insights on technology » motivational http://www.elwinwitzke.com My thoughts on technology, business, culture, family and anything else that seems interesting. Brought to you from Vancouver, B.C. Canada. Sun, 22 Aug 2010 02:58:47 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Re-energizing your brainstorming sessions http://www.elwinwitzke.com/2009/06/re-energizing-your-brainstorming-sessions/ http://www.elwinwitzke.com/2009/06/re-energizing-your-brainstorming-sessions/#comments Mon, 22 Jun 2009 02:20:50 +0000 Elwin Witzke http://www.elwinwitzke.com/?p=753 What meeting?

What meeting?

Wonder why your brainstorming sessions are a bust? Mitch Ditkoff (Ideachampions) gives us some of the most common reasons:

  1. Poor facilitation
  2. Wrong (or poorly articulated) topic
  3. Unmotivated participants
  4. Insufficient diversity of participants
  5. Inadequate orientation
  6. No transition from “business as usual”
  7. Lack of clear ground rules
  8. Sterile meeting space
  9. Hidden (or competing) agendas
  10. Lack of robust participation
  11. Insufficient listening
  12. Habitual idea killing behavior
  13. Attachment to old (“pet”) ideas
  14. Discomfort with ambiguity
  15. Hyper-seriousness (not enough fun)
  16. Endless interruptions
  17. PDA addiction (Crackberries)
  18. Impatience (premature adoption of the first “right idea”)
  19. Group think
  20. Hierarchy and/or competing sub-groups
  21. Imbalance of divergent and convergent thinking
  22. No tools and techniques to spark the imagination
  23. Inelegant ways of capturing new ideas
  24. No time for personal reflection
  25. Pre-mature evaluation
  26. No follow-up plan

Now that you’ve finished nodding your head 26 times, check out some of the excellent advice to make your next brainstorming session a success. 26 Reasons Why Most Brainstorming Session Fail (and what to do about it)

]]> http://www.elwinwitzke.com/2009/06/re-energizing-your-brainstorming-sessions/feed/ 0 Life is not so linear http://www.elwinwitzke.com/2008/12/life-is-not-so-linear/ http://www.elwinwitzke.com/2008/12/life-is-not-so-linear/#comments Sat, 27 Dec 2008 04:10:22 +0000 Elwin Witzke http://www.elwinwitzke.com/?p=276 We often thing that life is a journey that we start at A and finish at C with very few decisions or opportunities for change along the way. In reality there are many decisions we can make. We have a tremendous amount of information available to us that provides opportunity to make a change.

Check out this 2-part video blog “Life is not so linear” from Beachwalks.tv.

Part 1

Part 2

Beachwalks with Rox is a great video blog that provides some insightful reflection and personal development. Lots of great episodes on the site.

]]> http://www.elwinwitzke.com/2008/12/life-is-not-so-linear/feed/ 0 Distribution of Income http://www.elwinwitzke.com/2006/12/distribution-of-income/ http://www.elwinwitzke.com/2006/12/distribution-of-income/#comments Fri, 15 Dec 2006 06:48:12 +0000 admin http://witzke.wordpress.com/2006/12/14/distribution-of-income/ We have all heard it before – North American’s and European’s are the wealthiest in the world. Just how wealthy are you in comparison to 6+ billion people on this earth? The Global Rich List shows you just how skewed the distribution of income has become. Enter your income and you’ll see how you rate. Try $50,000, $20,000, $8,000. This is a real eye opener. It should make us realize that we in North America live in untold abundance.

]]> http://www.elwinwitzke.com/2006/12/distribution-of-income/feed/ 0 Nata Village http://www.elwinwitzke.com/2006/10/nata-village/ http://www.elwinwitzke.com/2006/10/nata-village/#comments Sun, 29 Oct 2006 06:31:43 +0000 admin http://witzke.wordpress.com/2006/10/28/nata-village/ It has been over six months since I first heard about Nata Village. A vlog by world traveller and producer Jon Rawlison on Rocketboom first gave me notice about this village in Botswana that is struggling with AIDS. Jon setup a blog that allowed the AIDS education and prevention efforts in this small village to reach the global community. The Internet can be used for good and bad. This is one of many examples of good.

The blog has regular updates and photos from the village. Donations for the work in Nata can also be made on the site.

]]> http://www.elwinwitzke.com/2006/10/nata-village/feed/ 0 Blogging can spread the good news http://www.elwinwitzke.com/2006/10/blogging-can-spread-the-good-news/ http://www.elwinwitzke.com/2006/10/blogging-can-spread-the-good-news/#comments Sun, 29 Oct 2006 05:42:19 +0000 admin http://witzke.wordpress.com/2006/10/28/blogging-can-spread-the-good-news/ The ability of anyone to blog opens up new possiblities of sharing the Good News. Everyone knows somebody and they can be the sphere of influence in their lives.

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