Path To Planning: Getting Your Start In Strategy

Last year Penny Norman and I recorded a 10-episode podcast series for APG Canada about how to move into a strategy role at an agency. As part of it, we spoke to a bunch of different strategists about their own career paths. Below are a few of the big things the people we spoke to told us, and below that I’ve linked the original episodes. You can also find the podcast on Spotify as Path To Planning. 

1.) Know what kind of strategy you want to do. Brand planning, campaign, research, digital strategy, channel planning, media strategy. There are a ton of different disciplines, and choosing one to focus on will help you decide on your next step.

2.) Reach out to people. Ask the strategy team at your agency, ask strategists you know, connect with other strategists online, especially if they're doing the type of work you want to do. Come prepared with relevant questions that will help you move forward.

3.) Find training opportunities. Your current agency or office probably has an underused training budget, so ask to use it for courses that will help you. Make the case that that strategy training will only make you stronger at your job even if you aren't a strategist yet.

4.) There's more opportunity at small agencies. In bigger agencies, roles are more locked in. And they are looking for specialists. Smaller agencies are more open to hybrid jobs, or more open to employees shifting roles. So: take that Account-side role in a smaller agency and make the case for the shift to strategy.

5.) Be Curious and Embrace Your Weird Side: Take on side projects, volunteer opportunities, or just dive into your own obscure interests. it will help you think differently from your peers who are learning from the same people and sources.

6.) Raise your hand: You’ll never get a job in the strategy department if you don’t show interest. Talk to your boss, or the strategy lead in your agency, and let them know you’re interested. Ask them what you need to do or learn to start to make the change. Or ask to do some more strategic work. 

7.) Fight imposter syndrome. Nearly every strategist we spoke to said they doubted themselves either at some point or regularly. Just know that every other strategist came from somewhere just like you.

Path To Planning Episode Links

Episode 0 - Introduction 

Episode 1 - Strategy Internships with Marguerite Gaylie 

Episode 2 - Community Management To Strategy with Katy Hui 

Episode 3 - Account Management to Strategy with Lindsay Waugh

Episode 4 - Tech To Strategy with Mo Dhaliwal 

Episode 5 - Creative to Strategy with Ashley Lapin

Episode 6 - Client-side to Strategy with Carolyn Khoo 

Episode 7 - Parental Leave to Strategy with Christine Brett & Julie Sheldon

Episode 8 - EA to Strategy w Meg Kerr

Episode 9 - The Wrap-Up

"Does anyone still watch TV?"

August 2, 2023 Update: I wrote the post below on February 24, 2023. At that time, linear TV and Connected TV were still pretty neck and neck. Since then, the data is clear that CTV has pulled ahead, unsurprisingly.

My points below still stand: That I don’t think anything will hold the same power and mystique as traditional TV, for all of the reasons outlined below. But that video, served by Connected TV, is one of the next best ways to connect emotionally with audiences, shift perception and ultimately drive action.

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I had a super interesting conversation with my team the other day about which media channels we should recommend to a client. 

My in-the-moment response was that if budget wasn’t an issue then traditional, old-school, linear TV* should absolutely be included in the mix. 

Immediately after saying that I second-guessed myself. It was one of those things that felt right based on my experience: brands I’ve worked with in the past several years have had success with sales and both prompted and unprompted recall using TV. And some of the biggest brands in the world - with presumably the data and common sense to make sound decisions - are constantly advertising on traditional TV. 

But I didn’t want to fall into a trap of my own experiences so I dove down a rabbit hole of research. 

I’ve got a summary of what I found at the start of this, but also a longer version you can jump down to. 

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“Does anyone still watch TV?”

Broadcast Television is still one of the most frequently viewed media channels

• 68% of viewing time was spent with linear TV in 2021, compared to 32% for streaming (Nielsen 2021) 

• Canadians watch 10.9 hours of TV per week, compared to 8.9 hours for Streaming Video On Demand (SVOD) (Numeris 2021) 

• Canadians watch 2h05m of linear TV per week, compared to 1h39m of streaming/video on demand (GWI, Q3 2022) 

TV (and other traditional forms of media) are considerably more effective at driving long-term results and sending signals of trust and quality. 

• TV drives a disproportionately large share of long-term sales effects compared to other mediums (Thinkbox, 2022)

• Even according to Meta’s own research, TV is still more effective than Facebook/Meta at driving long-term results for CPG, Retail, and Telco brands, and still plays a considerable role for tech (Meta 2022)

• In the US, TV delivered the highest ROI of all media for every dollar spent at $14.34 ( Global TV Group 2020)

The effectiveness of mass media like TV, print, and radio is due to it’s inefficiency. (“The Errors Of Inefficiency”)

• Less targeting means that these channels are better at reaching beyond our people who want to buy immediately or who might be outside the category.

• Ads that we aren’t focusing on (like a TV on in the background) are considerably more effective at persuading us. 

• Using expensive formats like signal quality, reliability, and trust in ways that other channels don’t. 

So what should we do? 

• If the budget allows for it ensure that more traditional media channels are included as part of the mix. 

• If there is less budget, I believe that Connected TV has incredible potential to drive some of the same results, though it might never be as good at sending the same fitness and quality signals. 

• TV (both linear and connected) aren’t enough on their own - they need a strong ecosystem to reach audiences elsewhere. This includes:

• A paid and organic search presence: it will likely be the first place people will look. 

• A social presence: it’s likely to be the next place people will look for further quality signals and information. 

• An easy place to buy: Likely a website with a frictionless eCommerce experience or widespread distribution via retail. 

*****

Do people still watch TV?

I certainly don’t. At least I don’t at home:  I spend time watching Netflix on a Connected TV. Or I watch videos on Instagram and Reddit on my phone while my girlfriend watches a show on Amazon Prime or Apple TV or Netflix. Or I sometime cast a YouTube video to the big TV. Or I play a game on my computer. When I’m at a bar or a restaurant though I can’t turn away from the TV - I get overly focussed on the ads. 

But I’m also not most people. I work in Digital Marketing, and have spent the last ~20 years of my life thinking about ads, communications, social media and technology in a professional capacity. I have to remind myself that I’m not my clients, I’m not their audience or customers. I’m not “everyone.”

And the data is pretty clear that linear TV still dominates what the majority of people watch (though connected TV is catching up!).

According to some recent research, Connected TV just surpassed linear TV in Canada, with 68% preferring streaming to 56% linear.

Other research finds that more globally, 68% of viewing time was spent with linear TV in 2021, compared to 32% for streaming (Nielsen 2021)  And other research says that Canadians watch 10.9 hours of traditional TV per week, compared to 8.9 hours for Streaming Video On Demand (SVOD) (Numeris 2021) 

And according to another source, Canadians watch 2h05m of linear TV per week, compared to 1h39m of streaming/video on demand (GWI, Q3 2022) 

Linear Television is still one of the most frequently viewed media channels - though Connected TV is catching up.

Are TV ads even effective? 

Absolutely. And wildly so. And it largely has to do with the fact that WHERE our message appears is as important as WHAT it says and HOW it looks. You might even say that “The Medium Is the Message”. 

Our work is meant more than to communicate simply what a product is and where to buy it. The best ads communicate something about the types of people who use the product and what the company stands for. Where these ads appear is a powerful way to communicate that: an ad for a watch in Vanity Fair signals that it’s worn by the people in that magazine (or, at least by the people who aspire to be in it). The back of the newspaper is reserved for classifieds, and a brand aspiring to be premium wouldn’t be caught dead there.

When we look at ads, we’re unconsciously evaluating everything about them: we’re deciding if this is a quality product, if the manufacturer is someone we can trust, and if it’s something that will be worth the money.

Meta recently conducted some research with Les Binet, the so-called “Godfather of Advertising Effectiveness” to find out how much impact linear TV had on the long-term effects of communications and it’s not surprising that Facebook and Instagram are starting to play a large role in driving those. But to me, it’s equally fascinating that even in this study TV still dominates across CPG, Retail, and Telco when it comes to brand building and long-term effects. 

Via Les Binet/Meta 2022 “The Short & Long Impact Of Advertising”

This might be because Traditional channels (TV, Magazines, Newspapers, Radio) significantly outperform digital channels like social media when it comes to sending Fitness and Social signals.

via ThinkBox

And advertisers are seeing real, tangible results:

• In France, on average TV campaign achieves sales revenues (ROI) €4.9 per €1 invested.

• In Italy, TV generates almost three times the brand recall of Web ads (60% vs 18%).

• In the US, TV delivered the highest ROI of all media for every dollar spent at $14.34.

• In France, the traffic of an advertiser’s website during a TV campaign increases by 61%.

• TV is the media which generates the highest brand equity in Mexico, contributing a 28% share of contribution.

TV and radio are also considerably better at building emotional trust with audiences. This trust is critical when it comes to creating a brand that people will want naturally reach for (digitally or physically) when it comes time to buy.

Signalling Success

Think With Google has similarly favourable news about the effectiveness of linear TV for advertising:

Think With Google - Rethinking Your Media Mix

It’s likely that this has shifted since these studies were done, but 2 or 3 years isn’t enough for Connected TV or social media to catch up nor enough time for TV and radio to truly fall from their elevated spot. 

Why are they so effective? 

In his essay “The Errors Of Efficiency,” Alex Murrell lays out three myths about “inefficient” forms of communication like television. 

The entire thing is worth reading (and the links within are worth exploring), but I’ll try and summarize Murrell here: 

Error 1: Mass media is wasteful because it is untargeted -

Ads serve a greater purpose than purely reaching their audience. They send a social signal - or cultural imprint - to people that this ad reaches. Simply by assuming that more people have seen a message, we’re more likely to be influenced by it. From Murrell’s essay:

To find out the behavioural scientist Richard Shotton asked 257 people to imagine that they had seen an ad for a chocolate bar online. Shotton then asked his panel how many other people they would have expected to have also seen that ad. The results were surprising. Only 46% thought that more than a million people would have seen it. That figure increased to 71% when he told the respondents that they had seen the ad on TV. People, it seems, intuitively believe that public broadcast media reaches a larger audience than private, targeted media.

To summarise, yes traditional communications are mass, but that does not make them wasteful. Mass media reaches a large audience, imprinting brands on culture and imbuing them with self-expressive benefits.

The things we do, the music we listen to, the clothes we wear, the products we buy are all self-expressive: as much as their immediate purpose is to us, it’s also a signal to those around us. And that signal is only effective if we know others know what it means.

One of my favourite books (non Science Fiction books, that is) is APG’s How Not To Plan, and it lays down the case that it’s more effective to be talking to everyone in a market - not just your target or those who are immediately ready to buy - as it lays the groundwork for future purchases.

Error 2: Mass media is wasteful because it is ignored 

And the data is right: Mass media like TV is ignored. But that’s precisely why it works, according to Murrell’s essay.

There is compelling research that shows we’re more likely to be persuaded when we’re distracted, tired, or depleted. It’s easier to actively say “This ad isn’t for me” when it’s right in front of our faces on a mobile phone. But it’s a little bit harder to ignore those messages when they’re playing in the background: 

The majority of all the findings above about the number of hours or percent of consumption that linear TV makes are self-reported. My hunch here is that these self-reports underreport the amount of time that people spend with TV because they don’t account for the screens at the edge of our attention: the ones playing in bars and restaurants and waiting rooms. The ones at the edge of our periphery. 

As one researcher found: “Ads may be more powerful precisely because people pay them so little heed that they do not call critical defences into play.”

Error 3: Mass media is wasteful because it is expensive. As I’ve mentioned above, television (and other, expensive formats like magazines) can help shift the perception of brands. As per research from Thinkbox: 

• 43% of viewers said that a brand was “high quality” when advertised on TV, compared to 19% for social media. 

• 50% of viewers said that a brand was “financially strong” when advertised on TV, compared to 21% for social media. 

• 58% of viewers said that a brand was “confident” when advertised on TV, compared to 40% for social media. 

In similarly expensive communications mediums, Murrell suggest we look at banks: their heavy,  ornate architecture isn’t cost effective to build or maintain. But it sends a message of solidarity and trust: this bank isn’t going anywhere. Your money is safe.

He closes by saying “Just as a peacock’s plumage signals strength, and the battlements of British banks signal trustworthiness, expensive media signals the same for brands.” 

The effectiveness of mass media like TV, print, and radio is due to it’s inefficiency (“The Errors Of Inefficiency”)

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The world is changing, and while it feels like it might be changing quickly our worldview changes even more slowly. And our habits and behaviours follow that.

Connected TV is slowly playing catch up (and might never reach the heights of traditional media) while our trust in social channels continues to erode. 

TV as we know it won’t be around forever. Printed newspaper will become a luxury. A glowing cityscape of Blade Runner-style ads, drone fleets or Augmented Reality will make us miss the old days of static billboards.

But for now they’re some of the most powerful ways for us to reach and persuade the world. 

*When I say “linear TV” here I’m referring to broadcast TV. Traditional TV. TELEVISION! Not your new-fangled streaming services.

**Alex Murrell’s “Errors of Efficiency” was a bit of inspiration for this post, and I highly recommend his essay to anyone involved in communications or media.

Let's Talk Strategy: A Q&A With Parker Mason (that's me!)

A little while ago I joined Major Tom as SVP Strategy, and the team interviewed me about my role and experience for the Major Tom blog. Read it here below or read it there.

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Major Tom works to help you find a strategy that fits your brand, connects you to your audience, and helps your business thrive.

But what, exactly, does strategy mean at Major Tom? To shine a light on our approach — and how it affects both our team and our clients — we sat down with our SVP of Strategy, Parker Mason. 

Keep reading for a chat about his role at Major Tom, his career, and the strategic value of the Proust Questionnaire. 

Let’s start with the basics. What does an SVP of Strategy do?

Parker: We’ve got a great team of Account Strategists, Social Media Strategists, Media Strategists and Analysts, but they’re not grouped together in a formal strategy department. Instead,  we bring strategy into everything we do. 

That means that we want our entire team to understand the basics of strategy.

I oversee our services group. That includes those different strategists, along with specialists and support roles. My role is to work closely with that group’s talented leaders and their teams. 

I work with them go beyond simply planning campaigns. Together, we also come up with unique and new ways to win. 

In other words, I work with our divisions and our clients to look at things differently. When we consider an angle or framework they haven’t used before, they can unlock new possibilities for their projects.

What does the word “strategy” mean to you?

Parker: Strategy means having an opinion. It’s an opinion based on what you know, what you think will work, and what might be interesting. 

Here’s the catch: it might not always be right, but the only way to find out is to test it in real life. 

That can be hard work. And the work of strategy, particularly at an agency, is a beautiful combination of art and science. It’s making sense of data and research, then using it to tell a story with your words. And if you’ve ever given a big presentation, building slides is art, right? 

I always think that Strategists are some of the luckiest people in the world due to the work we get to do. We spend our days learning and thinking, and our work influences what millions of people can see, feel, and experience.

Tell us about your career. What led you to Major Tom?

Parker: I started a blog with a friend way back before blogging was cool, and that led me to a community manager role in Toronto. That gave way to a social strategy role, which became a digital strategy role, that ultimately led to a bigger network agency — where I was transferred overseas to Auckland, New Zealand, and Sydney, Australia. 

After a while, I decided to move back to Canada to be a bit closer to family and to also spend time exploring the mountains here in BC.

Over the past eight years, I’ve spent my time alternating between building and leading strategy teams for agencies, and then consulting with agencies in Toronto and Vancouver. 

The time freelancing was hugely valuable. It’s given me a really great look at what works and what doesn’t in other places. On top of that perspective, I’ve had the chance to learn from some really great people — and have applied the frameworks and planning tools that they use. Major Tom has brought a few of their own to the table.

How did you end up here at Major Tom?

Parker: I started working with Major Tom on a few projects about four years ago. We developed some content planning workshops, then kept in touch based on my availability and their needs. But I didn’t jump on board right away.

On which note, we’ve heard that when you were freelancing, you said “I never want to work at another agency again.” What made you change your mind and join Major Tom?

Parker: It’s true, I did say that. But with Major Tom, it comes down to the people, the work, and the potential. 

First, it’s the people. Major Tom has an incredible set of values that are reinforced by our teams, who practice them every day. We have a company-wide meeting every Wednesday that reminds me of that. I get to see the people I work with, how they’re doing, and how they live those values. 

But it’s not just business. Our teams are also super tight with each other, and it shows in how they work together and with our clients. 

It’s also the work. I really enjoy the projects we’re building for our clients right now. I get to work with brands in a great mix of industries, all with different needs. I think that all of our clients have such interesting challenges, and I’m always incredibly grateful that they trust us to help solve those problems alongside them. 

And lastly, it’s the potential. We’re building an awesome team. We’ve got great momentum with our clients. We’re doing things differently. All together, it means that I’m super stoked about what the next few months and years look like for Major Tom. I can’t wait to see what we’ll put out into the world. 

We’ve heard that you often use the Proust Questionnaire when working with clients. Can you tell us about that?

Parker: I think that in our industry, we get stuck in doing things a certain way, or using tools and processes that feel right because they’ve always been used, or seem ‘professional.’ But when we do that, we miss out on the fun and humanity. The ‘art’ parts of strategy.

I started working the Proust Questionairre into projects after reading a copy of Vanity Fair on a flight a few years ago. At first, it was an add-on to a project. A “let’s just try this and see how it goes” type of thing. 

Now, I use parts of the questionnaire pretty regularly with clients when we’re doing workshop activities to build out consumer journeys. Going through a few of the questions, and answering them in the voice of the target audience, helps everyone get in the right mindset. We can more clearly identify what their audience is looking for — and how we can deliver it to them.

I also sometimes use the questions in our brand workshops. They’re a fun way to get clients to talk about their brand — or how they want their brand to be seen — as if it were a person. Sometimes, they uncover insights that you didn’t expect.

In that case, let’s treat this as a brand workshop for your role as SVP, Strategy. Do you mind if we ask you a few questions from the questionnaire?

Parker: Sure — go ahead. 

Great! First one: what talent do you wish you had? 

Parker: I wish I was better at design. I try and I try and I try, but my best attempts at great-looking slides always look like garbage compared to what our design team turns out. 

Every time we do a new project that involves design — like a logo for a client or just some social templates — I’m always wowed by their work. But also a little envious.

Who are your favorite writers? 

Parker: I’m a huge fan of science fiction, and pretty much always have a sci-fi book on the go. 

I love it as an escape, but also because of the way the genre asks us “What If?”. It gets us to imagine a future or scenario based on a set of givens, and much like a good workshop, it can take you to some fascinating, unexpected places. 

One of the people who does this best is Ursula K. LeGuin. Over the past year, I’ve gotten really deep into her back catalogue. Her Hainish cycle of books is absolutely beautiful, and I know I’ll keep going back to them. 

Sticking to sci-fi, Peter Watts’ book “Blindsight” is the best book about why advertising works — that isn’t actually about advertising. I always recommend it to people. If you’re not in marketing, don’t worry. It’s also just a great work of sci-fi. 

Coming back down to earth, I’m also obsessed with “Everything I Know About Life I Learned From Powerpoint” by Russell Davies. It will absolutely make you a better communicator and presenter.

Rounding out the list, I regularly recommend “How Not To Plan” by Les Binet and Sara Carter. It’s a really accessible book that will help almost anyone at an agency be better at their job.

Another one of the questions from the Proust Questionnaire is “what is your greatest achievement?” To keep things focused, let’s dial that back to your time at Major Tom. 

Parker: It’s easily the Strategy Propulsion Lab, which is a sort of internal training program we’ve launched here at Major Tom. 

A little while ago, my colleague Mitchell suggested that it would be great to put some training sessions in place for the team, based on an idea he saw elsewhere. Ways to get everyone thinking and learning outside of their specific areas of expertise. 

After a few weeks of discussion, we hit on the idea of packaging these sessions into something a little more formal, and SPL was born. 

We’ve run a bunch of different workshops and training sessions under the Strategy Propulsion Lab banner over the past six months, and have even built aspects of it into our internal employee feedback system. 

It’s been a great way to make sure that strategic thinking is part of the culture at Major Tom. 

Since then, I’ve noticed a huge difference in the quality of work we’re doing for clients. We’re asking better questions, telling better stories, and selling in more interesting work.

What are some of your favorite client projects?

Parker: We’re in the process of building some great sites for a few clients, and I’ve really enjoyed the journey we’ve been on with them. 

That doesn’t always start with the sites themselves. In a few cases, we worked closely with clients on their goals as a business before even touching any site-specific work like wireframes. 

I’m also immensely proud of the great work that our media team has done with Seneca College. They’ve been great partners to us over the years, and we’ve really driven great results for them. Our most recent work with Seneca just had a phenomenal results. 

I also always reference the award-winning work that Major Tom did for Teck during the pandemic to educate people about the health benefits of copper. It’s a great example of helping a brand show a different side of themselves to their audience.

What are you excited for in 2023?

Parker: Big, integrated projects. We’re doing more of these for our clients, where they’ll ask us to take on more than one channel, then add in a new site or even creative. And it’s really great to see our different teams work together on these projects and bring them to life. 

I also want to see us win some Effectiveness awards. We’re already getting amazing results for clients, and I think it’s just a matter of putting the right awards submissions together so that we can prove it to the world.

I’m really excited to see what we’re capable of as an agency in 2023. 

Thanks, Parker. Before we wrap up, is there anything else you want to say?

Parker: I’m a big fan of connecting with people, either to help them get into advertising or strategy, or just to talk about new projects. 

If you want to chat feel free to book sometime with me here. 

A big thank you to Parker for his time and insights! You can follow Parker Mason on LinkedIn, or get the latest thoughts from the full Major Tom team by subscribing to our Mercury blog at the bottom of this page. 

Books To Read To Be Better At Your Job

Almost everything we do at work involves written communication, and one of the best ways to get better at it is to read more. Read fiction, read poetry, read newspapers, read magazines, read comic books, and read science-fiction (especially read science-fiction.)

But also read books about what we do for work. These are some of my favourites: 

How Not To Plan: 66 Ways To Screw It Up by APG and Les Binet is a book I wish I had read way, way earlier in my career. Each chapter is short (like 5 pages short) and breaks down a single concept of strategy and planning in the form of an easy explanation, a “2-minute checklist” and a case study so you can see what they’re talking about. 

The Choice Factory by Richard Shotton is a lot like How Not To Plan in that it has short chapters,  This time though it’s about different behavioural biases, and how we can use those in communications to nudge our audiences in a particular direction. I go back to it often. And if you can’t be bothered to read the whole thing, the research cards on the CogLode site are like the the TL;DR of the book. 

Rory Sutherland’s Alchemy is a collection of his own personal thoughts about bringing behavioural insights to life across campaigns and projects. Listening to him speak is an absolute delight. Here he is on the topic of “Perspective Is Everything.” And here he is on why we should sweat the small stuff when it comes to solving problems. 

Everything I Know About Life I Learned From Powerpoint by Russell Davies will make you better at your job. It’s about his experience learning how to use powerpoint, and how slides can be such an amazing tool to communicate if used correctly. As one reviewer described it, “it’s like a love letter to language.”

Let’s Get Real Or Let’s Not Play by Stephen Covey and Mahan Khasla isn’t the most fun of these books to read, but’s probably the most valuable. I read it years ago, and it gave me a better understand of how sales works, and how to relate better to potential clients. I’m probably due to re-read it.

Bonus: Blindsight by Peter Watts is probably one of the best pieces of Science-Fiction ever written. Hidden within it is an amazing lesson about human behaviour based on biology and evolution that will make you better at being a marketer. It’s also got scientifically feasible vampires in space. 

Nootka Island

This summer I went on a 6-night camping trip on Nootka Island, which is off the West Coast of Vancouver Island.

Here are a few photos.

The Art & Science Of A Great Presentation

I’ve spent a lot of time working with some different teams over the past year on how to get better at creating better presentations for clients.

Here are a few of my favourite resources:

• Cloudberry’s Presentation Design Cheat Sheet gives you the basics of how to write and structure a presentation. It’s the type of thing we should be referring to regularly in our own work.

• Mark Pollard wrote an excellent essay called How To Make A Presentation Have A Point, and it's an excellent place to go once you’ve got a solid understanding of the basics, and want to start to explore how to tell more of a story with your work.

• Aisha Hakim’s “The Art of Deck Making” is probably more so for the creatives among us, but it makes some great points around just how important choosing the right

• “Everything I Know I Learned From Powerpoint” by Russell Davies is probably the best book I’ve read this year. As one reviewer describes it, “it’s a love letter to language.” You’ll have fun reading it, and I guarantee it will make you better at whatever job you do at Major Tom. I have a copy if you want to borrow it, and I’ve also ordered one for the office.

• Lastly, here’s a link to “Storyteller Tactics For Presentations”, which is a set of cards that outlines different types of story structures or arcs that can be used to make a better point and a more effective presentation.

2021: A Year Of Reading

I read a lot in 2021. Probably not the most I’ve EVER read in a year, but I feel like I managed to crush through a good number of books. A few were re-reads, but I’m okay with that. Some people re-watch movies, I re-read books. A few of the books were for my book club, most were read on my Kindle and a few (probably more than any other year in the last decade!) were actually read as print books.

In no particular order…

The Only Good Indians - Stephen Graham Jones A spookier book chosen by my book club to read in the weeks leading up to Halloween. I crushed the entire thing over two days while visiting my family on Vancouver Island, partially because I had the time but partially because it is very well written. Give it a read if you’re ready for creeping horror written by an indigenous author. 4 out of 5.

Ancillary Justice - Anne Leckie A modern sci-fi classic, and one that I dismissed after reading it when it first came out. I thought that I was probably young and immature then and that I should give it another shot. I still don’t like it. The story was ‘meh,’ the odd gendering of characters was confusing, and it felt too derivative of better sci-fi. I still don’t get why it was so well received. 2 out of 5. (it only gets the two because I do like the idea of the main character being the disembodied (or rebodied?) mind of an ancient spaceship. I’ll actually bump it up to 3 out of 5 for that.)  

One + One = Three - Dave Trott Billed as a “masterpiece of creative thinking,” it certainly is. Short, bite-sized essays that will inspire you to think differently. Ultimately not memorable. Instead I’d recommend you pick up Richard Shotton’s Choice Factory (a solid 5/5) instead of this 3-star offering.

The Ministry For The Future - Kim Stanley Robinson I’ll preface this review by saying that I am a HUGE fan of KSR, and actually put off reading this book until I was “ready,” that’s how stoked I was for it. Then I forced it on my book club to read it as one of our official selections, though it’s tough to categorize it as a traditional fiction book. There are characters, sure. But the main character is climate change. And the story is told in snippets of conversation, shorthand meeting notes, and scientific journal entries. One entire chapter is just a list of the names of social media accounts for (fictional) conservation organizations. I’m probably not doing a great job of selling this book, but it actually is fantastic. And there is a lot more to it than “conversation snippets.” If you care about the future of the planet and want to feel inspired to do more, then give it a shot. My book club loved it (except one dude who didn’t finish it). I loved it. You should read it. 6 out of 5.

Who Goes There - John Campbell Have you seen the movie The Thing, starring Kurt Russell? This is the 1938 novella that it was based on. A story as old as time: ancient alien crash lands on Earth, gets frozen in ice, people discover it, bad things happen. My book club read this, watched the movie, then played one of the board games, also called Who Goes There. I didn’t love this short story (I’m not a fan of the classic era of sci-fi), but you might. Plus it’s foundational to so many other things, right? I mean how else are you going to play the board game based on it? 2 out of 5. 

Hyperion + Fall of Hyperion - Dan Simmons (both re-reads) - Hyperion is one of the best pieces of sci-fi out there: The gist is that each of the 7 pilgrims (no, 6? Het Masteen’s story never gets told) take turns telling the others why they’re on a pilgrimage to visit the “Time Tombs” (giant structures that flow BACKWARDS through time) and see The Shrike, an interdimensional metal demon. Come for the Starship Troopers-esque story of The Colonel, stay for the cyberpunk story of Brawne Lamia and swoon over the romance between her and an android version of John Keats. These two books have everything you could want in sci-fi story. 5 out of 5.

Amoralman - Derek Del Gaudio A superb piece of storytelling about a young man learning to become a card shark. To say much more would spoil it. And as great as the book is, definitely make sure to watch In & Of Itself first, which is a sort of off-Broadway live show that tells a similar story. He’s a showman, not a writer. 5 ouf to 5.

The White Box Essays - Jeremy Holcomb Probably the oddest one on this list. It’s a book of short essays about things to consider when designing a board game. I started reading it because I’m trying to design a board game with a friend, and the book made me really reconsider our approach. Worth reading if you’re designing a game. But also worth reading for the analogies for designing slide decks or doing creative work of any kind. 4 ouf of 5

Ursula K. Leguin - World of Exile and Illusion I’m probably cheating by adding this in because I think I started it over Christmas of 2020 and might have even wrapped all three books (Rocannon’s World, Planet Of Exile, City of Illusion) before New Years. They’re all part of the Hainish Cycle, but like the others, you don’t need to read them in any order. I can remember the plots pretty vividly, but more than that I can remember the haunting feeling I get when I remember them. They all deal with members of an advanced civilization colonising new worlds, how different these worlds can be, and how truly isolated we can be. 6 ouf of 5.

The Tiger - John Vaillant My friend Claudio popped this in the mail for me a few months ago, and it took me a while to pick it up. But when I did, I was glad I did. I could barely put it down. The book is the true story of a man-eating tiger in Siberia, and the men tasked with tracking it down. it’s partly a thrilling hunting story, partly a history book about Siberia, and partly a story about tigers and the Russian wilderness. It’s the same dude (and same style of storytelling!) as The Golden Spruce. 4 out of 5.

Cool Hand Luke - Donn Pearce - I saw the movie that was based on this book years and years ago, and have had enough fun referencing the egg-eating scene that I felt like I had to read the book. It tells the story of a chain gang at a work prison in Florida, and more specifically one of the inmates who was part of the gang who was a symbol of freedom for them. 4 out of 5.

The Dark Beyond The Stars - Frank Robinson (Not the Dark BETWEEN the Stars, which I started reading before realizing it was the wrong one, or the Dark Beyond The Stars, which is an anthology) Huge, depressing spaceships are my kind of sci-fi. Even better if they’re generation ships, and this one delivers. 100 generations into a fruitless journey to find life on other planets, the crew of the ship has to decide if they can risk another thousand generations on an even bigger journey. Or if they should try and return to the Earth that is only a distant memory. 4 out of 5.

Klara & The Sun - Kazuo Ishiguro Another selection for my book club. Not one I would have picked, though I really enjoyed it. The writing was beautiful, the story beautifully bittersweet. Who knew a robot could have so much emotion? Even as a devoted sci-fi fan, I didn’t. I’ll give it a 5 out of 5 as a piece of literature you should read. 

Look To Windward - Iain Banks I always recommend this as one of the books to start with if you want to get into Banks’ Culture books: the entire thing is essentially a travelogue about living on an Orbital: a 10,000km diameter ring on which people live in a post-scarcity world. 5 ouf of 5.

These books all get pretty high ratings. That’s because they’re the ones I finished. As much as I read this year, I probably gave up on more books. Have I got more discerning? Maybe.

If you made it this far you should donate to Books For Me. They are a local Vancouver charity that provides books to children who might not otherwise have access to them, encouraging them to build up their own library and start a lifetime of literacy. 

Six Of The Best Days Of My Life - Hiking The North Coast Trail

Last March my friend Dan messaged me to ask if I’d be down for spending a week hiking Vancouver Island’s North Coast Trail with two of his friends.

It was definitely the longest trip I’ve been on (six days and six days of hiking!).

Here are a few photo highlights.

A few minutes after we got dropped off by the boat at the start of the trail. We had hats with flaps and walkie-talkies: spirits were high.

One of our first campsites. Shortly after I took this photo, we saw a whale out in the water and wolves on the beach.

Sunset on the second night.

Ewa scoping out the ocean.

Lots of long days hiking on rocks like this. It’s tough going.

Hours and hours of this.

Beautiful shot of our tents by Ewa.

It wasn’t all cloudy weather!

Day…three? Four? Who even knows at this point.

Near the end.

All packed up and waiting for the boat to pick us up.

Pritch catching some Zs.

6 days. 80km and some amazing friends.

The Space Popes’ Finest: Sci-Fi Read and Rated By My Book Club

For the past few years, I’ve organized and hosted a Science-Fiction book club based out of Vancouver. Since the pandemic, we started meeting online and our membership base has grown to include people from San Francisco, Calgary, and Japan.

Every year we look back at the books and short stories we read as a group and give them a rating. People are always asking me for book reviews and what we’ve read, so I thought I’d add them all here.

A few notes on the scores:

• Books are rated on a 1-10 scale, with 10 being the highest…except you can’t choose 7 ( I always feel that 7 is a sort of cop-out rating: “Yeah, I guess I liked it,” and forces people to take a side).

• Not everyone in the group read all the same books, so the scores are from a variety of different people. On average, 6 people gave each book a score.

• Most of the people in the group are self-described sci-fi fans.

• We mostly tried to avoid books that were part of a series…but if you’ve ever read any sci-fi you’ll find that’s almost impossible.

Season 1 (2019)

Books:

Century Rain - Alastair Reynolds 5/10 - Reynolds is hit or miss for me….I loved his “House of Suns,” his Prefect books are decent…and I don’t like much else. This one included. It was a bit of a hodge-podge of a story about a version of Earth trapped in the past and one trapped in amber or something.

UBIK - Philip K. Dick 5/10 - Ubik is wild! A truly psychedelic PKD story, where psychic powers are the norm and you can use a phone to talk to your dead relatives. It starts off strong with some noir-ish detective elements, then goes a bit rogue with reality-changing spray. Not widely loved by my book club, but a classic and worth reading.

Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. LeGuin 4/10* - Goodreads calls it “groundbreaking,” my book club thought it was a bit plodding. It was my introduction to Ursula K. Le Guin’s Hainish books, which are all worth reading. The general plot is that an Envoy of the Ekumen (like, the Federation from Star Trek, maybe?) visits a planet on which there is only one gender. It sounds like a bit of a gimmick but ends up being more of an exploration of gender and relationships. I loved it and gave it a 9/10.

Europe in Autumn - Dave Hutchinson 5.2/10 - An alternate-history Europe with spies and countries the width of train tracks. I don’t think I loved the book when I first read it, but it’s slowly growing on me as I think back to the intricacies of the plot and Cold War-era world-building.

Player of Games - Iain Banks 6.6/10 - Imagine if there was a planet where everything was decided by a giant game of Catan. Well, that’s the Empire of Azad, and it is where The Culture sends their best game player. A good introduction to Culture books, and a great standalone story.

Fall or Dodge in Hell - Neal Stephenson 4.2/10 - An epically long book that needed an editor. It was basically two books in one, with parallel stories. If you have any interest in mythology or the metaverse, this book is for you. If you like short, tight stories then this book definitely isn’t for you.

House of Suns - Alastair Reynolds - 7.8/10 (Season 1 “Book of the Year” winner) - This might be my favourite sci-fi book: a woman clones herself into a thousand “shatterlings,” who go forth and explore the local galaxy. Every 50,000 years or so, these clones meet up and share memories with each other. Two of them fall in love, meet a handsome robot, and uncover some of the greatest mysteries facing their galaxy. Big, fun concepts. Big, crazy ships. Epic scales. 11/10.

Short Stories:

Pop Art - Joe Hill 7.6/10 (Season 1 “Short Story of the Year” winner (tie)) - Short story, short review: Boy meets balloon boy.

New Rose Hotel - William Gibson 6/10 Corporate espionage in a cyberpunk world. Read it so you can make sense of the movie starting Christopher Walken and Wilhelm Dafoe!

The Last Question Isaac Asimov 7/10 A sci-fi classic.

I have no mouth and I must scream - Harlan Ellison - 5.5/10 This one creeped me out. It was weird.

Paper Menagerie - Ken Liu 7.6/10 (Season 1 “Short Story of the Year” winner (tie)) Sci-fi? Maybe not. Fantastic? Absolutely. Try not to cry.

Season 2 (2020)

Books:

Dawn - Octavia Butler 7.6/10 Aliens abduct the last survivors of Earth and…strange things happen.

Spin - Robert Charles Wilson 8.1/10 (Season 2 “Book of the Year” Winner) Imagine if one day the stars just disappeared, and it was like there was a giant dome over Earth. That’s Spin, and it is definitely worth reading.

Dhalgren - Sam Delaney 3.2/10 I could not read this book. Only one person from our book club got anywhere in it…and I can see why. One reviewer on GoodReads referred to it as “Everest”

10,000 Doors of January - Alex Harrow 4/10 - A young girl finds a book in a big, weird mansion. Mystery unfolds (I actually don’t think I finished it?).

A Fire Upon The Deep - Vernor Vinge 5.7/10 Big, sprawling sci-fi story that plays with time scales and technology levels in an interesting way.

Short stories:

The Mercurial - Kim Stanley Robinson 6.6/10 Mystery on Mercury. Probably only worth it for devoted KSR fans.

The Island - Peter Watts - 8.8/10 (Season 2 “Short story of the year” winner) - Part of his “Sunflower Cycle” of books: Spaceship of wormhole-builders barely outrunning the horrors behind them comes across something bigger (and smarter?) than them.

Key Performance indicators - Random blog - 7.1/10 - I have no idea where to find this one.

The Tactful Saboteur - Frank Herbert 5.3/10 I just read the Wikipedia article about this, and I’m like “really??” I’m not sure I was paying attention the first time I read it.

Season 3 (2021)

We didn’t do ratings for Season 3, but here’s a list of what we read:

Hyperion - Dan Simmons - A classic of the modern sci-fi pantheon. : The gist is that each of the 7 pilgrims (no, 6? Het Masteen’s story never gets told) take turns telling the others why they’re on a pilgrimage to visit the “Time Tombs” (giant structures that flow BACKWARDS through time) and see The Shrike, an interdimensional metal demon. Come for the Starship Troopers-esque story of The Colonel, stay for the cyberpunk story of Brawne Lamia, and swoon over the romance between her and an android version of John Keats. These two books have everything you could want in sci-fi story.

Klara and The Sun - Kazuo Ishiguro - Beautiful story about an android.

The Only Good Indians - Stephen Graham Jones A spookier book chosen by my book club to read in the weeks leading up to Halloween. I crushed the entire thing over two days while visiting my family on Vancouver Island, partially because I had the time but partially because it is very well written. Give it a read if you’re ready for creeping horror written by an indigenous author.

Ministry For The Future - Kim Stanley Robinson I’ll preface this review by saying that I am a HUGE fan of KSR, and actually put off reading this book until I was “ready,” that’s how stoked I was for it. Then I forced it on my book club to read it as one of our official selections, though it’s tough to categorize it as a traditional fiction book. There are characters, sure. But the main character is climate change. And the story is told in snippets of conversation, shorthand meeting notes, and scientific journal entries. One entire chapter is just a list of the names of social media accounts for (fictional) conservation organizations. I’m probably not doing a great job of selling this book, but it actually is fantastic. And there is a lot more to it than “conversation snippets.” If you care about the future of the planet and want to feel inspired to do more, then give it a shot. My book club loved it (except one dude who didn’t finish it). I loved it. You should read it.

What else?

We occasionally do short story contests within the group (you can see the results of one of them here), and we support Books For Me! as our charity of choice:

Books for Me! is a non-profit Society and a registered charity based in Vancouver. For many families, buying children's books just isn't possible. Books for Me! provides children from these families an opportunity to build their own libraries for free. Our program comes to life as children choose their own book to take home and keep.

You should check them out (and give them a donation) on the Books For Me! Vancouver website.

Valley Isle Memories

Needle Peak

A few months ago, when the weather was nicer and the Covid restrictions weren’t as severe, I hiked Needle Peak near Hope, BC with Ty and Backcountry Pete.

In standard Ty style, we didn’t take the easy route: This view is after an hour or so of bushwhacking to get to the summit of Markhor Peak. You can see our destination - Needle Peak as the peak in this photo.

Markhor Peak, seen after we scrambled down this face. it wasn’t as steep as this looks…but it also wasn’t easy.

Same spot as previous photo, just now facing our objective: Needle Peak. We followed that ridge line more or less all the way up, and I had at least one hand on the rocks at all times. Thanks to Ty and Pete for navigating and getting me through a few of the trickier spots! In the foreground of this photo you can see Pete.

Summit smiles

The crew after having a beer and hiking part of the way down.

It was a pretty good day out there, though I don’t think I’d recommend the route we did unless you know what you’re doing. And I’m not sure I could even find it again. The easy way up, and route of our descent, can be found here.

Thanks again for the great adventure day, Ty and Pete! Always good being in the mountains with you guys.

100-word Sci-Fi Story Contest

A few of the awards from my book club’s recent awards gala.

For the past year I’ve been organizing a Science-Fiction book club based out of Vancouver. We recently held our First Annual Awards gala. House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds swept the show, winning Book of the Year while one of the characters won “Best Human Character of the Year” and another won “Best Non-Human Character of the Year.” We also gave out awards (photo above) to a few of the club members.

Last week the group had a short story contest. The rules were it had to be 100 words or less, and the theme was “Unintended Consequences.”

Below are the stories, shared with permission of the authors:

---

Story One

He scans down the bar for unprotected devices, hoping to get lucky.

Jackpot. Brunette. Leather pants. One seat between them, unoccupied.

He cracks her phone, starts looking for something to chat her up about. We all carry our diaries in our pocket and few of us bother to close the book.

Bass thrums. He sips his drink to staunch a growing headache.

Photos. Wow.

Search history. Come back to that.

Texts. Wait. What?

He pauses looking down at a picture of himself.

“Target acquired.”

“Payload delivered.”

He looks down at his drink, pain behind his eyes supplanting reality.

“Contract complete.”

---

Story Two

The ship touches down on the bare rock and space-suited figures emerge. They scan the air and test the soil to see if the organic matter and single-cell organisms they’d seeded millenia ago had taken hold. Sensors blink negative, again. And negative again, later. And negative again, much later. It will be millions of years and hundreds of thousands of planets before they look back through deep time and space to that one planet and see something: A glimmer of life. On the planet Terra in the Sol system. They log the information and return, smiling, to their dreamless hypersleep.

---

Story Three (The Jump)

"A parachute jump!" he exclaimed. "You've had this on your bucket list forever" she said and hugged him.

He left home early for the safety training so she drove to the airport alone.

One by one parachutes unfurled followed by awkward landings in a nearby field. She waited for him to run toward her buzzing with adrenaline.

But he never landed in the field. The instructor said he'd vanished after the training.

She returned home.

That evening he walked quietly through the door, sat down and turned on the television. She looked at him. "What?" he asked. "Nothing" she replied.

---

Story Four

Dr smith looked at the company’s quarterly earnings and couldn’t help but smile. His breakthroughs in stem cell research had not only sent the company stock soaring, it also meant the country was now the only real option for stem cell treatment in the world. The patent ensured it would be for the next twenty years. Dr smith clicked through his inbox wherein he’d received congratulations and links to news sites that speculated on the ways his research would change the world. One headline wiped the smile off his face:

Human Farming Black Market Created By Demand For Stem Cells.

---

Story Five

“Once more, please.”

“I just…” “I know. One more time, please.”

“Fine. It was just standing there when I got home.”

“How did it get in?”

“I told you, I don’t know.”

“Windows intact? Door still locked?”

“Yes. It was just there.”

“What did it do when you entered?”

“Nothing. Just stared.”

“You're sure it was the same one?”

“Yeah. I mean, I assume. Is there more than one?”

“Where was the victim when you entered?”

“On the table.” “Dead?” “Yeah. He was my... our old boss.”

“Then?”

“Nothing. It left. Why my house?”

“You tell me. You designed it.”

---

We’ll probably be doing a few more of these over the next few weeks and I’ll continue to post them.

In the meantime, please feel free to support the charity of choice of our book club: Books For Me Vancouver:

Books for Me! is a non-profit Society and a registered charity based in Vancouver. For many families, buying children's books just isn't possible. Books for Me! provides children from these families an opportunity to build their own libraries for free. Our program comes to life as children choose their own book to take home and keep.

Somewhere North of Pemberton

For Canada Day weekend I went on an amazing three day, two night hike with a few friends.

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Client Collaboration: 10 Tips For A Successful Workshop

I’ve had great success holding workshops with clients to develop brand plans, build digital strategies, kick off projects, and plan campaigns.

Workshops can eliminate our two most common barriers: inefficiency and misalignment.

Think about how long it typically takes to get planning and strategy off the ground. One week’s worth of feedback easily stretches into two. Revisions eat up a third, just in time for that crucial client to go on vacation for a fourth. A well-planned workshop can accomplish more in one day than constant rounds of emails would in a month.

Alignment on the client’s side is another common pain point. Nobody wants to go back to the drawing board when the head of operations finally gets looped in and vetoes the whole direction. Holding a workshop ensures that all the relevant voices are heard in a way that enables dialogue, well before the wheels are put into motion. When everyone feels they’ve had a say in the output of the workshop, they stay invested in the plan they made together.

So, what does a successful workshop look like? Here are ten rules I employ to ensure my sessions with clients are fruitful.


1. Get the right people in the room

A workshop is an amazing opportunity to pull knowledge from other people aside from your immediate clients or the marketing team. Sales, technology and operations will have insights into the company and its customers that will help round out discussion in the room, and will expedite alignment later on.


2. Have a plan  

A workshop isn’t an open-ended brainstorm. A successful workshop has an objective, a desired output, and a plan for how to get there.

Each component of the workshop should have a purpose, and you should know what the output is going to be from it. Even introductory/”ice-breaker” activities should directly relate to the goal.

I typically provide attendees an agenda of the workshop beforehand, but only with the names of the different components and approximate timings. I keep a printout of my fully detailed plan in front of me during the session, with my notes on the exact process/directions I want to follow for each component.

3. Get rid of technology

A workshop is a chance for a group of people to interact with each other without distractions. I often insist on a “no laptops or phones” rule, but let the room know they’ll be able to check email and put out fires during the breaks. And for the most part, people actually enjoy the rare luxury of being away from their devices.

Likewise, I rarely use more than two or three slides at the start of the workshop to set the scene. I keep time on a wristwatch, make my notes in a notebook, and consult the detailed agenda I’ve printed out.


4. Everyone does homework

Giving your workshop attendees a homework assignment puts them in the right frame of mind to tackle the workshop objective. It’s also a chance for them to do some thinking in advance.

The homework doesn’t have to be complicated. Some things that work for me are to have them bring in a object that they feel represents their company (currently or in the future), write a description of who they think the most important audience/customer is, or make a list of five adjectives describing how they see their company.

I do the homework too, which also includes having a very good understanding of my clients’ business, the problems they face, and their customers. Ideally, I have time for at least a few weeks of discovery that includes customer research and stakeholder interviews.


5. Throw out the plan

Not entirely, of course; but be flexible. When a great discussion unfolds, don’t halt the progress. Feel free to keep it going regardless of your original time estimate. When I build my workshop agenda, I allocate 15% of the total time to contingency. This gives me the flexibility to let certain components run long. It’s also not a big deal if we don’t use it - no one ever complains about ending a bit early or having a bit of extra time in their day.  

By the same token, if one of the components you’ve planned isn’t quite working, don’t force it - just move on to what’s next (and maybe have an alternate activity in your back pocket, just in case).


6. Have a point of view

The workshop is about pulling out information and getting opinions from the participants – and that includes you. You’re walking into the room with your own hypothesis, and your point of view has value. There’s no need to force your thinking on the clients, but attendees are more likely to elaborate on their own opinions when you can follow or steer their line of thinking.


7. Don’t solve everything in the room

A workshop is only the first step, and it can be easy to get bogged down in specifics during the session. Don’t let this happen, and remind the room regularly that you don’t need to solve everything today. Your job as the moderator is to make sure that the strategies are captured. The finer points will be finessed in your post-workshop recap.


8. Take Breaks

Big discussions can be taxing on everyone. Breaks give people time to relax a bit, absorb what’s been said, think about what else they want to add to the talks, and of course check their phones.

During these breaks, push coffee and water on the participants to help keep energy levels up. If I’m working with a food/beverage client, I’ll try to order food from both them and their competitors. Beer and wine is a great idea for the last break of the session, or when wrapping up.

9.  Wind it down

I aim to build in 30 minutes at the end of the workshop for a wrap up. It’s a chance for the attendees to sit back and reflect on what they’ve discussed while I give them an overview of my notes. This is a good opportunity to read some body language to gauge what parts excited them or were less useful.

I thank them for their time and give them timelines for next steps, and as they’re packing up, I like to close my notebook and have a more casual chat with them. What did they like? What are they expecting to see next? Since the workshop is effectively over, they’re more likely to be candid about their feelings. I find this step to be one of the most valuable.


10. Follow Up

I present my refined notes from the workshop within a week of the session. This ensures everything is still fresh in the minds of the attendees, and keeps forward momentum on the project. The follow-up is a recap of what was agreed on, or the most important points of the workshop. It’s not simply typing up the minutes of a meeting, and it often requires quite a bit of wordsmithing to solve all those problems that you promised you wouldn’t solve in the room.

A well-run workshop gets you to a better place of strategic output in less time than you would with an endless email back-and-forth. If you want more information about how a workshop can bring more efficiency and alignment to your company’s strategic solutions, drop me an email.

Parker Mason

I’m @ParkerNow on Twitter and Instagram.

Hiking The Kaupo Gap, Biking Down The Haleakala Highway

Almost a year ago I came up with the idea for an epic one-day mission on Maui: Hike from sea level to the top of Haleakala, a dormant volcano with a summit at 10,000 feet, then ride a bike down the paved roads on the other side, almost 80km, back to where my parents live.

Last week, I made it happen.

On Friday, I rented a bike and drove it up to the to the summit, then went to bed super early that night.

On Saturday morning, I woke up at 4:00am and got picked up at 4:30am.

At 6:15am, my ride and I arrived at this spot just a little bit north of the Kaupo General Store (its on the East side of the island, south of Hana). It wasn’t exactly sea level, but close enough for my purposes. Once it was light enough, I said goodbye and hiked down the road to the trailhead.

Walking along the road on the way to the trail head - this seemed like such a perfect Hawaiian scene.

After gaining some elevation, I saw the edge of the sun hitting the rim of the crater.

Stopped for a drink of water and a snack here, looking South East.

I thought this tree looked neat - plus you can see the tip of the big island above the clouds behind it. Elevation here is around 1000m/~3,000 feet.

Just before entering the national park boundary - the “trail” is a little bit tricky to find (I don’t think many people hike this route. It’s a good thing I had a good GPS app!)

The view after a few hours of hiking - almost above the clouds here. The trail was a bit better, and I regret that I didn’t get a better picture of the crater wall (just to the left in this photo). It was massive, and really gave you an idea of the scale of Haleakala.

In the crater properly now - it’s an incredibly desolate and beautiful landscape. It feels like Mars (which is probably why I like it so much - if you know me, you know my obsession with the Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson).

The summit is barely visibly in the left of this photo. The elevation of the crater floor is around 2,000m.

View from the summit, at around 3,000m or 10,000 feet. The last 500m climb was incredibly tough- I was super exhausted after hiking for 7ish hours, and was also really feeling the elevation.

The far wall is where I hiked from, and almost the entire last third of the hike is visible in this photo.

Look closely and you can see a near-full moon (there’s probably a better term for that…) in the sky.

Then after a short break for water and to text my parents (gotta let them know I was safe!) I hopped on the bike that I had left there the day before….and rode down the paved roads on the other side. The first 55km were pretty much downhill (and cold!). Then it was flat cycling for about 25km.

I was super focussed on not getting blown off the side of the road by the wind, and also on braking enough so I didn’t go into the hairpin turns too fast, so didn’t really enjoy the view.

I made it home in time to have a beer and watch the sunset with my dad.

The hiking route (Google’s projected time was 8h34m, which was pretty much on the mark (I think I finished in a little over 8 hours)

The bike ride (which took about 2h45m).

Some notes on this hike:

• I had 3.5 litres of water with me - it wasn’t enough. I’d recommend much more than that if you’re doing this hike.

• The hike from Kaupo General Store into the crater is absolutely brutal - much of the trail is like an old ATV trail with big, loose rocks (I’m used to New Zealand and British Columbia, where the trails are in much better condition!) I chalk this up to this section being rarely used.

• Use a a map app! I used Gaia GPS, and made sure I had a map of the region downloaded. There were a few sections where the trail was hard to find.

• I really felt the elevation/altitude at the end - the last 500m of elevation were some of the toughest I’ve done.

A Smokey Hike To Wedgemount Lake

In the midst of all the forest fire smoke a few weeks ago my friend and I took a Tuesday off work to hike to Wedgemount Lake. 

Vancouver Trails describes it as "the most difficult hike in Garibaldi" and a "gruelling trek" with "spectacular scenery." 

I was into it. 

A lot of the hike was like this, but steeper: classic BC landscape.

After a few hours of hiking, the trail flattened out a bit. You can see the haze in the air here from the smoke.

A few more steps and we saw the lake - the light quality was surreal, and really made it feel like a different planet. You can see the glacier in the background of this photo.

We hiked out to the other side of the lake to get a different view. Once again, you see the smoke in the air.

We worked up a thirst on the way up.

We hiked all the way to the glacier - maybe one of the last times to be up close to one with the way the world is going.

Some beautiful mountain flowers.

All in, it took us about five hours round trip (though that was with lots of stops for photos and lunch). 

I'd really recommend this hike - it's probably even more beautiful on a clear day. 

Istanbul > Tbilisi > Beirut

Every once in a while things line up for the opportunity to take the trip of a lifetime. In this case, it was the combination of a flexible work schedule and my friend Amir living in Beirut. 

I'd never really had a huge interest in visiting the Middle East (or Eurasia), 

A neat little street near the place we stayed in Istanbul

Wandering the streets of Istanbul

We saw a concert our first night

The famous Gallatea tower

Typical Turkish breakfast (at least for us tourists)

Inside the Hagia Sophia, Istanbul

Inside the Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia - Upper level

Door near the Hagia Sophia

View from the Hagia Sophia

Mosque near Hagia Sophia

Gate detail, Istanbul

Ancient obelisk, Istanbul

Flowers in Istanbul

Another Turkish breakfast

Building in Tbilisi

I grew a moustache - it was looking good just one week into the trip.

A sewing machine factory converted into a trendy hostel/bar in Tbilisi, Georgia

The entrance to a different bar

Inside.

Instead of crosswalks, Tbilisi had these underground tunnel things. During the day, they were lined with small shops.

The baths in Tbilisi (they're famous!)

The hot water spring weaves between buildings

Mosque in Beirut

Marina in Beirut

Beirut street

View from my friend's apartment in Beirut

Buildings in Beirut. The whole city felt like an amazing combination of old and new.

Beirut salads with my friend.

Interior, Amir's apartment.

Lebanese wine country

Olive trees (I think)

Two old friends hanging out in Lebanon

Lebanese winery stop

Beirut sunset

Three Days In the North Cascades

During the Victoria Day long weekend here in Canada, I drove down to Washington State to go ski touring with a couple of friends. 

It was one of the tougher trips I've done (that said, it feels like every trip we do is the toughest one I've done!) and really pushed me out of my comfort zone. 

Some of the gear. Not picture: skis, poles, boots, additional warm weather gear. 

After a 5km walk down a logging road (in ski boots, carrying our gear), we should have had an fairly easy ski up to camp. Snow conditions were brutal, it was a lot more technical than we thought and there was a lot of swearing.

Our camp on the fist day. This was either immediately before or immediately after we got hit with freezing rain, and laid low in the tents for an hour or so. 

Sunset view from camp facing the other way. 

Sahale Peak was our destination: that little black triangle in the centre of the photo. It was still a a long ways off, but the weather was great. This photo was taken around 8am, after a 6am departure from camp. 

Rearranging gear and getting a drink as we head up Sahale Glacier. 

Pete out ahead, boot packing the last snow section until the peak. It was steep. 

Just relaxing before the summit. 

Different angle as previous photo. Just chilling near the summit. 

Ty lead-climbing the final summit section with his skis and gear - what an animal! He was planning on skiing off the far side, but conditions weren't good for it. 

Not pictured: Me freaking out when I had to climb this section and almost not making the summit. Thanks for pushing me through it, Ty and Pete! 

Pete's boots as he belays Ty. 

Summit view. 

Rappelling down from the summit (thanks for the photo, Ty!).

We found some nice snow to ski down on the descent. Not pictured: my huge, wide turns (my legs were too tired to make pretty turns). 

Skiing out the final section after waking up in the clouds. You can sort of see some glaciers up on those cliffs, with big waterfalls running off of them. 

Hiking back out 5km down the logging road with our gear - the green of the temperate rain forest felt like a different world after two days of snow, ice and rock. 

It was an unbelievable trip, and there was no way I could have done it without Ty and Pete planning, leading and guiding me through it. 

I'm glad I pushed through and made the summit for no other reason than the sense of accomplishment.

Pfizer Caremate

A few months after I started working in advertising, I was at a party and met a friend of a friend who had been in the industry for years. 

"You'll be lucky if you see one thing you worked on get made per year," he told me. 

He went on to clarify that what he meant was that it was rare to see things get made the way you as a creative or strategist truly envisioned them. The journey from idea to finished project is a long one, with lots of hurdles in the way in the form of feedback (client and internal), cost, changing business needs and production along the way. 

Even if something does get made, there's not guarantee you'll actually see it in any a reasonable timeframe. Especially if you leave the agency and/or country, and the actual product has a niche or internal audience. 

One example of this is Pfizer Caremate, an app that helps advanced stage renal cancer patients manage their treatment, symptoms and issues. I worked on it while I was the Lead Digital Strategist at DDB New Zealand in Auckland almost 3 years ago, and only just learned (via Campaign Brief) that it's gone live (I suspect the long delay has to do with the legal and regulatory approvals that come with creating anything in the pharmaceutical/healthcare space). 

This is one of those projects that was hard to work on, but that I'm equally happy we did. As the strategist, I conducted a number of interviews with health care professionals to learn more about the symptoms and treatment, and while this isn't a cure it's something that will help. 

There's more from the Campaign Brief article, featuring my old colleague Hayden Kerr, here: 

Caremate is a digital platform designed to help those with advanced renal cancer take control of their treatment. The digital format makes adhering to their programme and monitoring their condition easy and convenient regardless of where they are, ultimately helping them achieve better treatment outcomes. 

Pfizer manufactures a leading medication for renal cancer patients. The Caremate programme was prompted by research gathered by Pfizer NZ in an effort to understand how to improve the lives of renal cancer patients and go beyond medication with comprehensive care. 

DDB Digital NZ creative director, Haydn Kerr, says that while a creative agency developing a digital app to support patients taking a medicine may sound unusual, using creativity and empathy to solve a medical problem makes a world of sense.

Says Kerr: "At DDB we believe our role is to create real-world solutions for the businesses we serve. Caremate is an innovative new programme that does just that, and we're proud to work with Pfizer NZ to bring it to life for those in need."

The Caremate app and its support pack work together to remind patients to take their medication, record their blood pressure, mood and symptoms on a daily basis while tracking their treatment. It also provides guidance on how to deal with symptoms they may be experiencing.
Healthcare professionals can access the data from the app during patient visits to obtain a more accurate overview of how the treatment has been working and a better understanding of how to optimise it.

With a host of success stories in both New Zealand and Australia, Pfizer is now assessing how Caremate could be employed globally for other diseases where patients face similar challenges.
For Kerr, the fact that Caremate is already being used daily by patients to manage their treatment is immensely rewarding.

Says Kerr: "We produce work all the time to help businesses achieve their goals, whatever they may be, but to see something like this out there helping people and know that, with the weight of Pfizer behind it, it might go on to help many, many more people -- it's a very cool thing to see and an amazing thing to be a part of."

Apparently, the app also won a "Primey": Excellence in Patient Support at the Prime Awards in Australia. 

2017 Athletic Accomplishments

They say that the hardest thing in the world to give up is a regular paycheque, but that working for yourself is incredibly rewarding. Having quit a fairly good job on a steady career trajectory (with the associated steady paycheque) to strike out on my own in a new city about two years ago, I can say that that is definitely the case. (I'll probably write another blog post about the experience of working for myself at some point soon). 

It's been an interesting journey, and one of the pluses has been the flexibility to pursue some athletic activities and knock off a few accomplishments. 

1.) I summited Mt. Baker on Skis 

Although I grew up skiing in the Rocky Mountains just outside of Calgary, I spent most of the last ten years chasing waves around the world. When I moved to Vancouver, I knew I wanted to do more mountain stuff, but didn't envision that it would include skiing UP a 10,000 foot volcano, sleeping on a glacier and skiing down it the next day. 

it was the hardest trip I've ever done, but also the best.  

Read the trip report here. 

2.) I won a Gold Medal at a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu competition 

I've been training BJJ for a few years, and have competed before (a mix of last place and silver medal finishes), but November at the Vancouver Open was the first time I won the gold (and was an entire weight-class lighter than the guys I competed against). My coach said I won my matches by "the thinnest of margins," but a win is a win, and gold feels pretty good after a lot of hard work. 

3.) I did 2000m in 6m46s on the Indoor Rowing Machine 

It's not quite as exciting as the other accomplishments, but to me it's massive, and enough to put me way above the 90th percentile of the types of people who record these things. 

If you've ever tried a 2k erg, no matter what your time, you'll know how gruelling it can be. Men's Health magazine describes it as a "test of psychological will."

(I also pulled a 3m11s 1000m, but definitely think I can improve on that). 

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I turn 36 in a few months, and am already looking forward to what I'll accomplish in the next year.