A New Direction and Passion: Fastlane Philosophy

I’m back and rejuvenated after a hiatus of over a year.  Peace on earth and good will and prosperity to all for the 2011-2012 holiday season all over the world.

The past week I have been reading, pondering and acting upon MJ DeMarco’s advice in The Millionaire Fastlane.

My inspiration for today and “guidepost” for life: make time your friend and choose wisely how you “invest” your time to:

• Sharpen your skills
• Build your business
• Nurture your entrepreneurial spirit
• Widen your circle of “family”
• Enhance your health
• Achieve the freedom you deserve!

FCVW Conference 2010: Quotable Quotes

I attended the Federal Consortium for Virtual Worlds (FCVW) Conference 2010 held at the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington DC on May 13-14, 2010.

This was an amazing event: mind-opening, insightful and energizing.  It was a privilege to interact with an eclectic group of virtual world experts, innovators and collaborators from US government agencies and companies from all over the Unites States and beyond.

I thought it would be worthwhile to pen some quotable quotes (to the best of my memory and with some “wordsmith” license) from a number of conference presenters:

Dr. Ted Castranova

“The main problems that vex society today are primarily social involving networks of people.”

“Natural problems like finding oil under the ocean can be easily solved.”

Ann Latham Cudworth

“Interactivity equals data selection.”

“Listen to and be one with the spirit of the data.”

“An artistic approach helps you engage with the data.”

Clark Aldrich

“Use simulation to tap the emotions of presence in virtual worlds.”

“Effective simulations need contextual activity that mimics the workplace.”

Dr. Tony O’Driscoll

“Knowledge management is an oxymoron.  Knowledge can only be enabled.”

“Content is king.  Context is the kingdom.”

Every Day by Alissa Moreno: Second Life Video by Pooky Media

I just located this fabulous example of Second Life machinima produced by Pooky Media.

Pooky has once again excelled in producing a music video in Second Life starring Alissa Moreno performing her Grammy nominated song Every Day.  Apparently this is the first machinima music video by a Grammy nominted artist performing as herself in a virtual world.

Way to go Pooky!  Your talents and insights never cease to amaze!

HR-IT Imperative: Complimentary Webinar

HR-IT Imperative: What Every HR Professional Needs to Know About Using IT to Deliver HR Success

When: Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Time: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EDT

Registration: Website

Many organizations today are trying to make more effective use of Information Technology (IT) in order to deliver on their mission, reduce costs, improve quality, and save time.  Internal HR systems all have the potential to provide major leaps forward.  Unfortunately, many organizations spend countless hours and dollars building IT systems, yet they never achieve the expected results once the systems are live.  The problem is often not the technology itself, but rather the way the technology is used.  Most organizations ignore the critical element of user adoption and they often do not take the critical steps necessary to ensure their systems are used in a manner that delivers maximum benefits.

KEY BENEFITS
• Learn to differentiate between deploying technology vs. using technology to create value and deliver success.
• Develop a context for differentiating technology, process, and “people” issues using a framework for how you can take action to ensure IT success
• Identify the critical role HR professionals must play in driving effective user adoption in order to achieve their goals and deliver on their mission
• Share the 2 key questions for driving full user adoption of your IT system

WHO SHOULD ATTEND
• HR leadership & executives
• HR professionals implementing IT systems within their department
• HR professionals assisting other departments in major IT system implementations (like CRM, ERP, or other enterprise-wide technology)
• Professionals involved in the planning, managing and execution of IT implementation projects

FEATURED PRESENTERS
Jason C. Whitehead, President of Tri Tuns, LLC, specializes in driving organizational change and increasing user adoption of IT systems.  Check out Jason’s blog.

And your truly, The Aussie Guy (Philip J. Power, Chief Strategist of Knowledge-Boost LLC).  Check out my VisualCV and my LinkedIn Profile.

Second Life US Holocaust Museum: Amazing and Impactful!

I regularly attend meetings in Second Life (SL) that are sponsored by the Gronstedt Group.

On Thursday, March 4, I joined a group of approximately 30 folks from around the world on a guided tour of an amazing US Holocaust Museum experience in SL that commemorates the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht which means “Night of Crystal,” and is often referred to as the “Night of Broken Glass.”  The name refers to the wave of violent anti-Jewish pogroms which took place on November 9 and 10, 1938 throughout Germany, annexed Austria, and in areas of the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia recently occupied by German troops.  Read more about Kristallnacht in the Holocaust Encyclopedia.

The SL tour was organized by David Klevan, Education Manager for Technology and Distance Learning Initiatives, Division of Outreach Technology at the Holocaust Museum.  David’s SL avatar is Eubie Doobie.

This was one of the best (and most enlightening) kinesthetic experiences I have witnessed in SL!  As visitors, we experienced history as journalists investigating what happened on the “Night of Broken Glass”, listening to testimony from Holocaust survivors and examining artifacts in a ransacked section of a city.  This approach gives visitors a reason to gather information, listen, and question what they are seeing, hearing and experiencing.  The blend of effects makes the tour truly visually enlightening and viscerally impactful.  In fact, this transformative SL experience has become so powerful for some visitors that they needed to leave as they were totally overcome by a range of emotions.

David mentioned other points about this SL experience that are worthy of reflection:
1. Every visitor has a very personal journey that needs to be undertaken at their own pace and cannot be rushed.
2. Discovery-based learning that is enhanced by eye-witness testimony, sounds and visual clues allows for a series of choices regarding what to see and when.
3. There is absolutely no substitute for learning from eye witnesses whose story must be told.  The story drives the visitors’ journey while the artifacts and scenes are not the main focus.
4. The journey starts in black and white and ends in color to emphasize the journalistic investigative approach of moving from the unknown to learning about and remembering the actual people whose lives were indelibly altered by the historical event.

This SL tour definitely needs to be taken!  The US Holocaust Museum is located in SL at this map location.

Enterprise Learning in 3D: Karl Kapp and Tony O’Driscoll

In two earlier posts I provided some brief background on 3D immersive learning leaders Karl Kapp and Tony O’Driscoll.  Today I wanted to briefly highlight a webinar presentation they recently gave to promote their new book titled “Learning in 3D“.  The presentation can be downloaded at Slidehare.

In my opinion, there are two highly impactful concepts and insights in the presentation:

1. “Webvolution” and the transition from:

• Web 1.0 (Connecting “To”) for accessing and finding information, people, knowledge nuggets, etc. in a 2D world, to
• Web 2.0 (Connecting “Through”) for sharing, participating and collaborating in the networked, mobile and 24×7 2D world, to
• 3Di [3 dimension immersive] (Connecting “Within”) for collaborating on and co-creating content, knowledge, models, simulations, objects, etc. in an immersive 3D learning environment

2. VIE (Virtual Immersive Environment) “Sensibilities”:

• The Sense of Self (unique identification and connection with an avatar who may or may not closely resemble the owner’s human form)
• The Death of Distance (geographically dispersed individuals and teams can “physically” meet in the one place at the one time in the Second Life time continuum)
• The Power of Presence (“being there” as an avatar with others at a meeting, conference, brainstorming session, etc. and actively contributing through voice and/or text chat)
• The Sense of Space (3D space orientation and movement with the capability to transcend the mortal world – the ability to fly and teleport from one location [SLURL] to another at various altitides, etc.)
• The Capability to Co-Create (the ability to singularly and jointly create “rez” objects and shape them into a vast array of items that can contain scripts for movement, sounds, etc.)
• The Pervasiveness of Practice (the ability to set-up, run, evaluate and re-run a large variety of scenarios exercises to practice interactions with individuals, groups, machinery/objects, etc.)
• The Enrichment of Experience (taking a trip to explore a beach, mountain hide-away, the North Pole, an oil rig off the Gulf Coast, or hanging-out wherever you wish to be for leisure or business, etc.)

The old adage “The Sky is the Limit” does not hold true in the 3D immersive world where the only limit is our imagination and our willingness to create new paradigms for learning and business.  Take a look at the complete slide deck.  I guarantee you will be amazed and enthralled to the possibilities and the potential.

3D Immersive Thought Leader: Dr. Karl Kapp

Two weeks ago I attended a WOW presentation on “Innovations in Technology and the Impact on Organizational Learning” by Dr. Karl Kapp that was organized by Learning Tree International and their Learning Leader’s Forum.  Karl is a professor and consultant at Bloomsburg University in Scranton, Pennsylvania and describes himself as “wearing many hats…consultant, speaker, writer, scholar and expert in the convergence of learning, technology and business operations.”  His blog, titled Kapp’s Notes is a rich collection of resources, musings, reflections, insights and promotions for his books.

Karl is the consummate story-teller who immediately grabbed and held the audience’s attention through a journey of reflections that ranged from World of Warcraft to the iPhone to cereal boxes to augmented reality to 3D simulations in Second Life.  This whirlwind tour countained some real “gems” for reflecting on learning from multiple, divergent perspectives:

• Pattern recognition is a critical skill for surviving in today’s always-on technology-enabled world
• Learning is a process that must be delivered over time – repetition is the key
• Twitter can be leveraged to delivery learning “courses” in “bite-sized chunks”
• Cognitive dissonance is not bad but necessary for learning new concepts and ideas
• “Trainers” are most effective when they operate as learning catalysts
• The future of learning is “and”.  For example, blending mobile devices and classes as part of the learning “surround”
• The impact on performance and cost benefit is far more critical than ROI when considering the use of 3D immersive environments for learning

3D Immersive Thought Leader: Dr. Tony O’Driscoll

As I reaearch the ever-expanding world of 3D immersive learning, I have read blogs and articles written by a number of thoughts leaders.  To highlight the contributions of these innovators, I thought that I’d start a series of posts entitled: “3D Immersive Thought Leader”.

Today I wish to briefly highlight Dr. Tony O’Driscoll whose blog is titled “Learning Matters“.  I first learned about Tony and met him at the 3D Training and Learning Conference (3DTLC 1.0) that was held in Washington DC on April 20-21, 2009.  Tony was the Conference Chair and is currently the Professor of the Practice at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

Tony’s research has been published in leading academic journals such as Management Information Sciences Quarterly, the Journal of Management Information Systems, and the Journal of Product Innovation Management.  He has also written for respected professional journals such as Harvard Business Review, Strategy and Business, Supply Chain Management Review and Chief Learning Officer Magazine.

Tony has developed in-depth knowledge and extensive experience in leveraging technology to create sustained organizational growth and profitability.   He recently coauthored a book with Karl Kapp titled: “Learning in 3D” that has it’s own Facebook page and will be available for sale on Amazon once it is released in February, 2010.

To quote from the inside flap: “Learning in 3D empowers forward-thinking executives, managers, faculty members, and training professionals to design, develop, and collaborate in the rapidly emerging field of 3D immersive environments.
The authors, through case studies, conceptual models, and input from dozens of industry experts, provide practical, research-based recommendations and techniques for integrating existing training, business, and computer systems into productive 3D virtual work environments. ”

Judging from the Table of Contents and Tony’s standing in the 3D immersive community, I’m sure the book will provide valuable hands-on insights and suggestions into leveraging 3D immersive environments for a variety of settings.

Negotiations Skills via Second Life 3D Immersion Experience

Yesterday I attended an energizing, entertaining and powerful session in Second Life that was facilitated by Mark Jankowski, one of the Leaders at Shiparo Negotiations Institute (SNI), a company that specializes in training and consulting on Negotiation, Influencing, Sales Optimization and  Conflict Resolution.

Mark, an attorney by trade, has leveraged his real-world expertise in conducting a range of high-level legal negotiations for SNI clients into an array of real and virtual world corporate training programs.  As part of his desire to “give back” to his community, Mark (whose avatar is Marc Wizenheim) presents four insightful and impactful training sessions (all at no cost) in Second Life that are developed by Virtual Training Partners (a division of SNI).

A case study about Mark’s work in Second Life can be read on the 3D Training and Learning Collaboration site.

The session I attended focused on Preparing for Negotiations where Mark covered four key steps: Precedents, Alternatives, Interests, and Deadlines.  Right from the start, Mark’s relaxed and engaging style created a supportive environment for learning where participants were encouraged to share their opinions.  His impactful stories about customer experiences served as a springboard for discussions and the exploration of an IT procurement Case Study (purchasing new computer monitors) that was leveraged for each of the four steps.   This was not a “death by PowerPoint” slides in Second Life!  Rather, Mark’s development team has created four highly immersive and visually appealing scenes that enhance the story and allow participants to think outside the proverbial “box” when choosing a course of action.

The background contextual material for each scene is just three presentation slide projectors that Mark rezzes on demand.  Mark’s avatar changes clothing into appropriate attire to compliment each scene and before he tells an appropriate story.  For example, when discussing Precedents, Mark’s avatar was dressed as a baseball player and we stood in a skybox at Baltimore Orioles baseball field while Mark told a story about Carl Ripken.  The learning begins through reading the scenario slide (on the fist slide) then considering one of four possible options (on the second slide) which are courses of action that can be taken.  Mark then reviews a definition slide (the third) which also serves as a summary for each learning “nugget”.  Participants are asked to move and stand on one large floor panel marked with the four capital letters representing the options.  Selected participants are subsequently asked why they chose each option and Mark facilitates the discussion with background ideas of why/why not each option could be the best choice, depending on interpretation and the perspective from both the buyer’s and supplier’s viewpoints.

I’ve attended numerous events in Second Life and rate Mark’s session as one of the best I’ve experienced.  Not only did I learn valuable points about Preparing for Negotiations but I also had fun in an environment that supported and encouraged my contributions.  Great job Mark!  I’ll definitely be back for other sessions and will recommend your Second Life experiences to all my in-world friends and colleagues.

Energizing Workshop: A Brief Synopsis

On Friday, November 20, I attended the ASTD DC Chapter Special Interest Group monthly meeting where Suzanne Kryder, PhD presented “Marketing Misgivings: Overcome Your Fear, and get into Action to Grow your Business”.  Suzanne explained that our brains are naturally negative but we can train our brains to become neurtal so that we will respond with “calm, confident power”.  Through a series of practical exercises, Suzanne stepped us through a process for identifying marketing blocks in the four realms of experience that prevent us from achieving what we want and deserve for our business and life.  The four realms include: Physical (body sensations), Mental (thoughts), Emotional (feelings) and Behavioral (action).  We also practiced using a “Judge-Your-Neighbor Mini-Worksheet” developed by Byron Katie in order to question concerns and prejudices about someone else and to turnaround the thought.

According to Suyzanne, “we can train our brains to change the process, release the negative, and allow neutral”.  I was somewhat skeptical initially but after completing the exercises and sharing with other attendees, I could definitely see how easily we can become paralyzed and embrioled in blockages that do not serve any purpose.  Negative thoughts are not real, they are just the “smoke screens” that cause us to waste time and “spin our wheels”.  The good news is that we can easily learn valuable techniques to change the process to ensure the outcomes are “calm, confiednet power”.  Upon reflection, I was reminded of transformational “out of the box” thinking where action is spurred by focusing on what can be done or what actions can be taken to change/improve a situation.  My experiences in 3D immersive environments has certainly been transformational and now that I have learned to identify blocks using Suzanne’s techniques, I can be more effective in helping others to understand the value and benefits of technology-enabled learning soultions