Be The Drop

In 2015 I had the privilege of seeing Vinh Giang speak at an event in Adelaide; to describe him as an "inspirational speaker" is an understatement. He refers to himself as "a small individual from a refugee family, born and bred here in South Australia in the northern suburbs." But he is also a magician, an entrepreneur, he runs a video production company and is now a highly sort after keynote speaker, in such high demand in the US that he is in the process of relocating to the US. I knew that Vinh was a must-interview for Be The Drop. 

Timing, they say, is everything, and as Vinh dives deeply into his new role as a father, time-constraints prevented him from being able to join me in person for this interview. However, lucky for us we live in a world that allows us to connect face-to-face, even if our faces are slightly pixelated on a laptop screen! So that's exactly what we did; my first Be The Drop interview via Skype! Expertly spliced together for Be The Drop's YouTube by our Chief Videographer, Chris. Technology eh?! 

In today's episode of Be The Drop, Vinh talks about the critical importance of video, discusses the delicate balance between giving and selling to your community, and reveals his top tips for avoiding Tall Poppy Syndrome...  

In today's episode I delve into the world of theatre with playwright, Sally Hardy, owner of the theatre company, Free Range Theatrix. Sally is currently immersed in the final stages of production of the play she wrote called Gone Viral for the upcoming DreamBIG Children's Festival.

Sally talks us through the steps involved in professionally producing a play, about earning the respect of the artistic community, and reveals how storytelling is her saviour...  

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With much laughter involved, I sit down with twins Michael and Danny Philippou, the dynamic duo behind YouTube channel RackaRacka . With over 3.7 Million subscribers and collective video views of close to 500 Million, these 24 year old twin brothers have developed a winning formula.

Danny and Michael talk about learning by making mistakes, discuss their first feature film, and reveal why they recently turned down a quarter of a million dollars...

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What is the Mayor's role within a community? How does somebody in a position of governance view community? How do they communicate with that community? I talked to Mayor of Unley, Lachlan Clyne, who has always been captivated by a sense of community: a community that centres around local facilities, businesses and the people within it. Lachlan is driven by community connections and by the feeling of being part of something bigger than himself. Helping people, uniting people and making things better is what drove him to become one of the youngest ever Mayors in South Australia. 

In today's episode of Be The Drop, Mayor Clyne talks about the importance of humanisation in communication, about community as the soul and heartbeat of a place, and reveals how to motivate action simply by being open to it...

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Sophie Miller is a ray of Adelaidian sunshine. And when she started using Instagram 3 years ago, she just wanted to spread a little bit of that sunshine by sharing photos of all the great places in Adelaide that she visits. From these humble beginnings, she has grown a following of nearly 30,000 people on Instagram. Her The Streets of Adelaide community, which is made up of an Instagram page, blog and a Facebook page is all about spreading positive vibes about the South Aussie capital. Posting sometimes up to 20 photos a day, it's rare to have fewer than 100 likes on any picture.   

In today's episode of Be The Drop, Sophie talks about turning strangers into friends, about the importance of integrity, and reveals what channels work best for engaging with her community and why...

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When two shows come together to record a podcast within a podcast, things can get pretty interesting. Particularly when those shows are Be The Drop and The Adelaide Show. Having both participated in the Adelaide Podcast Festival back in March, it was only a matter of time before our shared love of hot cross buns and podcasting brought us together once more for this very special interview.

 The Adelaide Show is a weekly podcast that was originally named Another Boring Thursday Night In Adelaide as a provocative challenge to people who lazily labelled Adelaide as boring! Covering everything from science to business and sport, the common thread for the cohort of persistent listeners is that they "over-index with their engagement with the community at large," says Steve. Hyper-engagement is in their DNA; they're out and about at night, meeting people and hearing their stories. And it's this human contact element to which we kept returning throughout our interview.  

 In today's episode of Be The Drop, Steve, Nigel and I get philosophical and creative. We talk about the modern technological world and what it means to be human, we explore connection by doing a spontaneous slam poetry jam (in our Facebook videos), and we delve into technology changes that provide audiences with the ability to curate the media they engage with...

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On any given night, more than 105,000 Australians experience homelessness and 44% of those experiencing homelessness are women, and over 17,000 children under the age of 12 do not have a stable place to call home in Australia. These statistics are unacceptable to me, which is why I will be joining business and community leaders from around Australia to take part in the 2017 Vinnies CEO Sleepout, raising awareness and vital funds to support services for the thousands of men, women and children experiencing homelessness across the country.  

To find out more about how Vinnie's communicate to drive action to respond to homelessness, I interviewed David Wark, Chief Executive Officer for the St Vincent de Paul Society in South Australia. David is committed to serving the people who seek the Society's assistance, be it through utilising his business expertise to ensuring critical support services are maintained, homeless accommodation, conference work or the Vinnies Centres. I encourage. In today's episode of Be The Drop, David talks about not over-inflating his role among the many people who make Vinnies services possible, about uniting the not-for-profit and corporate worlds, and he stresses the importance of the human touch in effective communication...

If you also finds these statistics unacceptable, I encourage you to donate much needed funds by following this link to my fundraising page (also included at the bottom of the post).

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What would the world look like if we all worked together and supported one another? It would probably look a bit like jesscaire.com. The world according to Jess Caire is inspired by a future in which her two children are judged not on their gender, but on how hard they work, their values and beliefs. Society has evolved ideals to which we're supposed to aspire, whether we like it or not. However, as a self-confessed "over-achieving people pleaser", Jess found that she had to let go of these impossible expectations she'd set for herself when she became a mother.

Believing that she couldn't be the only woman struggling as she was, she began to share her vulnerability online, attaching to it a sense of worth rather than a sense of shame. Her community is about empowering women, getting them to believe in themselves and each other, because only by working together can we break down gender barriers and create a unified response. 

In today's episode of Be The Drop, Jess talks openly about her own emotional journey from feeling failure to empowerment, reveals how she deals with trolls, plus the importance of building a safe space in order to encourage communication...

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Love it or hate it, climate change is a topic of considerable debate and Seb Henbest, Head of EMEA at Bloomberg NEF, is well informed on the topic, as he tracks policy making, rapid change and new technology relating to renewable energy. Dealing with considerable amounts of data and scientific research that relates to renewables, his challenge is translating it all into information that helps people to make decisions. When your community is as diverse as 'everyone that uses energy', and in a time when the ideological debate around climate change has voters divided, how do you get people to stop and listen?

In today's episode of Be The Drop, Seb talks about how to tackle communication for complex and long term issues, how to take into account differnt opions and reveals why social media doesn't always add value...

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When you're going through a crisis, it's very easy to feel like you're completely alone. But BUPA Blogger of the Year and Lifestyle Blogger of the Year 2016, Jenni Eyles, quickly found that this was not at all the case when she was diagnosed with invasive breast cancer, aged 41. After being "carved up", undergoing unpleasant treatment and believing she was going to die, Jenni stopped sweating the "small stuff" and 3 years ago created Styling Curvy to share her new-found respect and love for her body. Having worked in fashion retail for 25 years, Styling Curvy is as much about fashion as it is about body confidence and cancer, encouraging women of all ages, shapes and sizes to love themselves in the skin they're in and be more adventurous with fashion.

I was super excited to have Jenni as a guest on Be The Drop, which was recorded live at Adelaide Podcast Festival at The Elephant British Pub, with 14,000+ Facebook fans, nearly 17,000 Insta followers and a profitable business to boot, Styling Curvy is the perfect example of a waterfall that grew from a single drop, Jenni definitely embodies #BeTheDrop.

In today's episode of Be The Drop, Jenni talks about being stylish, sassy and a little bit badassy, about building trust with your community, and reveals the best way to deal with online abuse... 

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