New set of resources and a training mandate

This week I'm putting the finishing touches to a set of articles, a seminar, teleseminar and pivot box on a subject that has me excited. Looking forward to sharing it next week.

Late last week, I received my ITC Corporate trainer package. Proud to receive the recognition, but also very proud and pleased to be able to go out and speak and train on behalf of an organisation that has given me so much. But even more moving was the little package in the big parcel. It was a gift that truly highlights the international nature of ITC - a gift sent by a member in South Africa via her friend, to the international convention in Baltimore to the staff of Management Services in New Zealand who passed it on to me. Very special and heartwarming that was. Thanks Vanessa

Real women - believe it or not

Am I being cynical?? Am I being naïve?? Who knows, but the marketing news I receive regularly (and share on News Bytes) is hinting at a coming trend to use normal female body shapes in marketing. First there was this article from the New York Times

For Everyday Products, Ads Using the Everyday Woman
Madison Avenue is increasingly interested in using everyday women in advertising instead of just waifish supermodels. The change comes after the Dove line of personal-care products sold by Unilever introduced what it called a "campaign for real beauty," which presents women in advertisements as they are rather than as some believe they ought to be. If the fad becomes a trend and shows legs, so to speak, it has the potential to fundamentally change decades of image-making on Madison Avenue. – article continues

And then, apparently Nike jumped on the bandwagon. Here was the article where Mediapost announced that one.

Nike Steers Advertising Toward Reality Anatomy

In the latest nod to "real" women -- and the latest blow to the wafer-thin body image -- Nike has introduced a campaign that celebrates women's "big butts, thunder thighs and tomboy knees." It comes on the heels of a Dove campaign that touched a cultural hot-button and set off a flood of media coverage culminating with models from the ads appearing on the cover of People magazine. – article continues

After decades of being blitzed with advertising that featured unattainable dreams, of living in the duality of being seduced by it and resenting its techniques, I have to believe it’s going to change ….. Believe the unbelievable ….?. Where is the “Coping with change” manual. Bring it on!!

The value of preparation

For the last couple of months, I put ITC on the back burner while I was developing my website.Focus I thought, Don't be distracted. And then wondered why I was feeling so discouraged, so out of sorts.
OK ... the website, for better or worse, is now happening, and I gave our debate on Tuesday evening heaps of preparation. The speech went well. I was happy, and felt so much more confident and at peace. Was it coincidence that Valma's confidence tip for the meeting was to be prepared for every presentation? Being pleased with having done my best and having modelled much more appropriate behaviour, life was good again. It extended, then, to the rest of my life. Far more confident to take on new challenges and opportunities; far more creative. Preparation - is - the basis of all good public speaking, but also of confidence.

Librarians rock

'In the non-stop tsunami of global information, librarians provide us
with floaties and teach us how to swim' - Linton Weeks