Improve your Writing
November 8th, 2013
Hanging out with teenagers can be an enlightening experience. Last week, I participated in a panel discussion convened by MediaSmarts, “Canada’s centre for digital and media literacy” and a repository of fabulous resources for teachers, parents and kids. The teenagers present from across Canada asked really smart questions, many of which betrayed both deep scepticism […]
read more...TL;DR – advice to ignore, but implications to heed
Our Advocacy Work
October 14th, 2013
I don’t often shout back at the TV, despite the vast volume of material it broadcasts that I find vile or banal. But last week I couldn’t help myself. The object of my fury wasn’t Fox News or Sun TV, it wasn’t some retrograde beauty pageant, exploitive reality show, or a crime drama featuring a […]
read more...Girls fuel outrage and inspiration
Master Media Engagement
April 4th, 2013
It’s one of the most commonly-cited deterrents to doing media interviews: not having control over how the words you speak will be used in the resulting story, whether it’s in a newspaper, on the radio or on TV. But just because you can’t oversee the editing or transmission process doesn’t mean you shouldn’t participate — […]
read more...When they get it wrong
Improve your Writing
April 2nd, 2013
Will Dena McMartin’s recent op ed in the Regina Leader-Post help prevent a flooding disaster and save lives? It just might. And even if it doesn’t, the informed analysis of the University of Regina professor of environmental systems engineering offered citizens valuable and timely information about her city’s pending spring thaw. At the same time, its […]
read more...“It’s not about you”
Master Media Engagement
January 31st, 2013
Guilt didn’t play a big role in my upbringing: I was never discouraged from having sex in order to prevent my mother from having a heart attack, nor was I warned to do well in school to compensate for any sacrifices my parents suffered in raising me. So it comes as a surprise to me […]
read more...The Motivational Power of Guilt
Our Advocacy Work
December 19th, 2012
The confession made by the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies doubled as both a great tip and the best laugh of the day. Last week during one of three Informed Opinions workshops I delivered in Winnipeg (thank you, Jane Ursel, director of RESOLVE and a professor at the University of Manitoba), a discussion broke out […]
read more...WTF???
Increase Your Impact as a Speaker and Presenter
November 21st, 2012
Even if you’re telling people 10 things they didn’t know about orgasms, or describing the experience of having a stroke from the inside out, it’s a lot harder to engage an online audience for your TED talk than it is to gather eyeballs for a celebrity meltdown or political sex scandal. (Partly because those options are among […]
read more...Five tips to developing a successful TED talk
Improve your Writing
August 23rd, 2012
Far too much research has already documented that when something goes wrong, women are highly inclined to blame the problem or setback on their own deficiencies. This tendency operates in stark contrast to men, who are more likely to blame external circumstances, regardless of the actual cause. There’s an upside to women’s default of accepting […]
read more...Most common errors made by aspiring op ed writers – part 2
Improve your Writing
August 9th, 2012
If you saw the following sentence at the start of a piece in your daily newspaper, would you keep reading? “You don’t see a lot of naked men in advertising.” Lots of people did — no thanks to me. The lede I’d originally placed at the top of an essay I wrote 20 years ago […]
read more...Don’t Bury the Lede!
