around the parade!

Fantasic, Mr Fox!

I see (saw) youuuu!

Such a cute trio

Exotic

It was a bitter cold night, but that didn't stop the revellers or dampen their enthusiasm! Singing, dancing, and every costume you could think of! My eyes didn't know where to look next!

The weekend before I spent an evening with the Disgraceland Family who gave me a very warm welcome.

Want more of the self called freaks? Here they are!

I also made a video of the crazy night!

If you want to see more of what I got up to during my month long stay in NYC last year, check out my Big Apple Unpeeled blog. :)

Say hello on twitter: @karenstrunks.

Tips and advice on starting and running your online community project

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Strunks) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 18:05:00 +0000

So, you have a super, duper idea for an online community project! You want the world to know about it and join in, but where to start?

I’m writing this from the point of view of running the 4am Project. It’s a global photography project that asks participants to capture a view of their world at 4am. It’s had a reach in over 50 countries and over 4,000 images submitted to date. I wear many hats with the 4am Project (and it’s been an amazing learning curve!), from event organiser, pr person, community manager, press spokesperson, advisor to name just a few.

A little while ago I received an email from someone who was starting an online photography project and asked for my advice

I thought I would share some of my experience of running an online community project with you and the approach I have taken. So, with out further ado!

Planning

Who do you want to reach? Where are they? Why do you want them to take part? How are they going to take part? How are you going to reach them?

I found twitter incredibly useful for growing the 4am Project. I searched for people with an interest in photography on twitter, checked out their individual profiles (and whether they were actually active on twitter,) and I followed them.

Note: I didn’t follow people randomly. I took the time to research each person individually, as there was a greater chance that they would be interested in the project, follow and take part in the project and also tell their friends. I don’t do this so much now as the project has been established and I generally let it grow organically on twitter now.

Because my project is photography based and using flickr, I tapped into the flickr community. Again, I researched groups and individuals and connected with them. I’ll warn you now that both this twitter and flickr method is VERY time consuming, but both yielded good results as I took the time and trouble to do my research as make a personal connection. Where is your new community hanging out?

As you tick one ‘to do’ off your list of plans, others will take their place. As your project evolves and grows you will probably get a host of new ideas! The more the merrier in a way, but before you dive into them, think about what’s going to work the best and what is worth your time. Some things you will have to try to see if they work, but as soon as it becomes apparent that an idea isn’t working for the benefit of your project, drop it and move on.

Time Investment

This one took me a while to figure out, and it still does to some degree.

From day one I wanted the 4am project to be global. I invested practically all my free time in promoting the project (I had no support/staff or £ to pay anyone to do it). It did take over my life, and there were times when I was exhausted but felt I couldn't take a break from it. (I'm quite driven anyway and put 100% into everything). However, I do think that experience has instilled a new discipline in me to manage time/work/effort more effectively which stands me in good stead for other work and projects.

There were times when it felt like the project was controlling me rather than me controlling the project. Be aware of this. The larger your project grows the more people you will be interacting with. They will ask questions and comment. Are you going to be there to respond?

When your project takes off the ground, there may be press interest. You may be asked to do interviews, that might be by email, or on the phone or even in person. You will have to allow the time to do this.

Another extension of your projects is growth may be that you get asked to speak about it publicly in workshops, conferences, net working events etc. Is this something you will be comfortable with? Of course you don’t have to do it, but it can act as a good way to reach a new audience and of course build up your confidence in public speaking too!

I run the 4am Project around paid work (the project doesn't earn any £). And it’s very likely you will have to work on your project outside of your paid work too. So, start thinking now about how much time you can/want to invest in your project, and schedule it into you diary. I've got a better balance with the 4am Project now, by setting aside specific block of time to work on it ie. Rather than, ‘I’ll do a few hours next Saturday’, it’s "I will work on this next Saturday midday-4pm". Other arrangements, social or otherwise will have to be worked around this. I don’t give myself much flexibility in this area, as it would be all too easy to ‘do it tomorrow’. Don’t fall into that trap if you really want to make a go of your project.

Let's talk money!

Do you want to earn £ from your project? Do you want sponsorship/funding? Start working on that now. You can't start too early. I found with the few companies who have sponsored the 4am Project so far, and the funding I have received, that the wheels can turn very slowly. Frustratingly so at times. I have found that to even get a relatively small amount of sponsorship, it has required a big time investment. Weigh up what's on offer, what you actually want, how it will benefit the project, and whether it's worth it.

However, it’s not all about the money! I would say don’t wait for money, unless it’s an absolute critical part to get your idea off the ground. You may not necessarily need any money (though you might think it’s good to have it). What you really need is your enthusiasm, time, energy and you have all the free online tools you need at your disposal.

Hopefully this glimpse into running an online project and community doesn’t sound too overwhelming!

There are a lot of upsides. It can be a lot of fun, it can give you great experience (that can stand you in good stead for future work), it can raise your profile and put you on the ‘radar’, and it will bring you into contact with people you wouldn’t ordinarily have met.

The bottom line

What do YOU want to get out of the project? When you are deep in the middle of it all and it really takes off and it's keeping you really busy, it can be easy to lose focus, so most importantly don't forget why you have started it. Put a sign up. Remember what your online adventure is all about! :)

Say hello on twitter! @karenstrunks

The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn 3D

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Strunks) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 17:39:00 +0000

I received an invitation to the VIP lauch of the newly opened Giant Screen (@giantscreen) at Millennium Point to see The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn in 3D.

The Giant Screen used to be an IMAX cinema, and I've enjoyed a few films there over the years. I wondered what was going to be different about the Giant Screen. Well, when the cinema was IMAX it could only play IMAX films. Now it's a Giant Screen there will be a lot more choice of films as the Giant Screen won't be tied into IMAX films. And they've updated the digital technology too.

For me, the bonus of the cinema is, as it's now aptly named, the GIANT SCREEN! It really is huge! I also like the cinema as the new seats are comfortable and staggered so it's unlikely that someone with a big head will encroach into your view!

The event was kicked off with a red carpet entrance, champagne, wine, and nibbles, plus a competition to win a 3D camera (I didn't win it booo).

I couldn't resist a red carpet photo opp!

With Tintin, Snowy and Captain Haddock

Giant Screen goody bag: Popcorn, water, chocoates, usb stick, and a badge

The film!

I've never been one for TinTin growing up, thinking it was a 'boys thing'. However, with the promise of 3D (and *everything* is better in 3D! ;) ), and the fact that Steven Spielberg is behind it, I was tempted into seeing it.

And I really enjoyed it! From the start to end I was hooked! Partly by HOW it was made (how did they do that?!), and the story line kept up my interest too. Would TinTin win the day (he does - that's no spoiler I'm sure). I didn't think I would like Captain Haddock, but I ended up liking this brusque character and rooting for him. There was comedy, action, adventure, close shaves and triumph! Also, compared to some 3D films I've seen I thought it's use was fairly subtle. (Though I now can't wait to see Puss In Boots which, from the trailer, looks like it's going to be 'in your face 3D!).

All in all a jolly good film and a fun night! Have a look at this youtube video for some of the trailer plus behind the scenes footage. It's very clever stuff!