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Triberr is Toastmasters for Bloggers
November 14, 2012
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The blog sharing, syndicating, and supporting system known as Triberr is the blogging parralell to Toastmasters for public speaking. i was invited to a tribe about a year ago with my not so regularly published Tumblr blog. I met cool people, read their blogs regularly and tweeted them to my mini following. We do bond as a tribe, and some are founded around specific areas of interest. The personality of each tribe is vastly different as are the styles of each chief. Everyone is a chief if the initiative is taken to grow and lead a tribe of one’s own. I enjoyed my first tribal experience, and noticed that the tribe existed even after our chief quit blogging and abandoned the tribe entirely. This indicated the power of the structure, the system, the potential of place we do all of this syndication…Triberr. The obvious limitations of being in a tribe with no cheif, and having only one person in my own tribe,(who really had not fully registered or blogged) lead me to a fabulous decision. I made up my mind to meet my only tribal member in New York City for the first TribeupNYC event to check the vibe in person. I am pleased with my decision to go for all kinds of reasons, including the fact that I enjoyed lower Manhattan in a pre Sandy state of bliss and perfection. There was no sign of impending doom.
I had risen before dawn for many years to attend Toastmasters meetings at a hospital to fine tune my public speaking skills. Our diverse and dedicated group proved to me how many different reasons there can be for wanting to speak in public. I already was a total ham, and won every week the extemporaneous table topic event. I covered my office with blue ribbons from table talk. Conspicuously absent from the ribbon display were ribbons for prepared speeches. I maybe got one 3rd place…or none. This is easily explained by my fellow Toastmasters’ diligent hard work. Like ants they attended conferences and competitions, put hours of prep into the speeches done in the meetings. I was the grasshopper who did little homework because the table topic ribbons looked good enough to me, and I knew I would win another one every week. Resting on my improvisational laurels yet again, I learned a lot. I thought the critique and evaluations skills were of the utmost importance. The supportive structure resembles the blogging tribe in the simplicity of the mission. Both Toastmasters and Triberr are designed to improve by practice and critique.
Triberr is a modern-day literary soiree with bloggers tribing up to read and share each others’ work. It has the same individuality that each Toastmasters chapter offers, and many participants are in more than one tribe, just like active Toastmasters who speak daily at different meetings. It has the same few stalwarts who keep it going, and the same number of flakes who come and go without much impact. Toastmasters is modestly priced, as is Triberr Prime, the paid version of the system. I am working my way up to Priming it. I have grown my own tribe since the conference on the equinox, and been invited to join some others. I love the way it exposes us to each other and to an unknown set of others based on our own cultivation of a news stream. There is no doubt in my mind that this power is working well for me, and even has the potential of moving me out of the table topic section of the creative world. I do really appreciate the thorough work and preparation dedicated to the blogs I am reading from my tribe mates. Perhaps I will try it.
In the meantime, I have dedicated my Tumblr blog to a new tribe I formed around the Three Book Diet cult I have joined as a superfan of the ever brilliant Brother Brogan. The ability to have a book club about an intense interaction with the material rather than a cursory and meaningless consumption of words is something brand new. It is the opposite of the high volume book club…..no review and abandon…not this year..we will live our books, live our yoga, live our true Epicurean literary lives. I do remember that at the end of Trust Agents there was mention of using what you have just read rather than hurrying away to more reading. Chris and Julian are teachers, not so much authors, even though they have written these great books. Business Design is the new community management. By styling his own business as interactive with ease it is my opinion that Chris has figuratively reopened the ancient Greek schools of philosophy that required direct transmission from the master. Socrates did not believe in the written word, thought it would ruin education. I am sure he would freak right out if he saw PowerPoint. I think that Triberr and the book dieting cult can combine very nicely. Ironically diet books that tell you how to eat are always best sellers, but nobody I have seen has chosen a diet book for the book diet.
Asteya
October 4, 2012
Honoring what belongs to others is a yama, or social restraint, set out by Patanjali in the yoga sutras. To practice asteya is to understand that being satisfied with what I have is essential to my contribution to society. It also requires that I honor the time, accomplishments, and possesions of others. The yamas are simple and straightforward, designed for endless practice. They provide an ethical framework for living in this world while seeking enlightenment. Asteya has the effect of priming the pump by a mindset of coveting absolutely nothing. It is to be satisfied. It is to respect everyone’s boundaries and belongings. The most precious belonging anyone has is time.
Lena West
At the TribeUpNY on the equinox we enjoyed the presence and the teachings of Ms. Lena West, social marketing historian/wizard/teacher cum laude. She made the excellent point that time is not money, as the trite saying would have us believe. She ably demonstrated that time wasted can never be found. Money can be leveraged. If one cares to increase the value and the impact of time it must be leveraged as well. Her point is that influence is real, is valuable, and is gained by leveraging ( focusing) time. It was not her intention to come off yogic. Her message was 100 % asteya. Do what you do well. Don’t try to digest the entirety of the world at all times. Make and respect boundaries that create value. When you focus on your own well, take care of it and set limits on it, flow happens. When your focus travels to distractions of any kind you loose the value of the time that is only given once. I think Lena Patanjali West is brilliant. Here is her presentation from TribeUp:
Big Chief
October 2, 2012
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Triberr held the first TribeUpNYC on the equinox, 22 September, 2012. I flew in the day before to enjoy the neighborhood with some friends. I was very happy to be in the city after so many years of absence. The weather was perfect, the crowd was the right size, and the speakers all delivered value in different ways. The face of Triberr is Dino Dogan. He has a booming voice with a cute tiny accent. He is welcoming and very self assured. This event was like no others because this tribe is itself unique. The material presented was valuable and current. It was the combination of the hospitality provided by Media Labs and the sponsors and the high quality of every aspect of the event that created a memorable afternoon. To be true to the tribe’s core value of influence over traffic the small group was treated to delicious party food and drink while given plenty of time and space to schmooze. No name tags, very little Powerpoint, and one guy won a new iPad in the drawing…this was my kind of conference. I am not so much encouraging extra participation in the next New York TribeUP because it was outstanding to be there off peak ( for the first one). There is a plan to spread the Tribal spirit throughout the land. I think that is a good idea. Let’s TribeUp Tucson!! ( not the same as cowboy up for those of you who live here).
Mr. In Between
September 30, 2012
My friend and I have been in a discussion about what is a typical New Yorker. I have gone to visit, enjoyed the company, pondered the nature of things and done ancestry research. TribeUpNYC was a fine example of how simple and yet how complex New York City is now and always will be. I have always appreciated the culture and the talent, not to mention the exceptional goods available there. I have never before attended a conference held in Manhattan.
I knew this was the conference for me because it was being held by my blogging tribe Triberr. I enjoy participating with other bloggers in sharing content and appreciating each other. I like the nature and helpful vibe of the big chiefs, so I decided to go in person. I was blown away by the perfection of the event to my own needs as a blogger. Seriously professional points of view were effectively delivered, including a section about comedy. We were both entertained and educated before being turned loose to party with some yummy food and drink created by mighty fine Haitian caterers. There was that international mix that is common in Manhattan. That is how those of us from way out west know something is very different. We are not in Tucson any more. Multi lingual, multi ethnic cuisine is just the start of the exciting shift.
I was very happy to be able to meet many people I had known on line in one way or another, and thrilled to have direct access to the presenters. They all hung out schmoozing around the party giving darshan. They were all really impactful, and wildly diverse, just as one might want to have in any tribe. Lena West introduced herself as a New Yorker, and my friend Marc and I agreed she is a typical one. She was brilliant and to the point. Her most important teaching in my recollection is that time is not money. Money can be made, lost, made, grown, lost again, invested, etc. Time spent has been spent forever. This brings me back to my definition of the typical New Yorker. Time management is way different for New Yorkers because just being there takes up huge amounts of time and money. Strategy is wildly important to them.
I nominate Lena as typical New Yorker for the following reason: She has no time for Mr. In Between. I think that is what they all have in common. They are masters of a certain kind of discernment.
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