One minute SUS Example

If you have a minute (literally) you should watch this talk. We talked about Wadsworth Constant. You can remove a great deal of our matter and still make our point stick. The talk below is a great example. Simple message, unexpected using the rocks, and a great story. Also Rosling's is passionate about the subject - that always helps. Could you do this same thing with your Sunday talk? It would make for a very quick - yet sticky - sabha.

Anyone Can MC

The art of an emcee requires linking what sometimes can be disparate or different ideas into a flow in less than a minute. Very much like an elevator talk, this can be very challenging, but when done right it is a thing of beauty - poignant as well as thought provoking. An emcee can really keep the pace of the sabha moving and keep everyone involved and focused. Today we look at a few examples. The video below from RadioLab (a must listen podcast) shows how you can relate almost anything based on a word. See if you can find the word that links one scene to the next. It is harder than it sounds.



In kishori mandal emcee is made much easier since we have MC notes every week to help us make these transitions. This week we focus on "Paradigm Shifts" and we can start with a great unexpected story that really highlights paradigm shifts. In the story a woman mistakenly thinks someone is eating the cookies that she bought.

Sometime we do a great job of linking the topic with the presentations, but dhoon and prarthna get left behind. This week we can anchor and pivot on the words paradigm shift to move from the story about the woman and cookies in the MC notes into dhoon and prarthna seamlessly (like the video).

Here is one example: The woman in this story only realized her mistake when she saw the packet of cookies she had bought were still in her purse. She had a paradigm shift. When Maharaj was present on earth many people met him, but only the people who realized who he truly was had a paradigm shift that changed their lives. Today we want to investigate this same paradigm shift - so let's start by focusing our minds by singing the dhoon Bhaj mane Swaminarayan. This dhoon very concisely explains the qualties of Maharaj that we need to think about to get a paradigm shift. See if you can spot them. After dhoon we will invite Maharaj and Swami to our sabha while sining the prarthna Shriji Maharaj Maangu Sharan Tamaru. This prarthna also recounts the actions and accomplishments of Shriji Maharaj that can jolt us into a paradigm shift and enable us to see Maharaj as he really is.

Any other ideas on how to anchor and shift next week?

Six Tips for Giving an Elevator Speech

This is a great run down from the Heath Brothers newsletter. How would you give an elevator pitch about your seva? Explaining the sanstha? Explaining who Bapa is? It is harder than it sounds. Give it a try.

1. An elevator pitch is a mixture of an explanation and a sales pitch. It's intended to get people excited about your organization, your new product, or even you personally (in an interview situation). Here's how to give a good one:
2. Think short - no shorter than 30 seconds and no longer than 3 minutes. Time it.
3. If your topic is complex, use the "anchor & twist" format to orient your audience.
4. Don't wing it, script it. Once you've figured out how to explain something well, there is NO value in novelty. Tell it the same (effective) way every time.
5. 'Why' comes before 'What.' People will understand better what you're doing if they first know whyyou're doing it. Here's an example: "Most people invest some of their savings and give some of it away to charity. Wouldn't it be nice if you could do both at once -- get interest AND impact? That's why we invented the Calvert Community Investment Notes."
6. Mandatory: Include a story. For a product pitch, tell a customer's story. For a nonprofit pitch, talk about the people you help. For self-promotion, highlight a time when you nailed it.
7. Check out other pitches for inspiration. Here's one that we worked on for Peter Singer's great book, The Life You Can Save. And here's a great article about elevator pitches, starring Dave Yewman and Andy Craig, the masters of the craft.

Elevator Talks on Spiritual Observances?

Hello Karyakars! Today is Devpodhi Ekadashi (દેવપ્ોઢી ઍકાદશી). The story goes that once King Bali perfomed a yagna so powerful that Bhagwan Vishnu Himself came to Earth, taking the form of Vaaman Avtar, resembling a dwarf Brahmin.

King Bali, full of devotion, upon seeing the Brahmin offers to help the Brahmin and requests him to ask for anything. So Vaman Devta asks for some land.

“How much land do you need?” asks King Bali.

“About 3 steps of land,” replies Vaman Devta. No sooner than King Bali granted this seemingly small wish, Bhagwan took his massive swarup as Virat Purush and took three steps.

In the first two steps, Bhagwan covered the entire earth and the heavens. For his third step, King Bali offered his own head. As the Lord stepped on King Bali’s head, the demon-king was pushed down to the deepest Patal Lokh, deep below the ocean. Seeing King Bali’s servitude, Bhagwan was very pleased and considered him a true devotee, asking him to request a boon.

King Bali requested, “Maharaj! Now you will have to come and give darshan to me.” Bhagwan granted his wish.



Each year, Bhagwan retires for a four-month deep sleep near the doorstep of King Bali to give darshan to the demon king. All of his other bhaktas became really sad and disappointed. Bhagwan, if you go there, we will do tapa; if we succeed in pleasing you, you must return back to us, they called.

Bhagwan, being benevolent, agreed to do so. As such, today we typically observe Nirjala Upvaas (નિરજળા ઉપવાસ) and today also marks the beginning of Chaturmas - four months of intense bhakti to please Maharaj even more.

In a few short days, we will also celebrate Guru Purnima in great pomp for our dear guru Param Pujya Pramukh Swami Maharaj.

But how do we share these insights with your colleagues, friends, and coworkers? Perhaps if we have time over the course of dinner or lunch, we can share the full story. However, we usually just offer a truncated insight into the deep currents behind our spiritual leanings...”I am fasting today”, we may say. Or perhaps we may say nothing. Sometimes, we may offer a bit more when probed by interested coworkers - “It’s our version of Christmas today”, on Shri Hari Jayanti. Or perhaps in the interest of time, we can say “I am observing a religious fast today.”

What are some ways that you share aspects of your vratas or insights about our cultural traditions with the people in your life?