Topic: North America

Flotsam: When life is in a shambles.

TED Talk. Monica Lewinsky: The price of shame

23.02.2015

In her early twenties, she made the mistake of falling in love with her boss almost three decades her senior. When the public got wind of the affair, Monica Lewinsky was hurtled through the epicentre of a merciless international media maelstrom exerted by print, radio and TV and furthermore became one of the first victims of online public shaming. „In 1998, I was Patient Zero of losing a personal reputation on a global scale almost instantaneously… Public humiliation was excruciating, life became unbearable.“

In her talk, Monica speaks about our „culture of humiliation“. That cyber-bullying leads to cruelty to others, and that online it is amplified and remains accessible forever. „They anonymously stab you with their words. The more shame, the more clicks. The more clicks, the more advertising dollars.“ Other victims have been humiliated to death.

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New York City: Opening party of the Duggal Greenhouse

New York City: The Duggal Greenhouse

27.10.2014

A number of nations of the civilised world are giving environmental issues top priority and have thus succeeded in reducing toxic emission and hazardous by-products, in trying to minimise waste in all areas and in saving rapidly dwindling resources. Albeit: It does not take a government to get the individual stone rolling. There are copy-worthy examples of farsighted doers who make the global climate challenge their own – hoping their commitment might be contagious. This is one:

The venue-turned Brooklyn Navy Yard building could easily claim celebrity status solely for its enviable setting and views. And even if just another desolate structure had merely been transformed from its sorry former state into a reusable, intelligently functional and highly modern company seat cum event location: the Duggal Greenhouse would shine brightly among the array of doomed premises successfully rescued from terminal decay. Yet, what renders the edifice truly unique is that the „green“ in front of the „house“ exceeds by far what the name would usually imply and that for once, the term „greenhouse effect“ offers a positive connotation.

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USA/Florida: A Dolphin’s Fingerprint

8.10.2014

The 10,000 Island Dolphin Project

Naples, Marco Island & the Everglades are known as Florida’s Paradise Coast. In 2014, the destination facing the Gulf of Mexico, was assigned theTripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice Islands Award, as being the Top Island in the US of A – and the fourth on the prime list worldwide. Local dedication to a special mission may well have influenced the jury’s decision.

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Sign "closed": Don't close up! Dare to disagree instead!

TED Talk. Margaret Heffernan: Dare to disagree!

24.02.2014

Are we all hopeless ignorants? Or pitiable cowards – heads in sand? Why is it, that we are readily looking for others to prevent distaster from striking? Why are we so frequently shying away from making unfavourable decisions and why do we not speak our minds in all those meetings or seminars we attend on a regular basis? Most people instinctively avoid conflict, says Margaret Heffernan and demonstrates in this talk, that a good disagreement is vital to progress. The best partners aren’t those who echo an opinion in a stereotype way. Quite on the contrary! Great research teams, relationships and businesses allow people to fundamentally disagree.

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Chris Hadfield sending greetings to Vancouver directly from space.

Kanada: Auf zu neuen Fronten

5.09.2013

Die MICE-Abteilung der Canadian Tourism Commission CTC hat sich in Business Events Canada (BEC) umbenannt und verfeinert simultan zur neuen Firmierung innerhalb seiner Gesamtstrategie den Fokus auf die Meetingsbranche. Den markiert auch eine frische Agenda für zu bestellende Marktfelder mit bereits erwiesenen Wettbewerbsvorteilen, auf denen das Geschäft vorangetrieben werden soll – wie Luftfahrt, Land- und Lebensmittelwirtschaft, saubere Technologien, Infrastruktur, Ingenieurs-, Informations- und Kommunikationswesen, natürliche Ressourcen usf.

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