Weekend spent with @richcovephoto

Just spent a lovely weekend with my very good friend @richcovephoto and his wife in Southampton. Why do I use his Twitter name? I noticed us tweet our exploits throughout the weekend and we referred to each other by our Twitter names.

Not only is Rich an excellent photographer, he is also an experienced and well respected therapist ... with a Twitter name???

One of the many great things about Rich is his engagement with life as we are experiencing it in the second decade of the 21st Century including Twitter, facebook and video conferencing!

To get some time with a man who can have fun, have contact accross multiple mediums and can connect fully psychologically and emotionally feels like a real priviledge and lots of fun!

We both hope as men who live real lives we have lots to offer clients and colleagues and of course we both have even more to learn ...

And a big thank you to Rich's wife for putting up with wall to wall laptops, phones and general fooling about :)

Thanks for a great weekend guys!







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Live Interview with Christie O'Connor

Friday morning on the plane to Southampton reflecting on the live interview with Christie O'Connor.

I am so pleased with the outcome of this event! The last two attempts at an online discussion resembled our vision of an interactive mixed reality where I am in the room and on camera with my guest and the online audience has smooth video and clear sound and access to the guest using the chatroom.

The event with Christie didn't just resemble the vision, it was the vision! Extensive preparation and multiple backups of laptops and cameras meant the event quickly became all about hearing from Christie and not managing the technology.

Very quickly the audience grabbed the opportunity to pick Christies brain and benifit from her experience. We talked about profound and complex issues that are around when working therapeutically with people who are living with HIV and their families including knowledge about medication, touch and how to look after ourselves in relationship.

Not only where Christies responses thought provoking but they seemed to touch the audience deeply due to her deep commitment to honest and genuine contact!

I am left feeling excited and curious about Christies lecture she will deliver on 29th of January at Centrex Conference Centre in Livingston, West Lothian and will be available to view live online at www.onlinevents.co.uk where she will explore in more depth her work with people living with HIV.

Christie has generously agreed to participate in both these events without charging a fee in return for a percentage of the DVD and CPD certificates bought by the audience. You can find out more here

And if you missed the interview I am sure you will enjoy the recorded video here http://www.onlinevents.co.uk/ChristieOConnor

Both Christie and I would love to see you online or in person at the lecture, hope you can join us :)

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Progress so far!

I was adding this review of our progress so far to the Facebook groups page  and thought it might also look good on the blog :)

2009 has been a very exciting year as we have begun to stream events live to the internet and record them for distribution.

It started with OCTIA 2009, throwing ourselves in the deep end by streaming a full conference live to the internet and then hosting the recorded video on our website for all ticket holders.

It was so exciting to to have delegates located all around the world along with the delegates who had come to Leicester University where the presentations were delivered.

A key feature of the experience, that has been a part of all our events since, is the chat room that sits beside the video window allowing all the delegates to communicate with each other whether they are online or at the conference location.

As well as traveling to conference locations we are also hosting events at our home venue Centrex Conference Centre, Livingston, West Lothian, UK. 2009 seen us host a lecture and several online conversations.

One of the highlights of 2009 was being part of the CEinSL 2009 virtual conference, an event delivered entirely in Second Life. We were very excited to stream the presentations live to our website and record so that if the virtual world of Second Life felt overwhelming the content was still accessible.

So what's in store for 2010? We are off to Manchester to support OCTIA 2010, and we have more than 7 other events in the diary combining our home venue with video and virtual world environments!

Online group work is a big part of our vision for 2010, so we have invested in a high quality, encrypted web conferencing solution to enable people to work and train together no matter where they are located around the world.

2010 is going to be such an exciting year for us and we want this Facebook page to be part of the whole experience, hope you will join us for the ride!

Beginning new year

Thinking about how I am beginning the new year ...

Talking to friends and family on facebook, email, Twitter, SMS and facebook and in SL! Watching thier updates and responding, the conversation and connection is ongoing and seamless accross multiple mediums and I still haven't got out of bed or turned my laptop on!

Does that say anything for 2010? Maybe it's time for the conversation to become king again, all this new stuff is becoming second nature, as the novelty wears off hopefully the questions will be less "how do I use this ..." and more "what's the best way to keep talking ..."

Here's to an exciting 2010 of communicating and relating!




-- Post From My iPhone