A Surprise Mention in the Gleaner

Jamaica Gleaner cover Wednesday  June 12  2013

 

Yesterday morning, I received a bit of a surprise. A friend gave me a call to let me know that I had appeared on the front page of the Jamaica Gleaner – the country’s largest daily newspaper. An interview I did by phone a few weeks ago was carried on the front page of the Gleaner, along with the picture copied here and a single quote.

It was a pleasant surprise, followed by a few supportive calls from friends.

This month I’ll be speaking at the NCB SME Conference in Montego Bay. I’ll be part of a panel along with a friend and client, David Martin, of Jamaica Producers. Our session is entitled  “Efficiency and Effectiveness – the Key to Survival in a Tough Economy.”

During May, I spoke at two conferences, three times in all.

The Human Resource Management Association of Trinidad and Tobago (HRMATT) invited me to speak at their biennial conference and I spoke on two topics: “How Caribbean Executives Can Raise Their Standards,” and “Transforming Time Management Learning with Gamification.”

After this conference in Port of Spain, I travelled to Dallas, Texas to speak at the American Society of Training and Development Conference (ASTD.) My topic there was “How to Stop Failing at Behavior Change Training – The Case of Time Management.”

Two Weeks of Conference Speeches

Within the next few weeks I’ll be speaking at a couple of conferences. The first will be the Human Resource Management Association of Trinidad and Tobago’s (HRMATT) 9th Biennial Conference in Port of Spain on May 13-14, 2013. I’ll be speaking twice: on  Monday on the topic of “How Caribbean Executives Can Raise Their Standards” and again on Tuesday on “Transforming Time Management Training with Gamification.”

During the following week I’ll be in Dallas at the American Society of Training and Development’s (ASTD) 2013 International Conference and Exposition. Some 9000 people are expected and I’ll be speaking on the topic – “How to Stop Failing at Behavior Change Training – The Case of Time Management.”

At both event’s I’ll be promoting my new book – Bill’s Im-Perfect Time Management Adventure.

I expect to make some interesting new connections!

Free Promo for The Bill Book

Last week, Amazon conducted a fre promotion of my book, Bill’s Im-Perfect Time Management Adventure. It worked quite well – there were over 2260 downloads in three days and the book shot up to number one in the free category for / Time Management and /Science and Technology/General. The feedback continues to be quite positive with people sharing that “they couldn’t put it down” quite a few times. The website for my time management book can be found here.

Bill’s Im-Perfect Time Management Adventure

After a quiet start way back in March 2009, I have finally completed and published my first book. Bill’s Im-Perfect Time Management Adventure can be ordered from Amazon, and there are a number of resources that I also offer at the book’s website.

Rather than the usual how-to tome with lists, abstract principles and new ideas, I decided back in March to follow the lead of others who I admire to write a business fable.

The book tells the story of Bill, an engineer and project manager and his struggle to avoid being laid off due to poor time management skills. He first tries to save himself by purchasing the latest smartphone and when that fails, he attempts to follow a strict regimen of skills outlined in a popular time management book. After once again falling short, he discovers the wisdom of developing his own system. With the help others he shows the members of his failing team how to do the same, even in the face of hostile opposition.
On a personal note – this is my first novel, and the learning curve for writing in this very different format was quite steep!  Thank goodness, there are many excellent resources written by people like Dwight Swain and Martha Alderson who have made the process much easier. Guy Kawasaki’s book, APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur was also released just as I completed the last draft before editing and it told me exactly what to do at every step of the way afterwards.
It was a long but extremely fulfilling journey.

A New Report

Today we are releasing to the public a compilation of some of my best content. All my columns published in the Jamaica Gleaners are featured in this simple summary file which covers all articles dating back to 2010.

Also included are a few articles from the Trinidad Newsday, CaribHR.Radio show and TVJamaica.

A collector’s item? Maybe one day it might be!

Visit the following page to access your download: http://free.fwconsulting.com

ASTD Conference Proposal Accepted

The American Society of Training and Development is the largest organization of its kind in the world, and I was recently accepted to give a speech at their annual conference in 2013 in Dallas, TX. The topic will be “How to Stop Failing at Behavior Change Training: The Case of Time Management.

It’s a wonderful opportunity, and one that builds on our most recent work focused on helping time management coaches, professional organizers and time management trainers. Ultimately, the session will help clients learn how to develop their own time management systems.

 

ICD Conference

In September, I travelled to Chicago, IL to make two presentations to the Institute for Challenging Disorganization’s conference. One happened to be a plenary session to 170+ participants, while the other was a full day workshop of intense study to a group of 25. From a presenter’s point of view, they went well, and the entire trip was a highlight in terms of the opportunity it was to present to so many people of like mind who are focused on serving their clients.

Update on “The Book”

You may know that I am writing a book on the topic of time management and individual productivity. It’s a business fable set in modern-day New Jersey in which Bill, an engineer working at a mid-sized company must fight his way off the list of employees being threatened with a layoff. To do so, he must stop the symptoms of poor time management and learn some advanced techniques before the ax falls.

I have redeployed some of my time away from my other writing and publishing to complete “The Book” which is now undergoing it’s first round of author-editing. Stay tuned for a release by the end of 2012 in e-book format.