Our speaker roster ranges from economists to parenting experts, sport celebrities to entrepreneurs… Which means their advice and insights cover just as many topics! Here are a few thoughts and ideas our speakers have shared this past week.

Michael Kerr, on upping the fun factor in your next meeting:

• Make the agenda interesting, fun, and grabbing. I don’t mean corny or goofy, but use captivating copy to attract attention. Encourage your presenters to use fun titles, even for serious presentations.
• Include a fun trivia list or fun questionnaire on each table. At multi-day events, have a new one each half day.
• Shoot short, fun “attendee in the hall” videos to capture impromptu thoughts on the meeting and intersperse the clips throughout the meeting.
• Award a prize for whoever can provide the group with the fastest and most accurate summary of the meeting during its wrap-up.
• Let attendees know what wacky holiday (“Talk Like a Pirate Day” – September 19; “ Answer Your Cat’s Question Day,” January 22) it is.
• Have each presenter answer a series of quirky questions before each presentation (a la James Lipton from “Insider the Actors Studio”).
• A fun post-event video on your website reminds attendees of the value they received from the event and primes the interest for next time.
• Send out a humorous “top-10 things we hoped you learned from the meeting list” that intersperses funny highlights with serious gems from the event.

original post available here.

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Liz Pearson gives you a recipe for a Spinach Dip with Greek Yogourt and Basil:

Ingredients:

 2 cups low fat, plain Greek yogurt

1 package frozen chopped spinach, thawed

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 tbsp honey

1 cup fresh basil, chopped

¼ tsp crushed red pepper flakes

¼ tsp freshly ground pepper

Please note:  This recipe has no added salt.  The kids on my street prefer the dip without the basil.  The adults love it with the basil.  Try it either way! Also note that you can use about 8 cups of fresh, baby spinach instead of frozen spinach.  Frozen, however, is convenient and still offers outstanding nutrition.

Directions:

1.  Take spinach out of freezer and let thaw (overnight or a few hours before or in the microwave).  Squeeze out all excess water.
2. Combine all the ingredients in a blender or in a medium size bowl with a hand-held blender.
3. Serve.

Nutritional information per tablespoon of dip (per ½ cup/125 mL): 66 calories, 2 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 6 g carbohydrates, 4 g sugars, 1 g fibre, 8 g protein, 106 mg sodium

original post available here.

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and Jason de Vos shares some insights on the Euro Cup, so far:

Nearly 40% of the goals scored so far in the tournament have been headers – a significant increase over previous tournaments. Granted, it is still early in the tournament, but there are a few reasons for this.

First and foremost, some of the delivery from set pieces has been superb. Steven Gerrard for England and Andrei Arshavin for Russia are just two examples. When the ball is delivered at pace behind defenders, all that is needed is a slight glancing touch – from either a defender or an attacker – and the ball is in the back of the net.

Second, many of the teams have utilized the space in wide areas really well. Overlapping fullbacks, such as Piszczek and Gebre Selassie, as well as the predominance of the 4-2-3-1 formation, means that more and more teams are looking to deliver quality balls from wide areas into the penalty box for their strikers to attack.

original post available here

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