Podcasts about Matamata

Mick Guerin joins Smithy to preview today's races at Matamata and Saturday's meet at Ellerslie Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tess Cook grew up on her families beef property in Queensland. When she was on stage at evokeAG, she mentioned the challenge and lack of understanding of different career pathways in Ag. Now this is so interesting because it's being talked about a lot, but talking isn't solving much - we want to know more to see what we can do! Tess recently moved to Matamata, New Zealand, to begin her career as a vet and we can't wait to follow her career! 00:00 Tess Cook's Journey to Veterinary Medicine10:08 Challenges in Agricultural Career Pathways16:58 The Future of Agriculture and Workforce SolutionsResources & Contact:Learn more about the Horizon Scholarship and how it supports young people in agriculture.Stay updated with evokeAG and similar industry events.Follow Humans of Agriculture for more inspiring stories from the industry.If you enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend and let us know your thoughts at hello@humansofagriculture.com. Don't forget to rate, subscribe, and leave a review!

NEUSEELANDs Nordinsel — Glüh(cks)würmchen, Wildwasser und Sternenzauber Manchmal fühlt sich Reisen so episch und surreal an wie ein Traum. In Auckland gelandet, gings gleich rauf auf den Fernsehturm und auf einer (gerade erst entstandenen) Vulkaninsel runter in eine Höhle. Wir mussten durch einen Tunnel im Felsen, um den vielleicht schönsten Strand mit schwarzem, glitzernden Sand zu erreichen. Die Kulisse, die sich uns geboten hat, war mehr Film als Realität. Und für Filmkulissen ist Neuseeland ja ohnehin bekannt. Das haben wir dann auch gleich überprüft und uns in den Weta-Workshops mit den Bösewichtern aus Mittelerde angelegt und sind in Hobbiton auf Bilbos und Frodos Pfaden gewandelt. Und wir haben im grünen Drachen opulent geschmaust. In Waitomo gibt es Höhlen mit Glühwürmchen. Dort haben wir jedes Zeitgefühl verloren und sind überzeugt, die sollten eigentlich Glückswürmchen heißen. Neuseeland liegt auf dem pazifischen Feuerring und südlich vom Lake Taupo blubbert und zischt es aus dem Boden als würde ein alter Drache darunter den alten Jonny Cash Song „Ring of Fire“ vor sich hin murmeln. Doch dort gibt's nicht nur kochend heißes Wasser. Gerade mal 8 Grad kalt war das Wildwasser beim Rafting! Wir erzählen euch, warum kalt und wild so entspannend sein kann. Nachts dann der Blick nach oben: Das Weltall in voller Pracht, so klar und hell, dass wir immer noch staunen, wenn wir an diesen Moment denken. Wir freuen uns, wenn ihr wieder mit uns reist. Diesmal gibt's keine gefährlichen Tiere. Versprochen. Dafür eine "echte" Regenbogenbrücke und einen Gänsehaut-Haka am Schluß.

Jackie Diprose noticed some inequity with the school lunch programme in her home town of Matamata, so she decide to do something about it.

The Matamata-Piako community is in shock after a college student was hit by a freight train and killed just after 3pm on Wednesday. Mayor Adrienne Wilcock spoke to Corin Dann.

Thad Taylor, Stephen Hunt and Brendan Popplewell preview this weekend's races at Wingatui and Matamata.

Thad Taylor, Paul Maoate, Stephen Hunt and Brendan Popplewell preview Matamata Breeders Stakes Day.

Staffy and Mick go Around The Grounds and chat to Regan Donnison of Matamata and Sean Bellew, President of Southland Racing Club Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The legendary jockey's sudden retirement announcement in December caught the NZ racing industry by surprise.  Opie says he'd been contemplating retirement for six months but it took a simple experience on Xmas Day to convince him the time was right. The champion jockey was out jogging on Xmas morning, wearing his mandatory heavy sweat gear when he was suddenly conscious of passers by in high spirits, out enjoying life on such a special day. Opie was unplaced on 3 rides at Ellerslie on Boxing Day. Driving home to Matamata after the races he made the massive decision to call time on his stellar 30 year career. He says the withdrawal symptoms have been manageable so far. Opie says he was a little hesitant as he sat down to type out his retirement announcement for release on social media. The jockey says weight issues have plagued him for many years. He explains just how tough it's been over time. He reminds us that he walked away from racing more than twenty years ago when wasting got the better of him. He spent eighteen months out of the industry during which time he gave the rugby code some serious attention. Kiwis and Australians alike have been curious about the champion jockey's unusual christian name. He puts forward a simple explanation. Opie talks about an apprenticeship to his godfather Steve Autridge, at the time head trainer for the Te Akau machine. He says Autridge has been an important influence in his life. He talks about the TeAkau training operation at Matamata, and the  breathtaking environment of Te Akau Stud in the Waikato, where it all begins for the David Ellis homebreds. Opie was happy to wander down memory lane. He's never forgotten his very first day as a professional jockey. His first winning ride in 1995 left an indelible memory.   The brilliant jockey announced his arrival in a big way. He was only 17 when he won his first Gr 1, the 1998 Auckland Cup on Jezabeel. Opie wasn't retained on Jezabeel in the Melbourne Cup of the same year but was lucky enough to get on a wonderful NZ staying filly during the same carnival. He won the historic Victoria Oaks on Grand Archway. Shortly before that Melbourne carnival he made a quick trip to NSW as a favour to a young Kiwi friend who was just getting started as a trainer in Sydney. He happened to ride the trainer's first Australian winner in an obscure maiden at Wyong. Opie looks back on some stunning NZ career statistics. He makes no secret of the fact that the brilliant sprinting mare Imperatriz was his all time favourite. He talks about the brilliant mare's best performances. Second only to Imperatriz on Bosson's list of favourites is the dynamic Melody Belle. He looks back on 6 Gr 1 wins on the wonderful mare. He was delighted to partner Melody Belle in her only Australian Gr 1 victory. He speaks with great admiration of another top tier Te Akau mare, the talented Avantage. He rode her in eight of sixteen wins which included five Gr 1's.  Opie looks back on his association with several other exciting horses he got to ride in the famous tangerine and royal blue Te Akau colours. He makes special mention of the lightly raced Te Akau Shark. He says we never saw the best of this exciting Rip Van Winkle gelding. The 99 time Gr 1 winning rider devotes extra time to his memories of Mongolian Khan, the top class stayer who gave him victory in two of Australia's most famous races.  Opie came back to ride him in three Sydney races the following autumn, but says he wasn't the same horse. The jockey pays a warm tribute to Mongolian Khan's trainer Murray Baker. The newly inducted retiree speaks of his three children. He and first wife Samantha Spratt are the parents of 19 year old Cody who shares his father's love of hunting and fishing.  Opie talks of the two younger children he shares with second wife Emily- Max who's six,  and daughter Honour who's nearing three years of age. The Auckland Racing Club acknowledged Opie's impact on NZ racing when they released a special audio presentation a few years ago. Whenever the jockey won a race at the Karaka Millions meeting the catchy chant of “There's Only One Opie Bosson” resonated through the public address system, generating great crowd involvement. He talks of his reaction to a rare honour.  Great to catch up with a jockey who was appointed an Officer Of The NZ Order OF Merit in 2023 for his services to racing.

Received a couple of emails lately requesting information on two former elite racehorses. My correspondents are two younger racing enthusiasts curious about the deeds of Battle Heights and Manikato- the former a dour New Zealand stayer, the latter a dynamic Australian sprinter of the late 70's and early 80's. By coincidence both horses were ridden many times in races by Gary Willetts, an expatriate Kiwi jockey who settled in Australia in late 1975 destined for undreamed of success. Who better to reflect on the talents of both horses? My emailers are probably unaware of a 2021 podcast we posted with Gary Willetts right at the height of the covid lockdowns. In this interview the former champion jockey comprehensively reviews the careers of Battle Heights, Manikato and several other wonderful horses he got to ride.  Let's give it another run this week. Gary admits he didn't want to come to Australia to ride Battle Heights in 1974. He says the NZ jockey's premiership was his primary focus. The former ace jockey talks of his move into the hotel business after a career ending race fall. He looks back on the injury toll from that fateful fall at Yarra Glen. Gary takes us back to childhood days in Auckland when he frequently attended race meetings with his parents. He reflects on work experience in the stables of leading trainer Fred Smith who later indentured him. Gary looks back on his first winner Silver Lad who started at massive odds. He remembers his chance meeting at the races with the young lady from Matamata destined to become his wife. The Willetts are closing in on 60 years of marriage. The former ace jockey has never forgotten the horse who changed his life. He takes us through the remarkable career of iron gelding Battle Heights. Gary was stable jockey for Bon Hoysted when a precocious, chestnut son of Manihi arrived in the stables. He remembers Manikato's quirky early habits and takes us through the highlights of the powerhouse sprinter's amazing career. He reflects on the training genius of  Bob Hoysted who took over the training of Manikato following the sudden death of his brother Bon. Willetts pays tribute to several other topliners he got to ride beginning with Rose Of Kingston who in 1982 became the first filly in 38 years to win the AJC Derby. This was my first interview with Gary Willetts in many years. It was a delight to catch up with a true gentleman of the turf, and the rider of some of the best horses of his era.  

The new Chair of DairyNZ, former Nuffield Scholar, and Matamata dairy farmer says our biggest primary sector industry is looking good for 2025.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, Susan and Cort share their magical adventure touring the iconic filming locations of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies. From the lush, rolling hills of Matamata to stepping inside hobbit dwellings, it's a dream come true for every Tolkien fan. We're spilling all the details, like:[00:01:00] The early morning start and epic journey to Hobbiton

"Auckland's the problem child," when it comes to a blow out in wait times to sit licence tests, according the NZTA. Want to be drivers are having to wait up to a year for a spot. In desperation some are travelling to Thames, Matamata, and Te Awamutu 280 kilometres from Auckland. NZTA said demand for tests has gone up 60% and it's hurridly bolstering testing officer numbers. To help ease congestion, the government's agreed to extend the amount of time people can drive on over licences from 12 to 18 months. At the Glen Innes VTNZ centre in East Auckland, learner drivers say the long wait times are frustrating. NZTA's national manager regulatory system design Chris Rodley told Lisa Owen the wait times are unacceptable

LOVERACING.NZ Racing Update with Waikato Racing CEO Butch Castles on Mornings with Ian Smith including the Tarzino at Hastings on Saturday, Matamata today & more Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

LOVERACING.NZ Racing Update with Waikato Racing CEO Butch Castles on Mornings with Ian Smith including the Tarzino at Hastings on Saturday, Matamata today & more Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mark Purdon and Oscar Bonivena did something new today, Mark who know lives in Matamata and still training standardbreds has been given the opportunity to train on the Matamata racing club and I was there for their first time on the track. The Future Starts Now Harness Racing New Zealand

LOVERACING.NZ Racing Update with the The Mail Run's Michael Guerin on Mornings with Ian Smith including, Kiwi interest at Gold Coast, Kiwis winless in South Australia, Matamata today & more Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

LOVERACING.NZ Racing Update with the The Mail Run's Michael Guerin on Mornings with Ian Smith including, Kiwi interest at Gold Coast, Kiwis winless in South Australia, Matamata today & more Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hostem pořadu Máme rádi zvířata je současný ředitel Zoo Hluboká Vladimír Pokorný. Zahradu vede od roku 2000. Za jeho působení vzniklo mnoho nových expozic, například jihoamerický pavilon Matamata nebo expozice palearktické fauny Nová setkání. Pod jeho vedením vzrostla návštěvnost až na 280 tisíc lidí ročně a Zoo Hluboká se stala nejnavštěvovanějším turistickým místem na jihu Čech. K poslechu zve Jitka Cibulová Vokatá.Všechny díly podcastu Máme rádi zvířata můžete pohodlně poslouchat v mobilní aplikaci mujRozhlas pro Android a iOS nebo na webu mujRozhlas.cz.

This week on Flightless Bird, David Farrier still finds himself stranded back in New Zealand, waiting for his new Visa to be issued so he can make more American Flightless Birds. Cut off from America, he decides to do one of the most touristy things he can imagine: he sets off for Matamata and the tiny sleepy village of Hobbiton. Left over from the Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit, he goes to meet Hobbiton general manager Shayne Forrest, who takes Farrier around the most incredibly detailed living film set he's ever seen. Farrier discovers that Hobbiton has recently opened up a Hobbit house, so Farrier goes inside to experience it with an American man called Matt. Outside, Farrier is lucky enough to meet Pickles, Hobbiton's one and only rescue cat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Leg Up is back this week with; Brendan Popplewell, Justin Evans & Paul Maoate, as they preview races at Matamata & Otaki ahead of the weekend.

Graeme Styles and Johno Benner provide track updates from Matamata and Otaki respectively. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 Louis and Mick preview today's meetings at Matamata and Otaki with trainers Tony Pike, Peter Williams and Ken Kelso. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mick gives his best going around at Otaki and Matamata today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Butch Castles previews the weekend of racing. The meeting at Matamata headlines with their iconic Matamata Breeders Stakes Day, and further down the North Island at the only Maori racing club in New Zealand it's the time honoured Group 1 Otaki Maori Weight for age Classic. Our guests are Sam Spratt and Allan Sharrock. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Butch Castles previews the weekend of racing. The meeting at Matamata headlines with their iconic Matamata Breeders Stakes Day, and further down the North Island at the only Maori racing club in New Zealand it's the time honoured Group 1 Otaki Maori Weight for age Classic. Our guests are Sam Spratt and Allan Sharrock. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matamata Preview w/ Butch Castles (07/02/24) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As part of their travels around the globe, Charlotte and James opted to spend a year in New Zealand on a working holiday visa, taking advantage of flexible working arrangements and travelling as much as possible in their van. Based out of Auckland, they share their favourite spots for weekend escapes and adventures, including Rangitoto, Waiheke and the beaches and maunga in Tāmaki Makaurau. For a further escape, they loved Waihi, Raglan and Matamata. As lovers of the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies, Charlotte and James have enjoyed visiting different filming sites around the country. They are currently exploring the South Island in their self-contained van from Kaikoura and Fiordland to Aoraki and Abel Tasman. The couple share some of the challenges of buying and owning their van, as well as some of their surprises and differences between New Zealand and the UK. For quick and easy meals for all your outdoor adventures, use the code ABIGAIL for free shipping on your next Back Country Cuisine order: ⁠bit.ly/44uFDAB⁠ Thank you so much for tuning in and coming along for the ride. If you love the show and enjoyed listening, please take the time to leave a review on Apple or Spotify. I would also love to connect with you, so send me a DM on Instagram, leave me a voice message and I can't wait to see you next time. Until then, keep adventuring :) Follow Charlotte and James on Instagram: ⁠instagram.com/charlotte_n_james/⁠ Read the Blog: ⁠www.abigailhannah.nz⁠ Follow Abigail on Instagram: ⁠instagram.com/abigailhannnah/⁠ Follow Abigail on TikTok: ⁠tiktok.com/@abigailhannnah/⁠

The injury count could continue to climb after an illegal street racing meet up involving more than 1,000 people near Hamilton over the weekend. Two people suffered serious stab wounds, and a baby was found in the back of a car being driven by someone who didnt have license at the event on State Highway 27 near Matamata. Now police are investgating whether a bystander was sideswiped by a car drifting at high speed. 12 people have arrested and more than 200 tickets given out for various driving and alcohol offences at the event that was promoted via social media. Investigators are now searching CCTV footage to identify more people who were there. Inspector Will Loughrin says the community's had enough of the high risk, high speed antics [embed] https://players.brightcove.net/6093072280001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6342752594112

Fala Galera, toma seu episódio novo aí!Eh, parece que o Dinizismo precisa de mais tempo. O que começou com encantamento agora vira preocupação. Será que o BR corre risco de ficar de fora? E você, o que faria? Deixa o Diniz? Parte pra outra?Quer saber o que rolou no bate papo dessa semana? Então já Solta o play na bagaca ae e compartilha com geral Participantes:Gabriel Buracoski - ( @gburacoski)Rodrigo Oliveira - (@rodrigos_o)Roteiro: Rodrigo Oliveira Revisão: Gabriel Buracoski Capa: Rodrigo Oliveira Edição : Rodrigo OliveiraDireção: Rodrigo Oliveira Se quiser participar do quadro do ouvinte, manda um Áudio pra esse número (11) 982382391 ou lá o nosso instagram @podcastequegolaco, não esquece de seguir e comentar no post também. #futebol #podcast #podcastequegolaco #resenha #amigos #papodebar #palmeiras #corinthians #saopaulo #santos #classico #selecaobrasileira #copadobasil #flamengo #fortaleza #penalti #liberta #copalibertadores #matamata #campeonatopaulista #paulistao#mundial #mundialdafifa #brasileirao

Fala Galera, episódio novo na área!E não eh que nossos porquinhos estavam certos? Foi só subir a gravação do episódio que o palmeiras liderou o BR-23. O palmeiras precisa de episódio, tal qual um porco precisa de lama.Quer saber o que rolou no bate papo dessa semana? Então já Solta o play na bagaca ae e compartilha com geral Participantes:Gabriel Buracoski - ( @gburacoski)Rodrigo Oliveira - (@rodrigos_o)Roteiro: Rodrigo Oliveira Revisão: Gabriel Buracoski Capa: Rodrigo Oliveira Edição : Rodrigo OliveiraDireção: Rodrigo Oliveira Se quiser participar do quadro do ouvinte, manda um Áudio pra esse número (11) 982382391 ou lá o nosso instagram @podcastequegolaco, não esquece de seguir e comentar no post também. #futebol #podcast #podcastequegolaco #resenha #amigos #papodebar #palmeiras #corinthians #saopaulo #santos #classico #selecaobrasileira #copadobasil #flamengo #fortaleza #penalti #liberta #copalibertadores #matamata #campeonatopaulista #paulistao#mundial #mundialdafifa #brasileirao

Siiiiiii! Estamos de volta!Esquece esse hiato aí. Voltamos com tudo e agora vai!Aquele giro Rápido por tudo o que aconteceu nesses últimos 6 meses (quanto tempo eu dormi?). Campeões, decepções, seleção brasileira, tá tudo aí nesse bate papo!Quer saber o motivo da volta? Então já Solta o play na bagaca ae e compartilha com geral Participantes:Gabriel Buracoski - ( @gburacoski)Rodrigo Oliveira - (@rodrigos_o)Roteiro: Rodrigo Oliveira Revisão: Gabriel Buracoski Capa: Rodrigo Oliveira Edição : Rodrigo OliveiraDireção: Rodrigo Oliveira Nem grava mais : Aguinaldo Menezes Se quiser participar do quadro do ouvinte, manda um Áudio pra esse número (11) 982382391 ou lá o nosso instagram @podcastequegolaco, não esquece de seguir e comentar no post também. #futebol #podcast #podcastequegolaco #resenha #amigos #papodebar #palmeiras #corinthians #saopaulo #santos #classico #selecaobrasileira #copadobasil #flamengo #fortaleza #penalti #liberta #copalibertadores #matamata #campeonatopaulista #paulistao#mundial #mundialdafifa #brasileirao

Market Proof Marketing · Ep 308: The Lag EffectIn this episode, Kevin Oakley is joined by Andrew Peek and special guest Amanda Martin, an Online Sales Coach here at DYC! Amanda gives some insight into personalization and how far an OSC should go to find an emotional connection for a lead. The team discusses “the lag effect” and the importance of marketers helping their team to understand it and their thoughts on a new Ai rollout of celebrity lookalike chat bots. Story Time (04:29)Amanda quoted Kevin during the Summit “There's never going to be enough emotional drive or urgency if they don't pink something that there's any fear of loss in.” and was inspired by it!Andrew talked with a builder whose content featured the possible objections of their townhomes instead of featuring its positives. Kevin talks about "Lag times"The News (36:15)What are Meta's AI Personas, and how do you chat with them? (https://mashable.com/article/meta-ai-personas-explained)Alexis Rivas on X: BIG news for ADUs today. (https://twitter.com/alexisxrivas/)Google's AI-powered search experience can now generate images, write drafts (https://techcrunch.com/2023/10/12/googles-ai-powered-search-experience-can-now-generate-images-write-drafts)The Q3 2023 Online Sales Benchmarks (https://www.doyouconvert.com/blog/the-q3-2023-online-sales-benchmarks/)Homebuyers Must Earn $115,000 to Afford the Typical U.S. Home. That's About $40,000 More Than the Typical American Household Earns. (https://www.redfin.com/news/homebuyer-income-afford-home-record-high/)Things We Love Things We Hate (01:01:46)Amanda is loving her role of coachingAndrew is loving his task management tool “TikTik.com”Kevin's favorite is the Pro Builder Professional Forty under 40 list! Questions? Comments? Email show@doyouconvert.com or call 404-369-2595 and we'll address them on the next episode. More insights, discussions, and opportunities can be found at Do You Convert All Access or on the Market Proof Marketing Facebook group.Subscribe on iTunesFollow on SpotifyListen On StitcherA weekly new home marketing podcast for home builders and developers. Each week Kevin Oakley, Andrew Peek, Jackie Lipinski, Julie Jarnagin, and other team members from Do You Convert will break down the headlines, share best practices and stories from the front line, and perform a deep dive on a relevant marketing topic. We're here to help you – not to sell you!Transcript:KevinI think it's Kylie Jenner on here.AndrewOkay.KevinAs an option. Let's see.AndrewMaybe a good option Is this Mr. Beast?KevinOkay. Tom Brady.AndrewOkay.KevinI feel like Taylor Swift was supposed to be one of the options.AndrewLet me see.KevinBut there are. There's 15 and total. I think, including Alvin the alien.AndrewI like the alien. Now that I. I'll trust the alien seems trustable.KevinBob. Bob, the robot here kind of gives me vibes of short circuit, Like one of the best movies from the eighties of all time.AndrewDon't you feel bad for that robot? But you develop.KevinJohn. I mean, Johnny five is alive and you can't find him.AndrewI need to revisit this movie. I haven't seen the movie, but it's been years. It's been years, okay?KevinI mean, I would I wouldn't be surprised because you're young and. But.AndrewYoung'un, I'm an I'm in that cut off. Where? Let's see, when, like, animated movies really took off with late nineties and has before them but like Pixar was 99 I think with Toy Story I think that kind of shifts. Like what shows did you grow up as a kid? They went to Blockbuster for and it was an animated, nothing animated, at least for me.AndrewIt it's like, okay, then kid got stuck watching those for like what I playing for the kids now like, oh, I don't know. Like, did they need to watch all the James Bond movies for like the Silhouette music intro? I be like, Oh no. But I was I think we grew up with that. That was that was usual for them.KevinAmanda What was your childhood media content like?AmandaOh gosh, just some of the classics like Tom and Jerry the Road Runner, you know, like, Okay.AndrewYeah, like a weekend.AmandaLike that is classic and stuff like that. I mean, that's like gone way back.AndrewBut The Simpsons, I guess The Simpsons were on there. I mean, I grew up I remember memories of like Seinfeld was on all the time, like all the time. Seinfeld is like Seinfeld. Frasier is like the same order and just knew what it was be on.KevinApparently, there's a new Frasier show.AndrewOh, you can't because there's no family anyway. Oh, man, It's probably not the same.KevinWe should. We should go and start the show.AndrewYou should. Let's do that.KevinWelcome to episode 308. I'm Kevin Oakley. And with me today is Andrew Peek and Amanda martin.AmandaNo, no.KevinAnd Amanda claims she's never been on the podcast before. I don't know how it's possible.AmandaI don't either. But here we are.AndrewI cannot believe that. But Amanda, you would know, like, if we're out here before. So, yeah, that's right. Got to believe.KevinYou. It's your truth. How long have you been on the team now?AmandaOh, man. About four and a half years. Right at it? Yeah. Yes. That's crazy.AndrewI. I don't believe that The.KevinReason that my memory and this might have just been like a teen call that we were on, but I just remember giving you a semi hard time. But it must have just been like sea questions when you first joined anyway. Yeah, sorry. We should. We should have had you on the table. Everyone watch. What do you do here?KevinYeah. TV For those who may not know.AmandaI'm an online field coach with Jen and Jesse and I help you know, everything with online sales, coaching, new offseason and lifting with these and ramping them up for success, helping with onboarding all the good things. I love it. It's so great.KevinHelping out with Online Sales Academy. Oh yeah. Leading sessions at the at the Do you convert online sales and marketing summit doing all the things so that's why I just.AmandaKind of things Love it.KevinWell, now, sorry, Jen, you're just going to have to come on once every quarter or six months because Jesse and Amanda are.AndrewTaking over.KevinTaking this.AndrewBy. I feel like you're like an O.G., because when I started way back in the day with with the convert you were with, I believe, at Royal Oaks Home.AmandaYes. Yes.AndrewWay back in the day, y'all had amazing videos because I feel like the accents and everything are just so, so different. But also, like, you worked amazingly together. Yeah, that's. That's going way back. So, you know, it.AmandaIs way back. And you sort of.AndrewYears.AmandaYou would like, made us for us like late, late at night and they would just magically be ready the next day or.AndrewDefinitely.AmandaKevin America. Okay.AndrewThat was but yeah yeah. Those fun times. So we go way back. This is, this is good.KevinOkay, so, Amanda, story time, no pressure. First story time in four years. Yeah, I'm one of the best on the team. What do you got for us?AmandaWell, I do have a story for you and question for you. Kevin, Did you know that I quoted you in my session at the summit? Oh, no, no.KevinYou didn't go to the cloud, first of all. But only if my my head is not on the image. Like, there's just something.AmandaOkay, Images.KevinJust like, what.AmandaWas it.KevinAbout pancakes or was it actually about someone else's?AmandaI shouldn't have done pancakes. I would have been good. No, no, it wasn't, though. It just really stood out for me. And one of your Pulse episodes. I even read blog about it, so I don't know if you know you're famous. Yeah.KevinThat's a good hint.AmandaYeah, You said, Kevin, that there's never going to be enough emotional drive or urgency. If they don't pick something that there's any fear of loss, then. So that really just inspired me to talk about the like thing. One part about this, though, at the summit, my session was all about the power of personalization and part of it you talked about selecting one and I used your quote and I related that to when I got our second cat there.AmandaAnyway, that was fun. So that was my that was my story I quoted, you know?KevinOkay, now I have questions for you. Yeah.AmandaOkay. So let's here.KevinI think the perception, maybe misconception about online sales is that getting to one doesn't really matter because you're just kind of giving them general information and you want to get them as quickly as possible to the on site team. So talk to me about when when is it necessary to apply personalization. Can you get go too far in that attempt?KevinIs it is it even possible to to go too deep in personalization, do you think so?AmandaI think I think you do have to it. Well, I'm first of all, because, you know, you have to you have to learn enough about them to be able to recommend something for them. So if you don't if you don't take the time to fully qualify them and learn their story, you can't select one. But if you've done your job, then you should be able to select one, right?AmandaSo I think you have to do that.KevinDo you mean I am assuming, but I want to clarify. You're talking about community. You don't necessarily have to get them down to a particular hall. No, but you got to find something to.AmandaTo find something. Yes. Yes. They are emotionally invested in something that's going to be a good fit for them based on what they're looking for. But yeah, community is great. Sometimes you'll get down to a floor plan and if that's, you know, a big must have for them.KevinOr you're on your lot builder and there's nothing else to.AmandaOf course Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You can't you can take it a little bit too far I guess if you, you know, qualify them out of thing if they don't want to get too far. But definitely a good idea to learn their story and select on and to become emotionally invested in it. So yeah. Yeah. I love your.AndrewLast makes sense.KevinThe last qualifying or and I'm just an insanely curious person so.AmandaI love it.KevinWhen you were just talking about that, it made it feel like it's okay for the online sales person to have an opinion on what's best for the customer based on what you learn about them, which I'm maybe if listening is like, Well, duh. But again, I know, I know sales managers and onsite salespeople who are like, Oh, online salesperson is just supposed to absorb and direct the customer on whatever it is they already came in on.KevinAnd I think to me that connects to this is an older number. I don't I actually don't know where we are currently, but I remember doing analysis of Heartland of about one third of the people who came in as a lead for one community ended up becoming an appointment for a different community after verification and personalization was made.AmandaSo of that. Yeah. So the leads, they don't know everything that you have to offer and that's why the OSD is there to really be able to give that easy button. And that's also why it's great to have signage numbers go to that. With me though, like a story, you know, I had someone going out that was driving out path.AmandaThe community they call, they were interested in that, but it completely did not fit what they were looking for at all. And I was able to reroute them to a different community that was a great fit. So, you know, just because they have to show up somewhere that you think they're interested in something doesn't mean that that's the best fit for them.AmandaAnd you're able to provide them with that knowledge because you know all the products, you know. So it's all about uncovering what they're looking for and giving them that easy button and directing them to the right place. So.KevinMM Yeah. The place that people are headed with over the automated systems, we're saying, well if Amanda asks for information about Happy Acres, this is easy. I just load up information about Happy Acres and I send it to her in little bursts over multiple different channels. And and I think that's dangerous because, again, just the reason that someone reaches out is not a clear connection to what it is they ultimately will purchase or even what they're most interested in.KevinYeah. So I think I think that's interesting thought, too, is that at the end of the day, no matter what else is checked off in the CRM, no matter what pages said they came from there. A prospect for a home above and beyond any particular community or floorplan. It's not that it can't inform or shouldn't inform.AmandaMhm.KevinBut you can't just say oh well they asked for Happy Acres, I will schedule you an appointment via text in 30 seconds at Happy Acres because I can, I can make that happen.AmandaYeah. That's exactly right. That's why I exists.AndrewRight. I just, I can't imagine any automated solution I could build like the emotional momentum to then that increases the appointment kept ratio. That increases like it just gets you along the funnel quicker. Like imagine you hear Amanda close your eyes and Amanda's like, you call. It's like, you know, I think that communities like selected, that might be good for you but we have this other one and then you and your great voice, you're talking, talking and you're like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's go, let's go.AndrewI want that versus reading something on the screen. And it's a robot and that has no emotional like it doesn't create any emotion within Yeah.KevinI mean any attempt at fake emotion oftentimes comes off worse than no emotion. Honestly.AndrewHappy, awkward, like this. Yeah.KevinYou I don't know what story you would both use as my example. For me, it's typically like Home Depot or Lowe's.AndrewI like Home Depot. Don't like Lowe's.KevinThe same Lowe's I only looking for their they have seem to have a better power tool selection generally than Home Depot does or a larger one. But other than that, I agree with Abraham. Yeah, but you know, when someone offers you assistance, you have kind of this built in thing of I mean, I really do want as is internal talk now.KevinKevin Internal talk, Yeah. I definitely want assistance finding this one size particular special fastener that I need to replace on something in my home. And all I have is the broken one and I have to go line up the right side. And this is obviously a real world example that have a salad go. But someone's like, Hey, can I help you?KevinAnd everything inside of you is like, Yes, I want help, but I really doubt you're going to be able to offer the help that I need or just be an expert that I need versus just taking up my time. Like we've all had those experiences where someone's like, Oh yeah, I'll try to help you, and then they lead you to like the plumbing section.KevinYou're like, No, but like even I know that fasteners are aisle five, so that's where we should go. And so I think there's always this thing that online salespeople and salespeople and even marketers with some of our messaging has to get through is like the relief that you have as a consumer. When you finally talk to an expert, it truly is just the feeling of exhaling.KevinIt's like, Oh, okay, Amanda knows her stuff. And that's what I'm saying. It's this fine line between overconfidence, oversimplification. You want this, therefore you go there as soon as you can become an actual expert and the consumer trust that everything changes, no matter what the emotional state of either party is beforehand. It's like, okay, okay, I could totally be convinced that I don't even need the fastener.KevinI thought I came in with that as a replacement. Maybe there's something better, but that person's first can have to prove to me that they're not just making stuff up.AmandaAnd they also have to understand your story. What you're going to use it for on the right. How can they make that recommendation?KevinYeah.AmandaMm hmm.KevinYeah. So it's this weird. It's the same thing talking about interest rates right now. You know, interest rates at 8%. I don't know if that's I think we've talked about that enough on other places. We're not going to talk about that in this news. But interest rates, mortgage rates going to 8%. There's a whole bunch people saying don't talk about interest rates.KevinIt's not a big deal, just end. And it's kind of like, well, if everyone knows it, I, I don't think you can completely avoid it.AndrewYeah. Yeah. You're crazy not talking about it.AmandaMm hmm.KevinLike not talking about it or having at least some planned responses for the, like, common objection or statement. Because, again, as a consumer, I would feel it's my job to to be a good customer and to protect myself in this engagement, I would have to be like, you know, we're just a little bit concerned with how high interest rates are right now.KevinYeah, if a customer didn't say that, that would be weird, unless they just know they're paying cash. It's the same the same thing as again, you go to a retail store, do you need any help? The default reaction to protect yourself is no, I'm just looking. It's just what our job is as consumers. That's great.AndrewAndrew Yeah, I had one. I think I'm to shift that over to favorite things. I had him because like literally right before we started, I'm like, I just use this in the example of why I like this piece of software, so I'll save it for favorite things as it's more appropriate. Okay. Townhomes. I love townhomes. They're my favorite.KevinThey're that's I don't is that is that true?AndrewThat's not true. That's not true. I'm not true at all. Because I think that's like my first if I had to be like, what did I first learn coming to to do? I see. And like, I was like, Kevin, why are townhomes always like the issue? Like it was almost like a bat in my head. Like, all right, about this is about a townhome for something struggling and like 2017, 2018 it was townhomes, but two weeks ago, two weeks to three weeks ago, I had to call the builder and is about a townhome product and I was looking through their photos.AndrewIt's a coming soon. The price is really nice. You're like, really that price like, but it's a little farther out. So there's all these challenges with it. And at the end of the call it really didn't go the direction I thought it would, but we really uncover that a lot of their content highlighted the objectives as and they like made the objectives valid against townhomes.AndrewLike unintentional.KevinYou mean objective objections? Objectives.AndrewOkay, This my back. The objections? Yeah. The objections were they were like featuring the objections. Like what do you hate about townhomes? They didn't because their photography is so standardized that the way they photograph townhomes is the way they photographed single family homes. There is no intentionality as far as like, okay, cool, this is a I only how the product here, maybe it's 25 feet wide.AndrewMaybe. I mean, our home is sprint. It's 30 feet. We're on a foot, 40 foot lot. So we're at a 30 foot home.KevinIt's pretty decent for them.AndrewSo it's 20, 25, eight. But all the photography, the angles were not featuring like depth. And so in town, home is more like, what do you hate about it? Or why would you not choose this townhome? They're small and cramped. Okay, so the photography should feature mostly images that feature like the length of the home, right? That's going to be it.KevinYou don't have to document the entire crime scene.AndrewCorrect. Like, let's make sure it is showing like it feels big and spacious. What he also not like phantom asylum's privacy. These include a fence in the backyard that are like it cuts off the backyard where I think it's like a 12 foot fence. You could barely see it. And the photos, as far as like separating you, your back patio from the neighbors, you could barely see it.AndrewSo I'm like, hey, if they feature at every it's like they only needed these big shots of the whole building. This I think there were six units per person, per little per building. And so I saw all six. So like me and Alex, really small, it didn't focus in on like, hey, here's like the living area of your outdoor living area and it says example after example after example, in the order of the images, I'm like, if you showed number three versus number one, you might be able to hook them and create like we talked about with Amanda, like enough emotional excitement, like, oh, you know, that actually does look more spacious.AndrewAnd I'd expect and then you tie in to the fact that like more for all rural area where this townhome project is being built, I think there's as you go farther away from like downtown, there's an expectation of land and space. So a townhome close to downtown to like that's perfect for me. You put that 25 miles outside a city center.AndrewPeople were like, I could get a double wide on 45 acres for 250. Okay, And you're trying to give me 3000 square feet of yard space if that even. Yeah. And why would I do that? Like so your everything they did was the opposite content wise and like, Oh that's really interesting. I've never looked at photos of townhomes.KevinSo instead of I guess I want to clarify that like his clarify and what instead of instead of knowing that those are the objections, is your point and then creating content that speaks to them as No, that's not really a valid objection. You just have a misperception about townhomes are are different. You're saying all of the content just affirmed the likely objections?KevinYes, It didn't because didn't always talk about Smucker's is one of my favorite Smucker's. But the name like Smucker's, it has to be good. It's they know the objection would have been when that first became a brand. This is a weird sounding company. It sounds like just smacking saying I mean, it's just bizarre.AndrewIt is.KevinSo there's there's definitely a technique or approach of saying, I know what the objection is going to be. I'm going to hit it head on with answers or solutions or or different viewpoints. You're just saying that was the big miss.AndrewIs big mistake. Yet it made it made you go like, well, this is why I don't like townhomes. It's what I gathered from it. And it's like this builder. They're very process driven. Everything standardize. You've got to recognize their photos with even at least I can without their name on it. So but they're all great. Like they're they're doing an amazing job.AndrewBut the townhomes are photographed the same way as a single families. The buildings are the same way. And I think that's like the not the issue, but it's like, oh, they could probably like I'm like in one here. There's it's a three, three floors and there's four units in the building. And you go like, well, we're I park like it never feels like where's my home within this.AndrewAnd I think they should like just focus on the unit versus the entire building. As far as the big exterior, they only the kitchens and it's like, well, this kitchen's actually pretty spacious, but the way they took the photo, you can't see all of the kitchen and the shape. And so it looks like there's one countertop to cut something on.AndrewAnd then once something like cooking, you're like, This looks miserable to cook in, it's tiny. And so they should have just had different angles on it. And you keep going to go and you're like, Oh, everything I do, it makes us feel like it's a small, cramped townhome they really don't want to live in. But you'll have to settle for versus like, Oh, it actually looks like a nice place to live.AndrewLike there's ten foot ceilings, you have your private outdoor space on there. And so it could be, I guess if you're struggling with townhomes, which is probably everybody, if you have townhomes, maybe like I look at it in that context, like am I reinforcing why people don't actually prefer townhomes first? For the most part if they're not actually like downtown or a walkable location?AndrewYeah, so we'll see if there's new content. Yeah, that.KevinAnd this is true for every community. Page One of my pet peeves is certainly community pages, where 95% of the images and the photo gallery for the community page are the model home. Yeah, I'm like, Oh, that's not the community, but it's even more so true in multifamily scenarios, settings where if you just had photos of the model versus the community, the walkability, the amenities and again, the area around it is the amenities.KevinThat's, that's why even in.AndrewI agree.KevinMarkets like you know, the broader metro area around Washington D.C. I think we still can be on a on a metro line and that is an important amenity of the community, even if it's not in the community and it's ten blocks down the street, it's still. So that just is even more critical. That's your pick because, I mean, that's just by default.KevinThat's why people are choosing multifamily, mostly because of affordability. And builders choose multifamily primarily because, I mean, this is what I heard my entire career, pretty much as I especially pre and VR, when when you're a smaller or even a large private builder and you're just trying to find opportunities on the landside piece of land as identified, I think it's going to go one way and then, you know, eight hour in two, it's like, you know, this isn't going to work as single family.KevinWe're going to have to turn it into multifamily. Yeah, very rarely for for a builder that's focused on the suburbs, do you do you target let's go find more multifamily product. There are those who do it and you know that. And that's why the people who do multifamily exclusively, just like builders do on your lot exclusively, are typically way better on your lot.KevinIf if 90% of a builder's portfolio single family and they just kind of sort of do multifamily again that's the other reason why that can be a challenge.AndrewDo you think multifamily is going to increase? I want to say substantially, but what does that word even mean? Is that five, ten, 20, 30, 40%, Do you think it's going to have a larger increase? And do you think builders will have more multifamily products the next five years from now compared to, say, ten years ago due to affordability and maintaining the margins they want to maintain?AndrewI mean, I would thinks and this my like dumb assumption is like, well, that kind of makes sense if if they.KevinI think the reason that my answer is yes is because land prices again are the main drivers. Yeah. And those don't seem to be improving like land prices and also becoming more affordable anytime soon, even in in even in an economic downturn. So yeah, but I guess my the reason it's making me hesitate is single family for rent and even just really dense single family is all know I was just in a home yesterday and it's a single family community that was built 15 years ago and the homes are traditional, single family homes.KevinIt's not a zero lot line community, if you're familiar with that terminology. There are a lot lines, but the houses can't be more than eight feet apart. And in where I'm from, that's kind of strange, especially for homes that are probably selling in the $500,000 range.AndrewYeah, And it.KevinIs like this is close.AndrewI mean, that's us. We're we're ten feet apart, you know, five feet and inside. So we're we're cozy with our neighbors. And you could probably. Yeah, that might have been the minimum we could do with our air. But the older homes, like older homes right there across the street, like out the back yard there on Thursday, 50 to 70 foot lots.AndrewAnd so they have quite a bit of room between between them. But we're twice the size square footage. So they made it work. I mean, they sold or they sold in a heartbeat, the smaller, much smaller lot sizes.KevinWell, yeah, my story is about lag times, which that's one of those terms that I just didn't hear a lot about or really fully understand until about 10 to 12 years ago. So, I mean, like eight years into my career in homebuilding and then I was like, okay, I'm understanding. But one of the reasons why homebuilding is so hard of an industry is the amount of time that passes between something changing and the result of that change.KevinA real clear example of this is back to land. Builders have to be looking 3 to 5 years out and saying, Where do I want my communities to be in 3 to 5 years? The physical location to figure out, is this the right price I should pay for this land? Will people want to live here in five years?KevinWhat price with what products and that they're tossing the dirt five years into the future in California longer. And so this lag effect is also what we're experiencing right now with interest rates and its impact on the economy. So everyone freaked out, Oh, my gosh, interest rates changed and it's going to be a disaster. Turns out the disaster hasn't happened yet.KevinPeople are still employed. You know, wages going up for the most part, people still buying homes. And it's because interest rates short term interest rates, which is what the Federal Reserve changes, that typically takes 24, I think 36 months before the impact of wherever the rate was changed. You has a fact because that's how long companies are borrowing from the bank at a particular loan and it doesn't have to be renewed for five years.KevinAnd so they're halfway through that at the rates change. And it doesn't really matter which one of the reasons the big tech companies right now are still firing on all cylinders is they've got $1,000,000,000 or I think in Apple's case, like 20 some billion dollars in cash. And so they're like cool interest rates are higher. We don't need your stupid interest rate bank.KevinYou just keep it. We've got cash. So lag as a term is just you know the delay from making a change to seeing its impact and it's real. They're all over the place in the world, but especially in our industry. And one of the things that I had a conversation with this week with one of our builder partners was a particular struggling neighborhood that we with with them and their team have been, I'd say, squirreling away like a squirrel, attacking a bird feeder, trying everything we can to try to make things work.KevinAnd not really a shock. This is one of the things we talked about. It seems like actually I'm going to give full context here. The the head of of sales and marketing made the comment said, you know, my my father made the comment that every time you all seem to focus on a community, things get better. And the joke is like you kind of like insinuate like, can't you just do that all the time for all of them, which, you know, as a, as the marketer perspective is like, can you just make sure the product and pricing is better so that things just work more often and they don't need to, you know, But that'sKevinthat's the healthy tension in the business. So things get better. But what's interesting is one of the takeaways was that the the getting better was related to the most recent thing. So this weekend, this past week, the number of appointments like tripled or quadrupled to the community. And the connection was what must have been the thing we changed on Friday or Thursday.KevinI was like, well, we can't. We can't say that. We really can't because for the prior 30 days we had taken the average amount of traffic to that community from like 1000 visitors a month to 14,000.AndrewIt's a few.KevinAnd and the concern was, hey, the the lead in appointment volume isn't correlating to that immediately. So we're not sure if these folks are the highest quality folks. So let's actually change some of the messaging adjust spend which the spend was already very, very healthy obviously to get to that level. And then it was like that must be the change that made the difference.KevinAnd I was like, What is your average time between website visit to lead, which most people would have a hard time calculating anyway? In this case, the builder actually has. I don't want to go into that right now because it's somewhat proprietary both to us and them, but they have another way of telling some of that cycle time.KevinBut as an example, one of the other builders you work with just told us yesterday they did their latest analysis from lead to contract, which everyone in this, listen should be able to calculate. Their average cycle time right now is 150 days, 150 days from getting the lead to getting a signed contract. There are reasons why and the type of builder they are that that would be longer.KevinBut the point is that is elongating, the lag is getting wider. And so just imagine if you're that builder and you get 300 leads in a month where you typically would get 100 and everyone gets excited and then you don't get sales for I don't even know what that is for five months.AndrewYeah.KevinSo 100 days.AndrewFive months.KevinYeah. So there's, there's, there's potentially four months where everyone's like those leads were all crap. They weren't worth it. What's going on? It's just really hard. If you don't understand the lags that are in the business to make the dots. So one of the things we talked about to try to bring some practical application here besides just understanding the concept and trying to figure out what your lags are in your business is privacy changes make all this really tough.KevinNow their CRM system does a better job than most at identifying source and medium, but it's still not obviously going to be perfect. We know that in time. It's a particular campaign can be even harder. One of the best good old fashioned ways to do this is just have actual start and stop definitions. So there's two ways to kind of do this good enough, I would say.KevinOne is it'll be really scary because this community just took off. But if you turned off all the extra advertising like cold turkey it on a day and then watch the lag from when you cold turkey to it to when does that appointment volume taper off. If it correlates like if if there's correlation there, then you can at least take some of that.KevinAnd now you could do that for individual channels. Like if you're concerned that the meta traffic or the Google traffic isn't good, you could just cold turkey one. But again, you're going to have to watch the lag. It's not going to be what happens tomorrow or next week. But this this idea of stopping, I'm actually trying to resurface as a really important concept.KevinYou know, we talk about sprints like do a two or three week sprint of of spend or change in strategy, then stop and see what happens. And I feel like right now the impetus for most people is just keep piling on, Just keep doing more.AndrewMm hmm.KevinAnd there's a couple of problems with that. One, you're not even really analyzing. You're just like more and more and more and more and more. And you don't have that. You can't you can't really tell. Like if you've if you've done ten experiments on one neighborhood and then things get better, you don't know.AndrewYou're stuck doing those ten forever. Yeah, maybe only two, right? I mean if you, if you get for ten. Yeah. You don't, you don't have answers.KevinYeah. I just that, that is actually for people who aren't trained marketers, you're going to have to help them understand the lag effect and the I didn't even know really that I was doing this. But but one of the in terms of the lag concept, but I used to tell my salespeople all the time at Hartland, if you tell me the last week of the month that you're freaking out and you're not, you're falling behind or you're not going to hit your sales plan, I can't help you.KevinI didn't frame it in the sense of the lag, but I just said it's too late because it's going to take me 2 to 3 weeks to create the traffic, to then have that interest develop for them to then reach out to get scheduled in for an appointment. It's not going to happen in a week. The only the only prayer we have of turning people that quickly is basically email and the phone texting or calling, and that's for someone already in the database.AndrewI feel like this really makes the case to be much more proactive and like the marketer, we should all be like, That's kind of obvious. Everyone should be more proactive.KevinNo, you're absolutely.AndrewBut they have thresholds of traffic that you monitor per community. So you're ahead of the salesperson who's on the last weekend of the month. They're stressed about their quota on the 23rd. They're like, Oh shoot, I need two more sales this weekend on the 27th, 28th of October. But if you already knew traffic was low on the ninth because you're like projecting it based on what you're seeing in analytics, like I need to bump that, traffic it up somehow and that could prevent things from from escalating to that situation.AndrewBut you need the threshold. So you need to figure out like, well, what's my number? What are the numbers for? It's gray and I don't really have to do anything before someone talks to me about it.KevinAnd before you set those thresholds, you better be doing your coffee and analytics time to be able to understand the patterns, because if you just create random defined thresholds.AndrewYeah.KevinThat's also just going to cause tail chasing. It's like because we already see this happening where people mishear our statement of a thousand units of traffic per community to get 1 to 2 sales from that neighborhood. And they think every neighborhood has to have 1000. But you can absolutely sell four homes off of 300 website visitors. That's allowed and does happen.KevinSo you have to be spending that time to really know where those things are, are going to be set. But that's where a lot of people get caught off guard. Last year at this time was they felt so comfortable with the backlog or the sales volume of of spring and summer that even though the numbers were all going down and we were we were saying on this podcast, other places like, hey, things are 1,000% slowing and slowing pretty quickly because people weren't looking at those leading indicators of traffic because everyone was so overwhelmed with the amount of activity that had been going on for the last two years.KevinMost builders really didn't even realize it was happening until like late summer, early fall. And then they started to freak out.AndrewTo like proactive thresholds. All right.KevinOn to the news. First up from Mashable.com, Metta has some new AI personalities and they are super cool people. That's intentionally bad grammar, but we've got people who look like Jenner's and Paris Hilton. Oh, is this a Snoop dog? I did not realize I was Snoop Dogg.AndrewSnoop. I don't know who the bottom four are on the right side. I don't know whether or not they seem like great people.KevinYeah, they're not all celebrities, but I think somebody for everybody and I think about half of them are the celebrity chat bots are live and they're weird is the subheadline from the article and this is my last intro. And then I'll let you guys share. Which do you think? But they're weird that from the article yet another chat bot with a celeb twist.KevinThat's right. And more chat bots baby. We were promised flying cars and hoverboards and instead we get to talk to bots that can just barely hold a conversation akin to your single worst interaction at a cocktail party. But it looks like a famous person. What do we think here?AndrewThis is Amanda you go.AmandaFrom for the Oh.AndrewYeah. Okay.AmandaGot creeped out by the fact.AndrewIt's it's depressing. It reminds me of the movie. And if you have time this weekend, you should watch it and you'll understand the reference. The movie is called Her H.E.R. Just heard her from 2013. He falls in love with the guy. This guy?AmandaOh, no.AndrewIt's super bizarre. It's very uncomfortable. All you're like, Is this really insane what's happening here? But it's won some awards. But it's it's it's definitely in the, like, eccentric, weird movie category. But it's this. But this. He falls in love with Scarlett Johansson, who is the voice actor, who is the A.I.. So, again, that's that's reasonable. So maybe meta onto something.AndrewLet's try to use celebrities as who you're interacting with, but still read it. You're like, this is okay.KevinSo the short answer from the online sales world who, you know, we love anything that would potentially allow us to connect with more people. This doesn't hit the market. We an agreement. Yeah, this is the agreement where you know okay so I think the interesting question is, is what led them down this path also wrong? Here's what I mean by that.KevinI watch my wife in particular and she follows influencers and I just you know, everyone knows how I feel about the word and the thing and whether we are. Do you convert to influencers or not. All the all that stuff. But let's say there is a workout influencer or last night I'm watching her use flip through her stories and she's like, Oh, I love this person.KevinAnd it's just very clearly an ad for some hair serum. And she's like, Oh, I love this. She's so great. I'm like, It says by now. And she's talking strangely high energy and how much she loves this product. And I go, Of course, she says she loves the product because she's selling you the product, she's making money and she's like, Well, but she designed it.KevinShe made it like that makes even more weird because she's talking about how much she loves this product that clearly the IKEA effect, right? I made this. It must be the best thing ever because it has my name like I did it and yet it doesn't matter. She's just enamored with it. So And every once in a while I see her actually comment or talk to these people who have hundreds of thousands of followers.KevinAnd it it gives her this weird high, I think of like I just interacted with an influencer, I guess somewhat akin to, you know, if Rich Barton or somebody on on Twitter X likes a tweet. But that's like in that scenario for me. I don't expect it and I don't it's their reaction to it, not me just talking or adding them.KevinThat is the exciting part. It's just like, oh, they, they, they read it, responded. There's this weird thing, I think that younger generations are like, I just like my kids just would love the idea of interacting with Mr. Beast in the smallest way possible. So I think there's something there that is directionally right. But they they've missed the mark badly.AndrewBut I think they missed because there's no brand assigned to these people for her to be like, okay, the Kardashians have a brand and that's why people want to associate with them. That's why they buy their products. Mark at the summit, I forgot his last name. Mark from a thousand. What? You buy that apparel because it makes you feel part of the club or makes you feel a certain way.AndrewSo like who we follow also I think makes us feel a certain way or we get whatever emotion out of following that person, interacting with them, or just interacting even just engaging with our social media. And as for Metta, it's like I feel like they're trying to piggyback that experience of like, Oh, I'm interacting with this feels like Tom Brady.AndrewIt talks like Tom Brady or like, This isn't Tom Brady. Tom's on a yacht in Miami doing whatever the heck he wants. He's not this isn't a bot. So like, it's like, of course this is fake. It feels like you're like tricking me, like I'm like a child or something like. And, like, that's that's not the real Elsa at Disney World.AndrewLike, I know that's not her.AmandaRight?AndrewBut they do like. The four year old, the three year old, the five year old. Like they're like, That's Elsa. Oh, my gosh, This is amazing. So, like, they're trying to trick us, like we're like children or something. Something like that. That's why I think the cringes. Yeah, it's, it's, it's obviously fake like. And it feels Grinchy. It's a long way to get that point, I think.KevinYeah. The first message is not not having the real name. So it shows Mr. B's likeness, but his name is Zach. It's almost like right from the get go, you're looking at a fake coach purse that you know is fake and everyone else will know is fake because it doesn't even say coach. But everything about it looks like a coach.KevinPurses like once. Scott you're missing the whole better feel of the essence of the brand, right? If it was a if it's a knock off and no one knows is a knockoff, then you know that that's one thing. But this is a clear knockoff.AndrewAnd yeah.KevinIt, yeah, it just doesn't look that good. But I do think there's something to wanting to interact with these, these people that we know or feeling like there's interaction, but it's just not even close to the, to the mark it's fun.AndrewSomeone's probably going to come up with a something very similar and they'll use like deepfake technology. And so you could like video chat with Tom Brady and it's just people, thousands of people in a call center that then they could use their face and then they'll just like use Deepfake to be like, Oh, I'm actually talking to Tom Brady.AndrewCool. Like, what are you doing it with? So they take his voice and that seems more like a fun experience. It's a waste of time and it's not chat bot, but it's like, look, I talk to Tom Brady but it's not Tom Brady.KevinI mean, there are Elvis impersonators and not all of them look like Elvis. Maybe we're completely wrong.AndrewThat's true. We'll find out. That might be gone in a year. All right.KevinNext up, there is an actual article, but we're linking to a Twitter, a tweet on X. Well, I've finally crossed the chasm. I call Matamata pretty consistently, but I am having a hard time with X. I agree. A gentleman named Alexis who said big news for ADD used today, accessible dwelling, accessory dwelling units. These are essentially small homes connected or not connected, but in the yard or somehow on property.KevinThat's for another primary residence have now been able. The FHA policy now allows 82 rental income to qualify for mortgages, further cementing their role in the housing market. And in places like California, you know, if you can rent out your ADU for 3500 bucks a month and that counts, as you know, rental income, that's a big deal.AmandaYeah, that's really neat.AndrewYeah, that's neat.AmandaI actually talked about this on my coaching call today. Like, because, you know, like people are running into this of a high interest rates affordability like it's not it's a condition now that you know just an objection it's the conditions that like how could you overcome that and I thought this was like possibly thinking out of the box like a great opportunity for builders.AmandaYou know, like they build the customers house, Maybe they can build a little tiny home to like L.A. money.KevinOr I mean, it's.AmandaActually.KevinThe construction of an 80. You can be folded in to New construction financing. So now it's like, I'm going to build both these things.AmandaYeah.KevinYeah, yeah.AndrewYeah.AmandaThat's true.KevinI think lenders really may begin offering borrowed mortgages on properties that they to use on the new policies effective immediately. Mm.AndrewYeah. So Alexis builds what appears to be areas that look really nice like they're, they like they would fit in a backyard better than a tiny home looking looking thing like they're really.KevinNice $350,000, probably tiny others.AndrewThey're pricey. My first thought I think it's neat, but I'm like, okay should someone who's buying through an FHA be a landlord? And will this like what is their rate if they have to use 82 income to qualify? Like I'm like, does that hold significantly higher risk? Because if it's ever vacant or if it's vacant for x percent two months out of the year, can I make their mortgage if they don't have that income for two months or three months or four months or something?AndrewSo you qualify for it, or maybe they've been paying rent. That's actually more than what their new mortgage would be. And they're like, Please, just let me do something. I'm not even I rent that thing out there, but my rent now is 5500 a month. I'm a finance and I'll be 4400 per month and I'm saying they'll be rental income.AndrewYeah, I like that.KevinThere's certainly be unintended consequences from this. Like one of the comments on here is I have a house with a garage that I want to convert into an 80. You, you know, well this helped me and so it might Yeah. And then and it might improve your value. It might lower the value of the primary residence if you don't no longer have a garage.KevinSo but I mean people California are super excited about this. And the one I know if it's this particular change or something else that because I think call it the state of California also passed a different law related to its use. But every individual municipality has to basically opt in or say, yes, that's allowed. And so in the markets, even where this is the would be the biggest deal because a lot of aid use already exists in California is can't qualify each individual market.KevinSo L.A., San Diego, you go service each town has to say, yes, that's allowed and that's going to take time. And it won't necessarily be applied everywhere, but super interesting. Next up from TechCrunch, Google's AI powered search experience can now generate images and write drafts. So this is kind of the only lead in here from this article. Is that the trend?KevinFor sure? You've got folks like Jackie Beatty or Openai who are trying to create brand new platforms using alarms and AI powered tools. And then the other trend is just integrate those kind of tools within the already standard platforms. An example of this is Adobe. Adobe is like, I see, I see you daily and I see you, I have to say discord, use it via discord.KevinBut what's the other Netherlands?AndrewI lose, I lose track anyway.KevinThat's what I use all the time. So it's crazy. I can't think of it, but they're like cool and nice. Try trying to like, you know, integrate artificial intelligence in images. We're just going to drop it into Photoshop Illustrator and all the tools that real creatives already use. So they don't need your other little silly thing because it's going to just be built into the platform that those experts already use.KevinSo this to me is kind of big picture. What Google is doing here is let's just integrate all this right into the core product. But what else are your thoughts on this one wager.AndrewI'm a fan. I think it's super cool. The because I think all the tools you've mentioned, they are not user friendly. Like for normal people to use.KevinHaving to learn the average just how to use discord to to use what is the premiere generative visual tool, which I can't think of the name of, is they got.AndrewTo go to Discord first. So it's like, it's annoying. Yeah, it's not accessible. And that's I think that's the way to for the fastest progress is to make it accessible to everybody where there's no login, there's no credits or whatever you have to buy to get it and make it work. I know it's expensive to run these things by Google pushing it.AndrewI'm all for that because I will. I think that will push progress on this a lot faster for the robots to take over the world. Just getting the last one or not, I'm all for it. Let's let's do it. This will help with them be easier to make PowerPoints and decks and presentations. This is what I need. Yeah.KevinAnd it's it's not everything. And they're they're doing it kind of interesting where the one example in the article and I saw a video on this as well if you do a Halloween table setting search and click images in Google where you see you'll see all the normal images and then you'll just see a box that says create something new with our generative A.I. tool.KevinAnd then you click that it will create four additional images for you out of thin air. And so it's it's not like, again, that's trying to incorporate to the to the image search you're already going to. And then it's like if you're not finding exactly what you're looking for, just make it. I think it's I think a smart also, by the way, when you try some terms, that box does not appear.KevinAnd my other thought is, is there some initial scrub there that goes? Is there enough images that we believe would it be highly correlated to this? Then we don't even need to show this generative AI option because there's already.AndrewLike.Kevin10,000 really good options. It might only be appearing in less, less popular searches.AndrewYeah, let's play with that. That's fun.KevinAll right. Next up, we've got the numbers. We've got the third quarter.AmandaWe balanced.KevinIt was benchmark data.AmandaIs this.KevinIs this like a world premiere.AmandaAnd release? Yeah. Okay. Hot out the press. I yeah. So I prepare these calculations with the benchmarks every quarter they call me the nerd over here so many ways. But but good numbers So yeah I compare it to quarter two. So benchmarks for quarter three are lead to appointment. We have 40% though, that went down just by 1%.AmandaSo kind of steady appointment to sell 19%, which is down 2% from quarter to that contribution that went up, which is really neat to see. The online sales contribution went up to 48%, whereas quarter two with 46% and quarter one with 45%. So not only increasing, which is very exciting. Yeah. One thing to point out though, is that leads they did go down by around 15% last count from quarter to quarter three.AmandaSo I'm going to pick your brain off of that. So why do you think lead counts are dropping and doesn't even matter? Or tell us what you think.KevinWhat your rivals and I both saw the same tweet from Lance, formerly of Forbes. He just started his own newsletter on housing data. Now, be a good follow or a sign up if you're if you if you like, that kind of nerdy content. But he just said, hey, basically I crunched the numbers and October is the least affordable month for housing in the last get ready 100 years.AmandaOh least affordable month and.AndrewWe have no problems with affordable.KevinWe got no issues here. Oh work. In fact I think this is this is just data that I saw about an hour ago and I don't have it still pulled up, but I believe of the National Association of Realtors just came out with updated data that showed for the I think for the first time in at least like the last flying blind here 20, 30 years, there are under 4 million transactions that are that are currently like they call it annualized transactions.KevinSo they take a data point and they say if it stayed here and was and happened over 12 months, this would be the number and it was the lowest that it had been in whatever time frame they were talking about, and it was below 4,000,003.96, I think. And so there and the other end and little piece of the puzzle, Amanda, is a lot of our builders who do highly partner with local real estate professionals like were.KevinAnd these are major markets, not like top 15 markets in the country. They're calling the top two or three agents in the market that they've had great relations with. And they're like, Hey, we've got this great thing or we've got this opportunity, We've got these homes. And the response from these these are the best of the best agents and those markets are that sounds awesome.KevinI have no. One to work with. I don't have customers.AndrewWow.KevinTo work with. You know, so 15% those aren't too bad. And the other thing is the overall slope. But what we can see as well from home builder data and other data providers is that the slope of the decline this year is nowhere near as steep as last year. So last year in this and the third and fourth quarter, it just dropped almost actually almost as severely.KevinThis is all transactions used and new, almost as severely as during the Great Recession. It wasn't starting at a higher high like that chart. You look at it, it's just like, oh my goodness, down 80%. Some ridiculous number. But the steepness of the curve is severe but pretty short. This year we didn't ever get as high as last year's highs, but the decline and the slope of the decline is more steady and slow.KevinSo take your poison. Would you rather be down 15% or I bet if you went and looked at the same data last year, third quarter, second quarter. Mm. Just My quick guess would be it'd be 35. So you know that's the thing with percentages is Yeah. The higher high probably felt great. Yeah. But the ride down probably felt worse.AmandaRight. That makes sense. Mm hmm. Yeah.KevinAnd I'm most interested in the apartment to sell ratio. I got 90%. That's what you said was.AmandaFor 19%. Now.KevinThat's still freaking awesome.AmandaI agree.AndrewDown from 21%, I think. Right?AmandaYeah.AndrewSo that's shifted.AmandaAll in 2%. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And I love these benchmarks because, you know, it's just such a good overall image because, you know, it's all market that's large builders, small builders established online program, new programs. So it's just a really great mix to have an overall view.KevinYeah.AmandaYeah.AndrewIt's real, real data.KevinOh, hey, something just happened. I think. I think somewhere in the last hour we just crossed over officially 25000 minutes of the podcast, which does means I said yesterday so you could listen to market proof marketing Monday through Friday for 8 hours a day and still be able to listen to a fresh new episode for you for over 60 days now.KevinFor over two months now, the tools.AndrewYou will see.AmandaThem catch.AndrewYour life change. It'll be like a sitcom, like an had two kids here now. Yes. Three, seven has a new house like all these things that have happened.KevinI mean, again, the IKEA effect is real. So it might just be because we made it. But if I ran a marketing department and hired someone who was brand, I would be tempted to just mandate like, Yeah, over the next three months I'll give you three months, but you need to listen to like just have it in the background.KevinYou don't need smooth jazz, you don't need rock and roll or country. Just listen. I know it happened years ago. Just listen to it. Anyway.AndrewMy like reprogram their brain. And so if they had something wrong with the brain, maybe it fixes that. There's nothing wrong with it. Maybe there might be something wrong with it, then maybe that'll be fine. Yeah.KevinOkay. So you're going to have to make sure we do favorites because we're going to end on a depressing note on the news stories here, unfortunately. But according to Redfin.com, homebuyers must earn $115,000. That's obviously household income to afford the typical U.S. home. That's $40,000 more than the typical American household actually earns. So, okay, some of you listening are like, I mean, that's that's a lot of money, but that's not terrible.KevinBut when you put it in the context of the average household brings in $75,000, that's a problem.AndrewIt's a lot of buyers that put that were previously in the market are not in the market like they are. They cannot participate. That's a better way. They are they cannot participate in home buying those people because of that.KevinYep. And the typical years homebuyers monthly mortgage payment is 20 $866 an all time high, up 20% from a year earlier.AndrewThat's a bit of a mortgage so crazy.KevinBut you know rates are just a state of mind. Just take the rate.AndrewYou know, just stay in it like it's not permanent. I mean, you still might need 28, 66 for the average average.KevinBut yes, and I do you know, some of the folks that I see posting the stuff I like, I get it when you're speaking to people within the industry, you're you're trying to motivate, put things in context. But then there's other people who are within the industry who are clearly talking to just the average person. And you're like, I don't think you come across the way.KevinYou think you come across here.AndrewYeah, I mean.KevinIt's not if you live in the Bay Area, California, by the way, you have to earn at least $400,000. Oh.AndrewNo big deal.KevinNo big deal.AndrewNo big deal.KevinRust Belt buyers, nearly CENTCOM, Detroit home buyers only have to earn $52,000. Wow. But it's still a 19% increase from last year.AndrewYeah, that's in Detroit. You could buy some houses for like nothing because.KevinYes, if yes, like $10 if you.AndrewThere are.KevinRoom and even give it away, because that sounds interesting. There's Japanese, there's homes in Japan, they're the same way. And Spain and and other parts of Asia. You buy this home for ten bucks. But before you jump out and say, I'm going to become a real estate mogul, you have to promise. In Detroit's case, I think you have three years to bring the house up to a certain level of livability or you lose it again.AndrewSo I still don't.KevinWant people buying up a bunch of land and doing nothing with it.AndrewAmanda has it's close to Detroit, so we move to Detroit.AmandaI know, but no, but actually like 3 hours. But I have your place there. But I am close. Yes.AndrewYou don't. You have no reason to go there.AmandaYou think I'm an area of Detroit.KevinI'm a bigger fan of the west side of Michigan, generally speaking. Okay. But you didn't. You don't care about that. That's not why you're listening to the show. How does affordability get fixed? I think everyone keeps saying the way to fix affordability is just to build more. But I just want to remind everyone that there are still this problem of the price of land, and that's not helping things, and it's build more of a certain type of home which zoning and or voters will not allow.KevinSo you either have the problem, not my backyard or zoning or building a bunch of stuff in a place where no one is, which is its own challenge. So not likely to to be fine is.AndrewNot in my back.KevinEven if manufactured housing takes off like a rocket.AndrewYeah.KevinMm hmm. All right, so let's end with current favorites. Yeah. Got to be a favorite this time. Amanda What do you got?AmandaYeah, well, I. I have really been loving. A favorite is the role of coaching that I have been able to kind of step into the role full time. And it's just been really neat to see the best of clients and kind of be with them through the journey of like really establishing their program. Like Candace, that whole homes, for example, we do the builder shop and she was one of the ones that made it all the way through one of the three.AmandaAnd I was like proud coach moment and thought that just really neat to see their numbers kind of come to life when when they don't have that before and then also see them grow like as they as you spend time with them. So I've been loving that and I've also been loving the fall weather, the shift in perspective, you know, like I was like, no, I don't want summer to end, but that's the best we are.AmandaAnd the the leaves are beautiful and I'm enjoying it.AndrewSo your life change color?AmandaYeah. Without changing color. So they're so prett

Mitch Davis from NZTR previews a big weekend of racing around Hawera and Matamata with special guests Robert Wellwood and Robert Logan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

LOVERACING.NZ form analyst Robert Logan joins Mitch Davis to chat about what's in store at Matamata. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mitch Davis from NZTR previews a big weekend of racing around Hawera and Matamata with special guests Robert Wellwood and Robert Logan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New GPS trackers on Matamata's kerbside bins will keep waste in its place. From September, the Waikato township along with Te Aroha and Morrinsville residents are ditching the bags and wheeling in a standardized four-part rubbish and food scrap disposal system. Black latches on the bins hold RFID trackers to help relocate any lost bins and assist contractors in counting daily collections. Matamata-Piako Mayor Adrienne Wilcock spoke to Corin Dann.

Top stories this morning, an embarrassing backtrack by the Prime Minister after he had to correct an announcement on new penalties for youth crime. A reactivated landslide is threatening Auckland's new billion-dollar Pūhoi to Warkworth motorway. Crown lawyers have given their opening statements in the trial of the woman for the murder of her three daughters. Records are set to fall when the Football Ferns play the opening game of the Women's Football World Cup on Thursday. And GPS trackers are being installed on Matamata's recycling bins.

Co-trainer of successful Matamata based Wexford Stables, Andrew Scott speaks with Butch Castles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On aime ce qui nous a émerveillé … et on protège ce qu'on aime. ______ La Matamata (Chelus fimbriata) est une tortue d'eau douce à trompe. Son nom scientifique peut se traduire par «tortue dentelée ». Matamata, vient des langues amérindiennes tupi guarani. Il est possible que ce soit une déformation du verbe espagnol matar «tuer». Au Venezuela, on la connaît aussi sous le nom de La fea, «la moche» en français. Outre sa longue queue, sa carapace est composée de 3 rangées de plaques bosselées (pyramidions). Les bords sont dentelés, encore une originalité. Les stries de croissance sont très marquées et permettent de déterminer l'âge du spécimen. Dans le bassin amazonien, la dossière (carapace du dessus) est rectangulaire alors que dans le bassin de l'Orénoque, elle est plutôt ovale. Quant à son plastron (carapace du ventre), il varie du blanchâtre (bassin amazonien) au rouge foncé (bassin de l'Orénoque). En 2020, on a découvert une 2e espèce : Chelus orinocensis (de l'Orénoque), différente de Chelus fimbriata (Amazone). Elle se répartit globalement en Amérique du Sud. Sa taille peut atteindre 45 cm pour 15 kg. Un poids lourd des tortues d'eau douce. Sa tête est plate et triangulaire, couverte d'excroissances ; son museau est long et mince et est terminé par une petite trompe où se trouvent les narines.  Sa bouche est large et munie de deux barbillons. Son cou très long et sa trompe lui permettent d'atteindre la surface sans sortir de l'eau. Tous ces atouts permettent à la matamata de se fondre dans son milieu. Elle ressemble à un tas de feuilles mortes,à du bois mort. Des algues colonisent son dos et accentuent ce camouflage. La Matamata reste immobile de nombreuses heures, à l'affût. Elle s'aventure sur les berges le plus souvent dans le but de pondre. Elle se nourrit d'alevins et de têtards, voire d'amphibiens, de poissons ou de petits oiseaux quand elle est adulte. Elle aspire ses proies en ouvrant une très large bouche en 1/50e de seconde. ______ Sous notre Gravillon vous trouverez... 4 podcasts, 1 site, 1 compte Instagram, 1 page + 1 groupe Facebook et 1 asso. Il nous serait très précieux et utile que vous partagiez ce lien : https://baleinesousgravillon.com/liens-2 Tous nos podcasts sont faits bénévolement. Ils sont gratuits, sans pub et accessibles à tous. Vous pouvez faire un don sur Helloasso (ou sur Tipeee), adhérer à l'asso BSG, ou installer gratuitement le moteur de recherche Lilo et nous reverser vos gouttes : https://bit.ly/helloasso_donsUR_BSG https://bit.ly/lien_magq_lilo_BSG http://bit.ly/Tipeee_BSG Baleine sous Gravillon,  Combats, Nomen et Petit Poisson deviendra Podcast (PPDP), sont "les 4 MousqueTERREs du Vivant". Chacun est indépendant, complémentaire des autres, et diffusé dans son canal. Pour nous aider, vous pouvez vous abonner et partager leurs liens, et nous laisser des étoiles et surtout un avis sur Apple Podcast et Spotify. Ainsi, nous serons ainsi plus visibles et mieux recommandés. Merci :) https://bit.ly/Smartlink_BSG https://bit.ly/smartlink_NOMEN https://bit.ly/smartlink_PPDP https://bit.ly/smartlink_COMBATS Vous voulez créer un podcast ? Nous vous formons et/ou accompagnons ! Nous proposons des Fresques de la biodiversité, des conférences et animons des tables rondes. Nous cherchons des sponsors et des partenaires : contact@baleinesousgravillon.com

Tom Sainsbury is a walking definition of polymath. An acclaimed actor, comedian, director and writer - not to mention Snapchat Dude - he tells Simon about swapping his parents' Matamata farm for the bright lights of Auckland. They talk Buddhism, veganism and why he wants a statue. Tom also explains why he decided to impersonate Simon - complete with acrostic poems! - in a series of viral videos. Tom is part of the New Zealand International Comedy Festival. His show Gone Bananas is at Te Auha, Wellington till May 12 and the Q Theatre, Auckland from May 16-19. He'll also co-host Loud & Queer at St James Theatre, Wellington on May 20. You can read stories supporting this episode on stuff.co.nz. Need more great podcasts? Check out Stuff's full catalogue here. GET IN TOUCH Feedback? Got a guest you'd like Simon to talk to? We're listening! Email us at generallyfamous@stuff.co.nz  CREDITS Host: Simon Bridges Producers: Chris Reed and Jen Black Audio editing and mixing: John Ropiha

lipsum Middle Earth 501 Buckland Road, Matamata, Waikato 3472, New Zealand Website https://sauron.com Phone +1-201-555-1231 Email prc.pressagency@gmail.com

For 75 years the Matamata Dramatic Society has entertained its community while also training generations of performers and crew. Memories will flow at the upcoming celebration event and fundraiser for the Waikato-based society's significant anniversary. Two of the members heavily involved in the big night are Greg Dunn and his daughter Helen Drysdale-Dunn, who grew up on the stage and went on to win Waikato Younger Singer of Year Award 2020. Lynn Freeman talks with Greg and Helen, and first asks what the Dramatic Society means to Matamata after all these years. The Matamata Dramatic Society's 75th Anniversary Celebration & Fundraiser is on at the Pepper Street Café on 26 November.

Thad, Steve and Paul preview all the big races in New Zealand this Saturday before being joined by Aidan Rodley, live from Flemington, who shares all the latest oil on the Kiwi runners in action on Derby Day and how the Melbourne Cup is shaping up.

The Leg Up crew have a look at the big day of racing at Matamata & Hawera

Nice try but no potato for New Zealand couple's giant find A New Zealand couple who believed they had dug up the world's largest potato in the garden of their small farm near Hamilton have had their dreams turned to mash after Guinness World Records wrote to say that scientific testing had found it wasn't, in fact, a potato after all. 紐西蘭一對夫婦相信，他們在漢密頓附近自家小農場的菜園中，挖到世界上最大顆馬鈴薯，但金氏世界紀錄寫信告知他們，科學檢測發現這玩意兒完全不是馬鈴薯後，他們的幻想破滅了。 Colin Craig-Brown, who first hit the tuber of a gourd with a hoe last August when gardening with his wife Donna, said it sure looked and tasted like a potato. 去年8月，科林‧克雷格—布朗和太太多娜一起做園藝時，率先用鋤頭挖到葫蘆塊莖，並認為這看起來且嚐起來絕對就是馬鈴薯。 After months of submitting photos and paperwork, the couple got the bad news from Guinness in an email. 在提交照片和文件數月後，這對夫婦收到金氏世界紀錄用電子郵件寄送的壞消息。 "Dear Colin," the email begins, going on to say "sadly the specimen is not a potato and is in fact the tuber of a type of gourd. For this reason we do unfortunately have to disqualify the application." 信件以「親愛的科林」起頭後接下去說：「很遺憾，這個樣本不是馬鈴薯，實際上是某種葫蘆的塊莖。因此，很不幸的，我們必須撤銷這次的申請。」   Next Article   New Zealand announces measures to keep out omicron variant 紐西蘭宣布防範Omicron變種病毒株的措施 New Zealand will shorten the gap between second COVID-19 vaccine doses and boosters and push back the phased reopening of its borders in measures announced Tuesday to keep the omicron variant at bay. 紐西蘭週二宣布遏制Omicron變種病毒株的措施，將縮短接種新冠病毒疫苗第二劑以及加強劑的間隔時間，並延後逐步重新開放邊境的時間。 COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkin told reporters the government has agreed to a ``suite of precautionary measures'' in light of the threat posed by the omicron strain of the coronavirus. 新冠病毒疫情因應事務部長希普金向記者說，鑑於新冠病毒Omicron病毒株構成的威脅，政府已經同意「一套預防措施」。 The gap between a second vaccine dose and a booster will be shortened from six to four months, meaning 82 percent of vaccinated New Zealanders will be due for a booster by February. 第二劑和加強劑疫苗的施打間隔，將從6個月縮短為4個月，這表示82％已接種疫苗的紐西蘭人，將在2月前接種一劑加強針。Source article: https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1531064 ; https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1495418   Next Article   New Zealand announces measures to keep out omicron variant New Zealand will shorten the gap between second COVID-19 vaccine doses and boosters and push back the phased reopening of its borders in measures announced Tuesday to keep the omicron variant at bay. 紐西蘭週二宣布遏制Omicron變種病毒株的措施，將縮短接種新冠病毒疫苗第二劑以及加強劑的間隔時間，並延後逐步重新開放邊境的時間。 COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkin told reporters the government has agreed to a "suite of precautionary measures'' in light of the threat posed by the omicron strain of the coronavirus. 新冠病毒疫情因應事務部長希普金向記者說，鑑於新冠病毒Omicron病毒株構成的威脅，政府已經同意「一套預防措施」。 The gap between a second vaccine dose and a booster will be shortened from six to four months, meaning 82 percent of vaccinated New Zealanders will be due for a booster by February. 第二劑和加強劑疫苗的施打間隔，將從6個月縮短為4個月，這表示82％已接種疫苗的紐西蘭人，將在2月前接種一劑加強針。   Next Article   Middle Earth beckons in Air New Zealand safety video 中土在紐航飛安影片中召喚影迷 Fight a hobbit for an aisle seat? Get life jacket instructions from a beautiful female elf? Only on a plane to Middle Earth - or in an Air New Zealand safety video. 跟哈比人爭奪走道旁座位？由美麗的女精靈解說救生衣使用方式？這種事只會發生在飛往中土的飛機上，或者在紐西蘭航空的飛安宣導影片裡。 The company's latest in a series of variations on the usual dull pre-flight safety instructions has lifted a page from J.R.R. Tolkien's classic "The Hobbit" in the run-up to the world premiere of the film later this month, a bid to attract visitors to the nation where much of the film was shot. 紐航曾數度讓這種通常枯燥乏味的起飛前安全說明影片面目一新，而最新的一段影片則取自作家托爾金名著「哈比人歷險記」中的段落，並且趕在本月底由這部小說所改編的電影全球首映前推出，企圖吸引遊客前往電影拍攝地點紐西蘭觀光。 "An Unexpected Briefing," a play on the movie's title of "The Hobbit： An Unexpected Journey," features crew members explaining flight safety to passengers embarking on a pilgrimage to Middle Earth, Tolkien's land of treasure, dragons and magic rings. 這段影片名為「意外的簡報」，不但片名仿效電影「哈比人：意外旅程」，片中的機組人員更向準備前往中土，也就是托爾金作品裡充滿寶藏、惡龍和魔戒之地朝聖的乘客解釋飛安說明。 Director Sir Peter Jackson, who received Academy Awards for the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, makes a cameo appearance in the four-minute video, playing a passenger among the Orcs, pointy-eared elves and furry-footed hobbits that otherwise pack the seats. 曾因「魔戒」三部曲獲奧斯卡獎的導演傑克森也在這段四分鐘的影片中客串一角，坐在擠滿了半獸人、尖耳朵精靈和毛毛腳哈比人的機艙裡。 Die-hard Tolkien fans have flocked to the town of Matamata in the country's North Island, which earlier this year began tours to the set of Hobbiton, the town from which the story's hero, Bilbo Baggins, starts his journey. 托爾金的死忠書迷早已湧向紐國北島的馬塔馬塔市，當地於今年初開始推出哈比城場景的旅遊行程，哈比城則是故事主角巴金斯展開探險旅程的出發地。 Wellington, where Jackson and his Weta Workshop and studios are based, also has been cranking up the publicity machine before it rolls out the red carpet later this month. 傑克森及其威塔工作室所在地威靈頓同樣也在本月底電影正式上片前，全力發起宣傳活動。Source article: https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1495418; https://monyear.pixnet.net/blog/post/66206828   Next Article   Mittens the cat could become New Zealander of the Year Mittens, a famous feline from Wellington, is in the running to be voted New Zealander of the Year, going up against Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Director-General of Health Dr. Ashley Bloomfield. 來自威靈頓的知名母貓「米坦斯」，正在角逐紐西蘭年度人物票選，對上紐西蘭總理賈欣達．阿爾登與衛生部衛生事務首長艾希莉．布魯斐德博士。 The feline joins a host of nominees for the annual Kiwibank award, including figures from sectors such as politics, media, health, music and design. 這隻母貓獲得年度奇異鳥銀行獎的多項提名，該獎項包括政治界、媒體界、衛生界、音樂界與設計界的年度人物。 Other nominees for New Zealander of the Year include microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles and lawmaker Chloe Swarbrick. 其他紐西蘭年度人物的被提名人，還有微生物學家蘇西．威爾斯，與國會議員克羅伊．史瓦布里克。 The Wellington Museum has also dedicated a mini exhibition to Mittens and his adventures, named "Floofy and Famous." And in May the mayor of Wellington, Andy Foster, gave Mittens the key to the city, an honor previously granted to "The Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson. 威靈頓博物館也已經為米坦斯與牠的冒險辦了一場迷你展覽，名為「蓬鬆而知名」。5月時，威靈頓市市長安迪．佛斯特也給米坦斯這座城市的鑰匙，一項以前曾授予「魔戒」導演彼得．傑克森的榮譽。   Next Article   New Zealand votes to legalize euthanasia for terminally ill patients／紐西蘭表決通過絕症病患安樂死合法化 New Zealanders have voted in favor of legalizing euthanasia for people with a terminal illness － clearing the way for the controversial proposition to become law in 2021. 紐西蘭人已投票贊成絕症病患安樂死合法化——剷除讓此一具有爭議性的提案在2021年立法的障礙。 More than 65% of voters backed the proposed law, according to preliminary results of a referendum announced by the country's electoral commission Friday. 根據該國選舉委員會週五宣布的公投初步結果，超過65%的選民支持這項法律議案。 Lawmakers voted 69-51 to approve the End of Life Choice Act 2019 last year before sending the issue to a referendum. 該法案在（紐國）國會議員去年以69比51通過「2019終結生命選擇法」後，送交公投。 More than 2.4 million people took part in the poll, which was conducted alongside New Zealand's general election on October 17. 超過240萬人參加與10月17日紐西蘭大選一同舉行的投票。 Source article: https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1422581; https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1396855

The death of Matamata based Japanese jockey Taiki Yanagida is being felt widely across the racing industry. He died from injuries suffered in a fall during a race last Wednesday and had been on life support at Waikato Hospital since. Te Akau Racing principal David Ellis says Yanagida was well regarded and highly thought of throughout the racing community. He spoke to Morning Report.

Could wood fibre technology be a game changer for our horticulture industry and help reduce carbon emissions? Locally grown fruit, vegetables and plants are all generally grown in compost or potting mix which contains peat. Peat is a highly sought after ingredient which boosts production, retains nutrients and holds water but it is imported, and mining of it has been banned recently in the UK and Ireland because of the high levels of carbon emitted in the process. A Matamata company, Daltons, which supplies growing media such as potting mix, has just imported the first wood fibre processing machine which will use wood chips from pinus radiatus trees to reduce its reliance on peat. Susie Ferguson speaks with Scott Bromwich from Dalton's and Dr Brian Jackson from the University of North Carolina, has been researching alternatives to peat for nearly 20 years.

In September 2003 Helen Meads was gunned down at her Matamata home by her husband Greg.  She was shot at close range, her body found soon after by police in the stables at the property she shared with her racehorse breeder husband Greg Meads.  Meads was charged with Helen's murder and it later emerged that their marriage had been rife with domestic violence and the last fatal assault came after she announced she was leaving.  Meads denied that he meant to kill Helen. While he admitted to shooting her, he claimed it was an accident - that he went to confront her about why she was leaving him, that he took the loaded gun, that it went off by mistake. But after a high-profile High Court trial Meads was found guilty of Helen's murder. He was jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum of 11 years before he could apply for parole. In today's episode of Herald podcast A Moment In Crime, senior journalist Anna Leask revisits Helen Meads' life, death and legacy.  In this episode you will hear about the marriage marred by abuse, violence and control; Helen's last days and the harrowing ordeal her parents endured after she died.  READ MORE: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/it-was-a-deliberate-act-i-killed-helen-after-13-years-of-untruths-and-lies-matamata-horse-breeder-admits-murdering-wife/T2AJE2JUV5V76QHRODR2234MOA/ DOMESTIC VIOLENCE - DO YOU NEED HELP? If you're in danger now: • Phone the police on 111 or ask neighbours of friends to ring for you. • Run outside and head for where there are other people. • Scream for help so that your neighbours can hear you. • Take the children with you. • Don't stop to get anything else. • If you are being abused, remember it's not your fault. Violence is never okay Where to go for help or more information: • Shine, free national helpline 9am- 11pm every day - 0508 744 633 www.2shine.org.nz  • Women's Refuge: Free national crisis line operates 24/7 - 0800 refuge or 0800 733 843 www.womensrefuge.org.nz  • Shakti: Providing specialist cultural services for African, Asian and middle eastern women and their children. Crisis line 24/7 0800 742 584  • It's Not Ok: Information line 0800 456 450 www.areyouok.org.nz See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The full team is back this week to preview all the action from Matamata and of course the WFA Classic from Otaki.