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I’m not sure when I fell in love with stories, but I was very young. My father’s family were great at telling stories, and it was always so much fun to sit around the kitchen table and listen to the fables of my heritage, the neighbours, farming, the Tui brewery, and anything that was remotely funny. The bigger the tale the better. Were they factual? Hmmm… sort of? There was certainly some basis to the tales told, and often a moral too.
So, the irony is that starting a podcast this year has been a dream come true for me. I only wish my father Bill could hear it.
Let’s start with one of my favourite tales from my time with Collective Intelligence:
I have listened to many podcasts over the past few years. I find that they make time disappear, especially when I’m travelling. It’s that joy of getting lost in people’s wonderful stories – just like I did around the kitchen table as a kid.
A lot of what we do at Collective Intelligence is about getting interested in people’s stories – digging down beneath the layers to where the gold is found. I have often wondered, ‘what is the best way to bring these stories out into the light?’ and share that huge pool of knowledge that sits within our Collective Intelligence community.
About a year ago, a good friend and clever woman, Diana Burns, suggested we start recording our own podcast series and use this medium to good effect. Agreed Diana. Podcasts are a great way to do that, and so it just came down to timing. When to fire up the Collective Intelligence podcastery has been on my mind ever since then.
So, September 2019 is the right time. Since Sapiens have roamed the planet the need to communicate stories about people making a difference, creating a better world, has never been needed more than it is now.
“Stuff That Matters Now” is our new podcast and it features Collective Intelligence members who are committed to creating a better world. The interviews are raw, unedited and rock along in our usual style. There will be the odd ‘E’ stamped on the title of a number of interviews. The stories are very real, fun and unapologetic. They will also showcase just how diverse and cool our community is. So far I have had the pleasure of interacting with 9 people, sitting down and digging into what they are working on. They have come from as far afield as Cambridge (UK), Timaru through to Auckland, and span an age range of around 25 years. I so enjoy going into their space and getting a feel for their world. Some I have facilitated in their teams and some I don’t even know that well. However, everyone I have asked has said ‘Yes’, which I didn’t assume or expect.
‘Seeds’ podcaster (and sometimes lawyer!) Steven Moe has been super generous with his guidance and counsel. He’s helped our team put this together and we will be forever in his debt. There is a lot more involved in ‘getting to air’ than just doing the interviews (I have been a little impatient, which is so often the case with me). My intention was to have it up and infiltrating the internet by now, but hey, it’s not the end of the world.
And no, I haven’t had any training to do this, and I’m not even sure where I would go to find it. I just wanted to get into it, so your feedback is going to be super-important please. Tell me how I can improve, and I will do my best, as I really want these stories to be given as much help to shine as possible.
So, to keep us going until the big stories launch next month, here are a few more of my favourite tales from ‘life’ at Collective Intelligence:
We have a tradition in Collective Intelligence, that new members complete a timeline (which depicts their life story). A few years ago, we had a new member join a team (that I happen to be a member of) and her name was Eva Gluyas.
Eva’s life was rich and interesting, beginning in the UK and moving to New Zealand. She was obviously very creative and had a love of all things design.
Her sharing of her timeline went something like this:
Unfortunately, I will never be able to interview Eva for the podcast, as she tragically died last year of a brain tumour. However, I have been able to interview the recipient of the scholarship, that we created in Eva’s memory. Gemma Major of Seed Waikato is a stunning young woman, who you will be able to listen to in the second podcast in our first series.
I’m really looking forward to the launch of “Stuff That Matters Now” next month. I hope you enjoy listening to our members’ tales as much as I enjoyed recording the telling of them.
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