David Lee King | David Lee King

If You’re not Playing, You’re not Learning

September 1, 2016 By David Lee King

I recently bought a new camera (a Canon Powershot G7 X Mark II), and have been learning how to use it. So of course, I made a time-lapse video of myself doing yard work.

Yes, I’m that person.

How do you learn something new? Hopefully, you … actually DO the thing. Did you buy a new camera? Put down the manual and play. Buy a new software program? Put the Dummy’s Guide down, and play.

And by “playing,” I really mean learning. Just so we’re clear.

I know – it doesn’t work for everyone, and sometimes you have to read to figure something out (well – you can also watch a video to figure it out). But mostly, it’s often a good thing to just dive right in, mess up a time or two (or three, or four), and figure out the basics.

Then, when you’re ready, or when you need it – that’s the time to figure out the advanced stuff.

But most likely? You just need to play.

What is the Decentralized Web?

August 30, 2016 By David Lee King

The Syracuse iSchool passed this article along to me, and I think it’s pretty cool and useful.

They wanted to define the decentralized web. Here’s what they said: “To better understand this abstract idea and its potential implications, we posed these fundamental questions to the following 25 Web experts.”

The rest of the article includes 25 short definitions of the decentralized web. Included are:

Jason Griffey: “The term ‘Decentralized Web’ is being used to refer to a series of technologies that replace or augment current communication protocols, networks, and services and distribute them in a way that is robust against single-actor control or censorship.”
Jake Orlowitz: “A Decentralized Web belongs to all of us: Its power lies in our connections to each other. Its architecture encodes our values; its usage affirms our freedom to collaborate, share, and create.”

Read the article to see the rest of them. Good stuff!

Big Difference Between Your Social Media & Gary Vaynerchuk’s Social Media

August 25, 2016 By David Lee King

You know who Gary Vaynerchuk is, right? He’s the Wine Library TV guy. He’s an entrepreneur, has written books, and founded a media company.

He’s also pretty big into social media. He tends to jump on the newest social media trend, and turn it into a lesson on how to do social media right.

I’ve been thinking about his “social media experience” in the last year or so. Here’s what I see him do with a new trend: he’ll jump on it (Snapchat and Instagram Stories are big for him lately). Then he’ll announce he’s there on his other social media channels, a ton of people will immediately follow him … and he starts getting a lot of engagement on the new social media channel.

And, I’d guess, he gets business done there, too.

Nothing wrong with that! But he sometimes translates his unique experience into a “you should do this too” scenario. For example, in a Huffington Post article, he said: “And the one simple takeaway is this: if you’re running a business in 2016, you need to be thinking about Snapchat as a channel to grow your customer base. Period.”

I’ll disagree with that quote. I think his experience using Snapchat (or any other new social media tool) is a unique one that has more similarities to what a celebrity experiences than what a business or organization might experience.

What’s the difference? Gary has a large, loyal “tribe” that will readily follow him to the new social media channel. They love his content, they like watching what he does next, so they follow. Gary gets instant followers/feedback/engagement, and then thinks that “this new social media tool is HOT.” So he ends up sharing quotes like the one above.

OK – not completely fair, I know. I’ve never met Gary, but I’d guess he would add a “your mileage may vary” to that quote. For example, should Hospice be on Snapchat? Maybe not.

So – just a reminder. Definitely read what people like Gary think. Read what I think. But then do two other things:

Try out the new tool – get familiar with it on a personal level.
After you’re familiar with the new tool, see if it fits within your organization’s strategic plans or short-term goals.

Sometimes, yes – it is definitely what you need to be doing. And sometimes, it’s a great idea … but not where you need to focus at the moment.

And that’s ok!

Image by Adam Tinworth

4 Steps to a Better Meeting

August 23, 2016 By David Lee King

Meetings – I’ve heard more than one person say meetings are a huge waste of time. They hate them. They aren’t productive. A meeting gets in the way of their “real work.”

If that’s the case … you’re doing meetings wrong.

And that’s sad, because a productive meeting is pretty easy to do, and it can help move your organization forward.

And … to get the 4 steps, go read my article over at Emerald Group Publishing! Then come back, and fill in the blanks – tell me what I missed!

Image by Torsten Werner. OK – whose meeting actually look like this? That’d be pretty sweet 🙂