ANZAC Day 2017 – Australian Cycling Corps

ANZAC Day 2017

Today is ANZAC Day in Australia. April 25th is one of Australia’s most important national cultural holidays. ANZAC stands for the Australian & New Zealand Army Corps. ANZAC Day marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand men and women during the First World War. There are Dawn services, parades and events all day, all over the country.

I left my house early this morning and got caught up in a local ANZAC Day Parade being held down the main drag of my suburb. It was one of many events being held today. The largest ANZAC events are held in each capital city – and Brisbane was no exception.

As I watched the event pass by, I saw that many of the locals had ridden in to participate. A good idea considering roads are closed because of the parade, as well as traffic and extra parking difficulties.

It reminded me that I had heard about bicycles being used in WW1 and other conflicts. So I went home to investigate further and this is what I found …

Australian Cycling Corps

Before the official formation of cycling units, bikes were used for transport and other military needs. It is not well known that the AIF had cycling units that were used in many of the major battles during the First World War such as Messines in June 1917, and Passchendale July 1917. These units were deployed to the front line as well as undertaking cable burying, traffic control and reconnaissance work.

What kinds of bikes were used in WW1?

They were issued from England and manufactured from Birmingham Small Arms Company – better known as BSA. This company was also a major British arms and ammunition manufacturer since the Crimean War (1854-1856). These bikes did not come with bottle holders as today’s do. The men would carry water supplies like the regular army corps. Also the soldiers were issued with the Short Magazine Lee Enfield (SMLE) .303 calibre rifles, having the option of either attaching it to the down tube of their bike or swung across their back.

The Military Roadster

The models of the bikes ranged from the Mark I through to the Mark IV. For further information, pictures and a peek into the histo-military use of this model – the Military Roadster has an amazing article by Ian Skinner called Pedal Power (1991) which gives comprehensive details and unique insights about these bikes – including manufacturing background, bike specifications and how and why it these models were used. I highly recommend a quick look at it – it is truly a step-back in time!

Soldiers who were lucky, were issued with a Mark IV. This bike had a free wheeled hub, which basically means you were able to coast without having to pedal constantly – as with the Mark I to III. Those models had a fixed hub, which means they were Fixies (or Track Bike) – amazing!

The Mark IV was also issued with a hand operated rear brake. This brake would have nowhere near the stopping capacity of the disc brakes that are often on contemporary mountain bikes and some road bikes. These bikes did not have the luxury of knobblie tyres either (tyres that have protruding pieces of rubber for extra grip); but would have been a standard military issue of little or no grip, more like standard tyres, as can be seen in the bicycle below. This photograph was taken in Ypres, Belgium on 26 September 1917.

The humble military bicycle – then and now

The AIF cycling units have often been forgotten in military history but the humble bicycle played a very important role in the logistics of warfare. The simplicity of the bike made transportation quick and reliable.

Even in 2008 the Australian Military were using the bicycle in East Timor to improve flexibility of field patrols with a unit called Bicycle Infantry Mounted Patrol (BIMP) as seen on the front cover of Edition 1200 of the Australian Defense Force (ADF) Army magazine. Now 100 years on, and bicycles play an important role in military life, just as they do in civilian.

For further information, the book History of the First AIF/NZ Cyclist Corps 1916-19 CYCLING TO WAR by Ronald J Austin goes into detail of the Corps and is an excellent overview. Request it at your largest library!

This post is modified from a previous article by Ally Roche written for the Australian War Memorial.

03/04/201728/04/2017

English Australia (QLD Branch) PD Fest 2017

Yesterday I attended the annual English Australia (Queensland Branch) PD Fest.

My ride into UQ, St Lucia on Leki my flower bike put me in a particularly good mood. It was a beautiful morning despite the clean up still happening due to (ex-) cyclone Debbie having passed through. Although I admit to stopping on the bridge to marvel at the state of the Brisbane River (click on the Instagram link at bottom of this post for more photos of Debbie’s impact). Once on site though, I found a great spot for Leki to chill out for the day just near the Conference entrance with all the other bikes. It was lovely to have other delegates come up looking for me and tell me they had seen my bike outside I knew it must have been me. Leki is far better than any name tag!

What is the PD Fest?

This event is primarily for teachers who teach English at various levels to people from overseas. Delegates come from a range of organisations all over Queensland. Participants are in various roles (not just teaching), but the commonality is that we all work with International students, migrants, refugees or any other ‘English as a second language learner’.

I presented at this conference two years ago and so can appreciate the effort that the presenters and organisers put into making this event happen. This year I was interested in attending to see if there were any new ideas to experiment with in my class and to see what other projects, practices and approaches other teachers were using. I made an effort to meet a few new people, all of whom were interesting company and had a wealth of teaching (and life) experiences. There was a good array of sessions that were thought-provoking and useful – as you can see from the schedule below.

English Australia (QLD Branch) PD Fest 2017

Here is the full Conference Program book: 2017 PD Fest Program Book

$6 million Partnership Fund – anyone want some?
I stayed to the very end. I was keen to see the All Star Band play – and all day I been thinking about something that Patrick Mafenstein (Group Manager – International Education and Training Unit, Trade & Investment Queensland) had presented in the morning session. He had outlined the new Queensland state strategy focused on International Students and ELICOS Education – which involves a $6 million partnership fund. One of the stipulations to apply for this funding is that application needs to be a consortium (two or more organisations – to spread the resources, work and results around). Here is an outline of the Strategy and all its details: International Education Training Strategy to Advance Queensland 2016-2026

Source: International Education Training Strategy to Advance Queensland 2016-2026, pg 5.

During his presentation, Patrick asked if anyone was thinking of applying for some of the funding and as far as I could see only two hands went up in a full auditorium.

At this stage, one of the PD Fest organisers jumped in good-naturedly to tell the audience that the EA Queensland Branch was in a position to apply (was a consortium) and would welcome ideas on some projects.

Supply bicycles to international students studying in Queensland

So this is my idea for English Australia to apply for a slice of the international student funding.

To address one of the major strategic imperatives (specifically #17, as well as community engagement), I think Queensland should pilot a program where international students are supplied with bicycles for greater educational, employment and recreational mobility.

This idea could go in any number of ways and is only limited by the imagination (and interest and budget of course!). Part of the program could be safety and some riding skills as well as basic mechanical skills (changing a type etc.) needed to get started.

Additional considerations would be things like helmets, lights, reflector and locks.

To my knowledge, there is no ‘educational’ initiative that is specficially addressing international student transportation needs, so it would be ‘innovative’ as well as being sustainable, novel and practical.

The cost of transportation is currently high for international students and the impact of being isolated and unable to ‘get out’ can have serious negative impacts ranging from boredom to depression – but having access to a bicycle is mitigates such issues – it also means students are out and participating in social community life.

Mobility is an aspect of student life that is fundamental to community accessibility and interaction, yet is rarely discussed. Bicycles are a great way for students to also access other livelihood imperatives, such as health, fitness and vocational opportunities.

Queensland has some great weather for cycling, so there is even more of an impetus to get students out and about and enjoying it.

There could be an opportunity to link into other local community groups and programs or develop the idea to meet other strategic imperatives. WOudl be good to link into the local community via canvassing and collecting bicycles and collaborating with local organisations and bike and/or men’s shed to refurbish appropriate bicycles for use.

Anyway, that was the idea I pitched to the organisers at the end of the day – will be interesting to see what (if anything) happens…I’ll keep you in the loop!

31/03/201722/05/2017

Indian Pacific Wheel Race 2017

What is the Indian Pacific Wheel Race?

The Indian Pacific Wheel Race is an epic one-stage, unassisted 5,500 km adventure race across Australia. The IPWR website has all in the background and info you need including the route coordinates, so I won’t rehash those details here. This race is well worth taking a look at just to gauge how ‘motivated’ you consider yourself to be as a rider….

The Indian Pacific Wheel Race (also known as the IndyPac or IPWR) also has some specific rules given that it is a long-distance unsupported road ride. It is very well managed and I am impressed with the level of technology used to track riders and how effective the communications and media coverage for this event is – by the race organisers, the riders themselves (see Jackie’s page below) and the race supporters and rider fans.

It starts in Fremantle, WA and ends at Sydney Opera House, taking in 4 main section:

1. The desert (incl the Nullarbor Plain);
2. Rolling hills of the famous wine districts of South Australia;
3. The iconic Great Ocean Road; and
4. The Australian Alps.

Here is an overview of the the course:

Indian Pacific Wheel Race — Source: ABC News

Jackie Bernardi

Jackie Bernardi is one of only seven female riders registered for 2017 IndyPac.

I admit to being completely biased as Jackie has been a dear friend for many years.

It has been amazing watching her transition from rock climbing to cycling and equally inspiring to hear about her rides, adventures and exploits over the years and and to see how devoted she is to riding.

Jackie has been particularly active the last couple of years in Australian long-distance bikepacking adventure races including the Cloudride 1,000km race in the mountains surrounding Canberra and the Great Dividing Trail Race in Victoria, as well as going further afield last year to race the 4,500kms Tour Divide that runs from Banff (Canada) over the Continental Divide through the U.S. and down to the Mexico boarder, where she was one of only 11 female riders out of 191 starters (only 73 completed the race) and of which she was #1 female for the race in a time of 19 days, 21 hours and 41 mins!!! So she is certainly up for the IndyPac challenge!

Jackie is an inspirational woman and a phenomenal athlete. Her tenaciousness on the bicycle is nothing short of impressive. It has been great to see Jackie’s updates and videos as well as track her progress throughout the race via the Jackie Bernardi IndyPac 2017 Facebook page – which gives some great insights into the conditions, issues, tips and pure will power required to undertake and push on in a long-haul event like the IndyPac.

Indian Pacific Wheel Race 2017 — Source: Jackie Middleton

Update below shows Jackie coming in hot to Adelaide and setting a mean pace earlier this week for the half way mark.

Source: KO’s Facebook update.

Sad news cuts IndyPac 2017 race short

Today the IndyPac Race was cancelled due to the devastating news that early this morning, a car crash killed Mike Hall, one of the IndyPac cyclists.

At the time of the accident, the race was still underway. Mike was in second position and the lead riders were due to arrive at the finish line in Sydney later today (Friday 31st March).

Mike was a 35-year old British cyclist and well known for being one of the world’s best ultra-endurance racers and holds the record for the fastest completion of the Trans Am and Tour Divide bikepacking races in the US .

The sad news has been difficult for riders, organisers and many of the race’s fans and other cyclists alike.

Today there were a number of Mike Hall Memorial Rides in Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne, all of which had massive turn outs.

It is such a heartbreaking way to stop any event, especially an international endurance road race.

Our thoughts are with Mike Halls’ family, the IndyPac riders and their support community.

Source: Sean Conway

26/03/201722/05/2017

EWS 2017 Starts today

The Enduro World Series kicks off today in Rotorua NZ – Horray

This is going to be a great year for Enduro racing and it is awesome to see the first two rounds in the Antipodes – and with heaps of support, media and events going on there is something for everyone.

Here is where the series will be taking us this year –

I’m stoked the first round is in Rotorua. It was raining pretty hard for a while, so now the tracks are pretty muddy and slippery – a real physical challenge!

Great to see the full 7 rounds being held at Redwoods – much better than last times liaise over the other side – much better management and track link-up.

Nice to see the new (old) illegal track (now legal) as well as Dodds, and some of Whakarewarewa Forest’s best double black diamond runs being showcased for the event (see map and track overview at the end of this post).

Rotorua is the place to ride

Just 2 months ago I was in Rotorua riding exactly the same trails – it was our second year riding in Rotorua and I have posted previously about how impressed I am with the government, local business and community support that Rotorua has for mountain biking. The local community has some great authentic family-based initiatives, like the Dad’s n Lads project to get more Rotorua locals on bikes as well – so the push for more biking is not just for out-of towners.The infrastructure, encouragement and forward-thinking that Rotorua has for bike-based tourism is brilliant – they are most certainly leading the way. And rightly so. Securing some big ticket international MTB festivals such as Crankworx, this EWS round and the Rotorua Bike Festival sends a very clear message that NZ is a principal mountain biking destination.

Round 1 is anyone’s game

It will be interesting to see what happens for this round – and for the season. Personally, I’m hoping Sam Hill is in superman form and give Riche Rude, Damien Oton and Jerome Clementz a serious run for their money. I’m also hoping that NZ local boys Wyn & Eddie Masters and Matt Walker strut their stuff and show ’em how to ride NZ style on home turf – it would be awesome to see Kiwis on the podium. In the Elite Women’s, Cecil Ravanel, Isabeau Courdurier and Anita Gehrig are set to battle it out with the rest of the field. What a top line-up. If practice was anything to go by – many agree it is going to be a very exciting round!

So strap yourself in for a great EWS series full of some awesome racing this season – let’s get it on!!

Source: Pinkbike. Follow Fabien Cousinié down the 7 stages.

Source: EWS

02/03/201706/03/2017

Round 1: Garapine – 2017 Shimano Enduro Series

Well, after two weeks in Melbourne, it’s back to Brisbane and back on the bike. This weekend was Round 1 of the 2017 Shimano Enduro Series. It was at Garapine and although tired and not ride fit, I wanted to make the effort to support the event, my team and get back on the big bike.

Round 1: Garapine – 2017 Shimano Enduro Series

Despite a heavy commitment to uni for teaching and researching, I’ve committed to riding this series. I like the regularity of rounds and I look forward to them, even though I find the riding tough and I am not competitive as a racer, I derive great personal satisfaction as a rider and from challenging myself. Suffice to say, I can now more fully appreciate why there are not may academics my age riding Enduro!

See some more pictures from the day @bicycles_create_change or at the Instagram icon at the end of the post.

Changing from Masters to Elite – why?

It was a great day and I love riding the Garapine trails. This season is a little different from last year as I am registered in Elite and not Masters. As I am riding as an ambassador, I pose threat to the lead female riders and prefer to ride where there is more company – hence the change over from Masters. It is such a pity there are not enough older women Enduro riding to fill out all the divisions like Masters Female – where are you all, my fellow elder sisters? I am more than happy to participate and make up extra numbers. In my view, there can be no genuine winners unless riders like me make up the rest of field – so I am providing a very valuable race day community service by filling out this division.

How was the day?

Registration was at 8, briefing at 9 and racing commencing at 10 am. I presume the logic of the late race start is because Garapine is just under 2 hours from Brisbane and starting later will allow for as many riders to attend as to travel up and attend as possible. But equally, it also meant that we had 3.5 hours to complete 6 tracks within the time limit – 2 x Black Snake, 2 x King Brown, 1 x Blue and 1 x Dumb it Down.

Ordinarily, this was not a major issue, but on this particular day, it meant riding in the heat of a very hot day. This was definitely a contributing factor for me as I’m still adjusting to Brisbane’s humidity and scorching summer heat, let alone riding bikes up and down in a full-face helmet and pads. But that is part of the beauty of race days – and the challenge – everyone else had to deal with the same conditions.

What was my approach?

Taking into account the heat, my physical tiredness and that this was the first time I had been back on my big bike ‘Trucka-sore-arse’, in nearly two months I decided that my approach for this round was to:

Enjoy myself
Ride at my own pace
Use this as an opportunity to assess my hydration/food/exertion formula for effectiveness
Focus on honing my psychological approach to riding this race and not pushing my physical skills to the max (ie. keep positive, monitor negative self-talk, maintain humour and sociability in the face of heat/tiredness, check to see what limiting thoughts come up and address them).

Track selection

It was a self- seeding, self-selecting round, meaning that as soon as a rider had started on their first track they then could choose in what order and when they wanted to complete the course. I didn’t go crazy on the timed downhill stages, in fact, I was very reserved, just testing the waters. I rode two Black Snakes first. It is such a great track and I super enjoyed it, so my confidence was up. By the end of the third track I could feel my lack of fitness and the heat starting to take it toll – but I was mindful to keep any debilitating thoughts in check. I keep drinking water and eating and made an effort to keep moving. By my last trail I was thoroughly pooped. I left Dumb it Down til last, but the track was so blown out and chopped up that it was difficult to navigate and make any real headway, so I picked my way through, just happy to finish in time.

Also, I was conscious that I didn’t want to hold up the elite field who were ‘racing’ – it was an EWS qualifying round after all. I was happy to pull over on track and let others pass where, even though it slowed me down and in some cases, I stopped and got right off track for a few guys who were really careering on course. It was the right thing to do and getting my momentum back up was secondary to being safe, having fun and not over cooking myself. After all, it was a long, hot day and I still had to drive 2 hours home after the race.

How did other riders go?

The Defcon crew were amazingly supportive as usual. We had some good laughs, caught up on post-new year developments and generally had a blast. I had a few good chats with some other riders as we liaised back up the hills and I was happy that I looked after myself and was not suffering like other riders were. Taking the approach of focusing on my mental state paid dividends. I was able to genuinely remain positive and friendly throughout the day. I was in a much better frame of mind than quite a few other riders I saw suffering and complaining – and a few were really quite sick from heatstroke/dehydration. It stopped to help where I could offering water and food.

I have always been fascinated by how different people face the inherent difficulties of a physical challenge. I often wonder, given the immense and immediate benefits, why some athletes don’t train their minds and much as they do their bodies. It certainly helped me get through the day better.

Overall

I was very happy with my effort on the day. It was a great set up and I got to ride some of my favourite tracks. It had a great turn out with 300 riders. Some of the elite riders were really going for it on the day – as you can see from the results. I was able to catch up with a few mates I haven’t seen in ages – and it was great to see some other familiar faces as well. As an Australia EWS qualifier, I was half expecting to see Jared Graves and Richie Rude, but alas my plans to catch up with them were not to be. I can’t believe it has been nearly 2 years since I last chatted with them during the 2015 EWS season – boy how time flies!

Overall, I found the day to be quite physically draining, but that made it all the more satisfying. I’ll be buggered if I’m going to waste the opportunity to ride my bike with mates and have fun.

I’m looking forward to the next round!!

A massive thanks to Lachlan Ryan (and Co.) from Element for providing some great photos and this video on the day. It was awesome to see such a great variety of rider, divisions, ages, genders and skill levels being represented – kudos!

Yep- that’s yours truly yahooing in the video at 1’18”!

Source: Element. The Defcon Team – me (4th from left) with my awesome teammates

14/01/201731/01/2017

Year of the Bike – Happy 200th!

I’m very excited as 2017 marks the 200th anniversary of the bicycle.

Happy Year of the Bike!

Bring on 2017!

According to Chinese Astrology, we are leaving the Year of the Monkey (2016) and entering the Year of the (Fire) Rooster (starting Feb 2017 for Chinese New Year). If you are not sure what ‘Year of the ..’ you were born – check here.

The New Year transition ALWAYS means big changes – but this transition ESPECIALLY is going to uncover some sudden upheavals, dramatic ends and new beginnings. Don’t be surprised if you see relationship break ups, new lovers coming together, people leaving their jobs or being promoted, other will be moving house, going away (interstate or overseas). Passionate pleas will be made, sudden conflicts aroused, cathartic outbursts unleashed, secrets revealed and many desires fulfilled (*sigh*). No doubt a few unexpected changes to content with during this particular New Year transition – perhaps you have already noticed or experienced it’s effects??

But once this has passed, 2017 is shaping up to be AMAZING!!!

Most importantly – I think it is awesome that the wee little future riders lucky enough to be born this year can claim to be a ‘bicycle’! All those born in 2017 will be ‘Year of the Bike’ – how cool is that!!

I wonder if this means we will see a significant increase in births by cycling parents trying to have their kids born this year so they can claim their child to be ‘Year of the Bike’. It would be an interesting sociological/public health study to investigate!

I also hope this means that a few of us get a massive kick start to the New Year. Also, all year there should be HEAPS of events, exhibitions, art, gatherings, conferences and shows paying homage to the humble bicycle. So keep your eyes open for upcoming events – or even better host your own!

If you see or know of a Year of the Bike event that you think Bicycles Create Change should feature, please let me know via the comments.

2017 – Happy New Year of the Bike!!

Back in the day

It is hard to believe that it all started 200 years ago in 1817, when in his German Mannheim laboratory, Baron Karl von Drais produced the first recognised velocipede – the original of what we today call the bicycle. When it was first launched, it was called the Laufmaschine (“running machine”) and was the brunt of much ridicule.

Over the years the basic (frame and wheel) design saw many evolutions of change and development until by the 1860’s the product was such that it was officially dubbed a ‘bicycle’ from then on. As you well know, improvements in bicycle designs continue today.

The bicycle has a long and rich history, of which I am not going to recount here as it e asy to find details of the bicycle’s history, uses, popularity and transformations over the years.

How well do you know bike history?

If you love bikes and are keen to test your knowledge of bicycle history – try this HISTORY OF THE BICYCLE EXCERCISE – which also has a downloadable worksheet (and answers). See how well you do and get some extra awesome histo-cultural background to wow your mates on group rides and at dinner parties when the topic of Year of the Bike comes up.

To see a quick rehash of the major stages and changes that bicycles have undertaken over the years – this 1-minute animation is spot on.

31/12/201631/12/2016

Happy end to 2016

This last year has been filled with surprises, challenges and some very interesting developments – so I can’t wait to see what 2017 has in store!

As with last year, my last day of 2016 was warm and sunny – and so was the perfect day for one last ride for the year. I spent my last day of 2016 mountain bike riding with my husband and mates through the spectacular Whakarnewarewa Forest trails at Redwoods, Rotorua. We spent the day zooming around our favourite trails for 3.5 hours and headed up to one of the Trig stations to take in the view at the summit. Looking out at the panorama, I felt like the 360 view from the top was a perfect metaphor for taking stock of the year that has passed and taking a moment to pause, reflect and enjoy. It was a great way to finish the year.

Thank you to all of you who have supported, read and/or contributed to Bicycles Create Change over the past year. Whether you are new to this blog, or an regular BCC aficionado, I really appreciate you taking the time to see what’s happening on Bicycles Create Change. I wish you well for the next year – and hope that you are able to achieve all that your (cycling) heart desires.

I’m looking forward to sharing more adventures in 2017 where Bicycles Create Change!!

Best wishes for a Happy New Gear and happy and safe riding!!!

Bicycles Create Change - Bikes not bombs (Pinterest) — Source: Bikes not bombs (Pinterest)

25/12/2016

Happy Holidays 2016

Hi Bike Nuts!

Just a quick post to wish you and your family a very happy day today. No matter how you spend today – with family, at a BBQ, with friends, on a ride or any other way – I hope your holiday is happy, fun and safe.

No matter which holiday you believe in, or how you celebrate today (or if at all), I hope you have an wonderful day – and hopefully you’ll get some time to go for a ride in the next couple of days.

So Feliz Navidad, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Joyous Kwanzaa, Happy Holidays and enjoy your final rides leading up to the end of 2017!

23/12/201623/12/2016

Bicycle-powered Christmas Tree

On the day before I left Brisbane to fly to Rotorua for our annual MTB pilgrimage, I found myself in the city, around South Bank to meet a friend for lunch.

While walking around South Bank, I was happily surprised to see a bike powered Christmas tree. I’m a big fan of applying cycle-power to charge appliances and goods – for example when Robert Förstemann, the German Track Cycling Star powered a toaster to cook a single slice of bread – GOLD!

So I stopped to check it out and ended up chatting to the guy who was responsible for installing it.

Bicycle-powered Christmas tree — Source: ABC News

Bike powered Christmas Tree

The tree looked very impressive standing 4.2 meters tall and apparently is the first of its kind in Australia. There are four bikes at the base of the tree and the tree is covered in over 3,500 LED lights, so that when you pedal on a bike your riding charges up lights in certain areas on the tree.

Even when I was there in the daylight there was a line of people waiting to try it. Even in broad daylight you could see the lights happily twinkling away. The owner said this was the second year the tree had been included in Brisbane’s festivities and that it had been very popular.

I thought it was a great addition to the city – not only for Christmas, but also as a promotion for cycling and for a more thoughtful approach to energy consumption over the holiday period.

Bicycle-powered Christmas lights

In the area I live, each year, there is an increasing number of houses being decorating in a ridiculous about of Christmas lights. I know many people think it looks beautiful – and it can, but I find it difficult to reconcile the massive and wasteful energy consumption involved. But, there is a way to have beautiful Christmas lights AND be environmentally responsible as well. To this end – I’m waiting for the day when people who decorate their houses in copious amounts of lights or those who want to enter a neighbourhood Christmas Lights competitions – can only so so if they produce their own green/sustainable power to do so – by solar panels, pedal-power or some other sustainable source. If you can do that – go for it! Int his way, I think the bicycle-powered Christmas Tree could be a step in the right direction.

Until then, the lone pedal powered Christmas tree in the city will hopefully serve as not only entertainment, but as a reminder to the community to enjoy a more sustainable, bicycle-friendly and fit and healthy Christmas.

For more info about the bicycle-powered Christmas tree read this ABC news report about the tree here (also includes the video link below).

04/12/201604/12/2016

Blogging for Business Success Workshop

This post is a break from the usual bicycle theme posts – and a foray into an associated blogging event. At the start of the week, I was invited to present one of my Blogging for Business Success workshops to a group of small-business entrepreneurs. My business (Warral Ma Consulting) has two main streams – AKA HACKA (Successful & Productive academic Language & Communication Skills) and BIZ BOOST (Proactive & Profitable Business Development & Communication Strategies).

The workshop I ran was a BIZ BOOST module from my Profitable Business Blogging Course. I love this course and was really excited to be back in workshop mode after a super busy academic semester at Griffith. I have not taken on extra Warral Ma work lately, considering I am now working on my PhD and this blog. The last workshop I presented were 3 ACKA HACKA Shut up and Write Workshops in May, so it was great to be out of the academic classroom and back in the city of commerce!

Timely and topical

The workshop group is completing a New Enterprise Incentive Scheme (NEIS ) business development course. NEIS is a 4-week business course and their businesses will be launched in January. I found this a particularly timely invite considering the national squeeze on job availability, housing affordability and business opportunities – and that such current issues are being debated in popular media and on TV and felt most acutely by Australian youths and others such as the participants doing this NEIS course.

The Business Blogging for Success Workshop

My presentation covered blogging and provided some ideas, motivation and strategies for getting started in the blogosphere. This workshop did not go into the full mechanics of monetarising a blog as many of them did not have a blog yet, so I stripped the content back to generating quality content so that they had a place to start writing posts – you cannot make money from a blog that is brand new and has little content.

Workshop Overview

The workshop went really well and we had a lot of fun.

The group was very receptive, asked lots of questions and had a good sense of humor. We ended up covering a lot of material and the group walked with some key writing and structure considerations for good blogging – like for example, TEEEL body paragraph structure and including 3 x hyperlinks.

It was super interesting for me to hear what businesses were being developed. there were many initiatives in this group, including, Australiana sustainable home wears, professional editing/marketing, videography & filming services, organic foods, Interior Design, Personal management/coaching, Remedial massage, paintings of dogs, a musician, lighting design, domestic cleaning, virtual personal assistant, bookkeeper/tax agent, laser tattoo removal & clothing line – and more! Such a creative and motivated group!

What we did in the workshop

Given the broad scope and varied level of non/blog experience, I tailored this session more towards the generation and mechanics of producing blog posts. So my workshop covered the following areas:

Quick check – see which famous blogger they may know and ask 6 orientation questions
Prepping ideas – brainstorm 4 ideas: #1 concern, best skill, what is needed and participant’s own area of interest
Quality Content: This was where I concentrated quite a bit of detail and strategies on putting the effort into creating quality content. I broke it up into 3 main parts, each with a tool and a link to stimulate some

Business Blogging for success — Source: Warral Ma Consulting – Business Blogging for Success Workshop

Blog evaluation Activity: The group had prepared two blogs to that they bought to the workshop with them – one in their business area and another blog that they thought was interesting. To stimulate some analysis and ideas for future consideration, the next activity was to apply what we had discussed about quality content to evaluate one a blog. This is always good to do as a ‘market research’ task and to see what competing business or successful business in your space are doing.
20 blog post topics – we then looked at possible business blog topics. When starting out, some people find it hard to come up topics or ideas to write about. To address this, I provided a top 20 list of some ideas. Ultimately, there are thousands of topics lists you can get from a google search, but this was just to get the juices flowing.
Brainstorming – I pitched the idea of developing 4 different types and topics of blog posts to stimulate range and variety.

7. Generating ideas – This section looked at 3 killer techniques to getting posts out there and then shared around.

8. Wrap up – we then did a wrap up, next steps and questions.

I was really conscious to provide some concrete strategies and frameworks to apply to writing so that participants had something tangible to work on and develop later. The activities meant that people had some ideas down on paper to follow up and get started on at a later date. Given that the participants are all doing different businesses, I thought it important to give the give quality information that was relevant, useful and action orientated – information that was not too technical, but empowering and applicable.

Overall I had a great session working with this group. It was the second last day of their course and it was great to see them energised and excited about future possibilities.

I will be very interested to hear how – and where – they end up in the future!

It also reminded me now excited I am about the overhaul that Bicycles Create Change is having this summer!

Pretty much everything about this blog will be updated – formatting, style, brand, editing – the works! It feels like I am launching my own blog (again) as well!

In doing so, I’d be very keen to hear you thoughts and ideas about the before (now) and after (by Feb 20157) changes – I’ll keep you posted!