Kathy Sierra is one of the heroes of Business of Software Conference. She’s an extraordinary thinker and speaker. Thoughtful, kind, generous and one of the smartest people on the planet. I think of her often, particularly when I’m talking with speakers who want to give the best talk they possibly can. She is not a natural extrovert and found speaking in public incredibly hard, yet she is always brilliant.

I wanted to send one of this year’s speakers a link to her blog post, Presentation Skills Considered Harmful recently and sadly, her blog is no longer live. (This links to the post recovered from the WayBackMachine). If you speak in public, it is worth your time.

Kathy is a genius and we have been incredibly lucky over the years to have welcomed her to the BoS community where she has shared her incredible insights. You can watch all her talks, Web 2.00 business models, Building the minimum Badass user, Building the minimum bad ass user. Part II. Unfinished business…, Motivation matters and lots more here.

Your app makes me fat, Kathy Sierra, July 24, 2013

Kathy Sierra’s blog is sadly no longer live but this is one of a number of posts that underlines why she is THE BEST. It’s been recovered from the WayBackMachine for posterity.

Your app makes me fat

In 1999, Professor Baba Shiv (currently at Stanford) and his co-author Alex Fedorikhin did a simple experiment on 165 grad students.They asked half to memorize a seven-digit number and the other half to memorize a two-digit number. After completing the memorization task, participants were told the experiment was over, and then offered a snack choice of either chocolate cake or a fruit bowl.

Presentation Skills Considered Harmful, Kathy Sierra, October 4, 2013

Kathy Sierra’s blog is sadly no longer live but this is one of a number of posts that underlines why she is THE BEST. It’s been recovered from the WayBackMachine for posterity.

Presentation Skills Considered Harmful

There is no cure for presentation stage fright. You can reduce the symptoms with beta blockers, but when the drugs wear off, you’re still… you. You’re still up there with a cracking voice, runaway heart rate, and nauseating dread.

Might our apprehension about becoming the dreaded “worst boss” unwittingly steer us in that direction? Gallup’s research reveals that businesses make the wrong managerial choices a staggering 82% of the time, leaving just one out of every ten managers genuinely effective in their role. Hence, the pivotal query that every team or company leader should pose is: How can I guarantee that I don’t find myself enshrined in my team’s roster of “worst bosses”?

We know you sometimes have so much on your plate you just don’t get around to things – especially with so many aspects to factor in.

So we’re making your life one little bit easier with a limited number of tickets which INCLUDE either a 3 night or 4 night stay at the Marriott City Center Hotel just across the square from the conference venue in Raleigh this fall.

Yup – thats right you can choose to add on a 3 night stay (on 1st/2nd/3rd October) or a 4 night stay (on 1st/2nd/3rd/4th October) when booking your BoS USA ticket and we will do all the work to get your room sorted for you. We’re just super nice like that.

However, we only have a handful of these available on a first come first served basis so do not hurple or dawdle*!

BoS USA 2023 WITH Hotel accommodation

Hotel booking will be provided for you upon booking and are non-cancellable once booked.

 

From: $2,602.00

Book now

BoS Bytes – 3 Things to Make You Smarter

There’s a ton of terrible content out there. Three golden nuggets I guarantee are worth your time.