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Work/Life Balance… or Blend?

10.02.24

How do you think about your approach to your personal time management?

A couple of years ago I heard something on the Manager Tools podcast that made me sit up and think – that you shouldn’t think about “work/life balance,” but “work/life choice.” Their message was that you have control over how you use your time; that “balance” wasn’t the right end goal, but rather you should choose how you want to prioritize things.

Personally, I’ve chosen to prioritize work for the last few years. Balance went out the window, along with many of my other hobbies. I’ve found that choice hard to live with mentally at times.

However, at PodCamp Toronto this weekend, I encountered another way of thinking about things that really made sense to me. As Rachel Segal tweeted, Leona Hobbs suggested we should be thinking about work/life blending, not balance. While I unfortunately wasn’t in Leona’s presentation, the concept itself spoke to me.

This is so simple, it’s brilliant. Unless, through some extreme effort, you can completely shut-out your personal life from your time at work, the two will overlap. What’s more, the more you are passionate about the work you do, the more that “work” BECOMES “life.”

This fits perfectly for me – I often say that my day doesn’t feel like work, and my activities outside work often closely follow the things I do in the office. So, work and life blend smoothly for me – that’s why I’m happy with the choice I made.

Does this make sense to you? How does this fit with how you see your time?

Posted in: events, miscellaneous, podcamp, podcamptoronto2010

Tags: miscellaneous

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Hanging Out With 900 Friends At PodCamp Toronto

10.02.22

This past weekend, roughly 900 people came out to attend PodCamp Toronto 2010.

Since joining the organizing team for the event in 2008, I’ve seen PodCamp Toronto grow from a couple of hundred early tech adopters to a large, diverse group of people from all along the adoption curve. This year more than perhaps any, the sessions reflected that diversity.

Dave Fleet presenting at PodCamp Toronto 2010 My highlights from the weekend:

Jerome Paradis presented a mind-expanding take on semantic commerce – the idea that people could purchase from multiple vendors through one website. Effectively turning the e-commerce model on its head, semantic commerce would be driven by APIs from vendors and result in personalized sites for every person. What’s more, it would give consumers control over their own purchase histories, preferences and identities.

Some presentations make you better at doing things; others make you smarter. This one was the latter, and was easily the highlight of PodCamp Toronto for me.

Brad Buset gave a thought-provoking talk on personal privacy. This was the first time I’d seen Brad present, and he did a great job with a timely topic – even handing-out copies of George Orwell’s 1984 to people who hadn’t read it.

Jeremy Wright and Melissa Smich earned a lot of laughs from the audience (and a “hrumph” from me for highlighting photographic evidence of my farmer tan) with their session on Twitter and dating. An interesting presentation format, cupcakes for active participants and the obligatory hashtag-ridden visuals, this was a nice light end to my PodCamp.

Unfortunately, once again I missed Sean Power‘s session – this time on Applied Communilytics. I heard it was great; one day I’ll finally see this guy present. At the time, I was attending David Bradfield and Miranda McCurlie‘s presentation on when social media become unsocial. The session had a very interesting topic; however, the most interesting part for me was seeing how the presenters have learned from their own past mistakes and grown as a result. Well-attended and interactive, this was another good session.

For my part, I thoroughly enjoyed presenting my session. With a good turnout and great audience participation, I was actually sad when the half-hour was over.

Once again, thanks to all of my co-organizers at this year’s event. I played a small role this year, and the rest of the organizing team did a really great job. Well done, folks!

If you attended this year’s PodCamp Toronto, what were your highlights?

(Photo credit: Looking over the audience at my session – by evablue)

Posted in: events, podcamp, podcamptoronto2010

Tags: events, pcto2010, podcamptoronto, podcamptoronto2010

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Seven Ways To Get The Most Out Of PodCamp Toronto

10.02.16

This coming weekend – February 20-21 – social media enthusiasts from coast to coast will descend on Toronto for PodCamp Toronto 2010. For the third year in a row, I’m part of the organizing committee, although a busy day job means I’ve taken a back seat this year.

PodCamp Toronto 2010 Every year this weekend makes up one of the highlights of my event calendar. Whether it’s the chance to absorb new thinking, to catch up with friends, to meet new people or to get feedback from others on my ideas, it’s always a weekend well spent.

As I type, there are 993 registrants for the weekend. We’re likely to hit 1,100 by the time the event hits. The number of people in close proximity can be a little overwhelming, so here are a few tips for getting the most out of your PodCamp Toronto:

Know WHAT you want. There are almost 60 sessions over the two days. Check out the schedule in advance (it will be posted this week) and know what you want to see (*ahem* I’m presenting. Just sayin’…:)).
Be flexible. Remember that PodCamp Toronto is an unconference. The schedule will change – sessions will be added; sessions will be cancelled. Take advantage of this by staying alert and changing your plans so you can check out the best sessions for you.
The Law of Two Feet. This is one of the founding principles of PodCamp. If you aren’t getting what you want out of a session, you can get up and leave. There’s no stigma attached as there is in other events – this is all about you getting the most out of the event. So, if you aren’t getting anything out of one session, leave and check out another one.
Know WHO you want. Check out the registration list and pull-out a list of people you want to meet at the event. Connect with them in advance if you can. Don’t be creepy, but do take advantage of the chance to meet thought leaders in an informal setting.
Participate. PodCamp IS the participants. The sessions, the atmosphere, the after-party . It’s all about the participants. If you have a question, ask it. If you have a thought, present it. Get involved. If you don’t get what you want out of the event and you haven’t participated, it’s your own fault.
The Halls! Look around in the halls during the sessions. You’ll see a lot of people sitting around talking. That’s because, while the sessions are fabulous, much of the best activity at PodCamp happens in the halls – separate from the sessions as groups congregate, talk and connect. If you see a bunch of people sitting around, ask if you can join them.
Socialize. PodCamp Toronto is an event itself, but there are plenty of other PodCamp-related things going on before, during and after PodCamp. Watch the #pcto2010 hashtag in the days leading up to the event and during the event itself, and keep an eye on the PodCamp Toronto blog too.