TEDx Youth Brisbane 2011

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Are you an inspiring and passionate young individual based in Brisbane? The you’ll be pleased to know that TEDx Youth Brisbane is back again for 2011 and just around the corner!

Damon, this sounds great but what is TED? 

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Starting as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. The annual TED Conference invites the world’s leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes. Their talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Jamie Oliver, Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

The TED brand has gone global over the past few years and is a constant source of inspiration for change makers around the world. I’ve spent many an hour devouring TED videos online and discussing my favourite talks over a few cold beverages with friends.

TED has also started a sort of movement of what people who dub themselves ‘tedsters’. These idea hungry elite have generated quite the buzz around town.

So when is TEDx Youth Day?

TEDxYouth@Brissie, where x=independently organised TED event, will take place on Sunday the 20th of November at the The Edge which is apart of the State Library of Queensland and will combine some of our favourite TEDTalks videos from conferences around the world and live speakers to spark deep discussion and connection among Brisbane’s youth aged 16-25.

What are you waiting for?

Registrations are open now!

Look forward to seeing you there!

The afternoon the @Holstee manifesto found me.

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There’s two kind of people in the world. Those who scribble down quotes and then those who don’t. No wait. There’s three kind of people in the world. There’s those who scribble down quotes, those who don’t and those who try to determine how many kinds of people there are in the world.

I am one of those people who scribbles down quotes. I’ve being turning my diaries and leather bound notepads into a collection of quotes and snippets of my random thoughts for quite a few years now. With the invention of the interweb and all things digital I find myself stumbling upon hundreds of great anecdotes and life sayings. But most of these are tucked away in a word doc that I save on a USB that I misplace in a location that I can’t remember.

But I remember this afternoon vividly. It was a Thursday around 3pm, I was going about my day trying to wrap up a task that I’d be working on. My brain was sort of aching for a break. It needed some juice, so I took the equivalent of the modern day smoke break and decided to check in on my social networks. I was completely unaware of the impact that this 10 minute juice break was going to have.

I was scrolling down into the deep depths of Facebook with nothing really taking my eye. Picture after picture and update after update. I was going to give up and just get back to work but then I saw it. A picture that was talking to me before I’d even read it. It was begging to be read with its clear design made up only of black and white and an intriguing font that was begging to see the light. Each and every word resonated with me. At first I was disappointed that I didn’t write it myself but then I smiled as I realised that we are not as different as we all like to think we are. There are others who aspire to live life like this. You can spot them when your travelling and tell who they are a restaurant. They are the ones with their eyes wide open and their palate experiencing a plethora of new tastes whilst they wash it down with a smile as they share this experience with a mate.

The guys at Holstee have now turned my beloved manifesto into a video. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have!

#SOSU11

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The Australasian Sourcing Summit kicks off today in Sydney. I’m looking forward to hearing from some global thought leaders in this space and to learn more about talent communities and integrating social media into your efforts.

I’m live blogging the two days and you can read all about it here - http://sosu11.posterous.com/

Don’t forget you can follow all the tweets here!

Soften The Fck Up

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This blog post is a little different compared to my usual ones. But it marks an exciting new journey in my life and I’m really looking forward to sharing it all with you. At the start of 2010 I made a pledge to get involved in projects and movements that were outside of my usual circles. I’ve found great success career wise through social networking and seen first hand the immense power of technology in bringing passionate people together through crowd sourcing. But I felt it was time to put my energy towards projects that would generate real social change. 

Soften The Fck Up is the first campaign run by Spur Projects. It’s an amazing campaign for several reasons. The quote that we were given to build the website, videos and graphic design was around $300,000. Instead we reached out to our social networks and crowd sourced a team of 40 passionate young men who worked virtually using google docs to generate all the content, build the website, design the logos and spread the word. 

As of July this year I’ve taken up a role as Director of Operations with Spur Projects as we look to promote the site and gather the great stories from the community and experience real social change.The site launched in July and I urge you to go have a look! So what is it all about?

Down your beers then out-drink and out-fight us all? Sleep in the gutter and play footy in the morning? Yeah. Nice one.

When your mate Matt told you he’s feeling crap, you told him to “harden the fuck up”, or “suck it up, pussy”.

Or you probably didn’t know when your mates actually needed a chat or are feeling crap ‘cos you didn’t ask. I’m not talking about the chat you had at the game last Saturday, or at the pool table at that bar last summer.

Did you know that suicide is the leading cause of death amongst young folks and most of them are men!

Say it out loud. Go tell a friend. Let me guess… it shocked them didn’t it?

We’re standing up to be counted. We’re saying it’s time we chuck out that tough Aussie bloke stereotype and bring back the laid-back Aussies. Speak up if you’re not feeling right. Soften the fck up like a real man would.

 

Look after your mates if something seems a bit off. Ask them if they’re okay. If they’re really okay. Your gut will usually be right, even if your mate doesn’t wanna talk about it. Grab a beer and have a chat.

Tell all your mates. Get on Facebook and Twitter. Share your thoughts or experiences. So go on, be tough and go soft.

It is time to admit something is wrong or isn’t right and take action.

Shift Happens! The HRockstar Career Change Part One

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I’m about to enter my first career transition. I’ve been thinking for quite a while now about the fact that linear career paths don’t exist anymore. Changing technology, changing industries & changing business demands mean that new jobs are created all the time.Thanks to all these changes I now find myself heading down a new and exciting career path.

Come August 2011 The HRockstar is moving away from generalist HR and more towards Recruiting, Employer Branding and Social media campaigns. I’m combining my love of marketing and talent management with technology. I’m also taking on a mix of contract work as well as consulting roles.

In reflecting upon my journey thus far I thought I’d capture some thoughts about my career transition and identify the experiences which have helped shape me.

Who Am I?

  1. My first experience with Talent was as the work experience kid with a team of sports agents at a Talent Management agency.
  2. I’m often found tweeting late at night and early in the morning to stay connected to friends in both the UK and the USA.
  3. I attended my first networking event with hair that went past my shoulders
  4. I consult to young professionals and students about personal branding & differentiating yourself in the job market
  5. I blogged anonymously for years about poetry, music, the arts and literature
  6. I left my first networking event in an ambulance
  7. I’m the AHRI Convenor for the Queensland Young HR Professionals Group
  8. I spoke at the Tru London HR and Recruiting UnConference in February 2011
  9. I landed my first professional job at this infamous first networking event
  10. I started blogging professionally at the end of 2009

All of those events and experiences have shaped who I am as a person. As I head down a new path I’ll remember where I have come from and who has helped me along the way as I look forward to tomorrow with both excitement and anticipation!

Things I like

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So I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately. Thinking about life. Thinking about careers. Thinking about crossroads (not the Britney Spears movie). Thinking about opportunities. Thinking about thinking. So I’ve put together a little list in no order whatsoever about things I like. Self reflecting every once in a while is a really powerful tool to take stock on what’s driving your decisions and interests.

Things I like.

Travel. Authentic Food. Football. Human potential. Technology. Storytelling. Love.

Things I like to listen to.

Guitars. TED Talks. Drums. Pianos. Conversations That Challenge You. Aha Moments.

Things I like to do.

Pushing boundaries. Providing Hope. Giving to Others. Generate Ideas. Design with Simplicity. Cook.

Things I like to think about.

How we work. Why we work. Who we work for. What we work for. How we choose our work. How our work chooses us. How we learn. How we market.