BT Seen and Heard Awards

It was my honour this week to be invited back to the Houses of Parliament for the second time in six months. I was there to pick up a BT Seen & Heard award and to participate in a day of leadership, politics and debating. Notable names that were in attendance were MP Ann Widdecombe and Olympian Leon Taylor to name but just a few.

It is so great to get recognized by big organizations for the work we do and to be recognized in such a prestigious building makes it such more memorable, it is a day I won’t forget. It is so humbling just to be invited in to a building like that, let alone pick up an award.

I also had the pleasure of meeting some other amazing young people who are making a difference in this country. Sometimes it is just so easy to get focused on your project and not realize how many other great projects there are out there so I love these events as I get to find out what is going on and network with other youth organizations.

It is events like these where one connection that can be made that can change everything for your organization and if it hadn’t been for the event you would have never have made that connection. If you email or write to an organization or person you want to network with they may not reply to it but if you can meet them in person and show your passion for your project you are more likely to get them on side.

So a big thanks goes out to the BT Seen and Heard team for an amazing day out.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Lighter Evenings

Finally we are getting to that point in the year where it starts getting warmer and the evenings start to draw out. Only a week or so away from moving the clocks forward and everyone’s mood seems to lift. Its amazing what extended daylight dos for the morale of this country.

The dark cold days are gone well for a few months at least. This is the time of year where people start thinking of booking a last minute holiday somewhere and start making their summer plans. If you are young this is the time of year you have been waiting for as it means you can stay out longer playing in the street or in the park.

All I want to do is to implore as many of our viewers as possible to use this positive feeling and channel it in to your drive towards your dream. Its amazing how much more you can get done or what you can achieve with extra positivity.

Also now the nights are drawing out make the most of them. Go and do the things you couldn’t do in the winter. Go and enjoy and do things in the evenings in the great outdoors. Go and do some jogging, cycling, adventuring just make this summer the summer where you really make the most of it.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

One Medal

Whenever the Summer Olympics are on there is always great talk and debate about team GB’s medal Haul, whether they didn’t do as well as people expected or if they do better than people expected. Its always front-page news. So why is this not the case for the Winter Olympics?

Yes it is great to see Amy Williams getting all the attention which is what she deserves but at the same time there should be front-page coverage and debate about our lack of medals. If we had come home from the summer Olympics with just one medal there would be an outcry but instead we seem to just be happy we got a medal at the Winter Olympics.

If this isn’t an alarm bell that more money needs to be spent on winter sports I don’t know what is. All I can hope is that over the next four years more money is spent on winter sports and that we see the fruits of it at the next Winter Olympics. If there is already a lot of money being thrown at it then someone needs to sit down and look at what we are doing wrong and how that money could be used more wisely.

Great Britain maybe a small island but it’s a proud island and we didn’t come back with much pride from the Winter Olympics.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Winter Olympics

I am going to go out on a limb here and say I prefer the Winter Olympics to the Summer Olympics. I have enjoyed watching the Ice Skating and Snowboarding events and can’t wait for the Bobsleigh.

One thing which I find impressive is when countries who aren’t famed for their snow, ice or winter conditions do well at the winter sports like, China, Germany etc. the Winter Olympics also give the chance for smaller countries who may not do well at the summer Olympics to excel like the Scandinavian countries.

In British schools as part of PE youngsters get taught track and field events in the summer but in the winter its team sports like Rugby / Football / Hockey and Netball that get taught, I can’t think of many schools that would offer skiing or ice skating. Now I know this is because we don’t have the conditions and these sports can be very expensive to deliver but I think more needs to be done to encourage young people in to winter sports. This can be done through the use of ice-rinks, dry ski-slopes etc. I personally would have loved to have had the chance at school to do Snowboarding.

I hope the Winter Olympics can capture the imagination in this country and encourage more young people to give winter sports a try. I also hope that sporting bodies, education bodies and the government can put more money in to the development of winter sports in the UK, now that I care about how many medals we win any Olympics it would just be great to see young people getting the chance to participate in winter sports and excelling in them.

The Winter Olympics is the subject of our weekly topic, and you can share your views on the games by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=804

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Monetisation

I read a great article last week on monetisation in the music world. I am always a fan of people and industries who when faced with a problem think of a way around the problem or new avenues in which they can go down. The music industry has the problem of dwindling music sales so musicians and labels have had to diversify and find new ways to make money and to survive.

Back in the boom of the music industry it was record sales, royalties and sales of tickets to gigs which were in its bread and butter. Then in the late twentieth century other avenues of revenue were opened up like sponsorship and commercials following on from this in the early part of this century we then had reality TV which provided another way to make money.

Now however with the rise of the internet, the way we get hold of music and our attitudes towards paying for music artists and labels are having to be even more innovative with their ideas as they become entrepreneurs. What a lot of music acts are doing is instead of putting money in to trying to attract a bigger audience they are working hard to get their hardcore devoted fan base to fork out more money. Successful ideas have been artists writing personalized songs to their highest bidding fan, artists selling the ability to remix their songs and artists recording a version of any track the fan wanted them to cover to the highest bidder.

Now as a business model it is dangerous as if you are only marketing towards a small group of hardcore fans they are eventually going to run out of money but for the short term these ideas can generate a good sum of income. The best idea along this vein I have seen is bands selling the live recordings of their concert to their fans at the gig to take home on a USB pen drive as a memento of the experience.

I for one can’t wait to see or hear about the next innovative idea in the music world.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

It’s All About Image

This week in the entertainment world in the UK there were two interesting stories. The first being that presenter of popular BBC 1 evening programme “The One Show” Adrian Chiles has been asked to shave off his beard by BBC executives. When Adrian started on the show he was clean-shaven but since the show’s return after its Christmas break he has been sporting a well-developed beard. Now this could just be one big publicity stunt for the show but if it isn’t it raise an interesting point.

As a nation or a culture do we need or expect our TV hosts to be clean-shaven? Is it right that people should be asked to remove their beards in order to present on a TV show? As a viewer do we react differently to people with beards or without beards? What this has underlined is how image conscious the media world is, that is just incase you weren’t already aware.

The second story was about Susan Boyle being snubbed by the Brit Awards when they announced the nominees for this years awards this week. In my opinion any awarding body has the right to put forward any nominee they like as at the end of the day the awards are their awards. There is all this news about Susan Boyle but there have been other big acts this year that have done well this year like Chipmunk, Kelly Clarkson, Cascada etc. and nobody is asking why didn’t they get nominated for awards? The press are putting the story out that it is because of her image that she hasn’t got nominated and she is getting the headlines but if it wasn’t Susan Boyle no other artist would get as much press attention for not being nominated.

Susan Boyle not getting nominated could totally be an image thing and the press may very well have hit the nail on the head but it could also be a case of the media just again using image as a news story as like I say before it is what the media world revolves around.

I think image will continue to play a part in media and entertainment for many years to come and although this is very hard to change I think it is important that it is documented as much as possible and discussed as it is the only way we will ever change the situation. If we can’t change it in the short term we need to make sure there is a constant high awareness of it.


Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Completing a Project

Now all of us at some point have an idea for something big we would like to do, like write a book, start a business move to a different country, the list is endless. Now for some it will remain just that, an idea. For some they will get the motivation to start the project towards achieving their dream and not get any further. Then finally for a small few they will see the project through and achieve their goals and there is no feeling like accomplishing what you set out to do.

I had that feeling this week as a book I wrote on coaching youth football became available to purchase. It started as an idea, I then sat down and wrote the book, got it edited and got it all the way through the publishing phase so that now anyone anywhere across the world can buy it. That moment when I went on to Amazon and saw it there was worth all the work I had put in to the project and made me feel so proud.

The project took me over a year from idea to publishing and there were plenty of problems to overcome and plenty of times where I could have given up but I kept going and got myself in to the elite few who can say they have finished a project.

So this blog is for anyone out there who has an idea for something they want to do but hasn’t started trying to achieve it or for anyone feeling like giving up. The idea is only half of the fun it’s completing it which gives you the real buzz. Just remember when you get an idea make sure it is something you are passionate about because you are going to have to be passionate about it to see you through.

Once you have completed one project it gives you the motivation and the belief to complete another. This is why later this year another book of mine will be hitting the bookshelves as I near the completion of a book on youth motivation.

If you want to buy my first offering to the literary world go to:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Guide-Surviving-Youth-Football/dp/1445203480/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263420777&sr=8-1

Do you have an idea for something you would like to achieve? Are you currently on the path towards achieving your goal? Let us know by going to our topic of the week:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=800

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com