Regular readers of this blog know my bicycles-for-education PhD fieldwork was with the local people and riders of Lunsar, Sierra Leone.
The Lunsar Cycling Team has been gaining increasing attention recently, especially with the upcoming, ever popular annual Tour de Lunsar cycling event.
I was delighted to see AFRICAP is a Tour de Lunsar event supporter. AFRICAP cycling caps was founded by Hammer (from Sierra Leone!) who started it out of a love for cycling and a desire to bring something special to the sport.
Africap was created to merge two passions: African prints and cycling. Cycling caps are not traditionally made with African prints, so Africap saw an opportunity to change that. They create beautiful and stylish cycling caps made from traditional African fabrics.
Image: Africaps
Ankara Prints
Each Africap product is made with a unique African print. The prints are sourced from all over the continent, so no two products are exactly alike.
These cycling caps are handcrafted from Ankara material which is a traditional African fabric. Ankara textiles are wax-printed cotton fabrics commonly used across West Africa and each region has its own distinctive design. The material itself is great as it is very light, airy and absorbent which helps keeps riders cool.
Each cap is named after a particular region that the fabrtic is from. Africaps are not factory made, but released in limited editions so are collector’s items and highly sought after.
Image: Africaps
There are so many different African prints and textiles, it can be hard to know where to begin. One of the things that makes African prints so special is the range of colours and designs. Whether you’re looking for something bright and bold or more subdued and traditional, there’s an African print out there for you.
Ankara prints are unique for many reasons. One reason is that they are handmade. African prints are also usually made with bright, bold colors that reflect the vibracy and diversity of African cultures. Ankaras often have geometric patterns that are created by both hand-painting and block printing. African prints usually have a lot of symbolism. For example, certain animals may be used to represent different ethnic groups or ideas. All of these factors combine to create some truly beautiful and unique fabrics.
Image: Africaps
Africap’s STORE has a range of musettes and their groovy cycling caps are named after the regions the material comes from –such as Bo, Ngor, Cocody, Abduja, Odu and Regent.
I was super impressed to see that Africap supports sustainable practices and that no plastic materials are used during production or sales cycles. I can see why these caps have quickly become a favorite among cyclists in Africa and for those ‘in the know’ internationally.
Africaps is working to expand its reach beyond Africa, and has already partnered with several international cycling teams.
The company’s mission is to promote cycling in Africa and to help African cyclists reach their potential. And it was great to see them doing this with their renewed support of Tour de Lunsar 2022.
See more about Africaps and Hammer in Sylvie D’Aoust’s video below.
Bicycle Network is Australia’s biggest bike riding organization that has nearly 50, 000 members nationwide. One of the things I really appreciate about Bicycle Network is that they often undertake surveys in order to see how members and local riders feel about certain key issues. Previously this blog has shared Bicycle Network’s survey on how people feel about Australian helmet laws as well as the results of that survey and some of the flow on critiques and counterarguments the survey results stimulated. Their latest survey gauging how bike riders how they use end of trip facilities at work and if that might change because of COVID-19.
This post is an invitation for Aussie riders to contribute their ideas to help Bicycle Network create a set of guidelines for workplaces so end of trip facilities remain open and people can ride their bike to work- if you are interested – read on!
Image: Bicycle Network
Does your workplace have somewhere to store your bike and wash up after your commute? Do you wish it did? Let us know what you do when you get to work and how that might change when lockdown eases.
End of trip facilities—areas with bike parking, showers, change rooms and lockers—are a vital part of workplaces that enable people to ride a bike instead of driving or taking the train.
And it is likely end of trip facilities will become more important. New bike lanes are being installed in Australian cities and public transport is running at reduced capacity, encouraging more people ride to work.
However, end of trip facilities will need to run a little differently to before COVID-19.
Some facilities might need caps on the number of people who can use the facility at the same time and cleaning will need to be done more regularly.
Bicycle Network is producing a guide with advice for workplaces on how to manage their end of trip facilities so people can keep riding to work.
To help us make the guide we’d like people to complete a survey, tell us how their end of trip facility works and if it will affect the way they travel to work after COVID-19.
Image: Bicycle Network
Survey, images and content in this post courtesy of Bicycle Network.
For this year’s International Women’s Day, I’d like to introduce you to Isata Sama Mondeh.
I met Isata while in Sierra Leone in February doing PhD Fieldwork.
I was keen to meet Isata because not only is she Sierra Leone’s long-standing National Elite Women’s Champion – but she is also the first-ever female bike mechanic in Sierra Leone AND the first female bike mechanic to run their own bike shop. OMG!
Isata learned bike mechanics and shop management through Village Bicycle Project.
I travelled out to Makeni (Bombali District) where Isata is based to meet her and see the shop. We hit it off and ended up seeing each other a few times after that, including going for a (long!) ride together – which was a real highlight for me.
I was humbled and inspired to hear how she got into bikes and how she is trying to get more females riding bikes.
Isata Sisters Bike Shop
Her business is complementary to her riding. Asa Sierra Leone’s first female mechanic, she is breaking stereotypes and working hard to build up a business that might support her and her family. Just as she was initially helped by Village Bicycle Project to get started, Isata is also paying it forward. She has trained up another female mechanic (who Isata mentored) who also now has her own shop – the second female-owned bike shop, as well.
Isata is 26 and has had her Makeni bike shop business ‘Istata’s Sister Shop’ for three years now. She was able to start the workshop due to a microcredit scheme and in collaboration with Village Bicycle Project.
Alfred, Kadi, Deborah, Isata, Nina & Stylish outside Isata’s workshop. February 2020. Makeni, Sierra Leone.
How did she get into bikes?
When Istata was in school, she would rent other kids bikes to learn how to ride. Despite having no bike of her own, she was talent scouted at a local high school sports carnival when a coach saw her in a bike race. He was impressed by her natural ability and speed – and wanted to see more.
And so she started racing. This was a lonely and unforgiving time, but it did give her valuable experience. In her first race, she was the only female. In her second race, there were three females and she came 2nd. In her third race, she was (again) the only female riding against 18 males – and she finished 10th overall. People started to notice her results and consistency.
She made it onto the National team and has never looked back. She has been the National Elite Female champion since 2006.
Overcoming negative cultural beliefs.
When she rides, Istata is challenging long-held local cultural beliefs that riding a bike is taboo for females. Many still believe that if a female rides a bike, they won’t be able to have a baby. This belief has prevented many girls from taking up riding.
When she first started riding, it was a concern that Isata herself had to face.
Isata loves riding, but was remaindered continuously by others that riding was not for women.
It was a problematic mind-trap to shake.
She found it hard to fully believe it, especially as she already had a ten-year-old son. So she had an inkling that those old views were not correct – but they were so prevalent and so constant!
It was only when a friend showed Isata profiles of some of the UK’s top elite female track and race cyclists who have children. This was all the convincing Isata needed.
Bravely, Isata is a very positive role model to encourage other females to get into cycling. She convincingly uses her experience as evidence when she talks to girls, families and community members and she addresses traditional cultural view head-on. She uses the fact that she has a 10-year-old son and a bike business to challenge limiting local beliefs about girls and bikes.
But for females, riding bikes in Sierra Leone is hard.
The most challenging thing for the female riders is that they don’t have bikes. Isata is the only female rider in Makeni who has a bike. She and the other female riders don’t have sponsors so cannot afford to buy the bikes they need. To this end, Isata continues to work tirelessly.
Isata in Le Col blue women’s winner’s jersey (2019). Source: Yellow Jersey.
Isata – we celebrate you!
Isata loves her bike and loves her bike mechanic business. Despite great adversity, she is doing all she can to promote women’s cycling in Sierra Leone.
For these (and many other reasons), I’d like to acknowledge and celebrate Isata this IWB 2020. She is the epitome of all that IWD stands for and a fantastic role model for us all.
We wish you the best of luck – both on and off the bike!
If you would like to contact or support Isata, her bike shop or her riding – please email Nina via the contacts page to be put in touch.
Included among the delegates attending are Australian and international
keynote speakers, advocacy groups, researchers, practitioners, businesses and
policymakers.
This conference includes research presentations, workshops, technical tours, poster presentations, networking opportunities and other social events.
The conference goes for 3 days and is jam-packed full of sessions.
The program also boasts a host of international guests, with delegates coming in from the Netherlands, New Zealand, Denmark, Japan, Norway, USA, Sweden, Canada and as the host country – Australia has a very strong representation from pretty much every University nationwide.
Presentation sessions are discussing ideas such as: obstacle avoidance manoeuvres, e-scooters/e-bikes, infrastructure challenges, rider/pedestrian conflicts, traffic control, crash data, bikeshare data and social media interfaces, and lane marking/intersection analysis, bicycle delivery modalities, and studies using agent-based modelling – and more!
I ‘m not attending this conference because I prefer to focus on the positive aspects of bicycle riding – which of course safety is part of…I just don’t want to be constantly working with ‘negatives’ such as crash figures, injuries and traffic hot zones and contestations – also crunching quantitative data is not my strongest research skill. But I appreciate that this is super interesting to many cycling researchers and policymakers. Such conversations and information sharing is critical to progressing more innovative solutions to cycling dilemmas and to increase the take up of biking universally.
Meet the posters authors event. Tuesday 19th Nov. ICSC 2019.
Daily synopsis
Monday is the first conference day. The day is split into four sessions under two main streams: Workshops and Technical Tours. The two workshops offered are: Low-cost infrastructure for low cycling countries and Using bikes for all kinds of deliveries. Concurrently there are 5 technical tours: Inner City (x 2), Riverside, Bicentennial Bikeway and Connecting the infrastructure. The evening is the Welcome Reception and Stakeholder Dinner.
Tuesday before morning tea is official registrations, Introduction and Opening Keynote Trends and innovation research in cycling safety by Prof Christopher Cheery (Uni of Tennessee, USA).
Then there
are 2 rooms running concurrent 20 min presentation sessions all the way up to afternoon
tea except for a Conference Plenary and another Keynote Cycling Infrastructure:
if you build it, will come? (and will they be safe?) by Dr Glen Koorey (ViaStrada,
NZ) after lunch.
Tuesday
afternoon session has two 1-hour Rapid Oral Presentation sessions followed by
Meet the Poster Author’s Function and then the official Conference Dinner.
Wednesday morning opens with a Conference Panel session entitled Arising trends & challenges: what, why & how. Then a full day of 1-hour and 20 min concurrent presentation sessions all the way up to 4.30pm… Phew – what a long day!
At 4.30 it is ICSC Awards and official conference close. The final official event is the Peoples’ Night from 5pm.
Then it’s party time!
Image: ICSC 2019
People’s Night
For the first time, the ICSC community is inviting the general public to attend the Cycling Conference free People’s Night.
I love the idea of a conference having a ‘People’s Night.’ Every conference should have one!
This is a unique opportunity to meet, discuss and network with conference delegates, check out the digital research poster, hear about some of the latest innovations, technology, infrastructure, developments, trends and findings in cycling safety research.
This event is offered in the spirit of the conference guiding principle to share cycling safety research with ALL stakeholders – which I think is a great move. Not everyone is interested or can afford the money or time to attend the whole conference, but to open up your doors and invite the local public an opportunity to interact with delegates is a very smart move – good for the conference, good for the locals!
I’ll be heading in
for this event, so if you are in Brisbane on Wednesday night, I might see you
there! If you would like to attend you can RSVP via the
ICSC FB page HERE. Details below.
Date: Wednesday 20
November Time: 5pm-6.30pm Venue: The Cube, P Block, QUT Gardens Point Campus, Brisbane Cost: Free Inclusions: Complimentary food and non-alcoholic beverages
If you are riding your bike in and around Brisbane this
week, check out the ICSC. Always good to get the latest intel of what is
happening in the cycling world!
Hopefully, the safer it is to ride a bike, the more people will
ride.
If that is the case, get ya conference on ICSC 2019!!
Going overseas for a bike tour is a great way to get around, see local sites and keep fit and active.
Increasingly, cyclists are either taking their bikes away with them or are signing up for a localised one or multi-day biking adventure such as ‘bike and cook‘ trips or ‘winery bike tours‘.
If you are planning to book a bike tour overseas, a key consideration should be to check whether the bike tour is officially registered as an Eco-tourism provider.
There is a massive social, economic and environmetal impact difference between bike tours that are Eco-tourist registered, and those who are not.
For Storyteller, Eco-tourism is about uniting conservation, communities, and sustainable travel. This means that those who implement and participate in ecotourism activities should adhere to ecotourism principles.
Ecotourism Principles
• Minimise impact. • Build environmental and cultural awareness and respect. • Provide positive experiences for both visitors and hosts. • Provide direct financial benefits for conservation. • Provide financial benefits and empowerment for local people. • Raise sensitivity to host countries’ political, environmental, and social climate.
Image: Storytellers Eco-Bike Tours Cook Island
Cook Islands: Storytellers Eco-bike Tours
Storytellers stand by the principles of Ecotourism. They are the only Cook Islands Eco Tour on mountain bikes.
Storytellers give 10% of profits back to the community for development projects.
Their local storytellers (staff) are passionate and knowledgeable about the local culture, history and environment and love sharing stories of their heritage with guests.
So next time you look at a bike tour overseas, check to see if they are registered as a Eco-tourism operator – this will boost your enjoyment of the tour and help support local communities.
Increasingly, more people are turning to alternative ways of eating, living and consuming that are more sustainable and enriching.
Cycling has always been part of the green revolution, but one pair of farmers are taking this approach to the next level.
Cycle Farm is an organic farm run by Patricia Jenkins and Jeremy Smith located in Spearfish South Dakota, USA.
As their name suggests – as well as being a functional organic farm, Cycle Farm is particularly interested in using bicycles to facilitate workload and productivity.
They are a working farm, selling their produce to a variety of outlets and farmers markets, as well as being a kind of open/farm visitation/awareness-raising platform for more sustainable farming/consumption practices.
Bicycles are central to Cycle Farm’s philosophy and daily operations.
Most impressive is how Patricia and Jeremy have custom-altered a range of bicycles and integrated their use into all areas of farm operations, like the bike-powered roller-crimper – very inspiring!
Cycle Farm has a blog and website showcasing some great photos and info on what they are up to and seasonal activities.
Here at Cycle Farm, we are very enthusiastic about bicycles as efficient
farm tools. We’re using bicycles to help minimize our off-farm inputs.
Employing bicycle- and human-power and minimizing our off-farm inputs is
important to us for the following reasons.
Conventional agriculture has a huge environmental impact, from the use of pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers, distributing produce to distant markets, use of heavy machinery, water use and pollution, etc. For us, reducing our inputs forces us to look at our overall ecological impact. For example, we are a human-powered, bicycle-driven operation. We take our vegetables to market each week by bicycle and encourage CSA members to ride their bike to the farm for pick-up.
We are producing local food. Our goal is not to grow food for a large wholesale market, but to serve the community in which we live, Spearfish Valley. Additionally, we are not using a tractor, but instead all farm work is done by hand. This means we don’t have to use gasoline, which saves us money as well as reduces our carbon emissions.
A second reason is
economic; the more we can reduce the amount of things we have to purchase
to run this farm, the more likely we can make a living wage off these three
acres. A tractor, even a small one, is a considerable expense. If we can
do the same work with our hands and with a bicycle, we can save ourselves and
our market that additional cost.
Beyond reducing gas use and our carbon emissions, we are working
toward building soil carbon in our fields with small scale, no-till vegetable
farming. Organic no-till methods are
becoming more and more widespread in larger operations for a variety of reasons
(soil conservation, carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling, etc.). However,
this has not yet translated into small scale vegetable production, that we’ve
found. We are experimenting with and developing methods applicable for a
smaller scale (0-15 acre) organic, no-till operation (i.e.
bike-powered roller-crimper).
And of
course, bicycles make everything more fun. By moving at a more
human pace, we are getting to know our community better. We can stop and talk
with friends and neighbors in passing. Hopping on a bike allows us to stay
loose and flexible after long days in the field. And there is something
so satisfying about hitting a pocket of cool air on a ride past Spearfish Creek
on a warm summer evening.
However, doing this alone ultimately may not accomplish much
towards addressing pressing global crises. We are enthusiastic about helping to
motivate our community and participating in an exchange of ideas on a broader scale.
Interested in human-powered, sustainable agriculture – then you can come visit
the farm and talk to us.
Lastly, when the farm slows down in the winter, we plan on gearing up a bicycle workshop in the garage. Building custom cargo and utilitarian bicycles and trailers, as well as doing frame repair.
I’m still recovering from BikeHack19! It was intensive, fun and interesting for many reasons. I’m constantly being asked ..What happened?! So, here’s a summary snapshot of each day at BikeHack19. Congrats to all involved. Well done all! NG.
There were 90+ people, 79 hackers, 26 pitches, 13 final teams, 3 business development masterclasses, 3 mentor round-robin sessions and 1 customer focus group (30 pax) and a final pitch to an expert panel of 4 judges who decided on the prize winners. PHEW!
There was $25,000 in prize money for the 4 main categories as well as other additional prizes.
The event was facilitated by Aaron Kirby who did a great job of keeping all the teams motivated and on task all weekend. At this stage, Aaron ran participants through a warm-up game Is that your personality in your pocket? – a fun activity to get the hackers interacting and set the scene well for the ideas pitch and team formation yet to come.
A quick aside note..during the weekend, Aaron also set an additional challenge for hackers to: connect with 10 people, teach someone a skill, stay involved and build something awesome – another great way to mingle and share skills with other teams.
After the warm-up game, was the initial ideas pitch.
This is an important element of hackathons because its where hackers get to share their ideas – and its the first time other participants hear and chose what projects they might want to work on for the rest of the weekend.
Overall, there were 28 1-minute ideas pitched to the audience. Below are my quick notes on each idea and the pitches with a star next to them ended up forming teams that night (with others teams being added on Saturday).
Image: TMR Qld
If you’ve not been to hackathon, the 1-min pitches briefly detail who you are, what your idea is, the name of the project (if you have one) and who is needed for the team to make it happen.
We then got to vote for our favourite 3 ideas and started forming teams.
Some of the teams and people changed, joined, splintered and morphed over the next 12 hours until the teams were fully set by 10 am Saturday.
Then it was game on.
Image: @TMRQld
Saturday – Day 2: Development
After an 8 am breakfast, teams got started working on their projects.
It was an intense day.
Many teams were still getting to know each other, as well as running around the city (and online), doing customer validations, continuing research, and developing and consolidating what their actual project/idea was.
From 8.30am until 6 pm, teams had a series of startup workshops (like how to use a Lean Startup model, Facebook Ads, and the event Slack platform) and a constant round-robin of consultation with mentors, industry experts, sponsors and subject matter experts.
Each mentor session added an extra layer of complexity, understanding and reality to the projects. Mentor whiplash!
At different stage throughout the day, people were running in and out of the building – hackers were busy interviewing would-be customers, making phone calls, pivoting on their ideas, tweaking concepts, mocking up product trials, sending out online surveys, designing pilots, making AV documentation, calling in favours – oh yeah…and voting in the election!
At 6 pm, all the teams had 10 mins each to
explain their ideas to a focus group of 30 people who gave immediate feedback
and asked questions – everyone was exhausted by this stage.
BikeBuddy Sunday morning ride into BikeHack19. Nina, Eric and Victor.
Sunday – Day 3: Final Day
After another early start, the morning sessions included a workshop on the final pitch and another series of last-minute mentor meetings to finalise ideas.
By lunch, all teams were working on final pitch rehearsal and preparation.
At 3 pm, all worked stopped. All team PPTs were submitted.
Guests started arriving for the final 4pm panel presentation.
For final pitches, each team had a 5-min to present with a PPT (and other realia or prototypes) to a panel of 4 judges.
It was a real honour to receive the Spirit of the Hack Award. It was a little embarrassing when the Aaron asked the whole room to stand up and point to the person they think embodied the spirit of the event – and everyone pointed to me! I was awarded it for helping other teams, being enthusiastic and having a passion for getting more people on bikes – of course!
Beyond BikeHack19
This BikeHack event must have been a massive effort to get organised.
As a participant, I was impressed by how available and supportive the organisers and sponsors were over the whole weekend.
Congrats and thanks to all!
A massive big thank you to
the amazing sponsors, organisers, mentors and volunteers who made this weekend
possible.
This includes event organisers Fishburners Sarah and Issac who were particularly outstanding. Sarah I will not forget your stairwell help! Fishburners supplies a brilliant range of inspiration, collection and connection to support tech startups including a collaborative office space in Brisbane.
Aurecon supplied their amazing office
for the event. It was an absolute delight being able to work in their office
space – thank you!
The TMR Queensland staff were always on hand to answer questions and help out where and whenever they were needed.
I think all the teams did really well and as a participant I can appreciate all the extra hard work behind the scenes that no-one else sees. I also commend all the teams on their final pitches – it is such a difficult thing to do.
Overall it was an epic event. The weekend was full of the necessary ups and downs that come with hackathons, startups and working with new people.
A big congrats to all the hackers who participated and gave their time, skills, ideas and energy to help explore ideas get more people on bikes more often in Queensland.
My last post was an invitation to Brisbane’s upcoming BikeHack19 event. I have had a lot of interesting responses and conversations with friends and colleagues about this event and suggestions for pitches.
I asked Alison Turner, a dear friend, if she would like to come to BikeHack19 with me.
Alison and I have worked on a number of creative projects before. She not only has a head for business and project managing, but she is a skilled artist in her own right and I have called on her (many times!) when working on this-or-that thing either to cast her discerning eye over an idea, to practically help solve a design issue or just to join in making whatever it is I’m working on.
She is great company, a skilled artist, a flexible thinker and killer at scrabble – everything you want in a project buddy!
Unfortunately though, Alison can’t come to
BikeHack19.
But the offer got her thinking.
Alison worked for Australia Sailing for many years and was in charge of training and increasing participation in sailing in Queensland. So unbeknownst to me, she set her business prowess and program insights to good work. After doing some research of her own, she used her experience promoting sailing participation to the BikeHack19 cycling challenge and brainstormed some ideas.
The next time I saw Alison, she presented
me with her brainstorm (see below) and explained it in detail – it was spot on.
Alison and her BikeHack19 brainstorm.
We chatted about the similarities in crossover
of participation issues between sailing and cycling – and how much transferability
there was between the two sports.
I love having people like Alison in our community.
She is an example of those who not only freely give their time and ideas to friends,
but who are equally excited to apply the same effort and passion to building a
more cohesive and active community – what a gift!
I am very appreciative to Alison.
Thanks so much for your ideas and time!
I will definitely be taking these ideas to
BikeHack19.
Regular BCC readers know that making biking accessible for all ages, stages and types of people is a key focus for this blog. BCC content loves to celebrate community-based, grassroots implemented and social issue-driven projects, people and events.
So usually, big international commercial trade-shows and exhibitions like the second Dubai International Bicycle Exhibition which was held on 10-12 January don’t usually feature here – so why is it included?
Read on!
What is the DIBE?
This expo is primarily mercantile and retail in nature. It focuses on developing networks, promoting brands (and pro teams), and extending business-to-business exposure. Events like this is where local, regional and international bike companies and manufacturers sell products and services to regional retailers and distributors – and showcase new developments in cycling technology, design and innovation.
This event is the largest professional bicycle exhibition in the Middle East and North Africa. Apparently, over 7,000 visitors, enthusiasts, professional riders and business owners attended. International brands and exhibitors came from Italy, Germany, India, Australia, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, the United States, China, Hong Kong, China and Taiwan.
The event was supported by the royal family and was touted as being ‘the most important cycling business event in the MENA region.’
So what is interesting about the DIBE?
While I was looking at the expo online, two particular features jumped out.
One was the number of female expo representatives/ambassadors (like @jeddah_woman) and that there at least some representation of sustainable/alternative bicycle approaches via India’s Bamusa bicycles.
Small, but productive steps!
Image: @Jedda_Woman
Female representation
Jedda_Woman I was very pleased to see @jedda_woman listed as an individual ambassador for this event. This social influencer (Followers: Instagram 7, 343 and Twitter 666 #jeddah_woman1) has been promoting local cycling and organising rides, events, educational/social meet-ups and practice days to get more people on bikes. I was hoping to find out more about what she is doing and contact her, but she has not been on Insta since 27th Nov 2018, or Twitter since 14th Dec 2017. So I will see how I go contacting her.
Velo Vixens The Velo Vixens are a friendly, supportive, enthusiastic group of over nearly 1,000 (predominately expat) women who ride, train and compete. This is a very popular, active and well-organised group who host lots of rides, training and competitions.
Another highlight from the mainstream branded manufacturers at the expo was India’s foremost hand-crafted premium bamboo bike company Godrej Bambusa Bike. It was great to see representation of sustainable materials and alternatives to the big manufacturers/supplies as an option for the usual (overfocus?) on ‘state-of-the-art’ frame design, process and materials like carbon-fibre.
The Banusa company loves to tell the story of two teenagers who undertook an epic 4400 km test ride (on their bikes) which went from Kanyakumari (far south India) across the country and over the Khardung-La Pass (world’s highest road) to north India. Solid as!
Image: Godrej Bambusa Bike
2019 Expanded program next year
This year it was just an expo, but next year there are plans to have sessions on bicycle infrastructure, products, innovation, technologies, safety, maintenance, and fitness and nutrition.
There is also talk of including a demo area and a Bicycle Training Workshop Area.
I am hoping that this expo will continue to include and promote the wide range of riders, biking types/codes and diverse organisations that make up our amazing cycling community. We’ll see next year!
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 HACKAShut up and Write Workshops in May, so it was great to be out of the academic classroom and back in the city of commerce!
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
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.
Source: Warral Ma Consulting – Business Blogging for Success Workshop
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!
