A stone throw away from John Legend!

August 15,2012

I have learnt that you can never put a price tag on exposure! What I have learnt in the last few days, I could never share effectively or even put a price tag on the value of that knowledge. Thanks to Star FM, Techtools, South African Airways and Mutupo, neo-soul maestro,Prayersoul, along with 2 lucky winners and I made our way to the John Legend concert in Johannesburg, South Africa. This experience was very holistic as I am speaking from a perspective of an event planner, artist and fan! So let's talk about the venue. I remember arriving at the Sandton Convention Centre about 2 hours before the show hoping to find queues, and traffic jams and the works, but alas it was extremely calm and as we entered there was absolutely no one! So a bit confused we asked the guards where the show was only to be told its on the 5th floor! This venue has 11 000 secure parking bays (which explains the lack of drama outside), 22000 square metres of convention and exhibition space, the Pavillion can seat 4500 patrons, the Ballroom can seat 2000 banquet guests, and 13 other meeting rooms that can accommodate 350. This 12 storey structure is designed to provide special event space over 5 main levels. Forgive me for the details... But I was in "venue heaven"! I will cut the few drinks bit and go straight to the show which started fairly on time with only 2 curtain raisers, Unathi and Micasa who gave amazing performances for not more than 45 mins each and soon after, John Legend was introduced. Here's an aerial view: I'm sitting smack in the middle of the venue, with 2 large screens on either side, amazing acoustics in the room and to top it all off, I'm sitting next to Kunle Ayo, Nigerian guitarist and his wife! Somebody pinch me! Suddenly 2 beautiful ladies start singing "heaven only knows, heaven only kno-ooows!" The sound changed! The lighting changed! The mood changed! The Legend was here and he casually walked on stage with that smirk of a smile, dressed in a black suit and black tee! He should have just had the inscription "born to do this" on his forehead! I couldn't help but move to the front to see if it was really him! The view from 5 meters away was even better. He looked "clean", yes he was smartly dressed, but he looked clean, walked with such presence and exuded passion for his music. And by the time he sang "Green light" with the green lights all over the stage I was sold! It was evident that John Legend invests a substantial amount of time in his work. The backing vocalists had such precision and coordination both vocally and physically, the arrangement of the music was on point, and it was clear that everything was rehearsed over and over and over! He controls his band and sounds good with or without it. That concert would have been just as good with him alone on the piano. This concert was flawless in my eyes. And now the challenge lies in bringing this perfection and excellence back home. Tjo!

I am doing me- Looking good

I had lunch with a client of mine, and just as we were rounding up, his family joined us, his family being his wife and 3 kids who are in high school. I'm assuming my client and his wife are in their 40s but when his wife and kids walked in, I could have sworn they were sisters (as in the kids and their mum). My client's wife was looking sooo good, dressed casually but nice and greeted me with such warmth. Her skin was healthy and carried a magazine cover smile, you know that perfect smile, and her body certainly did not look like she had 3 kids! And when I was introduced to her, I was convinced they were joking, and my client wreaked with pride knowing that I thought his wife was so hot! Looking good doesn't hurt and it changes your perception towards a lot of things. I like the feeling I get when I have a new hairstyle,so I have made it a point to change my hairstyle often because it makes me feel good and that resonates in everything else in my life. When you are confident in the way you look, guaranteed everything else you do will be done confidently. I'm on a massive #Iamdoingme campaign because sometimes we neglect ourselves and it affects aspects of your life that don't even deserve to be neglected. A friend said to me unless I start doing me, nothing else will take shape because 'me' has to be grounded before I can even start helping you! So find out what makes you feel good about yourself and do that as often as possible. I am doing me, so you do you, so that when we come together...makeke!

I am doing me - Introducing me.

Don't you just get irritated when someone says to you "So tell me about yourself". I'm often tempted to say "google me, save me the drama". I know this question comes so many times and half the time I don't even know where to start. Sometimes you dread that question because you don't even know yourself enough to pitch yourself to your potential employer, a new friend or even potential lover. So this pitch about yourself cannot be confidently delivered unless you know your product in and out. What can you do, what can't you do? What are your strengths and weaknesses? Are you honest enough with yourself to expose the weaknesses. And have you accepted those weaknesses and see them as opportunities to make yourself better? And what steps are you taking to continually make yourself relevant? This product of me is so exciting and getting to settle into your skin is not easy let alone presenting an idea of who and what you are about to someone else. So what I have done is I've sat down and created a little prose about myself, what I do, what I like and don't like and a few personal details and memorised it. Who better to sell yourself, than you! So next time you ask me to tell you about me WATCH OUT, I'm ready!

What are you doing with your time?

If there is a wish that I would want granted, it would be to have more hours in a day. Its amazing that with all this technology that we have nowadays we cannot recycle or reverse time. So in essence every second counts hence whatever you do in every second of the day should really be productive. A lot of us take this very lightly but that is what seperates the winners from the losers. The amount of time put into a particular task, in addition to discipline and focus determines its outcome. As if there was some sort of divine intervention, my bible reading for the day seemed to echo sentiments on time management. "See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil." (Ephesians 5vs15-16). The sequence in which you perform tasks on a daily basis has a profound effect on how much you get out of life. Its important for you to analyse what you are doing with your time and remove the things that are not productive in your day immediately. So how best can you do this? I have been following Tim Hindle's Essential Managers series, particularly "Manage your time". You must cost your time so that you see just how much money you lose by wasting time. To find out the cost of each minute, multiply your annual salary by 1.5 to include overheads and divide the total by the number of working hours in a year. Divide this total by 60. The only way you can make better use of your time is analysing how you currently use it and then make adjustments where necessary. Keep a time log for about a week stating exactly what you are doing and at what time. You would be suprised how much time you are wasting away. Have a long term vision and whatever you do with your time in a day should be contributing to that vision in one way or the other. "You cannot decide what to deal with today unless you know where you want to be tomorrow. Any plan to improve your use of time depends on being clear about your goals." Tim Hindle. Jason Drew, CEO of Dialogue SA, says one must commit to an outcome then ask "What do I need to make this happen tomorrow?" Then start doing it today. According to the CEO, tomorrow is long term if you want change. If you just sit down for one minute and then say "right what can I do in the next hour? What phone calls can I make? What things can I do to change the week ahead? Then you can achieve more in an hour than in a whole week of tomorrows!!! So I ask you again, what are you doing with your time?