Wallace Hartley was an English violinist that made an interesting choice on April 15, 1912.  It was the choice to stand tall, use his talents and continue playing as the ship (RMS Titanic) that he was on, sank.

As the passengers and crew of the Titanic scrambled to get to the lifeboats, Hartley did what he did best – he played along with this band to try and calm down the situation.  At first you might think this is crazy and he should have been trying to escape and make sure his fellow band members made it to safety, though he stood his ground and his band respected and followed his lead all staying to play their last song and going down with the ship.

We all have different talents in life and you never know when you’re going to be called to put them in to action.  Hartley and the rest of musicians performed their last performance trying to purvey a sense of calmness so that the others could find a way to survive.

A newspaper at the time sums it up best, “the part played by the orchestra on board the Titanic in her last dreadful moments will rank among the noblest in the annals of heroism at sea.”

What will you do when your time to shine comes?

The musicians of the RMS Titanic

• Wallace Hartley  • bandmaster
• Roger Marie Bricoux  • cello
• Theodore Ronald Brailey  • piano
• John Wesley Woodward  • cello
• John Frederick Preston Clarke  • string bass and viola
• John Law Hume  • violin
• Percy Cornelius Taylor  • piano
• Georges Alexandré Krins  • violin

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“I had rather be on my farm than be emperor of the world.” -George Washington

It’s President’s Day here in the States and I saw this quote that reminded me of my grandfather who early on decided that he didn’t want to be confined by the walls of an office and instead he wanted to feel the earth between his fingers.

Luckily he choose the later because growing up he taught me countless lessons and provided me with a playground of machines and construction sites to go out and explore and learn from.

The amazing thing is, my grandfather had a unique way in teaching us things – actually, I never even realized that he was teaching me anything until years later when I reflected on it.  Patience, creativity and an enduring passion to help others are just some of the virtues he was able to instill in me and I just have to smile because he taught me these without ever having to say it, though instead by living them and gently providing his guidance when he could see I was stuck on something.

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“I smiled back and I thought how incredible that was, that they would find the time to smile. There was goodness in the world still, even if you couldn’t always see it.” ― Jenny Valentine

It’s a free gift to the world, so why not use it more often.  What’s the harm in waking up with a smile for the world to see?  Tomorrow when you wake up, make a mental note to put on your smile before you get out of bed.  I bet that person in the mirror is going to appreciate the effort and who knows what’s going to be in store for the rest of the day because of it!!!

It all comes around – So why not start a “Smile Revolution”….

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I’m off to an ASTD workshop at Set Focus – Great Webinars: Changing the Face of Learning…

Here is a link to a 2nd one being held on Thursday:

http://www.nnjastd.memberlodge.org/Default.aspx?pageId=884955&eventId=435100&EventViewMode=EventDetails

Here is some info about the event:

GREAT WEBINARS:
Changing the Face of Learning

Presented by Cynthia Clay

Beverages, networking, box lunch and a book are included.

Cynthia Clay  is President of Netspeed Learning and Author of “Great Webinars.”

It’s hard to beat the face-to-face classroom experience for rich, direct, human interactive learning. Yet, many organizations are changing to webinar-based instruction, to save employee time and to mitigate travel expenses (and carbon footprint).   How can an experienced classroom facilitator apply their skills in this new, virtual world?

Join your colleagues to learn how!

We are offering this unique hands-on, blended, virtual and  classroom workshop as part of the NNJ-ASTD’s  2012 Theme – “Leading Learning in the Brave New Business World.”  Learn and plan for changing the way you deliver learning.

Attending this workshop will help you create memorable, collaborative and truly engaging web workshop experiences. 

Seating is limited, so don’t wait to REGISTER!!

Using a virtual delivery platform, Cynthia will deliver the first half of this program remotely from her office in Seattle. 

Experience this highly interactive webinar while sitting behind a computer in one of Set Focus’ state-of-the-art classrooms, while Cynthia demonstrates best practices she has pioneered.

You will then break into discussion groups to create a plan to help you move forward in delivering webinars or implementing a strategy for your organization or business.

You will consider

• Specific budget guidelines
• Organizational hurdles and
• How to incorporate and convert core content into attractive, engaging and interactive virtual training. 

You will also receive Cynthia Clay’s book, “Great Webinars” with your prepaid registration! 

As a result of this training you will:

• Identify the underpinnings of a solid webinar experience
• Know how to deliver an effective webinar
• Develop a plan to implement and/or enhance webinar capacity to meet business and learning objectives. 

Who will benefit

This workshop is designed for anyone who wants to ramp up his/her webinar development and delivery skills and is limited to the first 15 registrants so everyone can have their own computer.

Learning format

The session will be highly interactive and action-oriented.  The outcome of the session will be improving your ability to move your webinar skills & strategy forward.

Seating is limited to the first 15 people, so register NOW!

ABOUT THE PRESENTER:

Cynthia Clay is the President of Netspeed Learning, a Seattle, WA based company founded in 1992. She founded the company with the belief that technology would not just revolutionize the way training was delivered, but that it also held the potential to dramatically enhance and extend the learning experience itself.

With a passion for using technology in the service of learning, Ms. Clay has channeled her vision into creating a company that specializes in combining media-rich features of emerging new technologies.  Under her leadership, Netspeed Learning Solutions is an industry leader in the development of high quality, innovative, and successful blended and virtual learning programs.

Ms. Clay is a recognized pioneer and expert in the field of blended and virtual learning strategies.  She is also a highly sought-after speaker at industry conferences.

Special thanks to Set Focus for providing the classroom facilities

Have you guys seen those little square boxes with patterns on the bottom of advertisements and wondered what they were?  They’re called “Quick Response Codes” or QR codes for short and they are a type of Matrix barcode that allow you to use your smart phone to scan them and get a tremendous amount of info by directing you to a web address, text, phone number or SMS that the advertiser has chosen.

The best part is, you can go online and create a QR Code for free on sites like Kaywa QR Code.  All you need is a web address, text, phone number or SMS and you can enter this into the content field and create your own unique QR Code to use on your advertisements or even business cards!!

There’s a huge potential for using QR codes because you’re simplifying your customers method to get more information about either you or your product by allowing them to easily scan the QR code which takes a second rather then having to seek you out on the web or having to write down your info to research it later.

As you get more advanced, you can use different QR Codes on different forms of advertising so that you can track which forms are successful by the click through of the QR Code.

Here’s a quick YouTube video to give you a few more details….

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Yup, it’s that time of year again!!

It’s the 25^th Annual New Jersey Firefighters Ski Race being held tomorrow at the Hidden Valley Ski Resort with all of the proceeds going towards the St. Barnabas Burn Center in Livingston NJ.

The event was started by the Jersey City Fire Department after losing one of their own and severely injuring another member when they were called to reposition a ladder and due to the icy conditions, lost their footing and the ladder came in contact with a high power line.

For the past 25 years firefighters throughout the state of NJ have been supporting the ski race despite numerous years of rain, storms and lack of snow.  Through all of this, we have been able to raise over a quarter of a million dollars for St Barnabas Burn Center.

The organization’s support of Saint Barnabas Burn Center helps the Burn Center continue to provide fire and burn prevention programs to schools, the community and Fire Departments throughout the state along with burn care to patients and support programs for burn victims and their families.  These programs and services are a top priority among both professional and volunteer firefighters throughout the state.

We’ll make sure to take a lot of photos and video and pass them along next week and in the meantime, here’s some fun from the previous years….

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I”m looking forward to the Enspire Learning Webinar – 7 Gamification Techniques to Enliven Your E-learning that’s just starting…

From grocery store scratch-off coupons to credit card use rewards, the marketplace recognizes our natural response to challenge and rewards. Learn simple techniques to integrate game design mechanics into your e-learning to boost engagement, retention, and compliance.

http://www.enspire.com/free-webinar-gamify-your-e-learning.html

After it’s done I’ll post some of the ideas that have been presented…

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First off, do you guys know what a CAPTHA is?  It’s the annoying field you have to fill in when you get to the bottom of an online form that makes you fill out some crazy crowded symbols to ensure you’re a human filling out the form and not a computer trying to hack the system.

The reason we have CAPTHA’s (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) is because it provides a problem easy enough for all humans to solve (at least most of the time) and prevent standard automated software from filling out a form.

The problem is that they’re a pain, not enjoyable, and waste a lot of your time.  That’s where a new company called Solve Media comes into play.  Instead of using the normal crowded symbols as the CAPTHA, they are incorporating advertisements and asking people to answer a question about them.  It’s a win for online advertisers because they are getting your complete attention and it’s a win for consumers because it’s quicker to answer the question and get to what you really want!!!

Here’s a quick video from Solve Media explaining it…

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It’s an amazing feeling when you’re floating out in the line up on your surfboard enjoying some of nature’s perfection. The rhythmic feel of the sets coming through as you wait for the perfect wave to ride. You can feel the ocean’s energy flow through you as you wait and witness the power of the ocean as the sets pass and you watch them crest and crash into the shore.

The interesting thing is that even though the ocean surrounds you and it extends as far as the eye can see, it’s you and only you that’s in control of this massive amount of energy.  It’s you that is going to decide which set looks promising and ultimately, when to start paddling your ass off to catch a ride.

If we can control and harness the energy of the ocean, why not use this same control in our everyday lives when we have the choice between accepting both negative and positive energy from everyone around us.

Don’t allow the person that cut you off, the person who want’s to pick an argument or the ease to gossip consume you.  Look for and accept the positive energy around you because at the end of the day, you are in control and have the choice…

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I’m looking forward to the webinar by Jeff Mills this afternoon discussing the world of mobile apps and how to build and use them!!!

Here is a link to Jeff’s Blog - http://jeffmills.com/2011/07

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