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E-Newsletter > Speakers News: June 2010

Speaker news: June 2010

IN THIS ISSUE:
The One Week Job Project creator Sean Aiken, innovation expert Tom Wujec, Power Friending author Amber MacArthur, Economist correspondent Vijay Vaitheeswaran, and New York Times columnist Virginia Heffernan.

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THE ONE WEEK JOB PROJECT

One Man. One Year. 52 Jobs.

After graduation Sean Aiken worked 52 jobs, searching not just for a career but meaning

Like many of his generation, Vancouver native Sean Aiken struggled to answer the question, "What should I do with my life?" Instead of taking the first job he found after college, he started The One-Week Job Project. His goal -- which he recently accomplished -- was to work 52 jobs in one year, anywhere in the world. As word spread, the job offers poured in, inviting him to try his hand at being a pizzamaker, a mascot, a vinter, an ad executive, a yoga instructor, even a mayor. A flurry of national media attention followed, including appearances on CNN, Good Morning America and Rachel Ray, and write-ups in The New York Times. Now that the year is over, the Vancouver native is sharing his inspirational story to help audiences -- from college kids to HR professionals -- understand the value of meaningful work, creativity, and, most of all, passion. Aiken's new book, The One-Week Job Project, has just been released to critical acclaim. A documentary is in the works.

Sean Aiken Speaker Profile

INNOVATION EXPERT

Building a Better Team? Start with the Marshmallow Challenge

In his hit TED Talk, Tom Wujec shows us what happens when groups are forced to collaborate quickly

Recently at TED, Toronto native Tom Wujec shared his insights on team-building -- what makes a great team and why -- by explaining The Marshmallow Challenge. The premise of the Marshmallow Challenge is simple: teams of four are instructed to build the highest tower using only dry spaghetti, tape, string and marshmallows. Each team has 18 minutes. A variety of groups has been given the challenge, from children to CEOs. Kindergarteners, it turns out, do better than business students: they are not entrenched in looking for the one correct answer. CEOs do well, but they do even better when teamed with administrative staff. Wujec discusses the nature of incentives and shows us what happens when people are forced to collaborate quickly. When we visualize problems, when we develop a common language with group members, and when we tangibly engage things -- in other words, when we bring all our senses to the task -- we can build higher towers, and, ultimately, better teams.

To view Tom Wujec's TED Talk, click through to his Speaker profile.

Tom Wujec Speaker Profile

POWER FRIENDING

Social Media Expert Amber MacArthur's Debut Book

Amber MacArthur's Power Friending helps businesses leverage social media to its full extent

"Social media is here to stay, and Amber Mac's Power Friending is the ultimate guide for all those looking to understand (and profit) from our highly connected future."
-Jeremy Gutsche, chief trend hunter at TrendHunter.com and author of Exploiting Chaos

Amber MacArthur, the ultra-connected web strategist and consultant, has just released her first book, Power Friending, to universal acclaim. No stranger to the media spotlight, MacArthur is a well established media figure in the web world, appearing on the CBC, CityTV, CTV and G4TechTV as well as writing "Tech Trends", a weekly column in The Globe and Mail. Her debut book aims squarely at businesses and challenges them to think about social media in a new light. Her message? Treat your audience as "friends" and they will return the favour. MacArthur explains that using social media to create meaningful relationships with your customers doesn't have to be expensive or complicated. You just have to understand the tools.

Amber MacArthur Speaker Profile

AWARD WINNING CORRESPONDENT FOR THE ECONOMIST

Need. Greed. Speed: Welcome to the Innovation Economy

Vijay Vaitheeswaran shows us why innovation is the only competitive advantage in the 21st Century

Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran, the award-winning correspondent for The Economist, has tackled the politics, economics, business and technology of the interrelated fields of energy and the environment throughout his acclaimed career. Now, he's moving into new territory: innovation, health and biotechnology. As new technologies emerge -- and as the speed at which they are developed and adopted reduces -- the economy reconfigures and moves forward. Spanning the worlds of technology, energy, sustainability and the economy, Vaithesswaran shows us why innovation is the only competitive advantage in the 21st Century. Vaitheeswaran makes these disparate issues resonate for audiences who need to know where we stand, and how quickly things change in our new innovation economy.

Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran Speaker Profile

NEW YORK TIMES TECH WRITER

The Medium and Its Message

New York Times Internet critic Virginia Heffernan rethinks the most influential medium of our generation

Many media players and corporations misjudge how robust and immersive Internet culture really is. They fail to recalibrate their messages for an online world that, overnight, has displaced traditional media as the central hub of conversation, reading, art and shopping. The Internet, according to Virginia Heffernan, of The New York Times, must be understood as its own civilization, with its own rules and implications. It has its own scale, its own poetics and its own language. The Medium columnist for The Paper of Record, Heffernan is an effervescent voice who speaks regularly on leveraging the capabilities of the Internet for cultural, political and professional purposes. What Susan Sontag did for photography, and what Marshall McLuhan did for television, Heffernan does for the Internet: she helps us see this new medium's enormity, its effect on society, our place in it, and the opportunities that abound.

Virginia Heffernan Speaker Profile

GAYLE LEMMON at TEDxWOMEN

"If you're going to talk about jobs, then you have to talk about entrepreneurs," says Gayle Tzemach Lemmon. "And if you're talking about entrepreneurs in conflict and post-conflict settings, then you must talk about women." Lemmon is the author of the New York Times bestselling book The Dressmaker of Khair Khana and a Contributing Editor-at-Large for Newsweek and The Daily Beast. She has devoted her life to shedding light on the resiliency of female entrepreneurs, and their remarkable power to reshape local economies. By recognizing and investing in these female breadwinners, Lemmon says, we can help grow economies of all development levels around the world.