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A special interview with Dr. Ross Bender, who recently finished his translation of the Shoku Nihongi, including a capstone work on the court of the 8th century.  We cover his work, from his training with some of the greatest names in Japanese historical circles to his dissertation on the Hachiman cult and the Dokyo Incident, and then to his most recent work publishing translations of the various senmyo, the edicts, as well as the entirety of the Shoku Nihongi.  Throughout the discussion we touch on many different  topics, and for notes on everything, please check out our blogpost page:  https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/bender-interview   Rough Transcript: JOSHUA: Welcome to Sengoku Daimyō's Chronicles of Japan. My name is Joshua, and this is a special episode I'd like to share with you an interview I had with Doctor Ross Bender, translator of the shogunate. Now, some of you may know Doctor Bender from his work translating the Shoku Nihongi, the official history of the Japanese court compiled in 797 and covering from the end of the Nihon Shoki in 697 through the entirety of the Fujiwara capital and Nara periods ending at the 10th year of the reign of Kanmu Tennō in 791. Not only has he translated the historical chronicles, but he has a series of books on the senmyō, the edicts, as well as more about that period, including institutional life more generally. And we cannot forget the paper that started at all, the Hachiman cult and the Dōkyō incident. We'll have links to all of this and more over on the episode blog post page. Now, in this interview, we cover the Shoku Nihongi and Dr. Bender's academic journey. Throughout that journey, he has had the chance to converse and study with some of the big names in Japanese historical circles, such as Donald Keene, Alexander Vovin, G. Cameron "Cappy" Hurst, and more. It was absolutely a pleasure to be able to talk with him about his career, his work, and about the Shoku Nihongi and this period more generally, and I really hope you all enjoy it as much as I did. So without further ado, I give you Sengoku Daimyo's interview of Dr. Ross Bender.    Dr. Bender, thank you very much for joining me for this. Dr. Bender has done some absolutely wonderful work, in particular with translating the Shoku Nihongi, which is going to be very key to some of the stuff we're going to be looking at here in the coming years. I want to thank you, first of all, for all of your efforts and welcome you to Sengoku Daimyo's Podcast, here; our little Chronicles of Japan.    DR. ROSS BENDER: Thank you. Happy to be here.    J: So your translation of the Shoku Nihongi: how did you come about deciding to do that? What was it that pulled you into the translation?    R: Well, it's a long story, but it does go back to my time in graduate school at Columbia in the 70s. In 1974, I finished my Master's thesis, which was "The Hachiman Cult and the Dōkyō Incident". I started grad school in 1971, and after a lot of intensive language training, became interested in Hachiman because, as you know, the common definition was that Hachiman was the Shinto god of war. Of course, at the time, the Vietnam War was raging. And so I became interested in, you know, what was this theology of a war God. And so I became rather obsessed with Hachiman, and, two things: In 74, I was in a seminar with Donald Keene on the Noh theater, and I found a play--a Hachiman play--called "Yumi Yawata". And I translated that and became interested in the way that Hachiman was portrayed in this Noh play. And then at the same time, I became interested in the Dōkyō incident and the Hachiman Oracle. So that was really my first encounter with Shoku Nihongi.    Two things I suppose really struck me. The first was that although the text is in classical Chinese or literary Sinitic, the senmyō and a few of the- there are a few poems are in the old Japanese script inscribed in Shoku Nihongi.    J: And the "senmyō": They are specifically the edicts.    R: They are the imperial edicts that are recorded in old Japanese.   And Motoori Norinaga, in the 18th century did an intensive study and interpretation, really, of them. And he came up with a canonical number of 62. There are some quibbles with that number, but that's the number. And so at the same time, I was discovering that some of the pioneers in the field had done work on these. So, for example, George Sansom in the 1920s had started to translate the senmyō, and he had also done work on the ritsuryo. And then in the 30s, JB Snellen had begun translation of the Shoku Nihongi, and he completed the years 697 to 715. So the reigns of Monmu and Genmei and-    J: I remember actually going through that translation. I think at one point I found it and was so enamored of like, oh, we have some of this, but then it then it stops.   R: Then it stops. And so both Sansom and Snellen are published in the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan. And as I say, these were real pioneers, you know, digging into this stuff. And it was amusing because Snellen prefaced his work by saying that Shoku Nihongi is "dry as dust". And he further said that translating it was like "intellectual coolie labor". But his translation, you know, is still very useful and extraordinarily well documented, footnoted. And of course, I was able to use that, although it needed updating.    J: You mentioned that you had language training before going into this.    R: Well, I started at Columbia in fall of 71 with no Japanese at all. I had visited Japan and as a teenager in 67, but no language training. So they gave me an intensive full year of language study. So you had first year, second year, and third year all in the first calendar year. And then in the second year of study you started Bungo and further modern Japanese. And I have to say that I was very fortunate to be at Columbia at a time when some of the giants and pioneers of the field were there. So Ivan Morris had the first class in classical Japanese, and we did bits of Hōjōki and Heike Monogatari. And he told us that when we eventually went to Japan, we might find ourselves at a cocktail party, and we could be sure to amaze the hosts. And so he had us memorize the opening lines of both of those.    J: That's fascinating. So, so all about the Gion bells, and-    R: Yes. "Gion shōja no kane no koe...", and "Yuku kawa no nagare wa..." So I actually- I think there was one time I was at a party with, oddly enough, bunch of pediatricians from Kobe Children's Hospital, and I tried them out and with Hōjōki, and they couldn't get it. They said, oh, is that Hyakunin Isshu?    J: [laughing] R: So I was kind of pleased about that. But then everybody knew the "Heike".    J: Right.    R: Yeah. So actually my first class in ancient Japanese history was with Morris. He tragically died in 1976, so he had the Bungo introduction in the fall. And then Donald Keene came back from Japan and did it in the spring. And so he introduced us to a Noh play and "Oku no Hosomichi" and Shinkokinshu, I think. So the language training was just excellent. And then in the third year, Doctor Hakeda did Shingon Buddhism and classical Chinese and so forth. So yes, there was a lot of front-loading and intensive language study, but it was very pleasurable.   J: As you're studying about Dōkyō and the Dōkyō Incident and Hachiman, that then allowed you to access these sources and the senmyō, and all of that, correct?   R: Right. That was my first introduction to them. Both the "Yumi Yawata" and the "Hachiman and the Dōkyō Incident" were published in the late 70s in Monumenta Nipponica, and then in 1980, I finished my dissertation, which was the political meaning of the Hachiman cult in ancient and early medieval Japan.    J: I came across that as I was going through Ōjin Tennō's period. R: Yes, it was sort of a simplistic construction, but what I did basically was to posit three stages of the Hachiman cult. The first at Usa, which was the oracular stage, the second at Iwashimizu, which was where the Ōjin Tennō connection developed, and also the Hachiman Daibosatsu connection. And then the third stage, you know, identified with Tsurugaoka in Kamakura, which was the Minamoto- Where the martial aspect--the god of war--really developed.    J: And that is fascinating because, you know, you go to Hachiman shrines today and that's probably where people's minds will first go. But it is such a fascinating religious exercise of like Shinto, but also kind of Buddhist and kind of continental.    R: Yes. And I don't know what the statistics are today, but at least I think 35 or 40% of Shinto shrines have some connection with Hachiman. So it's yeah, it's a fascinating study all by itself.   J: So as you were doing this, you come across the Shoku Nihongi. Can you talk a little bit about where the Shoku Nihongi falls in all of this?    R: Yes. Well, the notable thing about both Nihongi and Kojiki is that they begin with the Age of the Gods, so that the first sections, the Shinwa, are the mythologies. Nihongi probably becomes historically accurate sometime in the late, I don't know, it's late six hundreds, but for the seven hundreds it's probably pretty much historically accurate. And of course, you know that John Bentley just recently did the first English translation since I think 1898 was going to ask, so that was long overdue. And that's a very useful publication. J: It's interesting to see the differences in some of the things he updates and the different take he has on it in terms of how to do some of the translating.    R: Yes. And he is a historical linguist. And so he has a very valuable exegesis and commentary. And then, of course, Matthieu Felt just published the first volume of his translation. It was Oxford Press. That just came out a few months ago. That's also a useful document. He actually has the text of the Nihon Shoki along with the translation. And so that's very useful. And I'm not sure when he's going to be publishing the second half, but that's something to watch for.    So the first one started with The Age of the gods. Now, Shoku Nihongi is the second of the Rikkokushi, or 'Six National Histories', and it, unlike the first two, is judged to be a very accurate historical chronicle. And it, of course, was presented to the Court of Kanmu in two recensions, 794 and 797, and takes the story up to 791, which I think was the 10th year of Kanmu's reign. That's where it fits. And then, of course, you have the rest of the Rikkokushi. The next one is Nihon Kōki, which I'm just starting to get into now. Then Shoku Nihon Kōki, Nihon Montoku Tennō Jitsuroku, and then Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku. So they take the story up to 887, and they become increasingly detailed, and the language becomes more intricate as time goes on. But that's where Shoku Nihongi sits in terms of the six national histories, and they're all court chronicles, compiled by court scholars and ordered by the emperors. And of course, the point of view is that of the central court.    J: Right. You're not getting Kyūshū's take on things.    R: No. Although, you know, Kyūshū is a fascinating place. A lot happens there. So of course you have the Dazaifu, the Kyūshū government headquarters, which is an important outpost, almost a mini capital by itself. J: The first several dazai sōchi, I think, all become Daijin. Like Sadaijin, Udaijin. They kind of come back and do that if they don't pass away in the meantime.    R: Yeah, it's an important post. People take that position and come back. But also what's interesting is that the Hayato people of southern Kyūshū begin to appear in the chronicles, and in the early years, there are some major Hayato rebellions, and that's a story all by itself. Those rebellions are, for the most part, put down. And then there's some sort of accommodation because Hayato people show up at court almost as envoys from, you know, the barbarian realm, and then some of them become guards. So they are assimilated more or less early on. And then, of course, there's the whole question of the Hayato and the Emishi and where did they come from? There are some theories that when the Yayoi people came in they mixed with the Jōmon people and assimilated. But some theories that the Hayato in the far southwest and the Emishi in the northeast were remnants of the old Jōmon. So that's, you know, it's a possibility, but it's certainly interesting. And unlike the Hayato, the Emishi, as you know, were constant problem for the Nara court. And all through Shoku Nihongi, but particularly from about oh 780 on, there were more and more intense periods of warfare. And these are described in great detail in Shoku Nihongi. Karl Friday and Wayne Farris back in the 90s, both did books on. I think Farris was the "Heavenly Warriors: History of the Samurai". And then Karl Friday also did a book on the samurai, but they paid a lot of attention to these Emishi wars, so that's well documented in English. J: Getting back to the Shoku Nihongi, which includes all of this, really, what were some of the biggest challenges you found?    R: Well, part of the story is that after I finished my dissertation, I went off and did a variety of things, this and that, and finally wound up at University of Pennsylvania teaching in the English Language Programs, which was the program to teach English to foreign students. At that time the majority of the students when I started were from Japan. So I actually ran a program for the Monbushō, and they would send over Japanese high school teachers of English for a summer session, and we would give them language classes, but also pedagogical training, how to teach English. And so that was my connection with Japan during that period. And so I really was away from my original interest until the early 2000s. I took early retirement and I visited my old advisor, Paul Varley. He had, of course, taught at Columbia, but then he had retired and moved to University of Hawaii. I visited him, he introduced me to Wayne Farris, who was also there at the time, and they both encouraged me to get back, get back to work. So that was sort of the impetus. I have to give them credit for that. So I found myself in Kobe for several months in 2006, and that was when I decided I was interested in the senmyō. So my first thought, my first ambition was to translate the senmyō. As you know, in the late 80s and 90s, the immense five volume Iwanami collated and critical edition had come out, the one edited by Aoki Kazuo and his team. That was still a magnificent piece of work, you know, with I'm sure you've seen it with all of the head notes and footnotes, and on one page there's the kanbun and on on the facing page is the yomi-kudashi, and, you know, more than you could ever hope to know. But also at that time there were three modern Japanese translations, so that was very useful. It was a good time to be starting into this, so I went to a secondhand bookstore in Kobe and got myself the books, and that started, I guess, what's turned out to be a 20 year project.    J: 2006 to 2026.   R: Right.    J: And it looks like you're doing most of this through self-publishing. Is that correct?    R: Yes. I discovered early on that what's now called Kindle Direct--it used to be called Create Space--through Amazon was a very useful piece of software. In fact, I first published several volumes of poetry in 2012, and that was my introduction to using this platform. And I've been very pleased with it, because I don't have to wait years and years to try to find an academic publisher. And actually they pay royalties through Amazon, so... J: That's not bad.    R: Yeah, that's worked out well for me. So I never had a chance to have an academic position teaching Japanese studies. Although when I was at Penn, my friend Cappy Hurst--Cameron Hurst--was the chairman of the department and he had been a student also of Varley's at Columbia, although before my time. And he invited me to give some lectures in his class on Japanese history. So another thing was that my classical Chinese needed an upgrade. Fortunately, at Penn, Victor Mair was teaching a year long course in classical Chinese, and so I sat through that and he was extremely, extremely helpful. Then one other thing was that I also got to know Alexander Vovin, who at the time was at Hawaii, and he, of course, is *the*- was *the* authority on old Japanese. And, you know, his Man'yōshu translations and, and commentary are just really helpful. So he gave me some good advice. So I had good teachers all the way through. And, you know, I'm always very grateful for that.    J: You mentioned classical Chinese. I'm curious how much of it is a standard classical Chinese, or is it kind of their own thing in the archipelago? I'm curious what the language is like in the Shoku Nihongi.    R: Okay, so of course, at that time, the eighth century was sort of the apogee of the Tang dynasty, and at least from what Victor Mair told me. And he was very helpful in beginning this translation. And he would look at some of my stuff. And according to him, it was pretty much like the Tang dynasty Chinese. I think that's called Early- I forget- Early Middle Chinese. So at least for the eighth century, that seemed to be the case. And, you know, you have records in the Shoku Nihongi of teachers who come from the mainland and lecture and teach the correct pronunciation and how to read. And then, of course, with the Buddhist monks, they're using the Chinese translations of some of the Sanskrit, and they have their own techniques for reading. So, yeah, the eighth century is a really dynamic time because the Japanese, at least at the elite level, are and with the help of the Koreans and that should be emphasized after the fall of Paekche there were a large number of refugees and high ranking aristocrats who came to Japan and helped them to learn to read and write Chinese. And then, of course, the Japanese started sending students to China and, you know, staying there for ten, twenty years. So, yeah, it was a very dynamic time. And then, of course, they were learning how to use Chinese characters to express old Japanese. And that's another story in itself, using the characters as semantograms, but also as phonograms. That's one of the things I found really fascinating about old Japanese, about the senmyō. J: And how does that compare to- I think we usually just refer to "Man'yōgana" as any of that. Is it very similar to what's going on in the Man'yōshu, or is once again, is there something else going on with the senmyō?    R: The standard edition of the senmyō I think notes that there are about 250 some--if I've got the number right--of phonograms used in the senmyō. There is a huge number used in the Man'yōshu; much greater. In fact, I think Vovin once said that it's not really known that you can't count. Although Bentley has a very excellent book, I think it's called an ABC Dictionary of Phonograms, like that. He has really scoured the landscape. So- But you could say that the phonograms in the senmyō are Man'yōgana, but that the set of Man'yōgana is far, far greater. J: Only 250 phonograms to have to worry about, as opposed to going through the Man'yōshu and seeing every once in a while a character and going, which pronunciation or what are they trying to represent here?    R: Yeah, yeah. So I mean, Man'yō studies, you know, or a whole realm in themselves and some of the, the emperors--I'm thinking of Genmei especially, or is it Gensho? I think it's Gensho. She has three poems in the Shoku NIhongi and they may be included in Man'yōshu. So there's some crossover. I was going to say that, of course, once you start reading these phonograms, you begin to see where the kana systems developed from, from Man'yōgana.    J: Right. So I think I've read that in Old Japonic, we think that there were more or at least different sounds than maybe we have today. R: Yes.    J: And so you see it represented in different ways. You'll see the same--what we would think of as the same character--represented differently, because to them it was different.    R: Yes. So there's still, as far as I know, no absolute standard for representing old Japanese. You'll see different scholars have their own takes on it, and Vovin, in his Man'yōshu translations, has his own very intricate system. Another good place to look that's freely available. The Oxford, I think it's called the Oxford Ninjal Corpus of Old Japanese Texts, is an ongoing project. It's actually been ongoing for many years, but you can go there. They have laid out all of the Man'yōshu poems with their  romanization system. I suspect that, you know, that's very prestigious and will eventually become a standard. But that's where you find all these things. Like is it "Himiko" or "Pimiko"?    J: Do you say "Kapa", "Kaha", or "Kawa"?    R: Yes. There you go.   J: [Laughter]    R: Right. Yeah.    J: I'm constantly wondering that myself.    R: Yeah. So you'll see different scholars have different ways of approaching it. But my opinion is that the Oxford, which is a very long standing and slow running project, will probably produce the standard.   J: In doing this translation, were there any favorite moments or items of particular interest that you found? R: So yes, actually my first go at the senmyō were the edicts of the lady we call Koken/Shotoku. Actually, I think almost half of the senmyō were produced during her reign. And so that was where I started. I think the first article I got around to writing in 2009 was for the journal Oral Tradition, and it was called Performative Loci of the Shoku Nihoingi Edict 749 to 770. And also because of my interest in Dōkyō my interest in her went way back. So 2015 I did the edicts. I called it the Edicts of the Last Empress, and it was a translation of all of the edicts from her reign. That year and the next year I did the four volumes I called them, Nara Japan 749 to 757, 758 to 763. So that period was, yeah, my first period of interest. And of course it went back to the Hachiman cult and the Dōkyō incident. I mean, you know, the stories about this wild empress I saw I saw an article that's just come out. I think it's a compilation of Women in Japanese Buddhism. And the title of the article by Emily Simpson is "The Depraved Empress". So that was one of the things that, early on, I decided was not accurate. That's a whole rabbit hole by itself. But according to Shoku Nihongi, there's no evidence, you know, of any illicit goings on between the two. But in Nihon Ryoiki, which appears in the early Heian period, not much later, you find the first really scurrilous story that about Dōkyō and the Empress. And then, as if you look at, for example, Donald Keene's "Seeds in the Heart," he has a long excerpt from a medieval tale. I forget which one that, you know, really rings the changes. And what fascinated me was that in there was a Playboy fable- I forget they were called. Some sort of fabulous stories. This one was done anonymously, but it was a very scurrilous, licentious story about Dōkyō and the Empress, and done anonymously. But it was later found to have been Bill LaFleur--William LaFleur--who taught at Penn and passed away unfortunately, some years ago.    J: So then in the Shoku Nihongi, it's just straight up politics, right? Just about Dōkyō's rise. And then it's just the political conflict going on rather than anything else?   R: Right. And it's a very intense period of political- So of course, the story was that when she was at the Hora capital, which was up near Otsu, it was a brief capital, and she was there and she was ill, and Dōkyō apparently at that time attended her as a physician. And that was the beginning of their relationship. So this would have been 760 or so. But the only phrase is that Dōkyō received the favor of the Empress, but it doesn't have a sexual connotation. It's used in other political settings also.    J: Yeah, I have to wonder how much they weren't looking back at Wu in the Chinese, which of course she also gets excoriated for stuff that is questionable. How much worse was it than anything that any of the men did? But she was a woman doing it.   R: Yes. Well, that's what happens to female rulers. You know, you have Catherine the Great in Russia. So. Yes. So that was initially my what really excited me. It was that period. And then I finished the "Edicts" translation. This was 2012. Bryan Lowe, who's a good friend at Princeton, he was finishing his doctorate and he had a workshop on Shosoin documents, and he invited Dr. Sakaehara Towao to present at the workshop. And he had been Bryan's advisor in Japan. So I was able to meet him and then talk to him and said, you know, I think I'd like to translate Shoku Nihongi. And he basically said, go for it. But I met him later that fall in Nara. He was at the Todaiji Museum, and so he encouraged me. A lot of people gave encouragement along the way. Yeah. So 20 years later, actually, I finished the translation 2025. And then this year in the spring, I did what I- is sort of considered the capstone, the volume: "The Japanese Imperial Institution in the Eighth Century." That's available as an e-book and also paperback and hardcover. And so there I have about a 75 page overview of the eighth century and then the introductions, not the translations, but the introductions to each of the emperors throughout the period. I'm very happy with that. And that sort of puts a cap on it. I should mention that that was in memory of Herschel Webb, another one of my great teachers at Columbia. He had done a book way back in 68 called "The Japanese Imperial Institution in the Tokugawa Era". And so this is sort of an homage to his memory.   J: And we very much thank you for it.  I remember when that came out, and we definitely snapped it up as soon as we saw it.    R: Well, great.    J: [Laughter]   R: Yeah. And you know, it's all available on Amazon. So let me let me make my plug.    J: Absolutely. Absolutely. You mentioned something about the Nihon Kōki. Are you are you serious about taking this project on and moving forward, or is that just kind of something you're toying with? R: Well, no, I'm actually I've actually made a start. That's an immense document. And what I'm interested in is finishing the reign of Emperor Kanmu. He dies in 806. And so Nihon Kōki begins in 792, and I'm currently up to 799. But I'm not putting as much energy into it. I do maybe an hour a day if I feel like it, but it's slow going. But there's some really fascinating stuff. So Wake no Kiyomaro died in 799, and they've inserted this immensely long biography of his life at this point, although it was obviously produced later and it's set apart. But that has details of his miraculous trip to the Usa shrine. And, you know, it's not clear if somebody cut his tendons, but he was lame and so he was on his way to Kyūshū, and suddenly a pack of wild boars appeared and sort of escorted him down to the shrine. It is just a really wonderful story. Then he has a vision of Hachiman, which is not part of the Shoku Nihongi tale. Yeah, I'm trucking along. My ambition is at least to finish the reign of Emperor Kanmu, and then we'll see what time there is beyond that.    J: So do you have any recommendations for current students of Japanese history? Those coming up? R: Actually, there are some young scholars. I was at the Association for Asian Studies meeting in Columbus, Ohio, which was, I guess, yeah, 2025. And for some reason there were a good number of presentations on eighth and ninth century. So there's a scholar by the name of Nadia Kanagawa. She finished a dissertation at USC on immigrants in the eighth century. Then Abigail McBain finished up at Columbia, and her dissertation was on specifically Tang Buddhist monks and interchange with Japan. Yeah, so there are some young scholars who are digging in to this. You know, I was just looking the other day at Wikipedia, which is a good start for anyone. I would say, you know, take it with a grain of salt. But if you want to know the names of the, you know, the famous emperors and the rebels, you know, Tachibana no Naramaro, and Fujiwara no Nakamaro. And just, just the other day I found this amazing thing called 'Grokipedia', which apparently is a new. But it's one of those AI things. Yeah, but it had the best summary of the Shoku Nihongi that I've seen. So with the AI revolution, goodness knows what's going to happen. But yeah, I find that it's possible to dip in and a lot of things are available. For example, the Rikkokushi text is online, it's been online, and it was first published by Asahi Shimbun way back when. But I used that and then that the Oxford project that I mentioned is online -- more and more it's becoming possible to access, you know, original documents. J: Yeah, combination of making them available online, better online translations.    R: Machine translation is going great guns. Yeah-   J: Yeah. Although I have to admit, it can get you a sense of what the classical Chinese is kind of saying sometimes, but the translation for some of the old stuff just it still has some work to do. I think it's better if you can translate the at least the modern Japanese translation, rather than sometimes going back into this. It's still tricky.    R: Yeah, well, it's I admit I'm getting old, but this this stuff is getting kind of frightening. This machine translation...   J: It is, yeah.    R: I feel like I'd be out of the job if I had a job.    J: Well, I think there's still a lot of questions to be asked on that. I don't think we need to get into a whole thing on AI right now, but I think there's some great benefits, obviously. And then, you know, I definitely know there's some concerns too, because every once in a while it can just hallucinate an answer. And you might be going through things that seem absolutely wonderful and then find something that you're like, wait a minute, I never knew that. [laughter]     R: And then it turns out not to be true.    J: Yeah, I don't know if you heard there was one, and I mean, this was a year ago, which already seems, in AI terms, ages and ages, but apparently it hallucinated entire papers and authors.    R: Yes, that's there was I don't know if you follow the PMJS list.    J: Oh yeah.    R: But I think there was a discussion and an example of that. So it's-  J. But the world is going to be different. J: Things are changing. And I think we will figure out how to use the tools that are useful will hopefully win out. And there's always going to be certain things. For instance, I remember early days, Wikipedia and still, you know, looking at Wikipedia sometimes for certain things around more popular subjects got to be a little more wary, though I have found the Japanese Wikipedia has been great when you're just trying to look for something and go, let me at least get what a common sense of this is so that I know the other things to go research. R: Well, I was going to say, just to sort of sum up, yeah, we're in a very dynamic time, but the eighth century was very similar because the new technologies were pouring in from the continent and the peninsula, and people were learning these new methods of reading and writing and orality to literacy.    J: So any last thoughts? I do appreciate all your time. But any last thoughts as we finish up here?    R: Not really, but I noticed that yesterday you came up with a long spiel on the UNESCO World Heritage site, and that's exciting. The Asuka region you seem to have links to photographs that took me back to wandering around that area. The Ishibutai, I remember, was something. So party on and keep up the good work. J: Thank you very much and thank you again. Thank you for your time today, and thank you for all the work that you've put into this. You have made these sources so much more accessible for people in English, and I think that is going to be critical as we move forward. I know for me this is a huge help. I was looking at Shoku Nihongi going, okay, I know we've got like the first so many years so I can get through that and then I'm really going to have to up my game. Then I saw all the work that you'd been doing and it was like a big load felt lifted off of my back. Now I can, you know, take a look. But at least with the idea that someone more experience than I has already done some of the really hard labor. I really want to say thank you for all of that.    R: Yeah, you're very welcome.    J: And once again, I would like to say thank you to Doctor Bender and thank all of you for listening. If you think that this is something you would like to see more of, please let us know. We'll see what we can do. Perhaps we can make it the start of a new interview series. In the meantime, next episodes we get back to our regularly scheduled program. And as always, if you like what we are doing, please tell your friends and feel free to rate us wherever you listen to podcasts. If you feel the need to do more and want to help us keep this thing going, we do have information about how you can donate on Patreon, where we have early and add free episodes for you to listen to. You can also donate through our Ko-Fi or BuyMeACoffee Sites. Just look up SengokuDaimyo for all of that. You can also find the links over to our main website, SengokuDaimyo.com, where we will also have more discussion on topics from this episode. Finally, feel free to reach out to our Sengoku Daimyo Facebook page. You can also email us at the.Sengoku.Daimyo@gmail.com. Thank you also to Ellen for their work editing the podcast. And that's all for now. Thank you again and I'll see you next episode on Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan

INSIDER A.J. HAS SOME INSIDE INFO ABOUT EXTERESTRIAL HOMES OF ELITES, WHAT DOES HUMANITY LOOK LIKE FOR THE REST OF US? WILL WE BECOME A HUMAN ZOO FOR THE ELITE??? LETS DIVE IN!!! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lockdown-universe/support

Ian Camfield, a Brit who lives in Texas, discusses all things red, white, and blue and asks the question: Did You America? --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/iancamfield/message

很多景点已经在5月1日陆续开放了，这个五一节很多人都憋了好久，北京疫情也降级了，终于可以出去玩一玩，据说降级当天机票预定暴涨了15倍，你有没有心仪的旅行目的地呢？我们来听听Joy and Chris的对话来学习一下怎么用英语聊五一吧！J: Hi guys. I'm Joy.C: And I'm Chris.J: Today is the May Day holiday. Did you know that Chris?C: Oh yeah. What is this holiday all about?J: Well, I think it's celebrated as an international holiday because many countries in the world have the same holiday. You know, to celebrate for the labor people have done.C: Yeah, there's a Labor Day in America too. But it's on the first Monday in September, not on May 1. I think one of the reasons to choose this day is to add a holiday in the long gap between Independence Day and Thanksgiving.J: Right. Independence Day is on July 4 and Thanksgiving is in November. So people can have another holiday to take a break in September, right?C: Yup. On Labor Day, people in America do a lot of Barbequeing, spend time with their family, take short trips and maybe go for a picnic in the park. There might also be fairs going on in town that a lot of people like to go to.J: Sounds pretty cool.C: So what do Chinese people do on this holiday?J: Well, since this is not a traditional Chinese holiday. There's nothing special that we need to do. Most people just go traveling during this time. This year, the May Day holiday is extended to 5 days including a weekend. So it's a pretty long holiday if you want to take a trip somewhere.C: The epidemic is getting better here and a lot of parks are open now right?J: Yeah, like the Forbidden City and some other popular spots. You need to book the tickets ahead of time though because it'll run out probably really soon. Too many people have been stuck at home for so long, they are all looking for a place to go.C: Oh there'll be flocks of people everywhere for sure.J: Yeah, but the attractions will control the flow of people. There's a max of how many people can go in on one day. So it shouldn't be too bad. Although I'm still gonna stay at home just to avoid crowds. I've never been big on that.C: The weather has been getting warmer though. It is a really good time to get outside and do some outdoor activities.J: Yeah it is. So guys, hope you are having a great May Day Holiday! And if you like to listen to our channel, remember to share it with your friends and family! Bye!fairs: 市集，展览会（类似国内的庙会）the Forbidden City: 故宫be big on: 喜欢，热爱

有时候真是计划赶不上变化快，多少人的旅行计划都被“暂时放在了一边”，那native speakers(英语母语者)真的就用“put it aside”来表达他们把某事放在一边了吗？快听听Joy and Chris是怎么用的吧！J: Hi guys. I'm Joy. C: And I'm Chris. Today we are gonna talk about another idiom: put something on the back burner. It can be used when you want to put something off for later, because it's not the most important thing at the moment. J: Right. When you are cooking, the back burner is usually a place to put something that can wait until later, because it's not as important as what you are cooking right now. Well, I was actually planning on a vacation with my family this year. But I had to put it on the back burner until this special time is over. Here's an example of how you can use this idiom: C: Hey Mindy. Are you busy right now? J: Oh I'm just finishing up some paperwork right now. Why? What's up? C: You are gonna have to put it on the back burner and go to Mr. Harrison's office right away. J: OK, I'll be there asap. C: Remember to share this with your friends and family and don't put your English learning on the back burner! J: That's right! And if you are looking for private English classes, feel free to contact us! Talk to you next time! Bye!

World renown life coach, Sharon Pearson comes together with an established clinical supervisor, family therapist and professor Jennifer Slack to talk about how she approaches therapy, her philosophies and discuss their ethics within their different disciplines. Get your FREE getting started as a successful life coach gift pack here: https://tci.rocks/gift-pack-2020 Resources: · Ultimate You Book - https://tci.rocks/order-ultimate-you · Ultimate You Quest Telecast - www.ultimateyouquest.com · Upcoming Events at The Coaching Institute - www.thecoachinginstitute.com.au/trainings · Sharon’s Website - www.sharonpearson.com · Disruptive Leadership- https://www.disruptiveleading.com/ · Phone The Coaching Institute - 1800 094 927 · The Coaching Institute Fan Page – https://www.facebook.com/BecomeALifeCoach · Feedback/Reviews/Suggestions, topics to be discussed - perspectives@sharonpearson.com · Perspectives YouTube Channel – https://www.tci.rocks/youtube Transcript: Introduction Hi I'm Sharon Pierson and welcome to this episode of perspectives. This episode really means so much to me. Recently I was in Fairfield Connecticut in the United States and I'll stay with my dear friend Jennifer. She's an amazing human being. We met about 18 years ago now and she is the reason I became a life coach. We were sitting outside at my beautiful home having a glass of wine and just talking about where we heading what are we going to do. She just said you should be a coach. I didn't even know what it was. I didn't know it existed and we walked through it and that time she was just starting to train to be a family therapist we're just starting to think about it. I thought I can't be a coach I can't help anyone but I can't help myself. So that journey for me was really about me helping me and it all got started with Jen and I remember finding her out one day sound terrified. I don't think I can do it. I'm just so scared and she gave me the classic words that I've used to this day I still say this to so many people and it's always attributed to Jen. Of course, you feel afraid anyone would in your situation you're about to go to another level. How else could you feel. And I remember just feeling. It was amazing feeling of being validated and being allowed to feel what I feel which is something I was so unfamiliar with. So she gave me very many gifts in the early days of our friendships and continues to she's beautiful you got to meet her. Her sound for herself very shortly. She's warm and kind hearted and values driven. She lives a life that is aligned around what matters to her the most which is her family and make a difference through her therapy work. She has crafted a life for herself that is so suited to who she is it's one of the things one of the many things I admire about her so much and the Fact that we've maintained such a beautiful and close relationship across the malls for all these years means so much to both of us. So I know I got to stay in her beautiful home for a couple of days in Connecticut. We went hiking together and then one morning I said we should do a podcast. And we started chatting and it went for over two hours. And so what we've done is we split it into two parts and you're going to want more and more of this woman when you hear her in the first part. We talk about her approach to therapy and she's a trained therapist. How does she approach therapy what's her philosophy behind therapy. What is she thinking about attending to what is what is she weaving into her therapy and how does she bring that to life. That's going to be the first part of the podcast and the second part which will be playing down the track again with us just sitting on her couch in her beautiful home. We digress and we just by now it just naturally moved into chatting about family because one of the things I've admired about her all these years I was we became friends when her youngest son was just born and was hadn't wasn't walking just a baby. And I've watched her as she's been a mother raising her three beautiful children their amazing human beings and all of them have gone on to start crafting lives that are based on their values what they care about what they stand for. And at young ages they know that. Now one of the things General will be the first to tell you she's not a perfect mother and then not a perfect family. They have ups and downs. They're flawed. She is. She insists that that message comes across and I of course admire that about her as well. The humility she has. But there is still an underpinning there of love being expressed in a really functional and loving way. And you're going to see that come across in part two of this podcast with Jen. Now I'm going to read here because I want to get a title right. And titles are my strengths. So she is a clinical supervisor and member of the American Association of marriage and family therapy and also an adjunct professor at Fairfield University. And she works as a family therapist and therapist. And I know some of the work she does at university. She works as a supervisor so new therapists who are training. She sits and what it she could be standing. She's with them helping them craft their own narrative style as therapists. And I say to her nearly every time we talk about this topic anyone who gets trying to get emotional anyone who's fortunate to be trained by this woman is going to be just the most phenomenal therapist. And I hope you love her and I know you'll love her as much as I do. So here's Jen Sharon Pearson: Hey. This is Sharon Pearson. I'm in Fairfield Connecticut and I'm here with my dear friend Jen psych who is a therapist and a phenomenal human being. And I'm so thrilled to be out to share with you today. Her message in her words. Welcome Jen. How are you. Jennifer Slack: Thank you Sharon. It's wonderful to be here with you my dear friend. S:So we've known each other for J: since 2001 S: 18 years J: Yeah. S: And we met before we were both moving into what became our passions. J: Yes. S: And our songs. Yeah. We were trying to figure out our passions our songs. There were conversations we had. Yeah overshadowing the backyard. J: Exactly. And I I think we helped each other kind of identify and crystallize how to manifest those passions. S: I'll always remember that moment. Can I share that moment. I was some for some reason I said I was going to be a coach. We'd come to that together over a glass of Chardonnay in my backyard was my turn to host. And then I was on the phone with you saying I was really scared and you said of course you are anyone in your situation would feel that way. You're going to a different level. You're about to have new experiences you've never had before. How else could you feel it was the most beautiful validation. And from there I was able to leap into it completely blind Jan. I we say it's a leap of faith. It was. I didn't have faith. It was a leap without anything but those comforting words. So I'll always remember that moment. Do you remember it or do you do you do. J: No I do. Yeah. S: It was very significant to me to feel that validated instead of my fears being dismissed. I was used to hearing you'll be okay or it'll work out. But you just accepted it embraced and held beautifully. My uncertainty about it was very valid and that's what enabled me to launch into something that I felt incredibly ill equipped to do. J: Well you might not have had faith but you had courage. Yeah. And you were willing to explore the unknown territories and just dive in and figure it out. S: And I did. J: Yes you did. Yes. S: And then so and then some and you began studying when you were in Melbourne. J: I did. Yeah. So I began a graduate program there. Yeah. Ecology. Yeah. And then we moved back to the States in 2003 and I picked up and began my marriage. Marriage and Family Therapy master's degree. S: Wow. J: With three kids of my own I went slowly at a pace that worked for me. S: And all your kids were under at that stage under about 12 with a rhythm. J: Yeah. Two years apart each. Yes. So it was a lot. S: It was a lot. S: And then tell us a little bit more about what you've done since then to get us up to now and then we'll go into your philosophy of. J: So I studied at Fairfield University. And I interned at a neighbourhood clinic where I stayed on for a total of 12 years and became a supervisor and then eventually the clinical director and then I left. Just coming up on a year ago to invest fully in a private practice and now I teach a class at Fairfield University and do supervision S: of psychology or family therapy family. J: It's family therapy. It is so fearful and I would you to study in family therapy. Yes. That's fantastic. Yeah. S: And what were the cut up. Because I'm interested what were the kind of who was the influences in that program. J: Who were they drawing on the structural and strategic models. Primarily with a little limited exposure to post-modern approaches as well. Yeah but really largely based in the modernist perspectives S: so pre 70s pre 60s. J: Yes when it was a little bit more objective. S: Exactly. J: A little as a black boxy. S: Yes yes. So who were the main influences for you philosophically. Who do you feel you draw on or empathize with or connect with in terms of approaches to therapy and family therapy. J: I have to say that underpinnings of structural therapy Manute chins the graphics spatial physical metaphors of that model in particular are like a scaffolding for me. Very very helpful. But my way of being with people is much more grounded in post-modern approaches which for me are all about exploring with people not having answers outside of the exploration necessarily but then continuing on. Now what we're learning in terms of neuroscience and brain chemistry and just the organic aspects that are playing a role also that it may be have to do more with like an individual's organic system as much as a family system interest. I think there are so many different kind of layers to explore in terms of doing therapy. How much do you draw on systems theory for family therapy even if you're working with one individual. Yeah I think heavily even if I define it in the way I just did. Yeah. So even if I'm working with an individual on individual behaviors and patterns of interacting with people and we're not really talking about their families so much I'm thinking about context and I'm thinking about that maybe their individual systems like their organic body system his you often share with me how when you're with a client where were you feeling that. S: The question I'm indicating with my hands reality people can say to me you. Where are you feeling that whereas that sitting with you. That's a big part of how you work. So it's to you is that a way of helping the client bridge the cognition to the feeling so that that's one of the ways I use it it gets I think I feel physically is a way of changing it too I feel I have an emotion. S: Do you ever use it that way or is. J: Yes. Yeah definitely. And the other way. Yeah. Because sometimes people come in with a lot of awareness about what their body is feeling but they aren't connecting it to a cognition or vice versa. And I think ultimately it's all good. Now one it's all unified. I'd like to separate it and yeah our Western culture but it's all one thing and I just I think having multiple modalities to better understand a person's experience is going to be better than this. S: Yeah. When you began what was your feeling or your thought around working with people did you have a philosophy or a bent or an expectation back then and I'd be interested to know how it's grown over the years. J: I think it's grown in a lot of ways and changed as I learned more about just a lot of the like the neuroscience pieces of this and my ideas about diagnosing have shifted a lot over the years and continue to shift back again, in family therapy the idea of diagnosing a person is largely frowned upon. And I think for really good reasons because it's subjective diagnoses are very subjective and there's been a lot of harm done around diagnosing and yet still sometimes people have very specific acute difficulties that can be helped with treatment approaches that go hand in hand with certain diagnoses. So I. So that's been one area of shift. And but then there are areas that are completely the same and haven't shifted at all S: since the day I met you J: which is probably three glasses of chardonnay just being with people in a way that is normalizing. That's built in love and compassion and a commitment to be to hold what they say with an open spirit and non judging and respect and integrity so to me that's kind of ethics the ethics of this work. And it's S:I really want to unpack that because that's one of my that's as you know one of the things that I delight the most from speaking with you. It's how you do that. And it's all how it's who you are when you're doing that. When your clients patients what do you call them either clients. J: Clients. S: when your clients come to you and you all just create a scenario for you and change it however you want. A client comes to you the walls are out the boundaries are way too rigid. No one's getting in their home protection defensiveness and the need to repel what's just. Could you paint a picture of perhaps hypothetically how you would go about helping them see that there can be self trust or. What. What are you thinking about. I won’t put words in your mouth. What do I be thinking about self dress. What would you be thinking about. J: I think I'm thinking about other trust. I'm thinking about how can I create a safe place for this person to begin to trust that my agenda is nothing more than what I am hoping will be helpful and healing to her. Or him. So that it's truly joined and connected. I really ultimately think it's all about connection and when someone comes in so well defended they've been hurt in connection and I'm hoping to be one small repair for them S: that it can be safe. That their will be their emotions will be safe, that they're bits that they've been rejecting we'll be safe with you. J: Exactly. And sometimes it takes time for some people one or two conversations does the trick. And for other people it takes I think the passage of time and repeat experience to me. I agree. Heal and enters yes. S: To rehearse. OK so what happened last weeks consistent this week. I can count on that and I can build on that. This is how I can respond in this moment it's a bit safe for me to respond that way and they can rehearse it with you in a safe environment and a team too. In practice in the real world and experience it J: and people can tolerate an expression of my emotions that can tolerate hearing what my thoughts are they can tolerate aspects of myself that I'm not sure are tolerable. S: Yes that was a big part of my healing as you know for me was embracing all of me and not feeling the need to suppress it hide it deny it. Get angry with it judge it. that's. Would you say that's a big piece of what you do. J: Completely. Yeah. One hundred percent. And I think when things are so scary that we can't even identify themselves let alone risk saying it out loud with another person. They just sit and grow and fester and become very toxic S: and real. They seem very real. J: Yes. Yeah they do. They its real and the problem which doesn't even very often is not a problem but it becomes a problem. So my hope is to make these things talk about a ball and with compassion people understanding where they're coming from and that it's OK and that there are more options kind of about expanding options for what you do with these feelings. Beginning with non-judging accept and accepting said things S: it’s a big part of it J: huge S: I didn't even know that was the thing. As you know I could accept my feelings. Yes. What are you talking about. What is this strange magical mystical words you're using. Except yes. And now I can't coach without. Yeah just holding. I always teach coaches we're holding our clients with our hearts as we are using cognition. But if that piece isn't there this won't have an effect. What's your way of interpreting that. Because I know a big part of what you do you're thinking about how to different approaches and different choices. That's an inevitability but a big pot huge part. Most of what you do is holding the client can you talk to that in your own way. J: Yeah it is. It is a holding space and all of you know I'm unconscious as we're having this conversation about you know the many people who have preceded me in terms of these terms and concepts that they are not original ones. They're just very dear to me. S: Yes. J: And yeah it is it's a holding it's a body and a mind experience and it's relational and it's all three of those happening at the same time. And so I think it starts with me being aware with my own feel of my own feelings my own body my own head and really making it all about the client and putting in check anything that's coming up for me if I'm having moments of you know OK. I don't know where I'm gonna go from here. It's a signal to just slow it down and check in with the client. And together we find our way. No two therapy sessions are the same. I mean that's why models are great and they can help us from getting lost. But there is so much creativity that happens in any session. S: I've never. I can't ever served on the same session twice in thousands of sessions. J: It's not possible. It wouldn't make sense right. If it if it is happening twice then say OK I was let's paint by number. S: It is I think is where I began when I was doing student student trials with supervision. I would have begun with I've got my twelve questions thank goodness. J: Yeah I mean you need a script. S: I needed it. I needed the script I need to better turn the page noisily right. So the client knew I was turning the page and I would need to read the second page because it gave me but the client knew I was a rookie with the L plates on. Yeah so I felt very safe in that environment because I don't know read the question. Yeah. They would be with me as a comrade encourage a colleague encouraging but there does come a moment where we have to learn to fly that leap which to me is the favourite thing ever. That leap. When I'm with the client I know I've got all these models and all these ways I could draw and inspiration these beautiful people who could steer and all of them have just created such beauty and approaches and philosophies and it all fades away. It just disappears from the periphery of my mind and all I see is the client and that's all there is there's me there's not even me there's the client and they're just feeling like I'm throwing a cloak of protection over this client the models and everything else float away they don't matter anymore or they're so assimilated that I don't there's nothing conscious there's nothing I can't notice them J: yeah they're there they're there. J: But they're so integrated. And I think what you are talking about having this script and how the people you're working with are so gracious and to me that comes from transparency and a spirit of collaboration and so everyone has their own style but that is that is definitely my posture. And so I you know I have yet to meet a person and you know. S: Yeah. Yeah. J: With more people I can count. And there is a there is a we achieve a mutual respect that is based on honesty and I have to be able to be honest about my approach. S: Transparency is a huge part of how you operate. Can you unpack that a little bit for me. It sounds so obvious. J: Transparency is such a buzzword. S: Yes. Can you unpack it and tune into a process for us. J: The process for me is it's about honesty. It's about probably a need that I have for me to be sort of we. You know we have to wear clothes that we feel comfortable and authentic and for me transparency is a way of being with people that allows me to be most comfortable so that I don't have any sense of I might have boundaries but I'm not having secrets I'm not holding something over the client that the client isn't aware of that is not a good recipe for me. So I have to work to find ways to be appropriately disclosing and authentic about what I'm thinking. What I'm concerned about where I'm coming from and that feels very genuine and connected. S: Do you do it in real time is that thought feeling cognition comes to. Or do you sometimes hold it thinking it it'll be little appropriate once this is more appropriate when this is wrapped up. Do you have a sense of time and space around that or is it in the moment. J: Both both. It often comes in the moment but then it often has to wait and sometimes I'm not aware. Or I don't have a frame that I'm comfortable with like I know there might be a conversation that needs to happen but I don't have the words to say it. I've learned I am not opening my mouth to go there until I know why I'm doing it. What I'm going for and how I'm gonna say it S: another big piece of this. Maybe this is the time to drop it in. Is do no harm. And what your. I don't have the right language. One of your goals is for the wholeness of the client and the well-being of the client. And I'm wondering how transparency. I imagine transparency for you is vital for that outcome to allow the client to see your reflections back openly without censorship. Didn't end up there. I get that but you do give the truth how is that linked. That's my question. How is that linked to helping the clients wholeness. I know it is but I'd love you to unpack that. J: I think that's trust. I think it's authenticity and I think it's connection. We wire ourselves in relationship. I mean you know mirror neurons. We are not actually separate entities. We are all commingled whether we're aware of it or not. And it's very powerful. It's sitting here with you just a few feet away when we pick up on each other's energies and if you don't know the truth about my context about why I'm saying and being the way I am being you're in the dark. Yeah. Yeah. And that to me is a breach. S: Tell us more about that J: to some extent or it's potentially a breach of of trust and connection and how and if I you know I think ultimately it is about raising awareness non-judgemental awareness that we are hoping for people so that they can survey, they can step back from their worried thoughts and feelings stuck behaviours and assess is this working for me or not. It's pretty simple. S: So we simple just do that. J: So we have to be able to step back ourselves and assess S: So are you seeing yourself in third position sometimes when you're in the session. J: Yeah I try to really that's so what. You know one of the many gifts that I've come across include mindfulness and John Cabal in particular has been hugely influential to me taking a witnessing position just helps me when I'm feeling stuck to get unstuck. There was a whole pathway I wanted to go come back to that if I remember it but something's just come up to me then a lot of times when people are starting out in this they bring their own stuff and into it. What would you suggest is a part because you don't you're very clean. I call it very clean work that you do. That's always my goal too. Does that make sense of the word clean. It's not enmeshed with my stuff. My as much as it can be my ego my issues my fears my life whatever's going on for me is separate to this precious moment with the client. I call that very clean work. It's messy work when the person is feeling what the client's feeling and is getting hooked into the drama of what the client is sharing. And the question I get all the time from people starting out is how do you do that sharon and how do you separate. Why why I care so much so why don't you feel what I feel like somehow it's not caring if I don't feel the client feels Yeah. Can you talk to that bit. J: It's a really it's a great I mean it's so central to the work that we do. And the truth of the matter is we do pick up yes what our clients are feeling and I do have my own stuff that I become aware, I think the trick is it's actually being aware that I have my own stuff happening right now and then that's the piece that I want to I. A disaster would be not being aware and then continuing the conversation you know that's reactivity that's enmeshment. And so I want to be catching myself. And for me that's very it's very helpful to start with the body. And I think that's why I kind of work to work with that with clients because I find it so helpful. And then taking a step back from it you know talk and sort of being my own supervisor here you know it's all in service to the client which is kind of paradoxical because we're talking about it's all connection but this is Tibet if it's not going to benefit the client I'm not going to go there with whatever that the conversation might be or whatever my response might be. S: I know there have been times I've been with a client. This is being I've done this for quite a while I separate emotional activity for feeling state that I exposed to the client and really conscious of the difference so emotional is someone tells me something that hooks me somehow personally and I associate into it. I can't think of an example but I'm just right now clenching my fists something happens I feel my emotional reactivity vs. a client shares something with me and it's so painful to them me showing empathy so I'll have tears appear in my eyes they're never full because they're not here to comfort me but I'll well up and we'll have such a feeling face of empathy and maternal I'm with you. With your hurt right now and I want to separate that for anyone listening from emotional reactivity of me not controlling managing being aware and just blurting out Oh my God that's terrible. There is a complete distinct difference and that's really important. As one of the things I learned from you very early on in our relationship you would mirror back if I shared something with you that was painful and it hurt me in my past or whatever it was you mirrored to me in a very maternal way held me with your face your you softened your features I mean just to get really clinical about it you soften your features and you said all share and you did tone was so gentle and that peace was magically healing to me magically healing. I know you can. You know the process you did and enabled me to feel what I felt and know would be safely received. I have taken that into my work and it is beautiful to reflect back. That's got to really hurt. that's really that's yeah it is. J: There has to be you give me too much credit. But as I've said many times but I need to I need to put that on record. Way too much credit. S: I love it. J: People do need to feel felt that connection. Is that safe. That's trust you. That's the proof that they're okay. That's the proof that they're going to be OK. Yeah and that's the holding space. Right it is and it's often non-verbal. Yeah so I agree it is as one wise supervisor told me it's OK to cry just don't cry harder than your client. S: Oh I love that and I love that that I love that. J: It's wonderful. S: My benchmark is the tears can appear but they can't fall because they can't hit the client. No word about reassuring him exactly J: and clients are deeply moved when it is a genuine and very often the most distressing. Content or experience will will happen or be disclosed in a session and I won't have tears and that's fine too. You just. S: Yeah it's not a requirement. J: No we're not saying that No. Here now is the time to be considered such a no no. S: Yes. That's why I'm bringing it up. Yeah. As of the expert status of the third. Exactly. J: Those old modernist day. Yeah. Yeah. But I do. I think one of the I'm not sure if we've talked about kind of just normalizing that such a bit. I mean that's there's nothing bigger in my eyes. My concept of things than normalizing and truly I do believe that all behaviour makes sense in its context does all behaviour. It does no matter how deviant it might be. It makes sense. S: Yes. J: And so if we just have to peel back and begin with the premise of this makes sense that you're doing this or that you're feeling that or that you're thinking that or that this has happened and you know hurt people hurt people. Yeah it's how it goes. S: it’s what they know and they don't. J: And we repeat patterns until we repair them. And so the white hair has to be in a normalize. People have to feel that they are normal in their context. S: I think it's one of the first steps for repair that I can see. One of the things I learned from Bradshaw is shame loves shadows. And that was a light bulb to hear it put so perfectly and succinctly because when the clients with me and I went speak to your experience. But when the clients with me if they can out the stuff that they thought was too ugly for the light and it's normalized by me so I acknowledge it. I normalize it. I validate that that is their experience. J: Use the words say it out loud. Yeah. Yeah. Repeat back S: exactly out that no matter how ugly they think it is. I'm so comfortable with it. It enables them to stop treating it like the secret in the in the in the in the bunker in the cellar. J: Right. S: So if it's got light now I can do something about it. Yeah. So it becomes the beginning of the change process to me. What's your secret. Did You have that experience. J: I mean definitely. To me I think that's largely what therapy is. It's yes it's helping identify what's going on. It's it's not always deep shame related but it's being able to find words is being able to construct the words around feelings and behaviors. And we I mean what we're doing even in this conversation it's it's it's social construction. I mean we identify our thoughts in the process of being together in conversation. We're creating something in the act of talking with another person. And what we can't talk about. It's very hard to access it to make changes around and then we worry if we have new examples and we'll say why S: if we can talk about it with the therapist or with the coach or her everywhere Who's our partner in this journey we then can't take it publicly. So I always think that the client with me is being out to rehearse how how it could be great out there. So if I can give them a great experience and by great I mean normalized accepted embraced and still feel compassion still feel accepted still feel that they're that way together that gives them rehearsal. Oh so it can be like that out there J: totally. S: So you get to spirit and take her cause. Yes. J: Yep. Everything exactly how you do anything is how you do everything. And exactly. It's so relevant. S: Yeah. And so I rehearsed with the client. I'm always feeling I am in the session replacing every other person who they feared would respond badly or would cause them to want to protect themselves or would give them reason to pause in terms of being their fully authentic self. So I feel the responsibility any joy around it. I represent everyone they haven't met yet or everyone who has ever shut them down. And I get the opportunity to help them do it over by being accepting embracing loving compassionate into them in the face of their shame fully embracing and with no hesitation there's just no hesitation in me whatsoever because I'm just thinking they get to know rewrite some of that and they can experience it differently. Do you have a relationship to that. Do you have a way of interpreting that that's your way. J: I think I would describe that in similar terms but yeah it's just it is absolutely an opportunity to repair. And sometimes it's not necessarily about repair but it's about just people coming in and they're just stop what they're trying Isn't working. So there isn't really necessarily big time repair work. I there. Let's just think out of the box. So what might work more effectively for you than what you've been trying. And that's very generative and exciting in a very different kind of way. But I think the process of conversation and connection and trust and normalization is central to that. It's just as central to that work as it is to you know traumatic repair work. S: So it constantly comes back to the launching pad J: for me it it does me as well. That is the launching pad. Yeah. That's the only reason I'm bothering to wrong. I mean that's not that and I and I. Yeah I wonder that that is the biggest ethical commitment that I can think of. You always describe it to me you're very consistent describes an ethical commitment. I know you as that's just who you are is not an ethical decision you're making you simply you're being I don't know that you would know how not to do that or be that that's an inevitability with you Jen. I don't think it's an ethical decision inverted commas you're making. I think it's just who you are. That's there consistently and I can't even imagine how it wouldn't be. J: Well I I appreciate your words kind of but I think also in thinking on a metal level thinking about the work I'm doing and thinking about difficult client situations where I'm maybe feeling less effective or stuck myself to some extent. OK where are we going to go from here. How can I best help this person. And certainly in training of students who are becoming therapists or working with other therapists in a supervision capacity I find that a very helpful home base to come back to and to say out loud with people because I like the rule of thumb that if the client were overhearing this conversation with the client be OK with it. And if not why are we saying it. S:I love it. J: Change the way you're saying we have to hold our people in our hearts with kindness and respect and dignity and S: with them in when they're not. J: Exactly. And our hearts and in our heads. And it is it. Yeah I think it's the humanity is in the feels. It feels to me like an ethical violation when that's not happening. S: Yeah.

PJ Bruno sits down with Enterprise AE Patrick Forquer and VP of Growth Spencer Burke to discuss online grocery shopping, Reddit raising a huge Series D round with a near $3 billion valuation, and Warby Parker's new augmented reality shopping tool.          TRANSCRIPT: [0:00:18] P.J: Hi everyone and welcome to Braze for Impact. Your weekly tech industry discuss digest. So this is a place where we get together each week and just talk about what's happening in tech. This week I'm lucky to have with me my pal Patrick Forquer who is on the sales organization here at Braze. Next week we'll hear from someone from a different department, probably Customer Success, something like that and then the following week maybe someone from product and then so on and so forth. So we can get multiple different angles at what's happening in the tech industry. Like I said today, I'm lucky to have Patrick Forquer and also Spencer Burke. I'll have them introduce themselves.   [0:00:51] Patrick: Hey, I'm Patrick [inaudible]. I'm a strategic account exec here at Braze.   [0:00:55] Spencer: Thanks PJ. I'm Spencer Burke, the VP of growth.   [0:00:58] P.J: How are you guys doing? How's the week trucking on?   [0:01:01] Patrick: It's going okay. No, it's going great. It's great to be here with you P.J. Looking great in your Heather Gray shirt and as always.   [0:01:09] P.J: It's a good color. Spence, how are we doing?   [0:01:11] Spencer: Going well. Got a ski trip planned for this weekend driving up to Vermont, so can't complain.   [0:01:16] P.J: Always at the skiing Spencer Burke.   [0:01:19] Spencer: It's a winter. I got to get it in.   [0:01:20] P.J: Got to get it in guys. You know what, without further ado, why don't we jump on to what's happening this week? This first article, 'Why people still don't buy groceries online'. This is a very interesting thing to me. Actually, let me set up the story because I think they did a really good way of setting this up in the article. Nearly 30 years ago when just 15% of Americans had a computer and even fewer had Internet access, Thomas Parkinson set up a rack of modems on a crate and barrel wine rack and started accepting orders for the Internet's first grocery delivery company, Peapod, which he founded with his brother Andrew. Back then, ordering groceries online was complicated. Most customers had dial-up still and Peapod's web graphics were so rudimentary that customers couldn't even see image of what images of what they were buying. Delivery was complicated too. So the Parkinson's drove to grocery stores in the Chicago area. They actually did this and bought what customers had ordered and then delivered the goods from the backseat of their beat up Honda Civic. When people wanted to stock up on certain goods, strawberry yogurt or bottles of diet coke, the Parkinson's would deplete whole sections of grocery stores. This is, this is wild. I mean it's interesting because we were all constantly talking about convenience and delivery of all sorts of things. Why not groceries? What's the deal?   [0:02:41] Patrick: Yeah. So when I was reading this article, the first thing that came to mind was if, if we rewind 10 years from today and we took a poll of everyone at braise about, which would be more successful grocery delivery or an app on your phone where you tap on one button and a stranger in a Honda Civic pulls up and drives you somewhere. I think we all would have bet on the grocery delivery piece of that. Right?   [0:03:07] Spencer: Every time.   [0:03:08] Patrick: So it is crazy to me and the numbers are super low. I mean 3% of people getting grocery delivery. Spencer, what was your initial take?   [0:03:18] Spencer: I'm curious, have you guys used the grocery delivery service?   [0:03:22] Patrick: So I have, I had a really bad experience actually, so I haven't done it since. And I think that's part of the challenge in this article where-   [0:03:31] Spencer: Can you get into that bad experience or is that...   [0:03:35] Patrick: So we tried to use the grocery ordering off of Amazon Alexa and my wife ordered paper towels and-   [0:03:46] Spencer: Just paper towels?   [0:03:47] Patrick: Yes. And a couple of other things, but I kid you not, they delivered us what must have been the majority of the warehouses paper towels to the point where-   [0:03:58] P.J: Jesus!   [0:03:59] Patrick: ...for two and a half years, we were using paper towels off of that one order. So obviously that's an outlier. But yeah.   [0:04:08] P.J: It seems like it's also, apparently America is really not adopting it as much as other countries like it seems like in Europe. Also in Asia it's like up to 20% or something like that of consumers are using online and it's only 3% here in America. Does that speak to anything that we're doing or what do you guys think?   [0:04:27] Spencer: Well, I mean I think part of it is most people... Most people have cars. Most people live in an area where they have some kind of large grocery store chain and so if you're driving to work, stopping at the grocery store on the way home, it's not changing the convenience kind of function for everyone in the same way that like Lyft or Postmates or Seamless might for your average consumer. Personally, I've tried it here in New York. I recently moved to somewhere that just doesn't have as many large stores as close to me. I just thought, sure, why not? Let's try Amazon Prime. Amazon just bought whole foods recently and let's see how it goes. I think there's a lot of challenges with it. You don't see exactly what you're getting. If something's out of stock, you're relying on them making replacement or not providing it at all. So, if you're planning on using one of these services to plan a dinner you might not actually be able to cook what you intended to or you might not be able to put that meal together because the delivery service wasn't 100% versus if you're in the store, you can kind of course correct as you go.   [0:05:32] P.J: Right. I feel like a lot of us order all sorts of things through the Internet. I'm sure that list goes on, but as far as grocery shopping something that...it's ordering Seamless as one thing, right? It's prepared and sent right over to you as opposed to groceries. People probably a little concerned like you want to feel your fruit, you want to see your meat, you got all these things. I feel like there's a little fear around that probably. For me anyways.   [0:05:59] Patrick: Well definitely. And then you know, they talk about the challenges that these companies have. It's a lot more complex and it would look to me that on the surface with things like some items you have to keep warm. Some items you have to keep cool, you have to do it all really quickly. And so the people put, you know, preparing the packaging, have to know where everything is and then there's delivery and it's mostly in urban areas. So then there's parking challenges and all these things that I didn't necessarily.   [0:06:25] P.J: There's tons of complications that go along with it. Apparently surveys have shown that shoppers are still concerned that they're being charged higher prices when it comes to online delivery and also complain about delivery drivers being late. Those are the two biggest complaints apparently.   [0:06:39] Patrick: Yeah. And the last thing I noticed was in the second article that we were looking at on grocery delivery, there's the casual drop of Google in partnership with Bain, with Bain commissioned a research study, which as we know working in tech means that Google paid Bain to run this survey for them likely with a hypothesis that grocery delivery was about to explode.   [0:07:03] P.J: I feel like they had an a hypothesis in mind. Yes. Something tells me, yeah.   [0:07:07] Spencer: So I don't know if this was entirely altruistic on behalf of a like, yeah, let's do it. Let's go for it. We'd like you guys.   [0:07:13] Patrick: And you know, I noticed Walmart recently pulled their products from Google Express, which is Google's grocery delivery service. So I think there's increasing competition around this for an incredibly small market at the moment. And I guess we'll see where it goes.   [0:07:31] Spencer: Yeah. Before we move on. I, despite our skepticism, I think there clearly is something here and you know, whether it's Instacart or Postmates or Amazon or anything Walmart or Jet tries to do, there's clearly value to having a hall. You're grocery shopping, just show up at your door essentially. And I think like a lot of things on the Internet, whether it was a couple of years ago when everyone's like no one's going to put their credit card into their phone to buy something online. It's like there's all these articles about how many people abandon their carts because it's on mobile and they need to go back to their desktop. No one talks about that anymore. You just do it. I think we're not that far from whole foods being a warehouse of food for Amazon delivery rather than a grocery store. Right.   [0:08:18] Patrick: Delivered by robots.   [0:08:20] Spencer: Yeah, exactly.   [0:08:21] P.J: And that's what the future looks like. Groceries delivered by robots.   [0:08:24] Spencer: You heard it here first.   [0:08:25] P.J: Yeah, we'll leave it to you guys. Next article of the day. Reddit is raising a huge round near $3 billion valuation. So Reddit is raising one. Sorry, $150 million to $300 million to keep the front page of the Internet running. Multiple sources tell TechCrunch. The forthcoming series D round is said to be led by Chinese tech giant, Tencent at a $2.7 billion pre-money valuation. And now depending on how much follow on cash Reddit drums up from Silicon Valley investors and beyond, it's post money valuation could reach an epic $3 billion. Yikes. And now my first concern that comes up immediately for this, and I feel like maybe you guys felt the same way. Censorship, right? I mean, maybe it doesn't matter, but Reddit remains a relatively safe space for trailers and conspiracy theorists alike. The currently banned apps and websites in China though, like massive lists just to shortlist as Google, Netflix, Facebook, Twitter, Snap, Insta, Youtube, flickr, Tinder, and Reddit of course. And that doesn't even include news publications, cloud storage products and email. So I don't know, there's something feels weird about this, right? Also like Tencent is also one of the most important architects of the great firewall of China. This is serious. There's a lot going on. There's a lot of meat here.   [0:09:53] Spencer: It's like this is a different than I expected.   [0:09:54] P.J: Oh really? It just seems like there's strange things at play.   [0:10:00] Patrick: Spencer, I know you had some hot takes on this.   [0:10:02] Spencer: No, go ahead.   [0:10:03] Patrick: Well, yeah, I think it's interesting that Reddit has had a lot of challenges over the past couple of years. And PJ, you alluded to some of that where they've had some really bad homophobic, misogynistic, racist, threads that have propagated conspiracy theories and hate speech and they've dealt with it in different ways. Some of the ways that they've dealt with it has been good. Some of it's been not so good. I know their CEO was editing comments and specific threads to make them look a certain way. And then he got caught doing that and had to apologize. If they had been a bigger company, can you imagine if Facebook did something like that? He'd be hauled in front of Congress immediately. So, and I was thinking about the valuation piece of this too, where if you took all the bad stuff out, and you're looking at their monetization model, it's through ads, right? Like most companies. They're like most social companies but they've really only recently started monetizing through ads and their real strength has been a very supportive and loyal community of Reddit users. I don't use Reddit, but I know people who do and the people that use Reddit, love Reddit. They love it. They're like in the community, they're posting and commenting and all that stuff. And the challenge as we know scaling a business model where ads are the primary revenue driver is that you can lose some of that early days, communal feel when you start layering in promoted posts and different types of advertisements and it kind of loses its initial bespoke early day feeling those.   [0:11:54] Spencer: Yeah. I think the flip side of the darker elements of Reddit is that Reddit, can be a place for really specific groups of people and that can be people in a city, someone with a certain medical condition, people who play a sport. Like recently I've been looking and there's a subreddit for woodworking and it's like, oh, this is maybe a hobby that I'd be interested in. And there's just a ton of resources and people who are helpful. So for everyone who's out there trying to make a joke, well, if there's a lot more of these people, but for everyone out there who's, who's kind of trolling and you're trying to be a little bit silly, there's a lot of people who are just passionate about something and go to Reddit to share it. And I think it's kind of inspiring actually, that those communities exist on the Internet in a place that it's not just a website for those people. It's a website that can serve any community and it happens to be Reddit for a lot of people.   [0:12:50] Patrick: Right? Do you think that this changes anything for Reddit potentially down the road?   [0:12:58] Spencer: Well, they stay in business for a little bit longer. I don't think so. I think you're probably reading too much into the the Chinese[crosstalk]   [0:13:07] Patrick: have you been spending some time on Reddit recently PJ?   [0:13:09] P.J: Actually, I've only been on Reddit maybe once in my whole life. I'm not a big ... My roommate is like obsessed. Anytime we're doing anything like watching a movie, he just is looking at his phone the whole time and he's in Reddit constantly living in the comments. Right?   [0:13:23] Patrick: Nba Reddit as a really good, yeah. Community. Right. Community.   [0:13:27] Spencer: I feel singled out now because I actually do spend a decent amount of time on Reddit   [0:13:32] Patrick: That's all we need to hear from somebody.   [0:13:32] Spencer: Don't use Facebook, don't use Twitter. Casually though love reading Reddit. The comments can be hilarious. But like I said, just moved recently. So looking for cool areas, restaurants, bars in my neighborhood and there's a subreddit for it. So just reading through it on a couple of times a week can pick out spots, find somewhere to go check out, and it's actually really interesting to see and it's like having a good neighbor or a friend recommend some places to you. You just there and it's a different feel than just going on Yelp and looking at aggregate and total summation.   [0:14:08] Patrick: Are you getting into woodworking? Is that what this is?   [0:14:11] P.J: Yeah. What do you, tell me more about that.   [0:14:13] Spencer: I won't go down the rabbit hole of the hobbies that Reddit has inspired or there's some really, I'll just ... There's some really specifics. I'll read it. That's all. That's all I'll say.   [0:14:23] Patrick: I mean, but what you're describing though, Spencer, is the kind of dual nature of all of these social media sites. On one hand, they can connect people who feel lonely or who are passionate about a certain topic that maybe others around them aren't passionate about and find that community that they'd been looking for. On the other hand, there's Jonses with hate speech and things like that and who knows, maybe Reddit Will start handling this really well and it'd be a success story, so I'll be interested to what they do with all this capital and it's a huge inflection point for their business and kind of their all or nothing shot I feel like so.   [0:15:00] Spencer: Just as an example, they're on the weeds podcast of ox podcasts. They're talking about a study of where they paid people to give up Facebook who are on the platform. They weren't planning to give it up. And those people who are basically just happier, they socialize more, they watch a little more TV, which is maybe the one question one thing.   [0:15:19] Patrick: And they have some money now, which is nice.   [0:15:22] Spencer: But they were less politically divisive. They were a little less informed on some things, but just like genuinely happier. I think one of the interesting things that happens in Reddit versus Facebook, that the communities are moderated by people from the community. So there are subreddits to help people quit smoking, to quit drinking. And when those people will talk about their success, there's so much positive in encouragement and positive feedback and the negative elements of that. Unlike Facebook where anyone from high school that you don't really know anymore can come in and comment and make you feel pretty bad about something or give you that kind of fomo feeling. There's a community of people supporting you trying to do whatever it is. Whether it's something you know, trying to get rid of some addiction or learn some new hobby, which I think so that moderating the fact is it makes it a little bit different than other types of social networks.   [0:16:14] P.J: A little more like true democracy going on over there.   [0:16:18] Spencer: Or a benevolent dictatorship. In the case of moderation.   [0:16:22] Patrick: If Reddit is the front page of the Internet, does that make Facebook like the national enquirer? Who's to say, hi,   [0:16:33] P.J: Let's move on. We got a little of time left. Last article of the day. Warby Parker's new shopping tool lets you try on and buy glasses virtually using your iPhone's camera. So now this article is Warby Parker announced new shopping tool and it's more convenient for iPhone owners, Virtual Try-on. The tool, which lives inside the glasses by mail companies app is available on February 4th. So this Monday it just launched. The caveat is you'll need an iPhone X, iPhone XR or iPhone XS to take advantage. So not just for iPhone users. If you have an old school iPhone, you're not going to be able to use this thing either. Spencer, you wear glasses sometimes, right?   [0:17:13] Spencer: Yep. You got me.   [0:17:15] P.J: You guys can't see. But sometimes he wears glasses. Do you have feelings on this? Do you get ex ... Does this get you excited?   [0:17:22] Spencer: [inaudible]radio? Yeah. Not really. I'm pretty straight forward. When I went to go buy my most recent pair of glasses, went to a store in New York, asked the guy for some help. He picked out two pairs, tried them on, chose one, locked out. And I might be an anomaly there, but I think from-   [0:17:41] P.J: Boom! I love that.   [0:17:42] Spencer: But I think this is really interesting to me because it sort of solves two problems. One is it's helping people try glasses. It's lowering friction to make a purchase. The second is it's giving people a better sense of what they're going to look like without going in the store. So it's going to reduce the likelihood that they need to go in and make a return or [inaudible] me back in, which of course has a cost to Warby. So hopefully for for them the business outcome is it's increasing revenue, making the purchase easier and they're reducing their operating costs by reducing the number of returns.   [0:18:16] Patrick: Yeah. To me, reading the article and there was a lot of buzz about this. This story appeared multiple of the new sources that I read on a regular basis and while it's cool and definitely the benefits that Spencer's talking about are real. I also didn't understand necessarily the getting as much buzz as it did because to me it just feels like they took Snapchat filters and turn them into [crosstalk] Whoa, we can do now what Snapchat could do two years ago and it's just Warby Parker glasses instead of like Elton John glasses. I mean it's cool, but I want the Elton John one.   [0:18:55] Spencer: Yeah.   [0:18:56] Patrick: So it's just definitely cool and I think there's obviously a business case to be made from a technology perspective. It wasn't super exciting. I think there's other use cases for AR for things like the way that Wayfair and other furniture stores are doing it where you can see, you can overlay a couch in a living room type of thing that would be more valuable than, productize smart Snapchat filter.   [0:19:21] Spencer: So you don't wear glasses do you?   [0:19:22] Patrick: I do not.   [0:19:29] P.J: 20-20 vision. I honestly just don't trust that augmented reality fit. I don't think it'll necessarily match real life. And I guess it's for two reasons. One, I just don't trust that just looking at yourself with this augmented pair of glasses on will necessarily look the way to look in real life. Also, we're not even considering the feel. the feel of a pair of glasses has to feel right. You know, so until they have augmented feeling technology out, I'm not buying.   [0:19:57] Patrick: Well, the other thing I was thinking about too, along those lines, PJ is 97% of Americans won't freaking order groceries, but there's going to be some huge wave of people putting something on their face every day that they saw on an app.   [0:20:11] P.J: That's what I'm talking about.   [0:20:13] Patrick: Hot tech Spencer. I don't know.   [0:20:14] P.J: There it is. It's called augmented reality. It's inherently different. It's like if you think about catching a charter as art in Pokemon go is so different from trying to catch on in real life. Have you ever tried, it's entirely different. Wait, one more question for you guys. What I want to hear, what's an augmented reality app that you're just hankering for that you just really want? And I'll give you a second to think. Well, I'll tell you mine and you know, growing up I was very into a Tamagotchi if you guys remember those little pet on your key chain, but just like a cool little Tamagotchi that only I can see my pet. No one can see them. I look around where is he? Okay. There he is on the ground. You've got to feed them. You got to take care of them. And then you know when it comes to having to really take care of him, like you just close the app, close the phone. I don't need to worry about buying pet food or any of that stuff. Something that makes me feel like I have a little buddy.   [0:21:08] Patrick: So an AR Tamagotchi   [0:21:09] P.J: An AR Tamagotchi you heard it here first.   [0:21:12] Patrick: Wow. Here's all my money. [inaudible]   [0:21:17] Spencer: You don't use Reddit. You don't order groceries online, you don't think that trying glasses on with your phone is a good idea. But they are Tamagotchi.   [0:21:26] P.J: I am on Facebook so you can find just about out of time here. You guys, thanks so much for being on here with me. This is PJ Bruno.   [0:21:35] Patrick: Patrick [inaudible]   [0:21:36] Spencer: And Spencer Burke.   [0:21:37] P.J: signing off. You guys take care. [0:21:39]

节目组: The World Says 世界说 节目名称: The usages of sorry开头曲 SorryJ: Hello everyone welcome to the world says from the VOE foreign languages radio station, I'm JottaV: Hey guys I'm Vincent~J: The music we just heard is my favorite singer Justin Bieber's song, “sorry”V: Yeah, so today we are going to talk about the word “sorry”, and, don't be shocked. Because there are lots of usages that most of our students didn't knowJ: Right, so we can talk regrets; we can talk pity; we can talk disappointment 插曲1 sorry V: So, today's program is a little special, is to open the world of the simple English knowledge that you did not realize before. I think is a eye-opener? Anyway, if you enjoy our program, you can search VOE radio in your Wechat and follow us, we will show you a lot interesting foreign culture.J: Okay, Vincent, I think we should just start taking about “sorry” in the standard usage first? It means apologizeV: Right, so if you do something wrong, you should say I'm sorry.J: I'm sorry, em… but if there are something specific, or I have this feeling of something, like, bring you some inconveniences, when it comes, how to say that?V: Ah… Sorry for the inconvenience?J: Oh, sorry for the inconvenience, actually, the preposition, 介词 is really matters. So here, the preposition we are using is…V: ForJ: Right, we say sorry for the inconvenience.V: And, as you can see, in the foreign states, if they're fixing the road… they're fixing… anything, they tend to put up a sign says:' Sorry for the inconvenience'J: Sorry for the inconvenience or apologize for the inconvenience…V: RightJ: But what if we use it in our daily lives? Like, what if I knock you, I mean, the one we just talk is too officialV: We can say, I'm sorry about that. And it's just like you push somebody or you unconsciously step one's feet, you can use “I'm sorry about that” J: Cause that's not really, conscious inconvenience, it's just ….. You know, an accidentV: Anyway, It's not I'm sorry for that but I'm sorry about that, the preposition here is different. Okay, so the basically usage is over, now, let's see the widen usage of it that you may not aware of.J: And the first one I wanna look at, is, like if someone tell you that he or she is going through a tough time our they're in a bad situation. You can use the word “sorry” even if the mishap he or she is facing is not caused by you.V: Absolutely, not caused by you , that's the key, so Jotta, give us some examples.J: Oh.. Vincent, that's just made me feel so sad, Ah…. Well death? I mean, if somebody dies, it's common to say, like, oh I'm sorry to hear thatV: Right, if there is something about death and ill, when a person tells you that his family member just passed away, in this situation, you can say: I'm sorry to hear thatJ: Even though their preposition is different, like, I'm sorry to hear that. And I think in our country, is difficult to understand it, why you say sorry? So the sorry here is a kind of sympathy, or more like empathy. It's say that I feel similar to you. 插曲 2 all we know V: What's more, there is a little bit of pity in it. I'm sorry for your loss, and it doesn't just need to be death though. I mean, maybe you lost anything else, maybe you've lost your healthJ: Oh that's right, when a person is ill, not feeling very well, having a fever or a cold, you can say I'm sorry to hear that, are you okay? And even lost a job, you can also say I'm sorry to hear that.V: Or a break-up, J: RightV: Going through a break-up. Sorry to hear that, and this sorry is very thoughtful, very sweet.J: The second one , if you say you feel sorry for some , it has two separate meaningsV: In the positive one, It shows your sympathy of a person, but don't say this sentence face to face.J: Right, cause that can turn it into negative meaning, I feel sorry for you, also canShow your disdain, that you look down upon him or herV: And I think the tone is vital in these situationsJ: Sure, and the third one is feel sorry for oneself. V: Yeah, It's kind of feeling when you go home after you having some failure or being criticized by your teacher, you probably would say, like “ I cannot do anything” Is a very negative feeling, that when you can say “I feel so sorry for myself”J: But you need to move on right? There is a sentence I've just read “ chest out chin up”就是挺胸抬头的意思。V: Em… It's very down to earth, there is also a usage when you are a job interviewer, you can say to the candidates who did not get the job.J: Oh what's that?V: Its I'm sorry to say thatJ: So it's a expression of pity right, So we have talked about so many sad things about sorry , could you come up with a happy sorry?V: There is actually one usage I know isn't that bad, is “sorry to sorry”J: It mean I'm sorry for I don't feel sorry right?V: Right, It's widely used in twitter, in young groups, or in teenagers. And I think it show a sense of confidence to life 插曲 4 apologize J: So, that's the end of today's show, thank you for your listening.如果你喜欢我们的节目，欢迎关注voe外语广播电台的新浪微博和voe外语广播电台的微信公众号voe radio. J:感谢制作苏鑫。V:see you next time~ 结束曲 apologize节目监制：周宸聿编辑：杨晏直 朱子业 夏茂航播音：杨晏直 朱子业制作：苏鑫

Our next interview from the CPT&CE is with creator/artist/fabricator Jordan Patton! Jordan, along with his friend Aaron Ferguson, is the creator of the long anticipated DeadNecks series — what can only be compared to a live-action cartoon series. Instead of attempting to livestream this year's , decided to hit up a few tables and bother people for interviews! Pay close attention, kids. He's really terrible at this, but had some great interviews! Listen to the audio above and read the transcript lovingly produced by ! R: We're here at the Classic Plastics Toy and Comic Expo with Jordan Patton. Jordan is the creator of DeadNecks and we interviewed him last year. We had the table and we did the live YouTube that wasn't so live and...I'll tell you man, your video, as far as that goes on our YouTube channel, has done the best! So that's very awesome. So how have you been man? J: I've been pretty good, just staying busy. Working on some new stuff towards our first episode, but uh...Yeah other than that I just kind of hide out in my basement for five days a week and work on stuff for our episode. (laugh) R: That's awesome. I've seen the set design and you've come up, it looks like, with a couple of new characters which we'll get to here in a minute. But first I want to know – how is the show going? I mean have you been picked up or anything yet? Or are you still just working through everything and working the lines, the less fun stuff, like getting networking and all that? J: Well right now we're kind of in a build out process for the first episode, so I've got to create all the special effects and everything. We've got the story written, I need to storyboard it. But right now I'm working on making all the props, the makeups, the masks, animatronics, things like that, for our first episode so I'm giving myself about a six to eight month build-out period. Then we're going to start filming. R: Awesome. So with something that's episodic like this, how durable – I mean, you do the work. You and Aaron, right? - and you have a small crew basically, don't you? J: Very small crew. There's about three or four of us that are willing to work on it and put our own time in, and our own money, to try and get it going further. But we're all pretty dedicated to it and once we get all the effects done and everything, start filming, it should only take us about two or three months to actually film our episode. After the episode is done we're kind of hoping that we can pitch it around and see what people feel about it and maybe we can get an even bigger crew to help with future episodes? R: Awesome. So the line I was going on there, to continue that, is with it being an episodic thing do you really have to build the props and the masks to be super durable so you don't have to do  as much doctoring throughout the episodes? J: Yeah so we actually encountered that with some of the things that we had for our trailer. So the guns were actually made out of just insulation foam, I carved those out,  but during one of our scenes we actually snapped it in half and I actually had to go in and repair it and everything. So in the future we need to make things a little more durable. I'm actually going to be making a mold of that so I can make it latex and foam like a lot of these that way it can bend, flex around and not break or anything. So yeah, with that it needs to be very durable. I mean we're going to have a lot of practical effects like throw-up gags, things like that. A lot of blood splatter. It's essentially going to be like a GWAR show. (laugh) R: (laugh) Right. So do you have, with 3D printing really finding a whole lot of traction in the last couple of years, do you guys do any 3D printing on top of that to help augment? Or do you have access to one, or is it something you'd like to work with in the future? J: Right now everything is kind of done by hand. The shop that I work at, it's a place called Tech Shop; we actually have several 3D printers there. But I haven't utilized them for any of this process yet. I have been looking into resin 3D printing so if I wanted to produce smaller characters and things like that, merch to sell, I would definitely be doing that with the resin SLA printers because you don't get any of the striations in any of your prints so it comes out fairly clean. So I've been looking into doing that so I can get some more products out there for like cool merchandise. R: Awesome. How has the con treated you this year so far? J: It's been pretty cool. I mean I've seen a lot of familiar faces from last year so it's always good to recognize people and have them recognize you and just kind of chit-chat back and forth about what everyone's been into and everything. So yeah, it's been great so far. R: So you also said you're working at a shop? What was the shop's name again? J: A place called “Tech Shop”. It's kind of like, essentially like the YMCA except for without workout equipment. We've got like wood shop, welders, water jet cutters, laser cutters, 3D printers, things like that. R: Oh my God that sounds so freaking awesome. J: Yeah I used to live there like 24-7. Just would never leave the place other than to go sleep at home. (laugh) R: I understand man. I can't even imagine the amount of creative juices flowing in a place like that. J: Yeah there was like 500 or so members there, and everyone does something different so you never know what kind of stuff you're going to see coming out of there. You got all kinds of artists, furniture makers, welders, machinists, it's crazy! People are making their own robots in there. R: That's awesome! So, I mean, doing something like that also affords you great networking opportunities I imagine? J: Without a doubt. Working there has really brought a lot of opportunities to me just with the flow of people that come in there and the people that know about the place. I mean it's helped me grow in my own skill sets as well. Like I didn't know how to weld before going in there and working there. But now I've got welding experience, I've got a lot of various experiences from all the different machinery that's in there and it's really helped me to be able to create a lot of stuff for the show. R: That's awesome. So do we have any new characters that you're bringing to DeadNecks here today? J: Right now we've got one new character. Just finished him up about a day or two ago. His name is “Boo Hoo”; he's like a little patchwork ghost character. He's not actually going to be in the first episode but he's probably going to be making an appearance in the second episode for sure. [caption id="attachment_2095" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Boo Hoo, picture courtesy of Laura Gant[/caption] R: Gotcha, awesome. So what are some of the other characters, if we want to just kinda roll through the table here and even though I don't have – I'll take a picture to post along with it and we'll let them know. So let's start off from the left to the right...which will be the right to left since we're behind the table (laugh) J: (laugh) Right on. Well over here we've got “Soft Serve Merve”, so it's kind of like a larger sculpt I did for that. He's actually going to be used in the first episode. So I mean if you think back to the Ren and Stimpy cartoons whenever it would be hyper-close-ups and you would see all the disgusting details, that's essentially what these larger masks here are for, are for scenes like that in the first episode. So yeah, I tried to sculpt that as detailed as possible just so it would read disgusting whenever you go for that hyper-zoom in the actual skit itself. Below him is the “Birthday Boy”, it's actually one of Merve's victims. So Merve kidnaps children and turns them into strange food related creatures. (laugh) [caption id="attachment_2097" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Birthday Boy, photo courtesy of Laura Gant[/caption] Above him we got “Ma Slackjaw” with her beer can curlers in her hair. She enjoys sleeping, eating, and smoking a lot out of the hole in her neck. (laugh) And then down there we got “Boo Hoo”, the new character. He's actually secretly one of Merve’s victims as well. He kind of lurks about Merve’s whereabouts and kinda haunts the place. R: Oh man, spoilers! (laugh) J: Yeah, a look into the future! Then above that we've got “Pete”, he's more or less the main character of the show. I mean he's just like a little dopey character here. The rest of his family thinks he's completely stupid and useless just because he can't really talk and is always wearing this pumpkin on his head to disguise his horrific face that's underneath of it. Pete's actually really smart and he has a lot of personality but his family doesn't see it because they're all pretty stupid themselves. (laugh) And then beside that we've got “Ted Slackjaw”, Pete's uncle. So the two different versions here: That's the original Ted as well as the hyper-extended face Ted. So the hyper-extended face will also be used in our first episode as well as one of those close-up shots. R: Awesome man! So how many different iterations do you build, different masks, or - J: For one character? Yeah, for one character it sometimes depends on what you can actually do with your face. Because, like, for some of them I do makeups to where you can move your face, but you can only get so much expression out of it. So if I want like a hyper expression like what you see in a lot of cartoons you really just have to sculpt an entire new piece just to really give it that exaggerated look. With DeadNecks we really want it to look and feel like a cartoon. To do the impossible, essentially, with facial structure, bone structure, all that. So to do that you kind of have to break down and do several sculpts for one character just to get that one effect. But I think it'll really be worth it in the end to actually see a living cartoon, essentially. R: When you're doing something like that, do you think about any way to have some sort of modular ability to do something like that? You know where you could maybe detach a jaw only and be able to do something like that? J: Yeah. Well with that you start getting more into the animatronic side of things which is really interesting and you can actually do a lot with those because with those you actually have a skin that goes over top of an under skull. So it kind of mimics the anatomy of an actual person so you can actually get a lot of movement with that. But with that you just got to think about how it's going to work. You've got to kinda deconstruct how something's going to move and kinda reverse engineer it so you can figure out how you need to build it. So I mean that's very interesting and it takes a little bit more time but it's got a really cool effect in the end just because you've got literally an under skull, some skin, movable eyes, things like that. So you can really play around with a lot of things that you can't actually do with a human face. R: Gotcha, awesome. Alright well Jordan, where can people find you if they want to find you guys. Do we have any idea where we'd be looking at watching the first episode? J: So you can find us on , Instagram “DeadNecks”. I would say we're probably looking at getting our first episode out a little over a year from now. Like I said we're in the build out process right now and it should only take us about two or three months after that to get it filmed and then put it into post and get it all edited together. So I would say about a year, year and half from now you should be looking at an episode. We're going to drop spoilers along the way just to keep people entertained and interested along the way. But you should be able to see it, I'd say in a year and a half from now. R: Awesome man, I'll hold you to that. (both laugh) J: Right on. R: Thanks a lot Jordan! J: Yeah, thank you!

Our first interview is with James Patrick, writer of Harley Quinn, Green Arrow, Star Trek, Batman, Death Comes to Dillinger, and much, much more! Instead of attempting to livestream this year's , decided to hit up a few tables and bother people for interviews! Pay close attention, kids. He's really terrible at this, but had some great interviews! Listen to the audio above and read the transcript lovingly produced by ! Rem: We're here at the Classic Plastics Toy and Comic Expo with - James: James Patrick! R: James Patrick, creator of Hero Hourly and Impostor and and all of that sort of thing. Writer extraordinaire! How have you been? J: I've been doing great. This show has been wonderful. R: Has it? So you said that you've been received really well. It looks like you have a primo spot here. So, uh... J: This spot was actually the result of a mistake. So we'll call it a wonderful mistake. R: Oh really? That's awesome. Good. Glad to hear it. So, what have you been doing since the last time we talked and what have you got going in the works? J: Um, right now I have a bunch of pitches in at different companies. Companies people recognize. I can't get into what I'm talking about what I'm working on yet. R: Sure. J: But those things are developing. And then I have different creator owned books. For instance I have a book that we're about to pitch – it's related to giant monsters, it's a Kaiju book. I'm not going to get into the hook or the specifics but it's a giant monster book with a twist. Actually...ah, we'll leave it at that. It's a giant monster book with a twist. R: Haha, aw man. You're going to leave me hanging with that? That kind of sucks because I'm kind of excited about the Kaiju stuff. The Godzilla stuff, there was this, uh, I guess not a leak so much but they were talking about how in the credits, they released the credits - J: For Kong? R: For Kong, yeah. And they had some of the other TOHO monsters? J: Right, like Mothra. Monster X. And I haven't seen it yet, but I've heard they're – I don't know if they're in the credits or I don't know what's going on. But I've heard something, and I'm looking forward to Kong. I haven't seen Logan yet so I've got to cross Logan off the list, then I'll cross Kong off the list. R: Gotcha. I haven't seen Logan yet either, I don't know if I'll be able to see it in the theatres, but are you excited to see it as well? J: I'm VERY excited to see it. I'm probably going to go tonight or tomorrow, depending. I don't know. I'm just really looking forward to it, it hear it's really good. R: Awesome. So is there anything else you'd like to NOT pitch to me that you're not NOT doing? J: (Laughs) No…Um, no I can't get into specifics. If the wrong person...I'll get in trouble. Um, let's just say I've got a bunch of stuff out there I'm working on and I'm talking to different people about doing different things right now. So that's pretty much all I can say. Um, that's it for now. I'm working on a Kaiju book and I'm working on a book with the Devil and a couple other things. And that's all, for now. That's good enough. R: With the devil? (laugh) J: Yeah. A devil Kaiju or something, I don’t know. R: laugh Nice. So that being said since you have to keep everything hush-hush, you'll keep me in the loop when you get something that you can actually talk about, won't you? J: Absolutely. When something develops and I can announce it, and I will. And I'll tell you. I'll phone you up and I will say “Remington, I...you are the first.” R: I won't be the first, don't lie to me man. J: Okay, I've been lying. So you're right. R: Thanks a lot man, I appreciate it. If anyone wants to find you, where can they find you at? J: Do you mean like at home? Like my address? Or do you mean at the show? R: Yeah, I mean if you just want to give out your home address, your date of birth, your social security number or something like that? J: Yeah, sure, whatever. No. Yeah if they want to come down to the Classic Plastics Show I'm here. I don't know. Is this airing, is this live? R: No, it's not live. J: Okay, well like I told the other people at the other podcast. Everything is 90% off if you come down today. So come on down. Everything is 90% as long as you get here today. Also I'd like to say a big, big thanks out to Schmo from SchmoMo News because if people don't thank her, well, she gets upset. R: Yeah I was very upset I couldn't make it here yesterday to see her in her Supergirl outfit. [caption id="attachment_2053" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Picture courtesy of The Schmo; Schmo Mo News[/caption] J: She looked amazing. There were a lot of cosplayers here who looked amazing, and she was one of them. And I encourage everyone to check out . R: Alright, thanks James! J: No problem! [amazon template=iframe image2&asin=B00I2ZQFP4,B00N13T8SS,B01LZV3KTO,B01CKK1Q3M,B01859XF04,B01AMUT3N2]

Josh Rich, Create the Movement Brad Post, Create the Movement   Josh Rich, Create the Movement: Good morning everyone. Thank you for joining us for Create the Movement podcast. I’m Josh Rich. With me is Brad Post. Brad Post, Create the Movement: How’s it going Josh? J: Doing great Brad. How are you? B: I’m doing well. J: Excellent. B: So, today we are to be speaking about inbound marketing. Is that right? J: Correct. B: Okay. J: Inbound marketing. So, for starters, to define the term inbound marketing, seems a lot of people probably don’t know what that is. It sounds kind of strange. The biggest difference between inbound marketing and traditional marketing is that traditional marketing is what you’d see on TV ads or magazine ads. The advertiser interrupting the viewer’s life to promote their product or service. B: Kind of shoving it in people’s faces? J: Right. Exactly. B: Whether you want to see it or not. J: It sounds bad, but that’s what it is. They are shouting a message out and waiting for the person to respond. B: Okay. J: Inbound marketing is a different approach to that. It waits for the viewer to come to it. B: Okay. J: It’s not interruptive. This is stuff like blogs, or YouTube videos, or anything that the consumer would seek out for their own benefit, but it’s actually marketing material. B: Would actually click, or press “PLAY”, or read. J: Exactly. Anything that they would look at, read, watch, share would be considered inbound marketing. B: Okay. J: Email campaigns are kind of a hybrid of inbound and traditional. B: Okay.               J: The advantage is that is the consumer is already looking for information on whatever topic or product or service. So, they’re coming to you as somewhat of a warm lead. B: Right. J: As opposed to just throwing it in their face and hoping something sticks – as traditional marketing does. That’s a pretty big advantage, that they’re actually seeking it out, and not just, kind of unexpectedly getting hit in the face with it. So, that’s why there’s been a pretty big shift, as of recent, toward inbound marketing. It seems to be a little more effective if you can do it. It’s a little harder to do. It’s harder to create content. It’s harder to find the topics that people are looking for. But, it is pretty good. So, that’s kind of this fundamental shift. Where we saw the Mad Men-days of advertising, that was very much like telling the consumer what they wanted. Versus now, when we’re trying to educate them, as opposed to selling to them. B: Right. Because people are searching differently than they have in the past. J: Exactly. B: They’re asking Google questions. They’re asking Siri questions. J: Exactly. That’s kind of an overview of what inbound marketing is, and why we’re switching to that. As we look at that, there’s two major aspects we want to look at when we’re considering a strategy for inbound marketing. First, is knowing your consumer. And so, whatever industry you’re in, whatever you’re selling, or service you’re offering, you need to know why your consumer would be interested in your company. There’s a couple of things you can do for that. First, if have a good consumer base already, a great thing to do is to come up with a survey. And figure out what they do, how they tick, why they chose you over a different service. So, that way you can capitalize on that. You need to know different behavior patterns, how they search for things in Google. Or, what they search for. What social media they’re on. That’s going to be a big part of that. That’s the foundation. If you don’t know who you’re talking to, then you don’t know how to talk. The second thing, that you want to consider is your content. Content is absolutely essential to inbound marketing. In fact, content marketing and inbound marketing are used synonymously, which they shouldn’t be. But somewhat the same thing. Content can be anything. As we said earlier, it could be a blog; it could be...

Brad Post, Create the Movement: Welcome to Create the Movement podcast. My name is Brad Post, and I'm sitting here with Josh Rich. Josh, how are you? Josh Rich, Create the Movement: Doing great. Brad, how are you? B: Doing well. J: Excellent. B: In this podcast, a few podcasts ago we were talking about social media, just overall. J: Kind of paid advertising. B: Paid advertising. What today do you specifically? J: We’re going to touch on Facebooks ads. B: Okay. J: And the reason why we’re going to do that, I kind of feel that if someone is just starting out doing a paid social media campaign, Facebook’s really the way to go. B: Okay. J: There’s a couple of reasons for that. First of all, in 2014, Pew Research Firm did a research study abou who all, how many people are on different social media platforms. B: Pew, like smells “pew”? J: P-E-W. B: Okay. J: They’re a big name.  Basically, of adults that are on the internet actively, in some form, 71% on Facebook. B: Wow. J:  28% are on LinkedIn. Another 28 are on Pinterest. 26 are on Instagram. And 23 are on Twitter. B: Wow. LinkedIn’s taking over Twitter. J: Yeah. But, Facebook is like kicking butt. 71%. I mean, not even close to anything else. B: Okay. J: Definitely your biggest audience, for sure. And another couple of reasons: first of all, they make it really easy to advertise. I think they give you the most tools. It can be the most-targeted, because people put so much of their interests on there. LinkedIn is pretty targeted too, I guess, that’s a different market entirely. You don’t really sell things on LinkedIn, typically. B: Right. J: Also, you can have the most formats. You can display on the side. You can do a newsfeed. You can change it up pretty easily. One thing also, I looked at was click-through rates. Surprisingly, I really couldn’t find any good data on that. B: Okay. J: I don’t know if maybe it’s because paid ads are kind of a new thing in social media. In some cases, Facebook was better. In some cases, Twitter was better. It kind of depended on where I was looking. But, overall, I think that averaged-out, they’re probably the same click-through rates. But, I still think, given all the other reasons, I think Facebook is the way to go. B: Okay. J: So, whenever you’re starting a Facebook campaign, there are two things you need to narrow down first. The first one is your budget. The second one is your audience. So, the way that the budget works, I think I kind of touched on this last time, but to review, they have this term called Cost Per Optimized Impression. It’s basically a fancy way of saying cost per impression. B: Okay. J:  So, opposed to a pay-per-click, which is like you pay every time you click on it. B: Right. J: So, the marketing term here is: CPM. Which stands for cost per thousand.  Not cost per million. Basically, that means per every thousand impressions, and impression every time someone looks at it, it’s going to cost you this much. B: Okay. J: So, a two-dollar CPM means, that for every thousand people that look at it, it’s going to cost you two-dollars. B: Facebook will spend your money, too. J: Right! They will. So, Facebook calls it Cost per Optimized Impression, which basically just means that they have this special formula that optimizes the impressions to make it more favorable for you. B: Okay. J: But anyways, that’s how the budgeting works. So first, obviously, “How much do you want to spend?” And I’ve said this before, but, you need to plan for three months. If you can’t afford to do something for three months, then you shouldn’t do it. Now, within that three months, you should also be changing things. Don’t just ‘set it and forget it’ for three months, then see what happens. Do some split testing. Try some different colors. Try some different words. See what happens. You also want to think about scheduling for budgeting. So, if you sell hats and gloves, and a cold front’s coming in, you’re proba...

Brad Post, Create the Movement: You’re joining us for our next edition of Create the Movement podcast. My name is Brad Post. And I’m here with Josh Rich. Josh Rich, Create the Movement: Hello everyone. Hello. B: Josh, how are you doing? J: Doing good, Brad. How are you? B: I’m doing well. This is our Marketing Tips, and today we’re going to be talking about marketing budgets for small businesses. Right? J: Yeah, so one of the things we kind of run into a lot when we talk with a new client, we ask them, “What’s your budget?” And we always, not always, but a lot of the times we get the response, “We don’t have one.” B: Right. J: Or, “What do you suggest?” Or, “We don’t really have a defined budget.” So, since the new year is kind of approaching, we thought it would be a good idea to kind of to give some tips on how to create a marketing budget. Because it is important to know how much you’re willing to spend, and how much you should be spending on your budget for marketing. B: Yeah. J: So, the first step that you really want to make sure, just whenever you’re focusing on this, is to be defined. B: Be defined? J: Be defined. Yeah. Don’t have some sort of vague number. Write it down. Make it a part of your company’s budget every year, or every month. However, you want to it. So, that way you know how much you can spend, and how much you should be spending. There’s kind of five questions you should ask yourself when you’re trying to set this. B: Okay. J: The first one is what do you need? B: What do you need? J: What do you need? So, that’s going to depend a lot on your industry, a lot on your company. So, do you need leads? Do you need sales? Do you need just brand exposure? Do you need traffic to your website? So, sit down and think about what you need. Because like I said, it’s really going to influence how much you’re going to spend, and where you’re going to spend it too. B: Most of the time they might say, “All of the above.” J: Right. Exactly. Like I said – be defined. You have to pick one. And your need will most likely change over the course of a year or so. When you’re starting out on setting that budget - be defined and pick one. B: Okay. J: The second one is figure out what you’re currently paying. B: Okay. J: For some people this could be zero. But for some people, they might just kind of, if they’ve never really thought about it, they might just spend a $1000 here, a $1000 there, and not really know where it’s going, or what it’s doing, or how to track it, or that kind of stuff. Just whenever they get an email, or some salesman calls them, they’ll sign up for it, but they’re not really keeping track of it. Not really sticking to any sort of set plan. B: Right. J: And so, go back and see what you did last year. Figure that out. Because that will kind of give you a good starting point. Once you have that number, you want to try to assess how that worked out for you. So, figure out your cost per lead, your cost per sale, or whatever metric you want to use. Find a way to evaluate how well it worked. B:  Okay. J: And then figure out if that’s something you’re comfortable with, or not. So then, the next step is to think about how fast you want to grow. Because a lot of us, I mean, as much as we would love to have 10 clients call us a day, and say, “Hey, we want new websites, and the most expensive SEO package.” B: Right. J: We’d be in trouble if that happened. B: Yes! J: We’d simply cannot scale that fast. You know? And so, try to figure that out. And if you can scale that fast, and you want to, then be really aggressive in your marketing budget. If you can’t afford to scale very fast, it’s going to be slow growth, then you need to back off, and make it more of a less aggressive approach. B: Okay. Good. J: You also want to figure out too, like, kind of going back to that second question, once you figure out your previous year’s cost per lead or cost per whatever, try to figure out what yo...

Brad Post, Create the Movement Josh Rich, Create the Movement   Josh Rich, Create the Movement: Good morning everyone! Thank you for joining us for another edition of Create the Movement Marketing Tip podcast. I’m Josh Rich. I’m here with Brad Post. Brad Post, Create the Movement: What’s going on Josh? How are you, sir? J: Doing great Brad. How are you? B: Good, good. J: Well, Brad, today we’re going to be talking about Google Analytics, and kind of the benefits of that especially for small businesses. So, I’m going to let you talk about, kind of, getting it set up. And I think the biggest benefit, we’ll say, is it’s free. B: Absolutely, yeah. So, every single one of our websites that we build we include the Analytics, Google Analytics. Just because, Google Analytics, like you said, is free. You can set it up. It’s very easy. You get a UA code. You put that UA code on their website. We use WordPress, and usually it’s a pretty easy, standard way to put in that UA code. And then, it basically starts tracking, you know, their visits, and you’ll probably go into that a little bit more. It tracks, you know, pretty heavily tracks everything that’s coming to their website, how it’s coming, that type of stuff. And just encourage, just to be able to track that because J: Right. Because it’s free. It’s pretty easy. Just grab that UA code, put it on the home page, and then let it do its magic. Pretty much. B: Yeah. Right. J: Yeah. And you can track basically anything you want to using Google Analytics which is great. One really important thing that everyone should be doing on Google Analytics is using Goals. B: Okay. J: There are kind of four main areas that you can use Goals to do B: And you set that all up within Google Analytics? J: Yeah. Once you put that UA code in there, you kind of get your account set up. All you have to do, is on the left tab there, you just go to Conversions, and that first one is Goals, hit that drop down area, and then go to Overview. And you can just set up your goals right there. B: So, our listeners aren’t necessarily looking at Google Analytics right now. But, so if they’re in there, on the left-hand side they have different areas that you can look at. J: Right. That’s how it is as of today. Two months from now, who knows what it’s going to look like. B: Yes. J: But, today that’s how it’s going to go. And so, like I said, there’s four main areas that you can set up goals within Google Analytics. The first one is destination. That’s basically going to track every time that someone goes to your Contact Us page. You’ll set that up there, and it will give you the number of how many people actually go to that page. It will also show you the funnel of where they came from. So, if they went to the Home page, and the About Us page, and then went to the Contact page, it will kind of give you that mapping. You can kind of know how they’re travelling. So, the good thing about that is that you can see, if you really want to drive traffic to that Contact Us page, or to, like, the Buying page, or whatever the goal of your website is, then you can kind of see if you have 10 people that go to your Contact page, and the About Us page, and then to the Contact page. And five people out of that 10 get hung up at the About Us page, you know there’s something wrong with that’s kind of preventing them. Some sort of a roadblock there. So, you can go through and kind of figure that out. B: Need more of a call to action there. J: Yes, exactly. Make that destination that you want more clear on kind of that roadblock. So, you can remove that. B: Okay. J: The second type is a duration. Which is pretty easy. You just figure out, if it takes 2 minutes for them to read all of that information on the given page that you want to, set that duration goal, so that you know whenever people are hitting that mark, and where they’re missing it. B: Okay. J: The third one is going to be pages per visit. So, this is...

节目组：Music Bang Bang 音乐大爆炸节目名称：Bryan Adams 布莱恩·亚当斯A:Welcome to Music Bang Bang .Glad to meet you again ,I'm your friend ArielJ: Hello everyone,I'm Jack.欢迎收听本期的music bang bang .It's time for us to share you a brilliantly singer.I believe you will be addicted to his voice.Ah,Ariel I remember you enjoy listenning the male singer's songs,right?A;Yeah ,I really love the voice which is raucity and magnetic,because once I heard its voice,it makes me feel he must be a man with abundant experience.J:Wo`I believe you will like the singer who we introduce today.Because not only he has charming voice,but also has a meaningful life.不仅如此，他还置身于慈善事业，2010年获得在纽芬兰颁发的朱诺杯人道主义奖，Can you guess who he is? Ariel.A: Certainly,I know him.He is Bryan Adams!J:Right! Let's listen his wonderful songsA: Wo~It's brilliant!我记得就是因为这首歌发布后取得了巨大的反响，于是他成为了一名国际巨星。J：Yes,because of his rock style and full of emotions way to annotate ,a number of fans fall in love with him.A:Bryan Adams,he is a famous singer born in Canada Kingston,his parents are the diplomatist in the UK. So it is a good chance to travel around the world.He has been to England ,Israel,France and Portugal.This life should be interesting and meaningful.However,He drop out of the school for his music dream.虽然年纪不大，但亚当斯已把自己所有的精力放在了音乐上，辍学后，他加入了乐队，开始在酒吧里演出。1977年，他所在的乐队Sweeney Todd发行了一张名为"If Wishes Were Horses"的专辑，并由他担任主唱。但是他的生活依然是艰苦的，他不得不经常靠打零工维持生活。可正是在温哥华的一家唱片店打工时，他遇到了Jim Vallance，并与其开始了歌曲创作。回过头来看，这次偶然相遇成就了乐坛上的一对黄金搭档，为我们奉献了"Summer Of 69" "Heaven"等多首金曲.J:He was considered to be a singer with aristocratic and free.You can find different qualities in his songs.Which because he also goods at photography and guitar.It's obviously to see his talent.虽然他16岁就辍学追寻音乐梦想，也并没有上过音乐学院，但出于其非同寻常的天赋，他成为了上世纪90年代世界范围内最具有影响力的摇滚巨星之一，加拿大以他为荣，地球以他为荣，作为一个天王级的乐坛常青树，他的音乐值得每个人用心体会。小马王主题曲《Here I am》A:Jack,Have you ever seen the animation film? The theme music is B.A's works.It's really a good song!J:Yeah,this a unforgetful story.它讲的是一匹充满野性的不驯的小马,在它的印第安人朋友克里克的帮助和自己顽强的努力下，在那遥远的美丽的西部成为一名伟大的英雄的故事。A：It's necessary to say B.A's song really match to the film.他那沙哑又充满野性的声音真的太适合这部电影了，仿佛斯比尔特就在我面前奔跑一样！J：It's same to me .Time really flies.Program is drawing to a close，让我们在最后来聆听B.A的歌曲《Here I am》Goodbye!A:See you next week ,bye!节目监制：于慧佳播音：张婧文 刘冠辰编辑：张婧文 刘冠辰制作：王紫丞

'Hear English' is a blog that provides podcasts and transcripts to help people learn English, find us at http://hearenglishhere.blogspot.com/.Free image courtesy of 'stockfreeimages.com'The Water Cooler (Slow)Too slow? Try the faster version in the next post. They may look like busy professionals, but the staff at Colourful Solutions Ltd (Colsol), aren’t always as serious or hardworking as they appear, and we find out what mischief they’ve been up to as they talk around the water cooler.Click above to listen.  You can get the mp3. here (opens in a new window)Episode 3 - Business Speak (Slow) Too slow? Try the faster version in the next post. (Free sound effects courtesy of 'Soundjay.com') Susan: Are you still working on your progress report for Janet’s new project?Keith: I’m nearly done, just adding the finishing touches.S: So, what have you done so far?K: Actually, I’ve not yet started the project.S: Oh, Janet’s not going to be happy, she wants it to be the cornerstone of the business by the end of the year.  If you’ve not done anything, then what are you going to say about your progress?K: I’m just going to confuse her with some meaningless management jargon and then hopefully she’ll leave me alone for a while and I can take things easy. S: I’m not sure that Janet’s going to be fooled by buzz words. K: Don’t underestimate my talent for business speak.  If I bombard her with enough of it, I can make it sound like I’m being proactive without actually giving any details about what I’ve been doing.S: Well, we’ll soon see if she’s taken in, she’s on her way over.  Hi Janet.Janet: Hi team.  I’m sorry, I don’t have time to really go through your progress reports on the new project, the client’s just asked me to chair a conference call about it, which starts in 5 minutes.  It’s annoying because I booked the afternoon off to meet my daughter in town.  I suppose I’ll have to cancel that.  Oh well, we’ll re-schedule the progress report meeting for Monday afternoon.  Err, Susan, I think I know roughly what you’re doing, but can you give me a quick summary of your progress, Keith?K: Well, we’ve hammered out our objectives.  We’ve put our feelers out.  We don’t want to re-invent the wheel, but then we don’t want a sacred cow either.  I’ve been thinking outside the box but trying not to ignore low hanging fruit.  J: Good.  I’ll look forward to hearing the decisions about the objectives and what you get back from your feelers on Monday.  K: O…k.J: So what are you currently doing?K: Err, at this juncture I’m actioning our game plan.  I don’t want to let the grass grow too long on this so we really have to push the envelope to get an offer on the table. Hopefully no-one will try to move the goalposts, but I’m prepared to do the needful if there is any project creep.J: I was prepared to put a small team in charge of actioning the game plan and managing any project creep, but if you’ve already started then it makes sense for you to continue on your own. I was going to take this project slowly but if you’re happy to put the work in then I know the client would be happy to see an offer on the table by the end of next week.K: Err…excellent! J: And what are you going to do next?K: Going forward, I’ll touch base with the team and start cascading the workload, so all I need is for the client to give it the nod and it’s all good to go.J: I was going to personally touch base with the rest of the team and cascade the workload, but you’re welcome to take that responsibility.  Wow!  You must have been working flat out, I was expecting you to have only just started the project. Thinking about it, it sounds like you’re better placed than me to chair this conference call with the client.  You can pitch them your idea and see if they’ll give you the nod.  Thank you Keith.K: Err, no problem Janet.J: Right.  I’ll leave you to it and head into town, I’ll see you on Monday.S: You really did impress her.  Have you really done all that work?K: No, I really haven’t started yet.S: Then why did you volunteer to take on all that extra work and responsibility?K: I didn’t realise I had.  I have no idea what just happened.  Oh no, I’ll have to work all weekend to finish all that, and I’m completely unprepared for this conference call.S: It appears that you’ve underestimated your talent for business speak.

'Hear English' is a blog that provides podcasts and transcripts to help people learn English, find us at http://hearenglishhere.blogspot.com/.Free image courtesy of 'stockfreeimages.com'The Water Cooler (Fast)Too fast? Try the slower version in the previous post. They may look like busy professionals, but the staff at Colourful Solutions Ltd (Colsol), aren’t always as serious or hardworking as they appear, and we find out what mischief they’ve been up to as they talk around the water cooler.Click above to listen.  You can get the mp3. here (opens in a new window)Episode 3 - Business Speak (Fast) Too fast? Try the slower version in the previous post. (Free sound effects courtesy of 'Soundjay.com') Susan: Are you still working on your progress report for Janet’s new project? Keith: I’m nearly done, just adding the finishing touches.S: So, what have you done so far?K: Actually, I’ve not yet started the project.S: Oh, Janet’s not going to be happy, she wants it to be the cornerstone of the business by the end of the year.  If you’ve not done anything, then what are you going to say about your progress?K: I’m just going to confuse her with some meaningless management jargon and then hopefully she’ll leave me alone for a while and I can take things easy. S: I’m not sure that Janet’s going to be fooled by buzz words. K: Don’t underestimate my talent for business speak.  If I bombard her with enough of it, I can make it sound like I’m being proactive without actually giving any details about what I’ve been doing.S: Well, we’ll soon see if she’s taken in, she’s on her way over.  Hi Janet.Janet: Hi team.  I’m sorry, I don’t have time to really go through your progress reports on the new project, the client’s just asked me to chair a conference call about it, which starts in 5 minutes.  It’s annoying because I booked the afternoon off to meet my daughter in town.  I suppose I’ll have to cancel that.  Oh well, we’ll re-schedule the progress report meeting for Monday afternoon.  Err, Susan, I think I know roughly what you’re doing, but can you give me a quick summary of your progress, Keith?K: Well, we’ve hammered out our objectives.  We’ve put our feelers out.  We don’t want to re-invent the wheel, but then we don’t want a sacred cow either.  I’ve been thinking outside the box but trying not to ignore low hanging fruit.  J: Good.  I’ll look forward to hearing the decisions about the objectives and what you get back from your feelers on Monday.  K: O…k.J: So what are you currently doing?K: Err, at this juncture I’m actioning our game plan.  I don’t want to let the grass grow too long on this so we really have to push the envelope to get an offer on the table. Hopefully no-one will try to move the goalposts, but I’m prepared to do the needful if there is any project creep.J: I was prepared to put a small team in charge of actioning the game plan and managing any project creep, but if you’ve already started then it makes sense for you to continue on your own. I was going to take this project slowly but if you’re happy to put the work in then I know the client would be happy to see an offer on the table by the end of next week.K: Err…excellent! J: And what are you going to do next?K: Going forward, I’ll touch base with the team and start cascading the workload, so all I need is for the client to give it the nod and it’s all good to go.J: I was going to personally touch base with the rest of the team and cascade the workload, but you’re welcome to take that responsibility.  Wow!  You must have been working flat out, I was expecting you to have only just started the project. Thinking about it, it sounds like you’re better placed than me to chair this conference call with the client.  You can pitch them your idea and see if they’ll give you the nod.  Thank you Keith.K: Err, no problem Janet.J: Right.  I’ll leave you to it and head into town, I’ll see you on Monday.S: You really did impress her.  Have you really done all that work?K: No, I really haven’t started yet.S: Then why did you volunteer to take on all that extra work and responsibility?K: I didn’t realise I had.  I have no idea what just happened.  Oh no, I’ll have to work all weekend to finish all that, and I’m completely unprepared for this conference call.S: It appears that you’ve underestimated your talent for business speak.