Happy Chinese New Year to everyone!

As it’s the new year, it’s another chance to think and talk about renewal.  Interestingly, my solar web hosting with aiso was also up for renewal today.  I renewed, as I like the work that they have done to help me, and I appreciate that my hosting servers are powered entirely by solar energy.  It is a bit more expensive than most hosting plans, but I think that it’s worth it.

In other renewal news, I am dedicating the day today to prepare for a presentation that I have coming up on the “spiritual side of business.”  I am working out exactly what my primary point is going to be in the preso, and also designing and laying it out today.  I am using what I have learned from Garr Reynolds’ Presentation Zen & The Naked Presenter, Nancy Duarte’s Resonate, Edward Tufte’s Envisioning Information, and Richard Mayer’s Multimedia Learning to inform the process, design, and delivery of the presentation itself.  I am using Rick Fields’ Chop Wood Carry Water, Marc Gunther’s Faith and Fortune, Izzo & Klein Awakening Corporate Soul, and Peter Senge’s recent article in the Harvard Business Review to inform my content.  This presentation is the culmination of about one year of research and rigorous study.  I have found these presentation books to be the most influential and crucial for these topics.  (The above links are amazon affiliates links to purchase these books, just FYI).

This is renewal for me because it represents a real departure from my usual approach to presentations, which are like an informed version of winging it and flying by the seat of my pants.  This new, more disciplined, approach should prove interesting.

I know it’s not spring yet in VT (the staggering amount of snow on the ground tells me so!) but it’s never too early for renewal.

What makes this a time of renewal for you?

image via flickr/ePsos.de