Paul May

Version 0.2 - Updated 09.07.08

This is a quick, hopefully useful Beginner’s Guide to Triathlon. I’ve been competing in the sport for a couple of years and I wanted to put down a few hints and tips to help anybody thinking of giving Triathlon a try. The sport has had a very positive impact on my life, it’s hugely popular, great fun and very achievable; regardless of whether or not you have a sporting background. You will also get to meet some amazing people if you decide to give it a go. I’ve written this guide from my own perspective; so it’s more appropriate for people coming from a non-sporting background, as I was when I started. Enjoy.

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A talk I gave at Barcamp Belfast 2008. A very early draft of something I might develop in the future. 20 mins talk + 10 mins q&a

Hypothesis: There are some incredibly talented people working in technology, design, business - and I’ve often wondered, how do these people stay so fresh, so highly skilled and so motivated when the nature of their industry and their business changes so quickly and so often. So I asked them. And what they told me was very interesting. For some people it’s a strategy, but In most cases these just happen to be some things that really great people seem to have in common. So, what are these traits, these strategies?

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I’ll be presenting at BarCamp Belfast. Notionally the topic is: “Everything You Know is Likely to be Wrong - Perspectives on creating value and remaining relevant in the technology industry.” Should be fun! I’ll post slides, notes and photos here next week.

Update: I’ve now uploaded my notes from the talk. it was a good day. The topic I landed on in the end was “Staying Relevant in Tech Industries“. It was a little abstract, but it was a good first stab at a topic I’d like to develop further.

I made it! Escape from Alcatraz was everything I hoped it would be; tough, fast, exciting. Hotter than I would have liked, but an absolutely great race. This is my full report of the lead up to the race, the race itself and the journey home. Read the rest of this entry »

In most surveys of fears and phobias, public speaking comes close to the top.  There is rarely a week where I don’t have to stand in front of a group to present a concept, a proposal, or a piece of work. It’s a skill I’ve had to learn and think about more and more as time goes by, and I still get it spectacularly wrong on occasion, but less than I used to.

In this article I wanted to write down a few of the points I’ve noted while giving talks, a few I’ve noted while watching others, and offer some basic advice to anybody interested in getting better at presenting their work or ideas.

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I’m doing a bit of an oul redesign on my site, let me know what you think. Things still to do:

• Actually add some content other than my blog
• Tidy up the typography used on the site - also known as “Kevin Cannon-ing”
• Make it validate as XHTML - shouldn’t be tough, the WP template is about 20 lines long.
• Start taking more photos - I’ve been “dormant” for a long time. Time to dust off the Flexaret, the K1000, and my retinas.

I don’t really read blogs; but I listen to a lot of spoken-word Podcasts. To put this in context I’ve been in love with radio since I was a child. We listened to Aunty Poppy’s Story Time, Scrap Saturday and everything in between. The daily rhythms of school, homework and play were timed around 5-7 Live and the Sea Area Forecast.

I love podcasts now in a similar way - I’m able to listen to some of the best radio from around the world whenever I like, and I’m able to quickly listen back to my favourite episodes as many times as I like. Here are some of my favourites in no particular order and a quick review. You might like them too:

On The Media - WNYC
To say that On The Media is light years ahead of any type of media analysis programme on Irish radio would be an understatement. On the Media casts a critical eye on the behemoth that is the US media landscape; from advertising to blogs and television to sports print journalism. It *analyses* the way the media deals with topics; with input with some of the best media practicioners and researchers in the world.

I can’t recommend On The Media enough…but it’s also painful listening; there is practically no serious analysis of the *media* of radio, print, web or television here. What we do get is pithy commentary on pithier journalism, personality driven analysis (Pat Kenny is boring, Joe Duffy is an oul-one, RTE is wooden) and “comment” rather than analysis. We are stuck in the “what”, and ignoring the how, why, when, who. Listen to OTM and weep for the way it should be done.

Radio Lab - WNYC (NPR)
The first time I listened to Radio Lab I felt dizzy and a bit sick - it’s just so good. I remember a few years ago I visited Alcatraz and took the audio tour - an immersive soundtrack to the ramble around the island, complete with the gloomy foghorn, prisoners’ footsteps and creaking doors; it was the type of experience that would make the hair on anybody’s neck stand up. Radio Lab treats its subject matter, popular science, like the Alcatraz tour. The programme is basically a spoken-word programme expanded into a full auditory experience; stereoscopic and meticulously recorded sound effects, background noises and vox-pops - all clipped and edited lovingly, carefully and with total respect for the subject matter. It’s hard to describe; you’ll just have to listen yourself.

Film Reviews with Mark Kermode - BBC
Mark Kermode is an experienced, somewhat cranky, British film reviewer who writes for Sight and Sound, The Observer and is a contributor to the Simon Mayo programme on Friday afternoons. Kermode is cinema; he lives it, believes it - and after decades of devotion to the “church” of cinema (his term) he doesn’t seem jaded by the mounds of badly made schlock that passes for cinema. I like his reviews because he has a good understanding of genre cinema, and knows that comparing Apples and Oranges is usually pointless - and I usually agree with his reviews…which can be handy.

Other podcasts I listen to include:

• This American Live - WBEZ Chicago (NPR)
• Off the Ball Football Show - Newstalk
• Fresh Air - WHYY (NPR)
• In Our Time - BBC
• Travel Destinations on the Right Hook - Newstalk
• Conversations with Eamonn Dunphy - RTE
• The Meaning of Words on Seán Moncrieff - Newstalk