It's Like Mapquest for Trade Shows!

Let's assume, just hypothetically, that you're planning to go to the International Manufacturing Technology Show at Chicago's McCormick Place in September. (I'm actually going to be there, but you can just pretend.) This week the show released its free IMTS 2012 mobile app, and what fun!

Apps for trade shows have been around for a couple years, and they're helpful for things like finding where that pesky seminar room is, or what booth the Acme Widget Company is in. But the IMTS 2012 app has a new twist that's pretty cool - you can get directions to your next stop! It's like a mini-Mapquest for the show floorplan.

Even if you're only hypothetically interested, give it a try. The download is quick and free, and it will give your mind (and your imagination) a little exercise. Go to the app store, search for IMTS, and you're on your way! I'd love to know what you think of it.

(Meanwhile, these images are from the IMTS website - haven't yet figured out how to get a screen shot from the Android phone. But you get the idea...)

Headlines Count, Most Especially Yours

A recent article by Deborah Rooney (“Ninja, Nerd, or Nut: What Your LinkedIn Headline Says About You”) offers great tips on writing a good personal headline for LinkedIn. It made me stop and reconsider mine!

I’ve been writing headlines since long before we had to think about whether it was going into print or on the web, and of course we’ve always had to consider the intended audience. But Rooney points out three key criteria that apply to the very specific short label people see when your name pops up in the context of LinkedIn.

• Watch the initial impact.
• Reflect your core competencies.
• Make a connection.

All that in a headline? Yep, and she gives great reasons for putting in the time and effort to craft a good one, as well as pointers on how to do it. It’s a short article, very well written and thought out; you should read it. And while you’re there, check out some of her others, for which links are provided.

Here's the link again, in case you missed it above: www.freshtransition.com/2012/07/11/ninja-nerd-or-nut-what-your-linkedin-headline-says-about-you/

Words of the Day: Griot and Baobob (an adventure in world music)

This week I finished writing an article listening to the soundtrack of "Besieged," a 1999 film by Bernardo Bertolucci. It's only when I really need to concentrate that I listen to music while I'm writing, and if it's somebody singing, it has to be in a language I don't understand (except for James Taylor - why he's the exception I don't know, but I digress).

Baobab in Kruger National Park,
South Africa. Photo: Oscar Chao

The film opens with a powerful image - an aged barefoot African storyteller, or griot (GREE oh), swathed in a bolt of loose orange cloth, standing beneath a baobob tree (you know, one of those big, solitary tree-of-life-like oldsters from the African plains). He sings (or perhaps "intones" or "chants" would better describe it) the first part of the story to the accompaniment of a thumb piano ostinato.

I have no idea what he said, or what language he was singing in, and I can't imagine that many people who saw the movie actually understood any of his words. But I'm content to think it was some African dialect, and the point was made: We were at the beginning of a story.

I won't summarize the plot here - that has been well done by Richard von Busack in the online archives of the San Jose Metro. But I'll tell you that the griot shows up a few more times, in unlikely places and garb. Those sightings are interspersed with some masterful grand piano playing by another one of the film's main characters.

Other than the griot's tale, there are precious few words in the entire movie, but that's OK. You get the idea without any effort. It's a nice story. If you're feeling the least bit adventuresome, I'd recommend checking to see if your local library has the film.

Meanwhile, if your curiosity has been aroused about the music, you can hear the opening piece (Nyumbani) from Besieged performed by J.C. Ojwang online at www.last.fm/music/J.C.+Ojwang/_Nyumbani. I have to warn you, though - you only get one chance. From what I can tell, the site knows if you come back and ask to hear it again, thanks to cookies and such, in which case they'll offer to sell it to you. (Here's an alternative URL that worked more than once this evening.)

Incidentally, Puccini is the other music I listen to while writing (besides James Taylor). Very singable in a la-la-la sort of way.

As Suze Orman would say, and now you know.

Technology Hath Trickled Down

The Fourth of July Hometown Fest is in full swing here, including the carnival rides, but this year there's a bit of a twist. Gone are the little air-conditioned booths dotting the midway, with people inside to sell you ride tickets and wristbands. This year it's a self-contained vending trailer, complete with ATM (in the center, just in case you need one).

It even comes equipped with gauges (on the corners) to check your children's heights.

Ah, yes, the changing face of Americana.