Guest Blogs
Knowitall.ch often invites local experts in their field to contribute to their own blogs on our site. This means not only you will benefit from the useful recommendations that we make on our News pages, but you can also profit from some of the great advice and tips that these experts have to make on their favorite subjects. Whilst each of these bloggers has been recommended to us at some point during the evolution of Know-it-all passport and knowitall.ch, obviously we are not able to test out all the suggestions they make on their blogs, nor do we necessarily agree with all their opinions. So if you do find one of their tips useful (or not!), do let us know!
To make these blogs more accessible to you, we have now decided to group them altogether in one section, entitled Guest Blogs, accessible from our main menu bar. We will also post the most recent blogs on the home page of our site in the right hand column.
We are still building up this area of the site, and are looking for bloggers in a number of sections, including Your Home, Travel, and Leisure, so if you feel you have a useful contribution to make in either of these areas, and have the time to submit blog entries approximately every month, then please get in touch!
By Hiba Samawi, Wiser Humans
“Stay afraid, but do it anyway. What’s important is the action. You don’t have to wait to be confident. Just do it and eventually the confidence will follow.” - Carrie Fisher
Does this sound familiar?
I’m going to do it. I’m just waiting to feel confident.
I really want to do it - I just don’t have the confidence.
Confidence.
We love confidence.
We see it as a magical power that shows up and allows us to feel so pumped up about ourselves that we can suddenly do something - do anything, really.
We see confidence as getting rid of self-doubt, as erasing anxiety. As finally, finally allowing us to feel OK about ourselves.
Umm…I don’t know about you, but I have never actually experienced this sort of chest-thumping confidence.
By Sunita Sehmi, Walk The Talk
“Mere repetition of an activity won’t lead to improved performance. Your practice must be intentional, repetitious aimed at improving performance and combined with immediate feedback from a coach.”
Have you ever thought you’re not cut out to do something due to a lack of talent? Karl Anders Ericsson would disagree and he has the data to prove it. Anders spent 30 years studying people who are exceptional at what they do, and trying to figure out how they got to be so good. His conclusion: in most cases, talent doesn’t matter but deliberate practice does. He and his colleagues provide new research that illustrates that outstanding performance is the outcome of years of measured or deliberate practice and coaching and not of any innate talent or skill. Ericsson, psychologist and author of “Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise”, has dedicated his career to understanding how people become exceptional within one field.
Tell us about yourself. At a very early point in my life I found that I could improve my performance. I read biographies that focused on how people succeeded and tried to understand how and why and get into their mind-set. Even a genius like Mozart had to work for at least ten years before he produced something that became recognized as a masterpiece.
Take us back to the beginning. How did your research begin about being an expert? I have never seen an individual whose excellence was not the result of formal training. I had a lot of push back about that but all achievement we see is, in fact, the product of extended deliberate practice. I have yet to find attributes that cannot be influenced by training. Anyone can build proficiency in any field. The only reason most of us don’t build expertise is lack of the single-minded focus required to engage in deliberate practice over years.
By Claire Doole, Claire Doole Communications
Moderating a conference about the possible reclassification of a chemical compound as carcinogenic is no laughing matter. The revaluation of antimony, a substance found in many household and manufacturing products, would have severe repercussions for those involved in its trade and manufacture.
However, as you can see from the photos, we did raise a few laughs during the day. How? We made the conference as interactive as possible – quizzes, panel discussions, group brainstorming and feedback sessions. As a former TV and radio producer, I know that you have to keep on changing the pace and content of a programme to keep the audience engaged.
But our secret ingredient was to use a cartoonist to make everyone laugh. Floris Oudshoorn is a gem. A Dutch cartoonist, who is fluent in English, he recapped the main points with some of his very witty digital sketches.
Photo courtesy of Women's Forum for Economy and Society
By Claire Doole, Claire Doole Communications
The audience is king in communications. Whether giving a presentation, talking to the media, or writing a document, who matters most is the viewer, listener or reader. What do you want them to do, feel or say as a result of your communications?
How strange this is too often forgotten when organising a conference.
I am sure you have attended conferences where death by PowerPoint was a real possibility or panel discussions where the moderator runs out of time for the Q and A session with the audience.
Have a read of this article by Guardian journalist, Duncan Green, entitled "Conference rage: How did awful panel discussions become the default format?"
He says, "a badly run conference is not only a lost opportunity, but a waste of time. How can we improve them?"
He gives a lot of good ideas, but doesn't mention how technology can really make a difference, putting the audience back in the driving seat.
Legoland Windsor Resort Fireworks
By Rachel Beacher, Journalist
Back in the days before the British government was intent on destroying itself, Guy Fawkes was infamous for his foiled attempt to blow up the House of Lords.
The thwarting of this 17th century terrorist plot is remembered every year in the UK with public fireworks displays across the country.
These days the celebrations span several weeks up to 5 November, with some of the best Bonfire Night shows at amusement parks, where you can stay in on-site hotels if you choose to travel for the weekend. Here is a selection of this year's events, most of which are just a short flight away in the UK.
Legoland, Windsor, Berkshire
27 and 28 October
Ninjago-themed displays, where you can use 3D glasses to watch the fireworks explode into thousands of tiny Lego bricks. The shows mark the opening of Lego Ninjago World and coincide with a Brick or Treat Halloween festival, which runs until 30 October. Under-threes go free. The park has two hotels that look like they've been built out of giant Lego bricks.
Nearest airport: Heathrow
