by Kyuwon Kim
In my role as the Programming Assistant for IKBLC, I usually sit at the office and do miscellaneous data entry, upload webcasts on to the web, and install the art exhibits in the lobby/Ike’s… all interesting things but every once in a while I get to be a part of really exciting events!
In October, I got to help run the Small Business Accelerator event. I had the pleasure of hearing insights from business from Paul Cubbon (Sauder Prof) and George Moen (CEO of Blenz Coffee). As a student with a timetable that is royal to the Forest Sciences Centre, I learned so much about business that evening! Prof Cubbon and Mr. Moen are the dynamic duo. They balance each other perfectly. Mr. Moen was telling it like it is, sharing his personal stories on success and failures. (His sound advice can be found here). Prof Cubbon gave concrete examples of his past students who are now running super successful businesses, installing hope in the eager audience. Following their presentations, the audience got to ask them questions. I was given the role of the microphone girl, running around from one keen hand to another making sure the audience had a chance to ask their burning-business-related questions. My favourites from the night were: “Is it possible to do business with family?” and “Why did Blenz fail in China?” The answers to these questions as well as the full webcast is available here.
In November, I had the pleasure of assisting with another Robson Reading Series event. The featured author this time around was Michael V. Smith, a creative writing professor from UBC-O and a founder of the RRS! Michael read from his new novel, “Progress”. This reading was my first introduction to the novel. I can say that from the excerpts that he read, it made me want to ditch school, curl up with the book and a large cup of tea, and find out how this family drama unfolds. That being said, my biggest take-away from the event was the casual Q&A at the end. It is absolutely brilliant to hear an author do a reading of their own work, it’s even more fantastic is to hear about the author’s writing process. So one of the questions posed to Michael was “Do you believe in writer’s block?” Michael gave probably the best answer I have ever heard. He interprets writers block as “not giving yourself permission to write crap”. He says that a writer’s block can easily be overcome by giving yourself permission to play, to write crap, and not giving yourself crap. He elaborates, “It doesn’t have to be perfect until it’s done. Besides, writing imperfect stuff is fabulous because it means you only have room to improve. Everything you write doesn’t have to be precious. Just be ready to invest a lot in to the initial crap to turn it into something precious. Diamonds weren’t formed in a day, the Earth took eons to play with carbon. The Earth invested a lot in carbon”. Afterwards, I Wiki-ed “diamond formation”. It turns out the Earth invests up to 3.3 billion years to form diamonds. So dear readers, sorry if this blog entry isn’t a precious diamond yet. But hey, at least I gave permission to myself to write something.
Note: Michael V. Smith’s webcast will soon be uploaded on to our webcast page