I’ve finally broken through my seemingly impassable writer’s block! And ladies first, with a huge thank you to the fine women who came to Origin. And to the fine staff & the divine David of Origin for letting us loose in your space and being brave enough to run an honesty system on settling our bills.
To brilliant friend & story-engineer Nikki Friedman [Big.Words.Scare.Me] who inspired fascinating conversation about whether we were leopards or tricksy ground squirrels, and why debate on why authenticity is fundamental to successful personal branding. AND for bringing us the sparkling golden MCC from Moreson. Champagne, cupcakes & coffee have a natural affiliation with merriment it seems!
Storytelling is one of the unexpected skills that will stand us all in good stead for the turbulent times to come. It’s one of the cornerstones to being able to discern ourselves from the noise in the attention economy. A skill that can offer tangible rewards for business, whatever your industry; but invaluable if you’re a leader. If you have a moment for a video I heartily recommend Isabelle Allende’s magical session at TED via my commentary on the Women in Leadership page.
Thank you to Cerebella Sarah Blake (check out her great piccies here if you’re curious about how Tim looked in a dress!) for getting the Quirkstars like Katharina and Lyndie there and all those yummy chocolate cupcakes. AND in an evening of but wait.. there’s more >> 5 of the hot-off-the-press excellent eMarketing textbooks (Creative Commons licensed & available for FREE download here BTW) as surprise gifts.
We were honoured to have the Femtrepreneurs from the States represented. My fiercely smart intern Jane Mull & Tascha Terblanche who I lectured to the next morning. There were a host of wonderful women who I hadn’t seen in ages, like the lovely Hajra Bibi (friend of starblogger Tertia, who I miss madly, having started this crazy meme with me), wild&wonderful redhead Tania Odendaal, web-copy queen Kerry-Anne Gilowey, MangoPR beauties Cath Luckhoff, Nicole Capper & Bev Merriman, Springleap’s gorgeous Josie, PopSustainability visionary Kim Heismann, fellow Neophyte Martene Rosenbaum .. and more, like new friends like illustrator.thinker Zara Alyssa who I met at the Flying Solo unconference (brain.child of 2 of the awesome women who were there - Jo Duxbury and Pam Sykes) who wrote a great post on the eve’s adventures.
Thank you all it was good fun, and some healthy debate around what it means to be authentic, where to even begin marketing yourself online and some good connections made. I’ll make sure we increase the frequency of our frivolities and cerebrations for the next Cerebella gatherings into the summer.
PS. If you want to join in: just pop on a comment here or mail me here and I’ll pop you on the invitation list (our events are free and co.created - come, share back what you’ve learnt out in the world, maybe contribute/sponsor something that you think will surprise/delight/add value or share the linklove online. happiness)
