Podcast appearances and mentions of ian mcallister

In this episode of Payments Podium, the Payments Professor, Kevin Olson, sits down with Ian McAllister, COO of Unit21, to discuss combating fraud in instant payments. Explore trends like AI's role in scams, real-time fraud monitoring, and tips for banks to enhance their defenses. Learn how Unit21 is empowering financial institutions with cutting-edge strategies and insights to stay ahead in the fast-paced world of real-time payments.

A new MP3 sermon from Orrville Grace Brethren Church is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: Practically Displaying Our Holiness Subtitle: Leviticus: Savior in Shadows Speaker: Ian McAllister Broadcaster: Orrville Grace Brethren Church Event: Sunday Service Date: 6/3/2024 Bible: Leviticus 19 Length: 52 min.

Ian Buchanan is known for his roles as Dr. James Warwick in The Bold and the Beautiful, Duke Lavery in General Hospital, Dick Tremayne in Twin Peaks, Dr. Greg Madden in All My Children, Ian McAllister in Days of Our Lives and Ian McFyfer in It's Garry Shandling's Show. He has also appeared in various other TV shows and movies such as The Nanny, NYPD Blue, Quantum Leap, Port Charles, Panic Room, Alias, and Nip/Tuck.

Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. Your host is  Kelly Molson, Founder of Rubber Cheese.Download the Rubber Cheese 2022 Visitor Attraction Website Report - the first digital benchmark statistics for the attractions sector.If you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue or visit our website rubbercheese.com/podcast.If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned in this podcastCompetition ends July 31st 2023. The winner will be contacted via Twitter.  Show references:  https://www.alnwickgarden.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianjmcallister/https://www.itv.com/news/tyne-tees/2023-05-24/worlds-biggest-play-park-set-to-open Ian McAllister is the Strategic Head of Marketing and Communications at The Alnwick Garden and Lilidorei.  His route into attraction marketing wasn't an obvious one – from not joining the RAF (based mainly on eyesight and petulance) he dabbled in recruitment ( based mainly on proximity to his flat) then television (based mainly on flatmate work envy).  He manages a team of marketers who deliver all marketing, PR and communications to these two attractions based in Northumberland. Transcriptions: Kelly Molson: Welcome to Skip The Queue, a podcast for people working in or working with visitor attractions. I'm your host, Kelly Molson. Each episode, I speak with industry experts from the attractions world. In today's episode I speak with Ian McAllister, Strategic Head of Marketing and Communications at The Alnwick Garden.Ian shares with us the magical story behind Lilidorei, logistics of creating a play structure over 26 meters tall, snot ice cream, free Fridays and the impact this will have on the local area and children. If you like what you hear, you can subscribe on all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue. Kelly Molson: Ian, I'm so excited to have you on the podcast today. Thank you for coming to join me. Ian McAllister: No problem. Kelly Molson: Let's start with some icebreakers, shall we? Ian and I, we had a little pre podcast chat a few weeks ago and we established that we're both from sunny old Essex. This could end up quite messy, really, couldn't it? Because I tend to whenever I'm speaking to my Essex kinfolk, my accent goes, very Essex. This might get messy. Ian McAllister: The good thing is, living up here, people don't know my real accent, but once they hear that, I'm sure that it'll come out. Kelly Molson: They will after this, Ian. Right, okay, icebreakers. I want to know, topical, what's the worst Essex nightclub that you've ever been in? Ian McAllister: Tots, Southend. But it was so bad that I used to go every Friday. It was bad for the sticky floors and for the people that were there and for the music they played and everything about it was terrible. But every Friday I would still go up there. I don't know why.Kelly Molson: So bad. It's so good. I can remember driving there from my part of Essex and going out Tots. Someone broke my big toe into Tots. Literally, like, stamped on my big toe and broke it. Ian McAllister: Do you remember? There was a place called Ritzes, which I think was in Romford, and went there one night, and this was back in the day, where people thought if you were wearing trainers, you were going to cause trouble, so you weren't allowed to wear trainers. And a mate of mine, Paul Mayo. I had two good friends in Essex, Paul Mayo and Ross Gherkin, so they were the three of us. But Paul Mayo went up to the club and they wouldn't let me say trainers. So he left the queue and went around the corner, took his shoes off and took his black socks off, put his trainers back on and his black socks over his trainers, and they just let him straight in. Kelly Molson: Wow. Ian McAllister: Yeah. Which made Moonwalking brilliant, because he had a really good sock that he could moonwalk across the dance floor. Kelly Molson: That is ridiculous. That's ridiculous. So sorry, we just need to go back to your friend's names as well. Mayo and Gherkin. Are you joking? Ian McAllister: Mayo and Gherkin? No. So, I mean, I was always Mac. So I was always Ian Mac. Then there was Mayo and Gherkin. So they were the three of us that used to kick around together in Essex. Kelly Molson: That is chaos already. Ian McAllister: There you go. Opening question. Kelly Molson: This is an ethics thing as well, right? Everybody has nicknames, don't they? You know the Gavin and Stacy thing, where you got Smithy and what? Chinese Allen. That's the thing. That is so Essex, it's ridiculous. Ian McAllister: My nickname for ages was I wasn't a good looking chap growing up. And I had a brace, a demi wave, and I had these big reactor like glasses and I don't know if you've ever seen the National Lampoons European vacation, but the sun was called Rusty Grizzwald. So my friend Gary decided that I was just called Rusty, so he still calls me it to this day. So I'm still just Rusty. Kelly Molson: Oh, God, that's so weird, because my next question was going to be, if you ever been told you look like someone famous, who was it? Ian McAllister: Yeah, but that's not a positive thing. Kelly Molson: No. I wasn't expecting Rusty from National Lampoons to come up. Ian McAllister: I mean, lots of people to try and compare themselves to you, like some Brad Pitt and George Clooney, whereas I'm going for 15 year old Rusty Grizzled. Kelly Molson: Humble. I think that's quite humble, isn't it? Right, final one. I feel like the ice is well and truly broken, melted. What is your best scar story? Ian McAllister: My best scar story is a very recent one. Last year on New Year's Day, I took the kids for a lovely walk to our local woods with the dog. And me being me, I challenged them both to climb a tree. And it was a tree that was like one of these trees that's too good not to climb, do you know what I mean? It was really big branches and big trunk. So I've got twins, 14 year old twins, a boy and a girl. So my daughter was like a whippet and she went up the tree and then my son, with a bit of encouragement, went up the tree and he got his foot wedged in, like the V of the branch, about seven and a half, eight foot up, so he couldn't get out. Ian McAllister: So I climbed up behind him and I held onto a branch either side of him. I said, "Right, all you got to do is just wiggle your foot a little bit". So he obviously didn't hear a word I said. He yanked his foot out, so we both fell out the tree. So I grabbed onto him and he landed on me. And as he landed, I heard ankle snap. So I'm at the top of a woods, probably a mile into the woods. So the kids that week before have been at Scouts and they learned about what three words. So we had to phone an ambulance and they did the what three words and this, that and the other. Ian McAllister: So the ambulance had to then he couldn't drive, so you had to push the stretcher for a mile, pretty much up an incline to get to me. Had to take a breather because it was so far up, put me on the stretcher, but then the ambulance had to drop, so it's just me and the kids that live here with the dog. So the ambulance then had to drop the dog and my kids at my house before they took me to hospital. So turned out I completely broken my ankle, so I had to go for an operation. And I had a metal plate pulse, ligament and wiring all around my ankle. Ian McAllister: So I've got a treat of a scar on my ankle that they also cut through two nerves, so I also can't feel from a nerve down from the little toe, from a knee down to the little toe at the minute. Kelly Molson: I feel like we're going to have to put a warning on this podcast episode, if anyone's like a slightly queasy disposition. Wow. I was not expecting that. Ian McAllister: Yeah, it's a lovely story, isn't it? I think I've learned the lesson. I made a blue plaque on photoshop about Ian fell here and I went back to the tree afterwards and pinned it on the tree. Kelly Molson: It's a special moment. Ian McAllister: That tree will always be in my memory. Kelly Molson: But well done, your children, on learning the skills to get you out of a very tricky situation. Ian McAllister: Yeah, it was great, but they loved it because they got riding an ambulance, so their Snapchat stories were filled up that day with pictures of them and the dog in an ambulance on a muddy New Year's Day. Kelly Molson: Great story. Thank you for sharing. I feel like we've started the podcast on high. Ian McAllister: We can't really go any lower than this, can we? Kelly Molson: Not really, no. Your unpopular opinion, Ian. I dread to think what this might be. Ian McAllister: Had a few and I was trying to think which one would upset the least people. So I had a few. I was trying to think which one upset the least people. So this one's cake. And I hate cake. And I've always hated cake, really dislike cake. And I think people say to me, "what is it you don't like about cake?". And I think I've narrowed it down to the taste, the texture, the smell and the look. Because just everything about a cake, I don't like. So when it comes to birthdays, the kids obviously get me a birthday cake because they can eat it themselves, but I just don't like cake. I've got a bit of a funny not so much now, but I had a funny food thing. I'm sorry in advance. I didn't eat yellow food for about six months. Ian McAllister: It was anything yellow, even to the point where if I got a packet of M&Ms, I wouldn't eat the yellow ones. Kelly Molson: Can I just ask what age you were? Was this 30? Ian McAllister: Probably worse than that? It's about 35. Like my late 30s. Genuinely, genuinely developed an aversion to yellow food. So my friend Steven, who's head of HR at work, he went through a phase of thinking to try and reeducate me. So every Friday he'd go through Steven's adventures in food. It was all the food that I probably should have eaten by the time I was, like, 40 years and hadn't. So things like sushi or porridge. Every Friday he'd bring in something and it would be a chart, like a reward chart. And he'd put a little sticker on if I liked it or didn't like it. Just because people don't know I'm a 47 year old man with two children. Kelly Molson: Oh, God. And have you eaten a banana since? That's what I need to know. Ian McAllister: Yeah, since I started re eating yellow food, I'm all over it. I like a banana, like a bit of pineapple. Cheese is great. We just have the argument because people would say to me, and this was my bugbear, and they get really irritated with this. It's a what about chips? Chips aren't yellow. They're like a beige. So chips were allowed. Kelly Molson: Okay. And pasta as well. They're all in the beige category rather than yellow. Okay. Ian McAllister: Yeah. So can you imagine presenting me with a yellow cake? Yellow cake? That'd be my idea of h***. Kelly Molson: That's your worst nightmare, isn't it? Jaffa Cake. How do you sit about that? Is that a cake or a biscuit? Ian McAllister: But food of choice would always be a chocolate hobnob. No question. Kelly Molson: Great biscuit. Yeah. In the fridge. Ian McAllister: Great biscuit. Crunch. Good for the dunk. Always in the fridge, yeah. Chocolate. What do you think about this chocolate? Does it live in your cupboard or in your fridge? Kelly Molson: Fridge. I like a crunch. I like it to go crunch and then I like that it then melts in your mouth. It's like two different sensations in one. People will argue about this. This is not an unpopular popular opinion, by the way, but people will not be happy about this at all. Ian McAllister: No, but I mean, the people that aren't happy with it are wrong. Kelly Molson: They are. Agreed. Oh, my goodness, what a start for this podcast. Okay, how did an Essex boy end up in Northumberland? Tell me a little bit about your background, because you're not from attractions background at all, are you? You come from a completely different sector. Ian McAllister: Yeah, when I got married, which since divorced, but when I got married, my best man suggested it was witness protection. That's what kind of brought me 350 miles north. But the fact was I was working, I'm from Essex, as we've previously mentioned, and I then went to university in Surrey. I went to Kingston and I was working just locally, really, just in pubs and clubs. And I went downstairs to my flat and it was a redeployment, so I thought, it's time to get a proper job. And it was literally under my flat and I ended up working there, mainly because it was under my flat and it took about 10 seconds to commute to it. So I spent a bit of time in recruitment and at the time I was living with two flatmates weirdly, both called Marcus. Ian McAllister: So Marcus One and Marcus Two both worked in TV. One worked, I think Channel Five and One was a BBC or ITV. And I kept telling how good their jobs were and how great their life was, and I thought, "Well, you know what, can't beat them, got to join them". So I did actually beat them. So I wrote to MTV with a really cocky letter saying how much it be their big mistake if they didn't recruit me and this and the other. So I went in for my interview and the guy said, I've got you in because you're either really good or really cocky. And I don't know which one it is. So eventually they gave me a job. So I worked in media in London and I think I was there for two years. Ian McAllister: I just got sick of the rat race and it was just the commute to London. It was an hour each way and I was fed up of it, and I was fed up with the people and I was fed up of the busyness. And I met my then wife, who is from up here, but she had a flat in Edinburgh. I just thought, "You know what, I've got no real commitments down here". I don't have any kids or pets or any of that sort of stuff. So I just chose to order and we moved to Edinburgh and I kind of flipped around in recruitment and odds and ends, moved to the north and set up a property company. So were renting properties to students. Ian McAllister: Then I went to work for a marketing company and then I ended up working where I do now, The Alnwick Garden part time doing marketing and then just kind of worked my way up from there. I couldn't remember what the question was. Was it your background? Kelly Molson: Yeah, you answered it well. Yeah. Well done. Ian McAllister: Thanks. Definitely didn't come from tourism, but I kind of came from marketing kind of sales. And I think I've always been one of these people that might be clear by now that could just talk. Kelly Molson: That's coming across. Definitely getting that on this episode. But I like that you sound like someone who makes their own opportunities in life, which I like. You just go out and get what you want and what's going to fit for you. Tell us a little bit about Alnwick Garden because we're going to talk a little bit about something attached to Alnwick Garden. But Alnwick Gardens itself is quite spectacular. Think it dates back is it 1996? It dates back to is that when. Ian McAllister: It was originally about 1890s. We can date it back to. So it was the original garden kitchen garden for the Alnwick Castle. So it was throughout the two World Wars, it was what fed all the local farmers and the local community and this, that and the other. So come the 90s is when the Duchess of Northumberland, who lives in the castle, was married to the Duke. That's when she took it on as a bit of a project. And she got in some designers from, I think Belgium called Vertz Design. So it's a Vertz design garden and she took it over as a garden and she always wanted it to be she always said it was going to be a stage for people to do whatever they want in, so we can put on events. Ian McAllister: We've had random things, like we've had mixed martial arts in the garden and then we've had Peppa Pig characters coming in. So it's a real variety of things that we do in the garden. But, yeah, so it's been open for 20 odd years now. We're a charity, so we're just about celebrating the 20th year of becoming a charity. So, yeah, the Alnwick Garden itself is a garden, as you'd expect. It's got world's largest Taihaku cherry orchard outside of Japan, got Poison Garden, it's got the world's largest treehouse, which is a restaurant. It's got all these kind of unusual things that you wouldn't necessarily put in, like an RHS garden or a queue garden type place. And it's a great big open space that we market, people come and we do weird events in. Kelly Molson: So it's quite special in its own right, isn't it? But then, about twelve years ago, Jane Percy, the Duchess of Northumberland, she had another idea, didn't she? And that's what we're going to talk about today. Do you all get a little bit worried when she says, "I've got this idea?". Because this one's been a pretty mental one, hasn't it? Spectacularly mental one. Ian McAllister: Yeah. It's kind of that first glimmer of, "Oh, God, what's it going to be now with the backup of the thing is that when she has an idea, she sees it through". And I say this, I know a lot of people chuck this phrase around loosely, and I don't mean it this at all. She's a visionary, because she has these completely off the wall ideas, but has then got the determination and the team behind her to actually see them through. So the new project being the biggie, which has been years in the making and years in the planning, and I'm sure do you want to introduce it or do you want me to say what it is? Kelly Molson: Well, what do you do it. The world's biggest children's play park. Ian McAllister: Yeah. So it's called Lilidorei, which every single thing in it is from her head. And she's got this really creative outlook on life, and she's then pulls in the right people to kind of bring them to life. So she imagined this place where kids could just be away from technology, where they could play and actually play like we used to when were little. And we'd go out making dens and kind of making up our own stories. And it's called Lilidorei,. So the concept of the place is that it's a Lilidorei, village and there's nine clans that live in this village and all of the clans worship Christmas. So you've got good clans and you've got bad clans. Ian McAllister: And it's weird talking about this in a normal way now, and I've seen construction staff talk about this, and it feels weird to be saying things like the elves and the fairies and the pixies. But it got to the point when were building where you'd see the big construction workers and the joiners fags in their mouth, talking about pixies houses and fairies and elves. But the concept is that some of the clans are really good, like the fairies and the pixies, and then some are a bit more troublesome, like the goblins and the hobgoblins and the trolls. But at Christmas time, they all come together to worship Christmas. So whilst it's Christmas themed, it's not Christmas all year, apart from the gift shop, which is fully Christmas at every time. Ian McAllister: They can buy a ball tomorrow if you want, but we've also got the world's largest play structure. So the place structure was built by a company called MONSTROM, who are based in Denmark. And it's one of these things that's got to be seen to believed, which makes marketing it quite tricky because you can't really feel it until you stood underneath it. But local landmark, the angel of the north, is always a good point of reference. So our play structure is 6 meters taller than the angel of the north. And there's a slide from the top, so it's a 26 meters high structure and there's a slide that comes from 20 meters up. Ian McAllister: But to get to this slide, you go around this really convoluted system of walkways and corridors and climbing up uncomfortable spaces and squeezing through things and climbing up nets, and that's just part of it. The rest of it is all these clan houses. So it's a really fascinating place. Kelly Molson: It's amazing, isn't it, that all of this came out of her head? So I watched the ITV, did a publication on your launch, which was it was only a couple of weeks ago, wasn't it, that it opened? The presenter of the snippet, he went up the slide and came down it and he was talking it through and he was saying, 26 meters. And I was like, "Yeah, that's quite high, isn't it?". But you can't really grasp when someone says that. To me, I couldn't really kind of grasp what the height of 26 meters actually looked like. So when you said that comparison that you've just given about the angel of the north, that's really big. Ian McAllister: But there's no point. It's all enclosed. So, like, you've got open netting and this and other but there's nowhere that kids can actually fall off, if you like. So I think kids, it tests their bravery. It's handy for us from an insurance point of view, health and safety, certainly, but kids like, test themselves. So you'll see them start the session and they'll just be on the little swings at the bottom or on the little spinny mushrooms, and then by the end of the session, you see them at the top running around like it's no one's business, just testing bravery. I think that's the big thing. Kelly Molson: Yeah. And I love the idea that it opens your imagination. You can be any part of that story. You've got that underlying story of the clans and that they worship Christmas, but then you make your own part of that story to go with it, and based on where you interact and where you go and where you climb or what houses you go into and all of those kind of things. It is pure magic, isn't it? Ian McAllister: It is. And we've got a team of people that work. They're called secret keepers. So they're sitting in their outfits and costumes, but they're really extravagantly dressed with feathers in their hats and all sorts. Their job is almost to facilitate the play. So it was almost a marketer's dream when I started off because we couldn't really talk about what it was because people didn't understand until it was built, couldn't see it. So I came up with a concept, which is the most lazy marketing you'll ever think of and the whole tagline which is carried through is, what's your story? So really what we're doing is we're encouraging people to make their own narrative and to make their own story, which saves me the job for a start, but also we don't want to dictate that. Ian McAllister: Well, that clan looks like this because you can't see the clans, you can see the houses and you can imagine how they are, but you can't actually see anything. So when you get there, it's all brought together by this immersive sound we've got. It's like a million quids worth of sound system for each clan. House has got its own immersive sound system that kind of gives you implications or ideas as to what that clan might be up to or what's happening inside the house. So you can look into their house window and you can see how it's all set up. So it kind of starts to build this picture and then the secret keepers are there to encourage that with the kids and, "What do you think they look like? And could you hear that sort of noise?". Ian McAllister: And it gives this underlying narrative for every kid that comes, is obviously going to leave with a different picture of what a particular clan or a particular circumstance is like. Kelly Molson: That's amazing. So you don't have the characters. They never see what the goblins look like, for instance. They have to make all of that upload in their own minds. Ian McAllister: Yeah, I mean, we've got this sort of narrative in the background. We've got an idea of what Duchess has imagined the Clans to look like or the Clans to do, or the Clans to kind of be like. But we never tell the kids this. It's all about provoking thought and provoking story. There was books that I used to read when I was a kid, and they would choose your own adventure books, and it was kind of you make your own adventure. So every even if one kid came to Lilidorei, five times, they might have a completely different experience each time just because of their imagination and the sort of stuff that the secret keepers have fed them, if you like. Kelly Molson: I love that. While we're talking about secret keepers, you've got ahead of Play, haven't you, Nathan? I don't know any other organisations or attractions that have got ahead of Play. How did that kind of come about? Ian McAllister: So to give me his full name, it's Nathan Bonk.Kelly Molson: Excellent name. Ian McAllister: Nathan Bonk, he's come over from America specifically to organise the play and the secret keepers and this. So that's his kind of creation, if you like, in conjunction with the Duchess. So he was meeting with the duchess virtually daily to make sure he's on the right lines, and she was happy with what he was doing, but to kind of put an extra element of weirdness into the story, which in case we haven't had enough weirdness in the podcast already in the Garden going back two or three years, I'm friends with a guy called Stewart who's the reigning Mr. Gay World, and he's only reigning because they disbanded the competition after he finished it. So he kept title. He's kept that. So he got in touch to say that he wanted somewhere to host Mr. Gay England, which is like a pride initiative. Ian McAllister: And it's not just a catwalk, it's education and it's exams, and then the winner of it ends up representing the gay community to go to Parliament and lobby Parliament and speak in schools and this and the other. So I said, well, the best place, really, if you think of the most sort of unusual place that you could think of in a really rural town where there aren't many people of any persuasion, would be Alnwick. So we put it in the middle of the garden. The cat walks right down the middle of the garden, and we've rebranded that entire day, which we're doing again this year, Gay Day. So what we do is we have Gay Day, and it's everything. We've got market traders, LBTQ+ friendly market traders and face painters, and we do trails and all sorts of things. Ian McAllister: So anyway, last year we had Mr. Gay Europe and Nathan's friends with Stewart. So Nathan came over to help with the competition. Mr. Norway had COVID, so couldn't turn up. So there were one person short. So Nathan ended up weirdly representing America in the Mr. Gay Europe competition. Kelly Molson: Wow. Ian McAllister: If you get to know Nathan, as you'd understand, he's always got an outfit of two just stashed away just in case. So he came out with like, the short camouflage shorts and the face paint and waving the USA flag. Anyway, after Gay Day, he went home and he'd fallen in love with Alnwick. And it was just it wasn't New York. He lived like a six minute walk to Central Park. So it's totally different. But he fell in love with the place. And he sent me an email, a bit of a video explaining why love Alnwick and if there's any opportunities that came up, and this, that, and the other. And the only thing that popped in them ahead as soon as I saw his video was the head of play, and I just knew that he would be the person for this role. Kelly Molson: But was it a role that you were looking for or did you create. Ian McAllister: It for the role we discussed? We always discussed that we needed someone. It was going to be it's almost like a head of operations for Lillidorei, but that sounds far too boring. So we always knew there was going to be a role for somebody. I don't think we quite realised to the extent of how influential this role would be in creating the entire story and the entire visit. So Nathan, with his ideas, he's opened theme parks before. He's been in stunt performances in various theme parks. He opened, like, the Harry Potter experiences in Orlando. So he's done all this stuff already. But I remember he Zoom called me one morning. He said, you're never going to believe it. I've got an interview with the Duchess at lunchtime. Brilliant. So I gave him a few bit of background and what were working towards. Ian McAllister: About 2 hours later, he zoomed me back. He said, you're never going to believe it. I've got the job. They sort me out a house. I'm flying over next week, and I've got a tea at the castle with the Duchess. It's like every American film you've seen where they tried to represent England in a completely fictional way. He was living it. Kelly Molson: What a life. Wow. Ian McAllister: And that was it. And he's been here since. And he loves it. He's absolutely settled. He's incredible. He's got this team of amazing people who do things like juggling with Diablos and teaching kids that go on balance boards and hula hoops. Their job is to interact with everybody that comes in and just create the atmosphere. Kelly Molson: And that's what makes the place so special, isn't it? It's that interaction from the people and the encouragement of the ideas that the children have to explore them that makes it a magical place. Ian McAllister: It is. It's incredible to sit as a construction site. All of a sudden. And now to see 600, 700 kids running around each session screaming and laughing and coming out with ruddy faces and wet trousers, it's everything we wanted it to be come to life, a Kelly Molson: It sounds magic. And I've seen those faces, I've seen the kids faces on the ITV clip, which we'll put in the show notes, actually, so you can have a look at it if you haven't had a chance to go up there yet. I want to talk a little bit about, because you've said a few times now, Alnwick want to talk a little bit about, because you've said a few times now, Alnwick, it's relatively rural, a small community, there's not a huge amount going on there other than this spectacular Alnwick Garden and Lilidorei that's just launched. You offer Free Fridays. And I saw the Duchess talk about this. It's for local children, school children, to come for free on a Friday so they can experience what's happening there. What impact do you think that Lilidorei is going to have on the local community and the children there? Ian McAllister: I think so. Two elements to that, really, then, the creation of the attraction itself. We've always estimated roughly, or looking quite accurately, based on recent figures, that it's going to bring an extra 200,000 people a year into the area. And that's going to benefit, obviously, it's going to benefit us, it's going to benefit the Alnwick Garden Trust, it's going to benefit the Alnwick Castle, which is another attraction up the road. All the local restaurants, pubs, hotels, everyone's going to benefit because what we're hoping to do is turn AlnwickAll the local restaurants, pubs, hotels, everyone's going to benefit because what we're hoping to do is turn Alnwick into a multi day destination, so people won't just come for one of the things and go back to Newcastle, back to Edinburgh. They'll do it as a day trip. So we're hoping that it will really kind of drive the local economy. Ian McAllister: So in terms of local economic benefit, I think that's kind of nailed, really. The figures are already quite obvious. In terms of the Free Fridays, then you don't have to go that far out of Alnwick, particularly if you went to South Northumberland and there's quite a lot of people that are in all sorts of various situations. There's schools in different areas, there's kids that just would not be able to afford to come otherwise because it's comparable to other attractions. But it's still not a cheap day out, it's not three quid to go to the local soft play. So there's a lot of kids that the Duchess particularly just didn't think it was fair, wouldn't be able to experience it, hence Free Fridays. Ian McAllister: So the idea of Free Friday is that every school child in Northumberland, and then eventually, when we've kind of been running for a bit, we'll widen it to Tyne and Wear into Newcastle. But at the minute, every child in Northumberland should be able to experience Lillidorei without having to pay. So we've opened up this application process where local schools can apply to come to one of the sessions and that's for any Friday throughout the year. So already the mini uptake has been phenomenal and there's schools that you see that you think, you know, I know exactly what area that school is in and without making too many judgments, you know, that they just would not be able to afford to come, so we're giving them the opportunity to come. Ian McAllister: So that's part one of Free Fridays, which is well underway at the minute, and I think we're almost booked up for the rest of the next twelve months with Fridays. Kelly Molson: That's amazing. Ian McAllister: But the next part is that the Duchess is to now do other initiatives to try and put money into a ring fenced account. So then eventually when that account builds up, we'll also be able to start to subsidise travel. So if you've got a school that's an hour's journey away, hopefully this pot of money, they can apply to it to pay for their hiring of a school coach or a minibus or whatever it's going to be to actually bring the kids up. So it's an entirely free day and there's different things like she's doing private tours, we're doing packages where you can have a nice meal at the treehouse and then come into Lilidorei afterwards. So like I say, that's all going to be ring fence specifically for transport from Free Fridays. Kelly Molson: That's incredible. What an opportunity. And like you say, for the kids that just would not have that opportunity to be able to go and experience it. It's just such a wonderful thing to be able to do. Ian McAllister: It is, it's incredible. And I think a lot of the feedback we saw before we opened, because again, as I say, it was quite hard to explain the concept of it and what you actually got for your 15 quid entry fee. So a lot of people say you've outpriced us and we can't afford it and this, that and the other. And that's why it was really good to then say, "Look, if you want to bring your kids, just tell your kids to speak to their teacher and get the teacher to speak to us and we can facilitate them for free". So it's making a difference already. It's incredible. Kelly Molson: Yeah. And I guess then it's about selling what that 15 pounds gets you the benefits of that 15 pounds. Yes, it's a relatively higher price point, but you start to break it down about the experience that they get there and the magic that can actually happen that they can't get anywhere else, and then it starts to become slightly more appealing purchase.  You can stay there for quite a long time, right? You've got that dwell time as well. So when you work it out, cost per hour, it actually seemed quite reasonable. Ian McAllister: And I think having two kids myself, I think what am I going to compare this to? So you can't compare it to going to local council run park because it's nowhere near the same, it's not just a climbing frame. And then I think, "Well, what else would I do for the kids for that time period on a Saturday if we're bored?" Probably get the cinema. So the cinema is going to be 1520 quid to get in. And then, sweetness, you got 2 hours of sitting in silence watching a film and then you come out, go home and that's done. Ian McAllister: So to compare it to that, to Lilidorei, you've got a three hour session where you can come in, whole family can interact and it's running free and it's fresh air, I mean, it's not fumbling, it's always fresh air and by fresh I mean probably freezing most of the time. But you've got this it's a completely different experience and I think where people were just looking at it as it's a climbing frame, well, I could just go up the park. So it's trying to explain to people that it is different and yeah, it doesn't work out a really cheap day if you've got two parents and three kids, for example. But what we have done, we've introduced, and we're going to look at this after some holidays, we introduced the founder Lilidorei membership. Ian McAllister: My idea with this is always it's got to be for the child focused. So it's the child that has the membership. So little Johnny could have a membership for him and an adult, or him and two adults, and that means they could bring in mum and dad or they could bring in Nanny Granddad or they could bring in whoever they want. But it's always for me been the child that dictates this whole thing. So we always say that well behaved adults can come in with a responsible child. So we've kind of flipped the narrative a little bit there. And in terms of the membership itself, I used to read the Beano when I was a kid and the only thing I ever wanted grown up was Dennis the Menace fan club membership. Ian McAllister: And with that it cut a wallet, a membership card and a badge. And so for me, Lilidorei membership, you get a wallet, a card and a badge. So all these founder lidorians walk around proudly displaying their badge because there was a limited number of to be the very first people to be these members. But it's empowering the kids. The adults are allowed to come if the kid says they can come. I almost wanted to wake up on a Saturday morning and the child go, "Right, mom, you've been good, you can come with me. Dad, you got to wash the car and do the dishes". Kelly Molson: I love that. I love that giving them the choice of who they take and to take Granny as well. Yeah, it's a really good point about the memberships, isn't it? Because it is generally tied to the adult and the children that they have. But I love that you've empowered the kids to make that choice. Yeah. So you've got to be the kid. The parents have to be good all week. Ian McAllister: Exactly. That's to end the story points.Kelly Molson: Yeah. Well, we're going back to your food eating and your little sticker chart, aren't we? That's what you need. There you go. Sell that in the shop for the adults to buy their sticker reward chart, whether they get to come back or not on the next visit. Ian McAllister: That's a great idea, talking to the shop, actually, just briefly, because you may. Kelly Molson: Segue listen, I'm on fire today, Ian. Segue into the shop. Ian McAllister: My good friend Matthew Henderson, who anyone who listens to podcast will have heard him before. He has been incredible. He's been absolutely amazing. It was him that put you and I in touch in the first place. We bought him in to get the shop ready. And to say it's shop ready is the biggest understatement of the century, because I've never seen anything like it. The people that work in retail, a retail manager, Tracy, to coin a phrase, and not sound corny, it's like all the Christmases have come at once, because she's always wanted this shop that she's proud of, that she's selling things that she believes in. It's all been sourced specifically for her. And Matt has done just what a job. It's incredible. Kelly Molson: He is such a great guy, Matt. So Matthew came on our podcast. It was only a few episodes away, actually, ago, actually, and Matt used to work at Beamish and now he's out on his own. He's a consultant now and helps lots of attractions work out their special offering, the uniqueness when it comes to products. And I have seen a photograph of the shop and, oh, my God, it looks like an attraction in itself. It looks like something you'd pay to go visit in itself, like a Santa's Grotte or say. It's just incredible. Ian McAllister: It's phenomenal. And he was also fundamental in helping us with all the food and stuff that we're doing across site, but mainly in there. You know about the ice creams? Kelly Molson: I know about the ice cream. Tell us. Ian McAllister: So there's three flavours. I mean, you've got a vanilla, but then you've got the other obvious choices. You've got Troll Snot ice cream and you've got fairy dust ice cream. So fairy dust is like a raspberry ripple with popping candy. And Troll Snot is pure bright green, but it's sour apple, which sounds vile, but it's actually really nice. But I've got pictures of him with a hair net at the ice cream facility, which I keep telling him should be his next Tinder profile. He's got so involved in it, he's been instrumental in the whole thing. I don't think we'd be anywhere near where we are now without Matthew. Kelly Molson: Oh, wow. Well, that is a massive compliment to Matthew in itself, isn't it? No, he's a great guy. And I think it's something that sometimes gets a bit overlooked when it comes to shop. And you often go to places and you see the same things. Exit through the gift shop, you see the same things, and it genuinely just feels like, and I can only say this from the photos, but it just feels like you're stepping into such a magical world as an extension of the magical world that you've just come out of. Ian McAllister: It really is. It's surreal because on Press Day, we had a launch day a couple of weeks ago, it was so hot. It was a beautiful day. I clearly have the sunglasses on all day, caught a nice tan. Apart from the work stuff, it was a really nice day. But then you do, you exit into the shop and it's like you've already sudden fast forwarded six months and you're in the middle of Christmas. There's Christmas trees and candy canes and balls, not to mention the ridiculous amount of old fashioned sweet jars with trolls fingers and different fudges. And it is surreal because then you've had this 20 minutes Christmas experience in the shop and then you're back into 24 degree heat again. It's bizarre. Kelly Molson: You opened on was it the 25th of May? Is that your opening day? Ian McAllister: Yeah. So a couple of days before half term, were supposed to have a lot more testing than we had, but because of construction issues, we ended up with two testing days. We were supposed to have at least a month or two months testing, but we had to literally do it all in two days. So we opened a VIP date and then we opened for the public on the Thursday. We would never have predicted this, the Thursday Friday, and then the full half term, every single slot was sold out to the point where after a couple of days, we made a judgment call to up capacity and then we upped it again. And it's been full, absolutely full. Kelly Molson: And have you kept that capacity as well? Ian McAllister: Because I think we didn't want the risk of opening, saying, right, we're going to get 800 kids in per session, and then all of a sudden there's 800 people trying to go down a slide. So we didn't want to ruin the visitors experience with queues and with too many people and crowds and this and the other. So we opened with 300 capacity, which was, I mean, once 300 people are on the play structure, you kind of see it. It's like you can't hear them, you can't see them, they've just vanished like ants. So we upped it to five and we're looking at up in it again to, I think, 750. We're going to maybe try and push it up to for some holidays. Kelly Molson: Gosh, that's incredible. So safe to say that it's been a successful launch, then. Ian McAllister: You know what, we couldn't have asked for more. We've had the weather, we've had the publicity. Everything has been going so well. It's been a really positive experience. It was touch and go for a bit where we're all sort of walking around a few days before launch. S***, there's a bump there. There's a thing here. And the construction team, I've never seen anyone react like it like the lighting team would pretty much work until 04:00 in the morning. So they'd work all day. But then they'd want to test their lights so they'd have to wait until it got dark. But then they'd work all night till 04:00 the next morning, go home for a few hours kip and then come back again. Ian McAllister: And we've got a big thank you party tonight at Lilidorei to thank all of the staff, volunteers and construction team for everything they've done to a few hundred people coming tonight. And it's been overwhelming how everybody's got involved, even contractors that might be there for a week doing something. It's been almost like a pride project for them. Kelly Molson: It's amazing. Well, but that shines through in what you've created, right? Everybody that's touched it has taken some kind of ownership of it. What a lovely thing to do. Just throw the party as well to say thank you. It's June now. The story behind Lilidorei obviously involves Christmas. I'm really intrigued as to what you might have planned for Christmas. Are you allowed to talk about any of that yet or is it embargoed? Ian McAllister: I can talk about it a little bit because I've seen it. So we had a sneak peek. So for the last two years, we've been followed around by MGM who have been filming the documentary for Channel Four. So Channel Four documentary goes out, I think, August. So there's a six part Saturday night documentary going out all about the Duchess. It's called The Duchess, but it's all about her leading up to this project. So their last filming day was VIP press day. Kelly Molson: Wow. Ian McAllister: About three days before that, we had a preview one night at 10:00. We would like to go onto site to get a preview of Christmas. I don't even think I can come up with the words. And I'm quite good with words. I can't even put together a sentence that explains quite how magical it is. It's just the lights, the sounds, the atmosphere. And this was a summer's night at 10:00, so I can't even think what it would be like when it is actually Christmas. And we've got three Santa's grottos. To talk, you kind of back a little bit.  Ian McAllister: You've probably seen the picture of the big Lilidorei entrance gate. So when you get to the gate, you've got sounds. You've got a troll talking to a pixie and who wants pixie, wants to let us in and the troll won't let her. So you stand there and you can hear this immersive sound and they won't open the gate. So what you have to do is kind of find a way around and go through a hidden tunnel. At Christmas, those gates will open and it's like, all of a sudden, Christmas is there. So you come in, every Christmas tree is going to be lit, and bear in mind, we've got 1400 Christmas trees. Every Christmas trees got fairy lights in. The atmosphere was just phenomenal. It sounds like a cop out, but it's got to be seen to believed. Kelly Molson: Well, I look forward to that, because that sounds right up my street. Ian McAllister: You know, you're welcome. You're more than welcome. I'll even treat you to some troll snot ice cream. Kelly Molson: How could I possibly say no to that? Ian McAllister: It's the Essex charm, isn't it? Kelly Molson: Just wins me over every time Ian, thank you for coming on. So we always ask our guests to recommend a book at the end of a podcast. What have you got for us today? Ian McAllister: And it was post, COVID I read it and someone had recommended it. So I went and bought a copy and it's got to the point now where I've probably funded about 90% of the book sales because I'll keep buying copies and saying to someone, you love this, I've given them a copy and it's The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. Have you read it? Kelly Molson: Yeah. Great book. Ian McAllister: For me, I think I am where I am now and my career path, my life path, everything was based on decisions and sometimes it's easy to sit and think, that's a bad decision. If I hadn't made that decision, I'd be much happier now. And The Midnight Library, for anyone who hasn't read it, is all about going back and retrospectively looking at your decisions that you've made in life and you get a glimpse of where that decision took you. And I think for me, what it did was instead of me constantly going back, not depressed or anything, but you kind of sit and dwell sometimes instead of thinking well. Ian McAllister: So, for example, I nearly joined the RAF when I was 17 and I wanted to be military police, but because I've got terrible eyesight, they said, well, we can't give you a gun because you probably shoot the wrong person. So they offered me dentistry. So, looking at the time, I was typical Essex. Toys were out, the pram, I'm not doing this, I don't want to do it. So I went to uni and did all that stuff. But I often think back, I think, you know what? If I'd have gone in the RFN and had paid to train me as a dentist and I've done the service, I could have come out and sat me in dental practice and this, that and the other.Ian McAllister: And I often think, would I be happier had I done that and done that as a career path and been a professional, if you like, because I still don't consider myself a professional. But then this book almost made me reframe that a little bit and think, you know what, I might not have done that. I might have hated it or something else would have changed and I wouldn't have had my beautiful children, I'm a stupid dog, or wouldn't have any of that sort of stuff now if I'd have taken that career path. So in a nutshell, for me, The Midnight Library is a really good read. It's quite an easy read, I found, because I was really invested in it, but it made me reframe a little bit. Kelly Molson: Yeah, it's a great book. I've read it a couple of times now and similar to you, it's made me look back at not so much choices but events that have happened to us. Me and my partner, we've had a load of people this is quite public knowledge, we've had a load of trouble having children and we lost quite a few along the way and multiple rounds of IVF and all of that malarkey. And I think that book made me reflect on some of those things that had happened because you start to question, am I a bad person here? Or like, why are these things happening to us? We're good people, what's wrong? Kelly Molson: But some of those things that have happened regardless, despite them being really difficult and quite awful, they've led you to other things that are magic and they've given you gifts of something really tragic happened. Has been able to give us the gift of being able to talk about it openly, which has then gone on and helped other people be able to talk about it or share how they are or just given someone found them, someone that they can talk to. And I think you have to just kind of look back at those things and I don't know, it's a long winded way of saying I completely agree with you and it's a really good book. If you're feeling a bit reflective about your life, it's definitely one to go and have a read of. So yeah, good read. Ian McAllister: I think it may me kind of start to think about the ways I've handled things and how I sort of shape things moving forward so that my best friend died when were at college and my nephew died when he was eight. And all these things in your life that at the time are the worst thing that could ever possibly happen and you could either go one way or the other and it almost explained or kind of put into context a little bit. I think that these things happen not necessarily for a reason, but the way that you cope with it and deal with it and move on after it. That's almost like the learning that you take from it. But this is a different podcast altogether. This is like a griefcast, so we'll do another one. Kelly Molson: This has ended on a complete opposite spectrum than it started, Ian. Anyway, listeners, if you want to win a copy of that book, I'd highly recommend you go and do this. So go over to this podcast announcement and retweet it with the words I want Ian's book. And you will be put into the draw to win a copy of The Midnight Garden. Kelly Molson: Midnight Garden? Midnight Library. Midnight Garden is a whole different book, kids book Midnight Library.Kelly Molson: Ian, thanks for coming on today. It's been brilliant to chat to you. We will put all of the information about Lilidorei and Alnwick Gardens into the show notes so you can have a little look for yourself. But those tickets for Christmas are going to sell out quickly, people, so get yourself on the mailing list. That's all I'm going to say. Ian McAllister: Thank you, Kelly. It's been so nice to talk to you. Living this far north, it's nice to establish my roots with an Essex person again. Kelly Molson: Well, always welcome. Six months check in, right?Ian McAllister: Thanks, Kelly.  Kelly Molson: Thanks for listening to Skip the Queue. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review. It really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned. Skip The Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. You can find show notes and transcriptions from this episode and more over on our website, rubbercheese.com/podcast.

Ravi was previously CPO at Tinder, Product Director at Facebook, and VP of Product at Tripadvisor. Currently, he's co-founder and CEO of Outpace, a coaching platform designed to help people reach their professional goals. In today's podcast, we dive deep into Ravi's product strategy stack framework and how it was used to develop a powerful strategy at Tinder. We also cover his other popular frameworks—the frontier of understanding and exponential feedback—and how both of them can help you grow in your career. We discuss the differences between building product at a startup versus a large tech company, and how Ravi has had to shift his mindset as he's moved away from a product leadership role into a founder role. Finally, he shares a bit about how Outpace is using AI to amplify coaches and help make them more efficient and effective.—Find the transcript for this episode and all past episodes at: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/episodes/. Today's transcript will be live by 8 a.m. PT.—Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for supporting this podcast:• Merge—A single API to add hundreds of integrations into your app: http://merge.dev/lenny• OneSchema—Import CSV data 10x faster: https://oneschema.co/lenny• Miro—A collaborative visual platform where your best work comes to life: https://miro.com/lenny—Where to find Ravi Mehta:• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ravi_mehta• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ravimehta/• Website: https://www.ravi-mehta.com/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—Referenced:Disclaimer: Lenny is an angel investor Ravi's company, Outpace• Reforge's Product Strategy Program created by Casey Winters and Fareed Mosavat: https://www.reforge.com/programs/product-strategy• Matt Mochary on Lenny's Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/videos/how-to-fire-people-with-grace-work-through-fear-and-nurture-innovation-matt-mochary/• Indie Hackers: https://www.indiehackers.com/• Everything Marketplaces: https://www.everythingmarketplaces.com/• The Product Strategy Stack: https://www.ravi-mehta.com/product-strategy-stack/• Balsamiq: https://balsamiq.com/• Set better goals with NCTs, not OKRs: https://www.reforge.com/blog/set-better-goals-with-ncts-not-okrs• Ravi's product manager's competencies framework: https://www.ravi-mehta.com/product-manager-roles/• Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products: https://www.amazon.com/Hooked-How-Build-Habit-Forming-Products/dp/0241184835/• Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Working-Backwards-Insights-Stories-Secrets/dp/1250267595• Ian McAllister on Lenny's Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/videos/what-it-takes-to-become-a-top-1-pm-ian-mcallister-uber-amazon-airbnb/• The Ezra Klein Show podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-ezra-klein-show/id1548604447• Ezra Klein's AI episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-skeptical-take-on-the-a-i-revolution/id1548604447?i=1000592835492• Andor on Disney+: https://www.disneyplus.com/series/star-wars-andor/3xsQKWG00GL5• Airtable: https://www.airtable.com/• Superhuman: https://superhuman.com/• Descript: https://www.descript.com/•  Outpace: https://www.outpace.co•  Unlock Your Product Manager Potential: https://www.outpace.co/guides/unlock-your-product-manager-potential—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Ravi's background(04:24) Why Ravi left Tinder, and what he's been up to recently (08:05) Differences between working at an established tech company vs. a startup (12:45) Why founders should network with “early-stage” folks(14:29) Why you need to do some research and relationship-building before starting your company(17:49) What the product strategy stack is and how to use it(22:08) Mission vs. vision(23:37) How Ravi developed his strategy framework at Tripadvisor (26:43) Why PMs should understand design, UX, and UI(28:20) Examples of the product strategy stack in action(32:42) Why Tinder resisted adding filters (34:10) Monetization features at Tinder and the “whales” who spend the most(38:18) How customer feedback led to new features at Tinder(42:28) Why goals come after roadmap in Ravi's framework(44:30) Tripadvisor's strategy for increasing bookings(47:25) How to set goals that drive outcomes(50:24) The four buckets of the frontier of understanding(51:38) Different methods for trying to hit goals(53:08) Understanding why you hit or missed your goal(54:34) The product management competencies framework(1:02:08) The exponential feedback framework(1:04:25) Why you should ask for feedback—and graciously accept it(1:06:05) How to determine the right amount of leadership your team needs(1:09:40) What selective micro-management is(1:12:25) How Outpace uses AI to assist in coaching(1:15:24) Lightning round—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

The ANU Election Study of the 2022 federal election saw “a large scale abandonment” of the major political parties, and the Liberals in particular. David Barr talks to co-author Prof. Ian McAllister about the detailed findings of the study. [...]Read More... from The Election Revelations

The ANU Election Study of the 2022 federal election saw “a large scale abandonment” of the major political parties, and the Liberals in particular. David Barr talks to co-author Prof. Ian McAllister about the detailed findings of the study.

On the penultimate episode of Democracy Sausage for 2022, Benjamin Jones joins us to discuss the future of the republican movement, before Ian McAllister and Sarah Cameron examine the results of the new Australian Election Survey.A referendum to change Australia's head of state might be off the cards for now politically, but how might the republican movement proceed as its proponents seek to break from Britain? Is the election of a large parliamentary crossbench a one-off, or are Australians giving the major parties the flick? And why did women divorce themselves from the Coalition in record numbers at this year's federal election? Dr Benjamin Jones from Central Queensland University joins Professor Mark Kenny and Dr Marija Taflaga to discuss what an Australian republic might look like in practice, before Professor Ian McAllister and Dr Sarah Cameron join the barbecue to pour over the findings of the Australian Election Survey.Benjamin T Jones is Senior Lecturer in history at Central Queensland University, with a focus on Australian political history, especially republicanism and national identity.Ian McAllister is Distinguished Professor of Political Science at The Australian National University, and from 1997 until 2004 was Director of the Research School of Social Sciences at the ANU.Sarah Cameron is Senior Lecturer in Public Policy at Griffith University's School of Government and International Relations. Her research focuses on comparative political behaviour, the politics of crises, elections, and Australian politics.Marija Taflaga is the Director of ANU Centre for the Study of Australian Politics and a Senior Lecturer at ANU School of Politics and International Relations.Mark Kenny is a Professor at ANU Australian Studies Institute. He came to the university after a high-profile journalistic career including six years as chief political correspondent and national affairs editor for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and The Canberra Times.Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny is available on Acast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We'd love to hear your feedback for this podcast series! Send in your questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes to podcast@policyforum.net. You can also Tweet us @APPSPolicyForum or join us on the Facebook group.This podcast is produced in partnership with The Australian National University. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ian McAllister is the Senior Director of Product for Vehicles at Uber. Before moving to Uber, Ian spent over a decade directing teams at Amazon, where he created and led Amazon Smile. He was also Director of Product Management at Airbnb, where I was lucky enough to have worked alongside him. In today's episode, we discuss Ian's famous document about the essential attributes of the top 1% of product managers. Ian outlines the most important skills to focus on for entry-level PMs and how to broaden your experience and diversify skills as you move up the ladder. He also shares what he learned working with Jeff Wilke, Jeff Bezos, and other leaders at Amazon, and goes in depth on Amazon's working-backwards framework. —Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/what-it-takes-to-become-a-top-1-pm-ian-mcallister-uber-amazon-airbnb/#transcript—Where to find Ian McAllister:• Newsletter: https://ianmcallister.substack.com/• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ianmcall• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianmcallister/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible:• Mixpanel: https://mixpanel.com/startups• Athletic Greens: https://athleticgreens.com/lenny• AssemblyAI: https://www.assemblyai.com/?utm_source=lennyspodcast&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=nov20—Referenced:• What distinguishes the top 1% of product managers from the top 10%, on Substack: https://ianmcallister.substack.com/p/what-distinguishes-the-top-1-of-product• What distinguishes the top 1% of product managers from the top 10%, on Quora: https://www.quora.com/What-distinguishes-the-Top-1-of-product-managers-from-the-Top-10• Amazon's working-backwards method: https://www.productplan.com/glossary/working-backward-amazon-method/• Jeff Wilke on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jeffawilke• Getting Real: The Smarter, Faster, Easier Way to Build a Successful Web Application: https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Real-Smarter-Successful-Application/dp/0578012812• Wool (Wool trilogy #1): https://www.amazon.com/Wool-Trilogy-Howey-25-Apr-2013-Paperback/dp/B011T7ACU0/• Energy and Civilization: A History: https://www.amazon.com/Energy-Civilization-History-MIT-Press/dp/0262035774• How I Built This podcast: https://www.npr.org/series/490248027/how-i-built-this• EV News Daily podcast: https://www.evnewsdaily.com/• Yellowstone on Peacock: https://www.peacocktv.com/stream-tv/yellowstone• Everything Everywhere All at Once on Showtime: https://www.sho.com/titles/3493875/everything-everywhere-all-at-once• Gibson Biddle's website: https://www.gibsonbiddle.com/• Gibson Biddle on Lenny's Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/gibson-biddle-on-his-dhm-product-strategy-framework-gem-roadmap-prioritization-framework-5-netflix-strategy-mini-case-studies-building-a-personal-board-of-directors-and-much-more/• Gibson Biddle's Ask Gib newsletter: https://askgib.substack.com/—In this episode, we cover:(03:54) What Ian expected from his initial post on product management(05:30) How the post impacted Ian's career(07:06) How writing can help you crystallize your thoughts(08:26) Ian's background(10:57) Attributes of the top 1% of PMs(14:32) The top three skills for new PMs to perfect(20:32) Tips on strengthening communication and prioritization(23:06) How to level up as a PM(26:37) What kind of impact should new PMs expect to make?(29:36) How to broaden your view and think big(33:06) How to earn the trust of others(34:30) How Ian could have done more to earn trust at Airbnb(37:27) Why people tend to stick around Amazon for a while (39:53) What Ian learned from Bezos and Wilke(46:38) How teams get working backwards wrong(53:51) The two parts of working backwards and how Ian utilizes it at Uber(58:57) Lightning round—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

As women and our allies continue to share knowledge, resources, and take action to dismantle oppressive structures, the progress we make is being met by oppositional movements. Here in America, the MRA Movement (or Men's Rights Activism) continues to expand its reach and intensify its rhetoric, with prominent MRA leader Matt Forney going so far as to say “Women should be terrorized by their men; it's the only thing that makes them behave better than chimps.” Meanwhile, crimes targeting women and girls have only continued to increase world-wide. The picture this paints seems clear – some men are aggressively pushing back to protect a repressive status quo and when women voice frustrations with the situation or – yet it is not uncommon to hear cultural and political leaders continuing to claim, as Sen. Josh Hawley did only a few months ago, that “men are under attack.” And believe it or not, I'm going to agree with Senator Hawley on that point… Men are under attack, but not from feminists and others fighting for equality; men are under attack from the very same patriarchal institutions which diminish the rest of us. They are taught that there is a small box of acceptability that they must fit into or be shamed (or worse). Most damaging of all, men continue to be taught not to speak up against other men in situations of injustice, not to upset the normativity of a repressive system which ultimately serves none of us. But if all of us work together, we have the collective power to put a stop to these systems and build a world that works for people of all genders. And that's why today I'm excited to be bringing men's voices to the table – men who are ready to pull away the wool patriarchy has draped over their eyes and speak out about injustices they've observed and even participated in. We're so grateful to share their courageous voices with you today. Andy Dunn (he/him) co-founded menswear brand Bonobos and served as CEO until its 2017 acquisition by Walmart. As an investor, he has backed more than eighty startups, including Warby Parker, Coinbase, Away, Glossier, Real, Parade, SeatGeek and Alula. His memoir, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58784468-burn-rate (Burn Rate: Launching a Startup and Losing My Mind), explores the intersection of entrepreneurship and mental illness. Ian McAllister (he/him) is a father and small business owner in Portland, Oregon. When he's not chasing his two year old daughter around you can usually find him at a farmers market, on the ski slopes, paddling the rivers of the Pacific North West, or cheering at a college football game.

We were joined by my uncle, Ian McAllister, who formerly served in the Iraq War and worked as a State Trooper and for the Department of Homeland Security. We talked about combat, police work, drugs, defunding the police, and many more topics. Never forget the importance of family. ====== LINKS ====== Main Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheMcAllisterHours Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3kkuLRVsVJLi22RALUkNRh?si=6c663608a0744da1 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mcallister-hours-podcast/id1509329541 McAllister Visual Media: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBM3Jy9fcnzk0ZeMcf5BFiA Coleman's Music (McCretin): https://open.spotify.com/artist/646mV626yFqKaAEfKeAKMT?si=_2QeVV26Qfuhq1N2pC583w Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/themcallisterhours TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mcallisterhours?lang=en Twitter: https://twitter.com/mc_hours Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mcallisterhours?fan_landing=true Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mcallisterhours/ Discord: https://discord.gg/BZraY34JKX Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/c-739237 ====== *SPONSORS* Stutterbox Productions: https://www.facebook.com/StutterboxProductions Guerilla Graphics Design Agency: https://www.guerrillagrfx.com/ ====== Want to invest? We now have our very own NFT! Link: https://diamondapp.com/u/mcallisterhours?tab=posts

Ian McAllister has a long history of involvement with marching bands and here on the latest episode of the Made to Parade podcast, he shares some of that history with us.Ian tells us how he got his start with a band and the journey that ultimately led him to joining one of the most respected bands on the road today, Lisburn Young Defenders.Ian is also involved with Light of Foot, a group of band members who have come together to form a charitable organisation that seeks to support members of the marching band scene with regard to their mental health, Ian shares quite openly as to why this is so close to his heart and why he feels it is needed as part of the marching band scene today.Ian and I had this conversation a week or so before the Lisburn Young Defenders Melody Day concert, this took place on Saturday 26th March 2022 so this episode is nicely placed as a follow up from that event.Thank as always to all of our Sponsors, British Drum Co and of course our Patreon Patrons. Without you we couldn't keep the podcast going and all of the other work we are trying to do as well.Make sure you check us out on all audio podcast platforms and this episode will also go live on our YouTube channel.Keep Marching On.

On this Democracy Sausage, political scientists Ian McAllister, Anne Tiernan and Marija Taflaga join Mark Kenny to talk about political integrity and why pork-barrelling may not be an effective way to win votes. Why is pork-barrelling so commonplace in Australian politics? Does it actually have an impact on how people vote? And will the spotlight on the well-publicised ‘sports rorts' and car park scandals have a sobering effect on the practice at the next federal election, or will it be business-as-usual? The Australian National University (ANU)'s Professor Ian McAllister, co-author of a new paper on the electoral impact of the Australian sports grants scandal, and Professor Anne Tiernan from Griffith University join Professor Mark Kenny and Dr Marija Taflaga on this episode of Democracy Sausage.Ian McAllister is Distinguished Professor of Political Science at The Australian National University (ANU), and from 1997 until 2004 was Director of the Research School of Social Sciences at ANU.Anne Tiernan is Adjunct Professor of Politics at Griffith University, Managing Director of Constellation Impact Advisory, and Fellow at the Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG).Marija Taflaga is the Director of ANU Centre for the Study of Australian Politics and a Lecturer in the ANU School of Politics and International Relations.Mark Kenny is a Professor at ANU Australian Studies Institute. He came to the university after a high-profile journalistic career including six years as chief political correspondent and national affairs editor for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and The Canberra Times.Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We'd love to hear your feedback for this podcast series! Send in your questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes to podcast@policyforum.net. You can also Tweet us @APPSPolicyForum or join us on the Facebook group.This podcast is produced in partnership with The Australian National University. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Josh (vocals) and Ian (guitar) are in Western Australia based extreme metal outfit Kimura. They have a killer new album out on October 21, 2021, called Circle The Prey. We battle internet connectivity issues to talk about the album, what's been happening in the band, and many other worthy topics!

Why do some opposition leaders make it into government, and others fall short?

ABOUT THIS EPISODE: In this episode, host Megan Cole talks to Alex Van Tol, who co-wrote Great Bear Rainforest: A Giant-Screen Adventure in the Land of the Spirit Bear with Ian McAllister. Great Bear Rainforest was a finalist for the 2020 Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize. In their conversation Alex talks about writing the book from a truck stop in Ontario, the importance of writing about wild places like the Great Bear Rainforest and some of her favourite stories from working on the book. ABOUT ALEX VAN TOL: Alex Van Tol grew up reading a wide range of books, from Enid Blyton to Stephen King. She taught middle school for eight years, then made the switch to writing for a living. She has published numerous titles with Orca. Alex lives in Victoria, British Columbia, with her family. ABOUT MEGAN COLE: Megan Cole the Director of Audience Development for the BC and Yukon Book Prizes. She is also a writer based in Powell River, British Columbia. She also works at the Powell River Public Library as the teen services coordinator where she gets to combine her love for books and writing with a love for her community. Megan has worked as a freelance journalist and is working on a memoir which tackles themes of gender and mental health. Find out more about Megan at megancolewriter.com ABOUT THE PODCAST: Writing the Coast is recorded and produced on the traditional territory of the Tla'amin Nation. As a settler on these lands, Megan Cole finds opportunities to learn and listen to the stories from those whose land was stolen. Writing the Coast is a recorded series of conversations, readings, and insights into the work of the writers, illustrators, and creators whose books are nominated for the annual BC and Yukon Book Prizes. We'll also check in on people in the writing community who are supporting books, writers and readers every day. The podcast is produced and hosted by Megan Cole.

Time magazine named Ian McAllister one of the ‘Leaders of the 21st Century’ – which is no surprise when you hear how committed he is to the unique wilderness he calls his office, Canada’s Great Bear Rainforest. As an award-winning photographer, celebrated author, IMAX film-maker and co-founder of Pacific Wild, Ian’s spent decades in the field getting to know everything from spirit bears to sea wolves and grizzlies. Plus, his adventures in the Great Bear Sea have revealed an epic ecosystem filled not only with iconic whales, dolphins, pinnipeds and kelp forests, but also a delicate environment where the balance rests on the future of salmon – the source of life in this truly special part of the world. In this episode of Wild Lives, Ian’s stories of adventure, discovery and life lessons will both inspire and entertain you.

Did you know that there is a group of rare white bears that live in Canada? These bears are completely white. But these aren’t polar bears. And they aren’t albino. They are actually black bears with a genetic mutation that makes them white. They are known as Spirit Bears and only live in the coastal rainforest in British Columbia. Conservationist and filmmaker Ian McAllister has spent years documenting the Spirit Bears and is the director of the IMAX film The Great Bear Rainforest. He is also an awarding winning photographer, the author of six books, co-founder of Pacific Wild. Ian joined Chris Morgan on stage at The Mountineers in Seattle to talk about his film and his life in conservation.

It all started when Ian McAllister spent two days in a flimsy basket, suspended from a tree, to protest logging.

What should we make of the results from Monday’s Newspoll? Will Labor’s dental plan put a smile on the dial of Australia’s pensioners? And will Clive’s cash splash get Palmer into Parliament? These are just some of the questions tackled in this week’s episode of Mark Kenny’s Democracy Sausage. Mark and the panel – Marija Taflaga, Ian McAllister, Liz Hanna, and Sky News’ Kieran Gilbert – also take a look at the possibility of a pre-poll interest rate cut, and as the leaders limber up for a television debate, they discuss who will be watching. Mark Kenny is a Senior Fellow in the ANU Australian Studies Institute. He came to the university after a high-profile journalistic career including six years as chief political correspondent and national affairs editor for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and The Canberra Times. Liz Hanna is a Fellow at the ANU College of Medicine, Biology and Environment and Chair of the Environmental Health Working Group, World Federation of Public Health Associations. Ian McAllister is Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the ANU, and from 1997 until 2004 was Director of the Research School of Social Sciences at the ANU. Marija Taflaga is a lecturer in the ANU School of Politics and International Relations. Her major research is on political parties and particularly the Liberal Party of Australia. Her research interests also include comparative Westminster parliaments and oppositions, the career paths political elites, and Australian political history. She has previously worked in the Australian Parliamentary Press Gallery as a researcher at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Kieran Gilbert is Chief Political Reporter for Sky News Australia where he hosts AM Agenda and First Edition. Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny is available on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We’d love to hear your feedback for this podcast series! Send in your questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes to podcast@policyforum.net. You can also Tweet us @APPSPolicyForum or join us on the Facebook group. This podcast extra is part of Policy Forum’s Australian Election coverage, and published in partnership with The Australian National University. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Blue Fish Radio continues to seek answers to why BC's ecosystem is in decline. After the collapse of the Cod fishery and all that entailed on Canada's east coast, why are BC's southern Chinook salmon heading down the same path? Link below to listen to this week's Blue Fish Radio guest expert, Ian McAllister from Pacific Wild, as we explore the foundation role of North Pacific Herring, and why their decline threatens BC's entire ecosystem:Mr. Ian McAllister is the executive director of Pacific Wild. He's dedicated his life to exploring the rivers and tributaries along Canada's west coast, and finding solutions too many of our “man-made” problems. His actions to conserve vital wilderness are making a difference, and his media projects to document and educate others continue to earn Ian and his team much applause.Link below to watch the trailer for Ian's latest initiative, a 42-minute IMAX film “The Great Bear Rainforest” that's receiving tons of critical acclaim:https://pacificwild.org/video/great-bear-rainforest-imax-trailer/

The Australian Election Study, conducted by the Australian National University, has been running since 1987. Its director Ian McAllister says one thing voters will want at this poll is stability. McAllister says that for the first time in a long while, one of the major parties - Labor - has put forward some “very constructive policies”. But, he told The Conversation, Bill Shorten is very unpopular: he “ranks below any leader we’ve ever recorded across virtually every personal quality including things like trust, competence, integrity”. McAllister says the Coalition’s challenge is that the Liberals haven’t been looking after their base. He expects the election to highlight a “generational gap in voting” and probably a much higher level of “split-ticket voting” - people voting differently for the two houses.

The Puntcast left the harbour with a sail full of wind thanks to "BC Refugee" Kyle Smith, and his dog Chilko. This episode features tons of laughter, (headphone users beware) mounds of bullshit thanks to yours truly, and horrendous language. Our topics are vast. The first minute is a tidbit about Chilko trying to spread love and being greeted with a frightened tourist, and ultimately, the boys in blue. A man, a dog, a sea of granite, a camera, and a beautiful landscape that despite being out of reach from the masses finds its grand natural beauty threatened by humanity. Kyle Smith is a great person, and I thank him for not letting me die in the North North Gully, and hopping on this rag tag podcast. The cover photo for this episode is a beautiful shot by Kyle himself. You can learn more about, and support Pacific Wild here: pacificwild.org/ At one point, Kyle shows a collection of photos by Ian McAllister, you can learn more about Ian here: pacificwild.org/about/our-team/ian-mcallister Grit

This week, Travel Today with Peter Greenberg  focuses on some chronic problems in the travel industry, and our experts weigh in on some common sense solutions. Joining Peter is The Wall Street Journal’s Scott McCartney on the aftermath of the government shutdown. Arnie Weissmann, Editor-in-Chief of Travel Weekly, on why (or if) major hotel chains don’t lie and Costas Christ, Editor at Large for National Geographic Traveler, on the true meaning of sustainable tourism along with Fly Guy Columnist for USA Today George Hobica. Then, Anne and Mike Howard, Founders of HoneyTrek and Authors of National Geographic’s Ultimate Journeys for Two, discuss their seven-year honeymoon and sharing real experiences together and Ian McAllister, Director of Great Bear Rainforest, talks about the three years it took to make the film and the region's 'spirit bear.' There’s all this and more on this week’s Eye on Travel.

Ian McAllister, executive director of Pacific Wild, joins us along with visual communications director Deirdre Leowinata to discuss Ian’s stunning new documentary, Great Bear Rainforest: Land of the Spirit Bear. We also talk about sustainable fishing initiatives in Canada and Indonesia and the difficulty of environmental regulation in a country whose resource industries hold so much power.

This week we’re joined by Ian McAllister, co-founder and Executive Director of Pacific Wild, a non-profit located in the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest. McAllister is committed to defending wildlife and their habitat on Canada’s Pacific Coast. The wolves of the Great Bear Rainforest give us an entry point into understanding human relationships with the wolves of the past and throughout history as time honored messengers, providers and protectors. This conversation with Ian is a call to rekindle and reclaim our relationship as humble companions. Where roads have not been built, nor forests plowed and paved over, the wolves are able to experience a freedom from the slaughter brought to them by the first colonial settlers to Turtle Island, who also brought with them an insidious path of destruction that has precipitated the destruction of all our wild kin and the genocide of Indigenous Peoples. Wolves are calling on us to stand up to protect that which remains, that which serves as the reminder of time eternal.

Are political parties both a source and the nexus of the modern political malaise?

Because of My Podcast I Got Media Passes - Cheri Field Cheri Fields has at least 7 children, and produces the Creation Science for Kids Podcast http://creationscience4kids.com/ What Podcaster's Can Learn From Amazon.com Amazon is an amazing company. Recently I purchased an Amazon Echo, and Later and Amazon Dot. These devices allow me to do things through voice activation system known as Alexa. You can control Alexa with an Amazon Echo, an Amazon Dot, and Amazon Tap, and now you can control your Amazon Fire TV.  If you're interested, check out my Buyer's Guide. The item that made me purchase the Echo? The ability to say “Alexa, add eggs to the grocery list.” The more I examine the Amazon company, the more I believe there are tips we podcasters can learn from them. Amazon Makes It Easy To Find Stuff Their search is at the top of their page. You don’t have to search for the search. Amazon understands their customer may want a number of things, so they make it easy to find. Podcasters you need a search button that is easy to find, if you provide topics that are more of a reference. Podcasters you could use categories to create filter to only show those episodes that are categorized a certain way. Customer First Mentality Any research into amazon and you will read how they make all decisions based on serving the customer. They are spending money on items that will better serve the customer. So when you are thinking about purchasing some equipment for your podcast you need to ask yourself who the purchase is serving, you or your audience? Amazon project lead Ian McAllister has described a sort of reverse engineering that happens frequently at company HQ. “We try to work backwards from the customer, rather than starting with an idea for a product and trying to bolt customers onto it,” he wrote on Quora.com. When someone approaches you to to be a guest on your show, you need think, “Will my audience want to hear this content?” Personalized Recommendations There are plugins that can add related links to other episodes on your site. So when someone listens to an episode about Topic A there could be links to more Topic A shows at the bottom of the post. There are plugins such as Yet Another Related Wordpress Post Plugin (which has lots of features, but can be a bit of a resource hog), and Related Wordpress Posts is a lighter weight plugin with an easy setup. If you’re using Appendipity themes, this is a built in feature They Don’t Always Win, but They Try I completely forgot that Amazon launched a “Fire Phone.” That tells you how much of an impact it had on the phone space. They’ve done quite a few things that didn’t land well. It wants to infiltrate people’s lives to such an extent that they can’t imagine living without it — that they don’t even try to imagine living without it. We always joke that "No one will punch you in the face," here at the School of Podcasting. Your podcast is a recipe, not a statue. One of the cool things about being cloud based, is they are constantly adding new features to the Alexa system Keep Your Pages Loading Fast After analyzing the ratio of sales to website performance, Amazon discovered that for every 100ms of page load time there was a 1% decrease in sales. So how fast does your website need to be? Many usability experts propose that the ideal page load time is 2 seconds or less. You can easily test the page load time of your own website by using free tools such as WebPageTest.org So podcasters be careful loading tons of plugins if you're using WordPress. Some of those may slow down your site. Make it Fun Google the phrase "Alexa Easter Eggs" and you will find a giant list of goof things you can get Alexa to say. There are Make it Easy The one thing the Amazon Echo and Dot do is they make it super easy to ORDER STUFF. With a few phrases, "Alexa order Angel Soft Toilet paper" it is pretty much on the way. She will state what size the package is and the price and ask me if I want to order it. There are safeguard can put in so your kids do order every thing under the sun. Podcasters who are saying thins like, "Find me in iTunes" are missing a golden opportunity to lead their customers by the hand and show them exactly how to subscribe to their show. One of the things I did as a young grocery clerk was if someone asked where something was, I would take them to it, and make sure they could reach it. I wanted to see that product go into their cart. I would also ask if there was anything else they were looking for before I returned to whatever I was doing before. Make it easy. You can do this by finding your show in iTunes, and right clicking on your art work and copying the link then add a button to your site and attach that link to the button (there is a tutorial for this at the School of Podcasting Amazon's Ultimate Goal - Routine Amazon wants to be your right arm. They want to be integrated into your life. When I recently traveled without my Amazon Dot, it was weird not to wake up, check my to do list, get the weather, and hear my custom news. If you can podcast on a regular schedule, you become part of your audience's routine. Podcast Glossary "K" I couldn't think of any "I's, or J's" so we are moving o the the K's. kbps - This is stands for kilo bits per second. This is a measurement that you use when you are exporting your files. Typical settings are 128 kbps - Stereo (if your primarily music) 96 kbps - mono (for those doing speech, and want a slightly better sound than 64 ) 64 - kbps mono (same as 128 stereo, but mono) When exporting you do not want to use VBR (variable bit rate) as you mp3 file may not play on all players. Podcast Rewind - I Was On the SoloPreneur Hour with Michael O'Neal I appeared on episode 509 of the Solopreneur Hour with Michael O'Neil. We talked a little music, we talk about my early days of training people on office equipment, getting fired after busting your butt, and how I ended up in Podcasting. Check it out HERE You can hear Michael on this show sharing how he stands out from other podcast when I interviewed him on episode 542 Podcast Launch the Mark Nelson Show Mark is going to help you with your negotiating skills. Check out his show at http://www.marknelsonshow.com/ or Subscribe in iTunes Mentioned in This Show Computer Tutor Podcast Solopreneur Hour Podfest.Us (use the code Dave to save) Alexa Cast Amazon Alexa Buyers Guide Building a Better Dave Quora.com (questions website) Horse Radio Network Ready To Start Podcasting? Join the School of Podcasting. You get 16 courses Priority Email Support Group Coaching Private FaceBook Group 30 Day Guarantee  Join Today

The Diva of DOOL interviews General Hospital star Ian Buchanan!  Ian portrays Duke Lavery on GH.  He also played Ian McAllister on Days, and James Warwick on the Bold and the Beautiful.

I have had the privilege of visiting the Great Bear Rainforest of British Columbia two times and plan on going back every year. Many people have not heard of this region - a vast network of islands - stretching along the coast of B.C. to Alaska. This magical kingdom, where salmon is the foundation of the ecosystem, is a last bastion for everything wild and wonderful in Canada - from Orcas to Grizzlies - Humpback Whales to Wolves -and, of course, the legendary Spirit Bear, found only in the Great Bear Rainforest. This bio-treasure should be cherished and protected, but surprisingly, the Canadian government could risk it all - for oil.Calgary-based Enbridge Inc., wants to run an oil pipeline from Alberta through the Great Bear Rainforest,and the government supports it. Fortunately there is a growing coalition of First Nations, Environmentalists and concerned citizens who oppose the project, knowing that all it takes is one spill and goodbye salmon...which means goodbye Spirit Bear. I would like to give special thanks to Ian McAllister from Pacific Wild, for acting as a consultant on this podcast. Please support Ian's efforts to save the Great Bear Rainforest by visiting www.pacificwild.org. I also want to thank the great musicians and natural sound artists who contributed to this show: David Arkenstone "Yosemite," Attilio Casati "Reflections," Peter Buffett "Northern Morning," and Peter Davidson "Soft Light." Natural sounds by Dan Gibson.

Ian McAllister, Distinguished Professor of Political Science at ANU and a former Director of ANU’s Research School of Social Sciences, will discuss the Australian Election Study (AES) and its implications for the ALP.The AES has surveyed Australian public opinion on politics following each federal election since 1987. It has asked about electoral institutions, party loyalties, views on politics and leaders, campaigns, social background, class, economic beliefs, and values. In his recent book—The Australian Voter: 50 Years of Change—Ian has drawn on both the AES and three earlier surveys (covering 12 elections in all) to chart the changes in attitudes to Australian politics over the past half century. He has been co-director of the AES since 1987.Apart from his work on Australian political behaviour, Ian’s recent research has included Russian electoral behaviour and democratisation, as well as political behaviour and violence in Northern Ireland. He has edited the Australian Journal of Political Science since 2004.Join the ACT Fabians and Professor McAllister for a fascinating talk on Australian voting trends over time.

Join us this Saturday at 10 pm est as the Diva of Days of our Lives and friends discuss the last week of the show.  Topics include:  Will's gay kiss, Sami and EJ getting busted, Carrie/Austin/Abby, Jope to Alamainia, Ian McAllister, and our interview with Beverly Todd who will portray Celeste Perrault in April.

IAN BUCHANAN joins OutTakes to talk about his upcoming role as "Ian McAllister" on Days of Our Lives. Ian has played the enormously popular "Duke Lavery" on General Hospital, the unlucky-in-love therapist Dr. James Warwick on The Bold and the Beautiful (for which he won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in 1997), the sinister vampire "Joshua Temple" on Port Charles and the fertility specialist "Dr. Greg Madden" in the controversial un-abortion storyline on All My Children.