Buenos Aires, Argentina

Monday, April 25th 2016

On Remote Year, my workshops are called “Communicate Like Cousteau”.  (RY3 code name = Cousteau)    Jacques Cousteau was a true Renaissance man.  A revolutionary scientist, explorer, filmmaker, conservationist, photographer, author, etc.  Remote Year 3  is comprised of 70 professionals from around the world, who are all incredibly bright, innovative and adventurous.  We have artists, engineers, writers, photographers, entrepreneurs, etc.  And, we are ALL explorers.  Pioneers of the digital nomadic world.

Cousteau was also an orator who often gave speeches about his ground-breaking work and political views.  I think Cousteau would be proud of us.  And, I hope we honor his name.  

The 2nd workshop was a little more challenging than the first Our co-working offices didn't quite have the space for the type of event I wanted.  I had to go outside the inner circle, which presented logistics and linguistic challenges!

La Ninina is a local cafe in the Palermo district of Buenos Aires and a favorite amongst my fellow travelers.  They have a gorgeous 1st floor private room that screamed 'BOOK ME!!!' as soon as I saw it.  There is a window overlooking the kitchen, which reflects a lot of light into the space and creates a comfy ambience. 

For this second workshop, the group doubled in size.  18 total attendees.  I think using EventBrite to track invitations AND having the event at such a cool venue helped to bolster the numbers.  And, perhaps word got around that these events are actually fun?  

The theme of the night centered around the late great musician: Prince, who was an incredibly talented musician who liked to take risks.  While some of Prince's quotes are less than inspiring (See list) I really liked this one, as I feel it is very apropos to the fear of public speaking:

Prince: "The most important thing is to be true to yourself, but I also like danger. That's what's missing from pop music today. There's no excitement or mystery."

To warm up the audience, I had them alternate verses of famous Prince songs: Kiss and 1999, which was hilarious because none of us can hit the high notes like the legend himself!  We then had an interactive discussion about the various ways to use our voices to enhance our speech.  After the discussion, I invited audience members up to tell a short story.  Following the stories, we had a brief critique of the storytellers, talking about both positive aspects of their stories, and offering a few areas for improvement.  

Overall, I'm extremely pleased with how the first 2 Remote Year workshops have played out!