Looking for Yabbies
A short story – told in tweets:
I am researching what yabbies eat. Have bait, torch and sitting by the bottom dam waiting for night to fall.
From what I have read today, I am not so worried about any yabbies down here that haven’t died yet. 
There is at least one fish left in the dam. It’s making rings on the water. I hear little sucking noises in the mud. Yabbies?
The water is so shallow, the cat food bowl shows half of itself above the surface, when on its side. It’s secured.
Last night, in the rain, there was a chorus of happy singing voices down here. Tonight – it is silent. #yabbies
There is not a breath of wind, not the slightest breeze to stir the surface of the water. Crickets chirp and cicadas tap their frenetic song
Across the road, silly dogs bark and yelp – disturbing the stillness of a gently descending dusk, that rests featherlight around us.
My torch is to hand. A frog bleats a small call. The meat ants have stopped scavenging yesterday’s bait have gone, with part of my ankle
Lloyd, ever patient while I conduct my little expeditions, is lying on the top of the dam wall. He wants his dinner. But he is quiet.
It appears Lloyd has left. 
It’s almost too dark to see the water and where the bait is set out on the muddy bank. I don’t want to flash the torch too soon. Kookaburra.
And another. They won’t come to the dam while I am here. It starts! The yabbie singing.
The yabbie singing is starting
Damn kookaburras – will not be quiet for a minute.
I am trying to record the yabbies and the kookaburras will not stop.
It’s different to last night -only one singer and what a pair of lungs. I suspect it is a frog. But, be that as it may, it is so peaceful and quiet I am not of a mind to pull in the net.
There are tracks on the mud already where yabbies have been coming up to get their food : CARROTS. I chopped some fresh carrots up in the blender and yabbies love it.
So, home Lloyd and I go, by torchlight, and we leave all these critters in peace
Would You Like Fries With That, Anyway?
“Would You Like Fries With That” is an article written about a year ago and the phrase itself is almost generic now. The post made the point that something the “experts” and the “gurus” would disregard works so well it is almost unbelievable.
In particular, this phrase is rated as failing the key tests for emotive marketing and engagement. Or does it?
What makes for engagement in this electronic age? Are the old traditional phrases, words and styles being superseded by the immediacy of e-media? With faster communications, do we now respond to stimulus which doesn’t need the permanency of older styles of marketing messages?
Look at what happened in Australia, during the last Federal Election, through Twitter.
Quote: Anthillonline.com
BuzzElection released an announcement earlier this week revealing the second most influential tweeter (user of Twitter) in the Australian 2010 Federal Election is Lesley Dewar, beaten only by ABC News. ….. what is most interesting is that Lesley is not a political reporter nor does she have a career background in politics……She said: “I’m a grandmother who writes children’s stories…. I think it’s a hoot!”[i]
Twitter is good for very fast, very short messaging, and using #hashtags allows you to focus on topics by tweeters, responses and retweets. While it was a somewhat amazing result announced by BuzzElection, it was the medium itself which allowed for a sudden (and very temporary) measure of influence.
In addressing the question of blogging vs Facebook, Adam Turner writes effectively about the way the mediums have changed our interactions and responses. In his blog post (SMH) Facebook Generation Changes The Face of Blogging[ii] he notes as follows:
Social networking sites were still finding their feet when blogging rose to prominence. The ability for readers to leave comments made blogs seem like the perfect medium for interacting with people, but these days social networking sites such as Facebook are much better suited to social interaction.
This is a view with which I agree – being active in all four medium: Twitter, Facebook, Blogging and LinkedIn.
Twitter is great. It is very easy to post a link to a blog post and those who read the post will very often will also retweet the link. To get a RT from, say, @chrisbrogan or@mikehaydon really kicks you into the Twitter stratosphere. Using hashtags allows you to find mutual interests without necessarily following those other tweeters on a personal basis and still allows for interaction with them.
Facebook is fun, because you can upload your photos and videos directly onto your page, leave a quick “Like”, a friendly comment on the page of a friend or a fan and create deeper interactions. Links are easily posted to blogs and other articles, to be shared around. Business pages allow for much more open communication on Facebook – given the old “fan” page has morphed into the “business page” – and with good privacy controls, you can enjoy Facebook at a deeper level than Twitter.
Blogging is where the real work is done and the real rewards are found. It is the art of blogging which brings the greatest depth of interaction, even though most readers will NOT leave a comment – unless they are very moved indeed by your message or perhaps using the backlink options to help bring you and your readers to their own blogs, by their comment being linked to yours. If is not spam, I have no problems with that strategy.
If a “Like” on Facebook is designed to open doors by notifying others I have Liked or posted there, anyone who genuinely comments on a blog post in the spirit of its content is both welcome and entitled to the backlink. Every blog post needs to have a “share” option for at least Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other Social Media sites so with a simple click of the Share button, your readers can make the most effective comment of all – sharing your content with their friends through their own networks.
Making a buying decision is traumatic.
Leaving a comment on a blog post is a very strong buying decision. Not all your readers want to promote you – even though they like what you say. So, how do you “upsell” them. How do you offer them “fries with that” at a price they are happy to pay and enjoy the experience? When they share or comment on your blog link elsewhere, they have bought “fries with that”
The top one third of your website is the most valuable real estate you own, online.
It is where you need to display your Blog link, your Facebook page, your Twitter link – so, when they or their friends come to your site, they see your menu.
Are you flaunting your Menu for all to see, with a clear call to action?
Every visitor is a potential customer. How, and how often, do you ask them “Would you like fries with that?” You can get my fries (and more) at http://storiesmynanatells.com
About this blog:
If you share your blog posts on Social Media platforms, the comments on the link from your blog are just as valid as those left on the blog post itself. We are very happy for comments and shares to be done through our Facebook page or by RT on Twitter at @nanastories
If you find good links to share, please do it! If you like our stories, please share us with your family and friends. We would love to hear from you, too. We love comments and we love to share!
(c) Lesley Dewar 2012 to current
Do You Interview Your Networking Group Organizer?
Do You Interview Your Networking Group Organizer?
Having participated in networking activities for many years and written a book about developing Networking skills, I want to discuss what constitutes a valuable networking service for you.
By a networking service, I mean a commercially structured group designed to help its members to network with others to develop mutually beneficial sources of business.
Some have joining fees, and/or ongoing membership fees, restricted membership (usually based on occupation), and dictate a level of minimum participation, which may in fact be weekly. Events also attract attendance costs.
Others have no joining fee, structured levels of membership and some “free” activity participation, as well as paying for event attendance (usually when catering is involved)
Another model is open association, with no formal financial membership requirements, apart from paying for your own breakfasts or so, and the occasional glass of wine.
The driving force behind running a networking group can be true altruism – providing a genuine environment in which professional people can meet and talk and build their own business connections. The spin off for the organizer is a sense of loyalty to the organizer and their business, and respecting their right to deny direct competition in their own profession from participating in their group.
It may be a networking group that is focussed on a particular part of your business or personal development. Business coaching is a common theme for these networking groups.
Another is the commercial network model, where membership fees are the primary revenue for the organizer. A range of levels of Membership may be offered and Members are offered a variety of “back office” services including website listings.
The opportunity to provide the occasional contribution to a newsletter; being part of a directory where your professional skills are showcased; being part of an internal discussion group on LinkedIn or Facebook or a similar platform (usually with rules about what can and cannot be posted) and having the opportunity to be a guest speaker on occasion within the networking group are all factors which make networking attractive, regardless of the occupation or business of the participant.
Networking is a very personal event and activity. Finding the right structure to help you continue to build your own network takes time and effort, as well as money. Some models may suit you. Some may not. Some people like to mix and match different models to get a broad range of options to maximize their time and money, when they participate in networking. Finding the right group of fellow networkers is something which also needs careful consideration.
If you are only “networking” to try and advance your own business interests, your interaction with the groups you choose may be short and with little profitable results. If you are committed to helping others build their own businesses by helping them fill the gaps in their own walls of strength and growth, you will proper.
We would like to hear your comments of your networking experiences and hear suggestions on what would make your networking experiences more satisfactory.
About this blog:
If you share your blog posts on Social Media platforms, the comments on the link from your blog are just as valid as those left on the blog post itself. We are very happy for comments and shares to be done through our Facebook page or by RT on Twitter at @nanastories
Lesley Dewar shares her new eBook with you. Nothing to buy! It is a gift and you can share this link with your friends.Simply click on the book cover to get your own copy of ”Networking To A Plan”
Do You Play An Open, Generous Game When Networking?
For the past couple of months, I have had about eight games of Words With Friends (electronic Scrabble ®) on the go at any one time on my iPhone. Thinking about playing Words With Friends (WWF) has led me to thinking about networking, because networking needs strategic planning, as does this game. You need to network with people with whom you are comfortable; can trust and with whom you can work to each other’s mutual benefit.
When you request an “ad hoc” opponent with whom to play WWF, it will probably be a stranger and may well be someone quite experienced in the strategies of the game. As you play with different opponents, you begin to see individuals have their own ways of approaching the game of word building.
One strategy is to make lots of very small, very tight moves; words of only two or three letters at a time which make it [Read more...]
Is Social Media Helping Or Hindering Your Productivity?
The major complaint about “Social Media” is that it either wastes your time or it is not effective for business. Like all activities within your business, the use of Social Media needs to be structured and focussed. You would not spend thousands of dollars on advertising without carefully deciding on your target market; the actions you want them to take and the words you use to attract their attention. Using Social Media for business is exactly the same, but with much less cost.
We have a wide range of Social Media resources for business at our fingertips – and these are my favourites (although [Read more...]
Facebook Fireworks Fizzle Out!
There were a number of conversations being held on Facebook early in January 2011, about whether any fireworks events planned for Australia Day should be cancelled and the money donated to the various flood relief appeals. There is little conversation at all on Twitter or Facebook, in 2012, about the recurring flooding and some poor people on the east coast who have already endured five months of flooding with little respite in view.
Facebook pages were quickly set up to engage the discussion and the overwhelming view was that it was too late to cancel in 2011 and in the light of the flood tragedies on the East Coast and the terrible fires south of Perth, the fireworks shows should go ahead. Mostly for reasons of community support and social well being.
Conversations wandered off topic some times, there was lively
interaction and it is very clear that being able to [Read more...]
Snap! Your Business Card, Sir!
2011 – The Year Of The App
2011 was the year of the app (application) on smart media like iPhone, iPad, Android and others, of that we have no doubt. From some diligent market research and asking the right questions on Twitter, Paul O’Mahony in Cork, Ireland has come up with an excellent list of smart media apps and he certainly makes it clear why we need to be asking who is using what:
How many Apps are there in Apple’s App Store & Google’s Android Market? 500,000+ iPhone + iPad Apps; 300,000+ Android Apps. Many Apps overlap – but it’s impossible for anyone to sample more than a tiny % of the whole field.
There are several on Paul’s list that I definitely will be investigating for my own use. There is one App, however, that does not appear on the list and I have already begun to use it, with great pleasure at the results. It is called Card Munch
Card Munch is the first App I downloaded to my new iPhone 4 as part of my commitment to being more efficient in my business. Card Munch is owned by LinkedIn who bought the business in 2010, it interacts with LinkedIn, is FREE and is very easy to use.
Once you have downloaded the App from the App store, you simply bring a business card into focus and take a photo with your iPhone or iPad camera. When you are happy that the picture is in focus, you upload it via the internet to Card Munch. There, the text and number data from the photograph of the business card is transcribed by people – and if the person whose information is being transcribed is already a member of LinkedIn, their details will be linked to your record of the upload.
The amount of information that is then available on your contact list on your smart media is amazing. Subject to what has been completed on LinkedIn, in addition to the picture of the card you submitted, you can see all of the following:
- · Name,
- · Business Name,
- · Level of connection with you (1st, 2nd etc)
- · Address,
- · Phone,
- · Fax,
- · Email,
- · Website,
- · Mutual connections on LinkedIn,
- · Number of total connections on LinkedIn,
- · Summary of their business expertise as entered into their LinkedIn profile,
- · Specialities
- · Experience
- · Employment
- · Education
- · Recommendations
- · Blog address
- · Twitter address
If the person is not a member of LinkedIn yet, your contact record will provide only whatever is on their business card.
Which begs the question: What is on YOUR business card?
With the rapid movement of business away from traditional data bases being stored on your own PC or Server and instead being consigned to the “cloud” or created using third party apps like Card Munch, the future for the innovative business cards in strange shapes and sizes looks less promising than it did in the past. Cards that do not have the individual’s name printed on them may not have the information needed to create a personal contact in your mobile media, using the Card Munch data base.
There is likely to be a move back to the more traditional business card that is rich with contact details and in particular, easy to read. Instead of hiring an intern to sit and enter personal and business details into a data base, it takes no more than photographing the card and letting it return to you, fully interpreted.
When the Card Munch information is returned to your mobile media, you have plenty of options for networking further.
If you are not connected on LinkedIn, you can invite them to connect. Because you have their business card and their email address, you comply with one of LinkedIn’s key criteria – that you must have met the person individually. If they are not already a member of LinkedIn, your invitation will help LinkedIn to rapidly expand its member base through your invitations. Along with the option of adding the data for each person to your own contact list, you can email them from your Card Munch records, phone them or forward a copy of their business card to a friend. It is particularly attractive that you can make contact from the Card Munch application without adding all the details to your permanent records immediately. Scanned information can be deleted if necessary.
2011 may well have been the Year Of The App. 2012 will be the Year Of Networking – as more and more businesses integrate their social media activities with face to face meetings. Having access to such a plethora of good information at your fingertips through LinkedIn and Card Munch means it will be much more efficient and profitable to network and make arrangements for “coffee meetings” with those whose relationships you want to strengthen.
Using the networking strategies of Networking To A Plan will be easier than ever and make Face to Face networking more efficient and profitable.
You do not have to be a member of LinkedIn to download and use Card Munch. For those who are members of LinkedIn, keeping your contact data up to date will be a snap. Now is a great time to review your business card data and freshen it up for 2012 – with apps like Card Munch in mind.
About sharing this post:
Lesley Dewar is a well known blogger and workshop facilitator who writes regularly on Social Media, marketing and customer service in the category of Business Tips
Her free eBook can be downloaded directly at Networking To a Plan Sharing this article is permitted providing this footnote is not deleted – all rights reserved. (c) Lesley Dewar 2012
Special Offer For Our Overseas Fans!
We are celebrating and you get the presents!
We have a special offer for you!
We are celebrating our wonderful stories, our fabulous subscribers and shouting out to our Fans. We have a great offer for our Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter fans, right across the world!
Whether you are in the USA, the UK or Europe, Asia or Africa – Stories My Nana Tells wants to share and celebrate with you.
- My name is Lesley Dewar and I am a parent and a grandparent. I am the writer and publisher of Stories My Nana Tells and a business writer, blogger, retired financial planner and a networker.
- I am the author of the internationally popular and highly regarded book Networking To A Plan. We appreciate you visiting Stories My Nana Tells site and we have a special offer for you.
One year’s subscription to Stories My Nana Tells for only $AU119 (slashed from the usual $AU132)
Your own Parking Pal Magnet (usually $AU8 plus P&H)
Get a twelve month subscription – a new story for your children every two weeks and a Parking PalMagnet mailed to you when you subscribe – for the special limited offer of only $AU119 – a huge saving on the usual total price of $AU140)
Subscribe HERE NOW!
We DO needto confirm your permission to send your stories, before you register your personal Family Login and Password. We will send you a separate email to the address you used when you completed the subscription request. Please check your inbox and confirm your subscription. To help parents monitor internet safety, logging on to the subscriber section of the site requires both a membership number and a password.
If you want to subscribe later, that’s fine! Just click here to return to our page on Facebook Or, read on…….
Stories My Nana Tells are great for busy parents.
As the mother of three children myself, I know about trekking around the suburbs taking them to their different activities, especially on weekends. I have worked on P&C Committees and many Fundraising Events for schools and sporting groups. I raised my family as a single parent for twelve years and it is a joy to see them as adults. Not everything in life went smoothly along the way – it rarely does – but I love my life as a mother and parent.
These stories are a great connection between parent and child, as well as a fun learning experience. We guarantee children will love them. Your registration is a FAMILY account, which means you setup one account that your family can access, because you create your own password, linked to your email address.
This is perfect for parents who are away a lot, or whose work keeps them away from “family time” – you can login at the same time as your child and read the new story together over the telephone or by using Skype! You may be separated by distance and want the story to come “from you” as a way of generating and strengthening contact and your family relationship. It will help build a common link for telephone calls, visits and discussions.
If you are a busy executive or you travel a greal deal, it’s simple and easy to share the stories, from anywhere in the world, with a child you love. You can unsubscribe at any time or just suspend your subscription for a short period if needs be. Being a subscriber at Stories My Nana Tells is very flexible and family friendly.
Don’t miss this chance to introduce your children or grandchildren to a new learning experience with this very special offer.
Is it really special? YES! Because you will be a subscriber for as long as you want at this incredible low price of $AU119.00 for 26 stories each year.
Share your experience with us.
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We Can Help You With Your Kid’s Literacy
Stories My Nana Tells is a family friendly subscription service that delivers a high quality story for kids every two weeks – right into your email box – at home and on Fly In Fly Out (FIFO) work sites. Lesley Dewar writes stories for 7-12 yo children that help improve their literacy. Kids love her stories. With simple questions to test comprehension, parents love them, too.
Children aged 7 to 12 years old enjoy Lesley Dewar’s stories as entertainment while they are educational, too. Travel, family, pets, science and quirky ideas make Stories My Nana Tells a great read.
Each story is around 2,000 words, thoroughly researched and finished off with between 7 and 12 questions to encourage young readers to interact with the story. We have wonderful photographs and illustrations to make them even more interesting – and we guarantee they will spark the curiosity of your children and grandchildren in nature, the environment and the world around them. If there is a reliable online source, Lesley includes direct links to other information on the internet.
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This special Stories My Nana Tells offer is a wonderful gift for a child or grandchild.
Dinosaur Parking Pal Magnet - one of five designs we are giving away
PLUS you will receive one of these fabulous Parking Pal Magnets. Designed to be placed on the side of your car, it will help keep the kids in place while you load up the shopping or buckle up the baby.
Children love to “Hi Five” their magnet and stay close and safe.
Together, Stories My Nana Tells and Parking Pal Magnets make a great combined gift that will last all year and more!
Keep your children safe in the parking lot! Keep your children entertained, educated and inspired with Stories My Nana Tells.
Subscribe today! Yes! I want to get the Holiday Season special $AU119.00 offer and the Parking Pal Magnet too.