MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courses) from organisations like Coursera are making available the finest University courses in the world for free to anyone who signs up.
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I've been rejected many times in my life and I still feel I am a valuable person. I know many other people who have been said "no" to by serious and important institutions and companies at different stages in their life. Many of them have done great things and are wonderful people.
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I came across LEMARQUE CAMPBELL when I saw his TEDxtalk at TEDxGrandBahama. As someone who is interested both in the TED Prize Global Witness campaign and transparency in different contexts, I thought it would be interesting to find out more about him, and requested an interview.
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A contribution to Global Entrepreneurship Week for YPO members, and other company considering hosting a visit of school children and wondering how to make the most out of it
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Esmeralda Gonzalez wrote an article in the Krakow Post about how volunteering in Krakow changed her life for the better. Many years ago I went on a SCI/IVS workcamp in communist Czechoslovakia. I have always thought that being active, contributing, working, doing something useful is often more fun and rewarding than relaxing, chilling out and doing nothing which is so often promoted as a route to happiness. So her headline really appealed to me. I approached her asking for an interview because I wanted to draw attention to the benefits of volunteering in general also find out more about her story and situation here in Krakow.
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I talked to two schools in Krakow today about them getting involved in Global Entrepreneurship Week this year. Both seem positive, and while preparing materials about the project and movement, I came across this article I wrote in 2008 for the Winchester College Alumni Magazine (they never published it but that's another story). Winchester College is one of the oldest and most famous schools in the UK I attended many years ago, and has a reputation for being elite and elitist (a topic I'm happy to discuss with anyone who is interested).
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This post is a translated Interview with Yan- a professional journalist and editor, amateur fashion blogger in China.
With Marlena and Krzysztof Achinger we have launched a blog about European fashion for Chinese speakers. Our main blog is here
There is a lively and sometimes angry debate going on in Krakow about how far the city government has been and wants to help us. I've written quite long posts about this on some Facebook pages. and thought I'd share them here
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I am invited from time to time to attend/speak at/be a mentor or sponsor events. I sometimes agree if I support the goals of the organisation and the audience is one I can offer something of value to. I aim to be useful and contribute.
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I've never been associated with such a project in such an important location. I want to pay tribute to many of the people who made this possible, and share a few lessons learned. I've said on many previous occasions how much this project is the result of other people's work. As the person responsible for gathering examples of good practice and distributing it far and wide I am often seen as carrying the work load on my shoulders - but it isn't true. I am sure there are people who helped who either I don’t know about or who I've forgotten. As people who know me realise, I have mild prosopagnosia (face blindness) meaning that I may have forgotten people who I’ve met. Apologies in advance. I can edit this article if there are omissions.
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Kinga Skorupska is part of the TED and TEDx Community - and through the OTP is one of those people who make TED talks available to those would would struggle with English. It's a pleasure to share info about what she is up to with a wider audience
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This is the next interview in a series where I talk to people who are making contributions to the community life in Poland and elsewhere. Ewa is the Curator of TEDxKrakow, and is active in other community, social and business initiatives. She has lived in Krakow for many years, and I appreciate that she took the time and trouble to answer my questions.
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I heard about Julka's business ventures from her father Grzegorz.. As someone who has been promoting entrepreneurship projects in Schools in Poland for more than 20 years. (see end of article for examples, links), I was impressed and requested an interview
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As a way of recognising people who are making contributions to the TEDx community, I'm taking the time to interview people who have taken action, or had a role, big or small. Mateusz Nowak was nominated by Ralph Talmont TEDxWarsaw Curator. Despite his busy workload, Mateusz took the time and trouble to answer my questions.
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Marcin is a familar face in the Krakow Start Up Community, and we are both shareholders in Notatek.pl. This blog post also appeared on the Open Coffee Krakow blog
I decided to draw attention to contributors to and participants in Open Coffee Krakow ockrk.co/faq in a series of interviews. Marcin is first so thanks to him for that:-)
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I'm writing to you to challenge your article here in which you make some claims I don't think you will be able to defend. I'm assuming The Economist's media directory is correct in identifying you as the author. I already posted the first comment beneath the article – am writing to you directly as well. As someone who has been both using and contributing to TED and TEDx in my professional and private life for a number of years I strongly object to your unsubstantiated claims in the final paragraph, which give an deeply unpleasant tone to an otherwise quite informative article. Specifically how do you justify:
"TED meetings have a revivalist feel, from the preacher’s promises of salvation to the happy-clappy congregation." I've been to many, and nothing remotely reminds me of the lunacy of Happy Clap religion. Indeed TED has a strong, public, (and enforced) stand against Bad Science and gave the platform to Ben Goldacre for example. Exactly how many TED and TEDx events have you been to? and/or how many of the people who told you that the atmosphere was like a fundamentalist church have attended enough events to justify the assertion?
You may also know him as an angel investor, who has helped develop many of the hottest startups in Krakow. Or as a community activist, spending a lot of his time building the local entrepreneurial scene and making it grow. Or as a founder of the “Wojtek the Soldier Bear” historical initiative. Recently, I had a chance to talk to him for a while, about how our country has changed in the last 20 years from the perspective of a businessman, about the role of the European Union in entrepreneurship, and about his ideological and political views. The interview took place just after the Krakspot organizational meeting, which Richard, of course, decided to help revive and bring back to its former glory as the best-known BarCamp in Krakow.
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A great way to improve the chances of making this true is to have well-planned community building and integration so that even if some of your speakers or talks are less than perfect, at least people feel: "I was welcome. I met cool new people, I had fun, it was well organised".
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I wrote this because during the last Open Coffee Krakow on 5th December There were questions about how the whole event is organised and I realised that the best place for the answers is on our web site. The FAQ is on our web site here
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