Matt Corker » Events

VCIC: First Copenhagen, Now Oxford.

Matt Corker — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 11:54:42 +0000

For the past 2.5 days, 4 of my classmates and I came together as the “Miracle Workers” to compete at the internal round for the Venture Capital Investment Competition. Unlike the usual business case competition, this competition gives MBAs an opportunity to act as a venture capital firm and select a real start-up company to invest in and then negotiate the terms of investment with the actual entrepreneur team. (For you business competition junkies, further details on how it all works can be found here.)

Working with a team from Copenhagen, Ecudaor, Norway and Germany was an experience. A great experience in fact. They selected me to be the team lead as soon as we were formed and, from that point forward, I was reminded what it feels like to manage a team of people that are WAY smarter than you. (I say this not to downplay what I bring to the table. I say this so you understand the talent THEY brought to the table!)

My two big takeaways from this experience:

The team matters. Both our team (how we work together) and the entrepreneur team (do they have what it will take to make their biz a success). Handling internal debates, push-back from the entrepreneurs, and tight deadlines also become easy with a well-functioning team.
Manage the conversation, not the time. (Despite the giant clock looming overhead.) Start each interview or negotiation conversation indicating the way you want to talk rather than what you want to talk about. Wrap-up the conversation with intentional points that show that you were a) listening to them and b) understood their concerns/desires/etc. 20 seconds is all it takes to get a seemingly never-ending conversation to wrap up nicely for both parties.

Overall, the competition was challenging, fun, and was something I never thought I’d enjoy doing before (the people development guy negotiating pre-money valuations… who knew)!

An added bonus: our team took home both “Entrepreneurs Choice Award” for being the team they’d most want to work with and first place at the competition as awarded by the panel of real VC judges that followed us through each stage of the competition. This means that the Miracle Workers are now off to Regionals in March to compete against London Business School, HEC, Manchester, IESE, and Rotterdam.

Well done gents. You make miracles work.

Pick of the Post: Ratatat vs Marvin Gaye – Ain’t No Drugs High Enough (Jane Doze Remix)

Day 4-6: European Yogi Nomads hit Basel

Matt Corker — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:49:23 +0000

With my travel essentials in tow (a rad playlist, my mat, and my new favourite body refresher), I spent the last three days of my reading deprivation week in Basel, Switzerland with the European Yogi Nomads.

8 hours of yoga was the perfect remedy for the aches and pains of not being able to read (or share my excitement about this adventure with others online). It was a weekend spent in my own body, and my own mind.

The people around me, from the Copenhagen kula, would joke and chat in Danish which gave me the chance to simply be in the conversation. Rather than trying to translate, or ask them to speak in English, I could sit back and enjoy their facial expressions, the intonation of their voices, and the crazy dance moves they would break out while cooking dinner. It was cool to experience happiness without knowing what witty comment triggered it.

The yoga, led by some superbly talented teachers, reacquainted me with my body. Note: my hips and butt are still talking to me! Press handstands, rolling down to full wheel … it was crazy. There is something about laughing out loud on a yoga mat – especially while reaching the peak of / falling out of a pose – that reminds me not to take myself so seriously. My inner critic definitely got a good kick in the butt this weekend. My best self also got some serious love. Thanks Copenhagen Kula!

Next stop for the European Yogi Nomads – Copenhagen. Can March be tomorrow?

Pick of the Post: Kelly Rowland – Down for Whatever

Day 2 + 3: Distraction & Creative Action

Matt Corker — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:16:02 +0000

Day 1 was filled with temptation. The textbooks, the incoming letters from friends I haven’t heard from in years, the blog posts … all tempting to read. I did not give in.

Day 2, yesterday, was a day of distraction. Was there an episode of Community that I could kill some time with? What about perusing pinterest for some visual stimulation? How much time could I spend watching videos on YouTube? (When I found myself watching babies laughing and beagles, I knew it was time to stop.) My procrastination had turned from text to images.

Day 3, today, is the day of creative action. I started off my day with a meeting with the Department of Management, Politics, and Philosophy about their research in self-management. This is the department at CBS that asks questions like “What is money?” and “How do we use co-creation in today’s society?” and hires (read: pays) PhD candidates to do research in authenticity and vulnerability in the business world. It was 10 am and my mind was blown.

My day continued with the download of Danielle’s Big Beautiful Book Plan. It was time to answer the call and realize that this blog may have been the beginning of something bigger … stay tuned.

And now, I am moments away from taking on another artist task for the week: create a vacation and make plans to do it. Well – “all talk, no action” and I don’t go well together. When a plan is created, I commit to making it happen. So I am flying off to Basel, Switzerland with the European Yogi Nomads to enjoy 4 classes this weekend with some great people from across Europe. One of the classes is being taught by Nanna (my friend/teacher here in Copenhagen) and Chris Chavez – together!

Worlds are about to collide in Basel and it will be beautiful.

Pick of the Post: MC Yogi – Give Love

Lessons from Presenting via Skype for the UBC SLC

Matt Corker — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:09:22 +0000

On Saturday night, I took to the online airwaves to present two workshops on “Getting Out Of Your Own Way” for the UBC Student Leadership Conference with the best co-presenter I could have asked for, Krystal Gabriel. She was live and alive in Vancouver, while I was connecting in from Copenhagen via Skype. I loved it. It was different. It was challenging. It pushed me as a presenter. We won an award for it (#humbled). And, best of all, I learned a ton. Such as:

No matter how prepared I am, things can always go wrong.

30 minutes before the session, we are online, the sound works wonderfully, the video we are going to show is fully loaded, and we’re ready to begin. 5 minutes before the session, technology decides to stop working and I’m lost in cyberspace. Mini-”oh sh*t” moment, a few deep breathes, and we’re back online ready to make up the lost 5 minutes. “We got this,” I remind myself.

Seeing the audience is key.

Krystal faced the camera towards the live audience in Vancouver so I could actually see who we were presenting to. It made me feel less far away. Especially when I saw a familiar face or two in the crowd. (Thanks again familiar faces for being there by the way!)

There is no substitute for preparation.

Krystal and I spent enough time with the material itself and ran through the actual flow and dialogue of the presentation to ensure that, even if I couldn’t hear everything she was saying, I could know exactly where she was, what point she was driving home, and how to make a smooth transition into what I was supposed to say. The focus we put on this was much more intensive than either of us would do normally and the results were great.

It’s valuable to leave room to recover. And, whatever happens, it’s always recoverable.

While playing our video in session number 2, technology decided to play a game on us again and terminate my connection to Krystal. I looked at my blank screen and thought – “Well, the video is 2 minutes long. We have 2 minutes to get back online. Easy.” Switching presenters for different segments, playing videos, asking questions from the audience – all great things we added in just in case my connection went down and we needed to keep the flow of the presentation going. (Some may argue to include those in any presentation you give. I wouldn’t argue with them.) PS. Check out the video we used about what it looks like… and feels like… to get in our own way.

Do what makes a live presentation great.

Repeat the big points. Make them laugh to give their brain a break. Be vulnerable. Play fun music before and after the session. Have a dance party to said music. (Feedback said they liked that part ) Give them something they can use now. Leave space for silence (not hard to do when there is a slight delay in the conversation anyway due to it being online).

Follow and engage in the online conversation.

By following the hashtags of the conference, we were able to find out what people were tweeting about and incorporate that into our conversations (both on and offline). It made it feel more like I was actually a part of the conference and less like I was simply sitting in a room talking to a computer. It was also helpful to know where our audience was coming from so we could meet them with the right energy level.

Presenting with someone that loves it, rocks.

Krystal was a serious rock star. Not only does she love presenting (and can manage the bumps and hiccups along the way with complete ease), she loved the material as much as I did. We could have gone on for hours about the stuff we presented on. I know that if ever I come across a topic that I think “how will I EVER present this,” I know I am not the right person to be presenting on that topic. Listening to someone present what they are passionate about is friggin inspiring. Thanks Krystal for being the rock of the presentation and for inspiring me with your passion for living a really rad life!

(Digital high fives! Proof that we had a blast together!)

Thanks to all that made taking the plunge to online presenting great. Hope the rest of your day on Saturday was #awesome.

Pick of the Post: Karmin – Crash Your Party

How Do I Develop Myself?

Matt Corker — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 08:32:12 +0000

Develop: de-vel-op, verb.

to bring into being or activity; generate; evolve
to bring out the capabilities or possibilities of; bring to a more advanced or effective state
to make active or promote the growth of
to increase value or change the use of

The verb develop has the Latin prefix “de” meaning “away” or “off,” which, in English, generally indicates removal or reversal.
Other words with this prefix include: destroy, deactivate, deplane, detach, and defuse.

So maybe the process of developing someone (like ourselves) to this “more effective or advanced state” doesn’t require the addition of new skills and abilities. Maybe the process of developing ourselves calls us to remove things, to take things away, to get out of our way, in order to use the skills and abilities we already have and just haven’t been able to use effectively yet.

Development isn’t a game of Pokemon. We don’t need to catch em all – be them courses, skills, or habits. (That’s a fun game though!)

Development is a game rooted in archeology, where we dig deep to find the monumental treasures that were already inside us!

(Seemed an appropriate post considering that I am presenting at the UBC SLC tonight from Denmark on “Getting Out Of Your Own Way” with Krystal Gabriel. Can’t wait to rock my first digital workshop with her! #outofmyway)

Pick of the Post: Hellogoodbye – When We First Met

The Highlights of 2011

Matt Corker — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:23:59 +0000

Every year I love writing this post. It allows me to take the time to reflect on where I came from, who played a large part in my life over the last year, and remember the rad adventures that made me smile from ear to ear. It’s like a yearbook of awesome. I especially love it this year as it is making this layover en route back to Copenhagen fly by (pun intended?).

As seen through the highlights of 2008, 2009, and 2010 – lots has changed. With a humble heart and really huge dose of gratitude, I share with you the best moments of 2011:

January

Geeked out with Conor et all as we watched online when Sauder took home School of the Year at JDC West “one more time”
Presented another award-winning workshop at the UBC Student Leadership Conference

February

Got accepted into my MBA program at the Copenhagen Business School
Spread a little love for yogis on Valentine’s Day with NoMoSolo
Spent the weekend on Bowen with Zoe & Haas updating our vision + goals and laughing until we cried (I love that this is now a tradition!)

March:

Celebrated borderless friendship when my fav gents from Ontario flew out west to join us for a hippie party and a road trip to the Great Big Sea concert

Witnessed Peter’s epic surprise proposal to Joe. Holy love fest!
Met a man that reminded me what it feels like to fall head over heels in love.
Went up to Whistler to experience Camp Drishti 1 and to uncover my inauthentic leadership

April:

Cheered like a maniac at my first roller derby with Woo and DFern. Go Public Frenemies!
Headed back to Whistler for Camp Dristi 2 and experience the igolu principles by Susanne Conrad
Snowshoe’d and ear candled the weekend away with sis in beautiful Manning Park

May:

Cheered and clapped REALLY loud for Conor at his first performance with the Vancouver Men’s Chorus
Rocked the stage at UBC Alumni Weekend with a session on Why Goals Are Not Enough
Kicked an hour off my time at the BMO Vancouver Marathon thanks to a rad group of people

June:

Re-vamped my blog with the help of the brilliant artist Michael
Celebrated my Mom’s birthday out west. Real goodness + real conversations + real wilderness = real love.

July:

Played my first round of golf on Bowen with Joe, Peter, and Preston
Cheered on my best friend from a distance as he conquered the Spartan Death Race

August: (this month was E-PIC!)

Headed down to Portland for the weekend with the best group of friends a guy could ask for

Front. Row. At. Jason. Mraz. (need I say more?)

Raced around in mud at the Whistler Warrior Dash

Crushed my 100 before 100 – bungee jumping, hot air ballooning, making chocolate by hand…
Celebrated my birthday with a rad party and a hilarious camping trip
Said goodbye – to Vancouver, to my relationship, to my job – to say hello to the Life Europa

September:

Moved to Copenhagen to start my MBA at the Copenhagen Business School
Discovered Hamsa Yoga Studio - and the great people that are a part of that community
Supported imagine1day’s 1 School 1 Day event with a run around Copie

October:

Rocked out on a mat with Carlson when he came to visit

Was a tourist in my own town during Culture Night
Headed to London to rock out with the lululemon crew at the London Yoga Show and reconnect with friends from Van

November:

Lifted Martin with two fingers at “Leadership Bootcamp” with my class thanks to some Butanese magic
Made a Van-fam dinner with Calvin, Bonn, and Lanie

December:

Partied the night away at a memorable Julefrukost with my classmates – fake mustaches, snapps, and all

Had the best 2 weeks vacationing in Vancouver! Laughing with Steph at 6 am, getting sweaty with some of Vancouver’s finest people and instructors, dance partying (at every opportunity), eating great pie and sushi, meeting new friends who I believe will be shining in my life for a while, jamming on leadership theories, dating for 6 days, playing board games til the wee hours of morning (to FINALLY beat FLam at Settlers) – it was all so perfect. Thanks for the monumental end to 2011.

Holy wow. What a year. Correction: what a LIFE!
And now it’s 2012! Here we go again…
What are you celebrating from this past year?

Pick of the Post: Carly Rae Jepsen – Call Me Maybe

Getting Out Of Your Own Way (@ the UBC SLC)

Matt Corker — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:00:02 +0000

For the past 5 years, I’ve presented at the UBC Student Leadership Conference. As many of you know, I think having such an opportunity is pretty freakin rad. This year, I’ll be miles away and I made that mean I couldn’t be a part of it.

In the few weeks leading up to the deadline, I made distance the reason for me not participating, for not making a difference, for not playing full out. “If I was closer… if I had more time… if I knew someone else doing it…” Excuse, excuse, excuse!

Fast forward to now. When the excuses were dropped and Krystal Gabriel and I are now on the bill for leading two sessions on Getting Out of Your Own Way. We’re both crossing oceans to get to Vancouver that day – she’ll be coming from Victoria to lead the session in person, while I’m flying in using the magic of technology.

Talking about getting of our own way means that we actually have to be able to share what that means in an authentic way. When presenters spit out motivational jargon and rhyme off tactics or theories that they themselves have yet to apply in any way, the audience can see through it. Their well-intentioned theories lose their impact when not grounded in practicality. They try to impress rather than be real. And our commitment is to be real. We’re gonna be sharing the self-imposed roadblocks that stop us all from reaching our full potential and truly being a contribution to the world.

Want an example? I thought you may.

About three years ago, a group of fellow UBC alumni, colleagues, and friends of mine got together and filmed a mock of a segment from (500) Days of Summer. What was it for? None of us really knew, including myself. After a hilarious day of dancing around campus, I didn’t share the finished product online – or even with the people IN THE VIDEO. I kept it to myself. I was afraid of what people would say. I was worried that I wouldn’t be taken seriously as a young professional starting my career. I didn’t want something I really saw value in, something that brought me happiness, to be mocked. Long story short, I got in my own way. And for three years it remained unseen – tucked away in a folder on my laptop.

Until now, when I can proudly post the video without any of the worry, anxiety, or fear. What caused the shift? How do those feelings no longer have a grip on me? Why was it SO easy to write this post this time around? …. THAT’S what Krystal and I are presenting on. We’re preaching what we’re practicing.

BOOM!
Register for the UBC SLC & enjoy some laugh attacks and some mad truth bombs with us.

Pick of the Post: Hall & Oates – You Make My Dreams (obviously)

Why Not Everyday?

Matt Corker — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:38:58 +0000

After 2 days at leadership bootcamp and a morning planning session for Krystal and my session for the UBC SLC, it got me thinking about why annual conferences and team retreats are so amazing.

They connect us with other like-minded individuals. They provide us with space to reflect, learn, and discover more about a topic or ourselves. They remind us of the value of just relaxing. They let us interact with colleagues or industry peers in a different setting than in a boardroom, a store floor, or a lecture hall. They sometimes feature pretty wicked speakers that make us go “hmmm.” They surprise and delight.

The punch a great conference or retreat can provide is not to be taken for granted or devalued. The “post-conference high” is absolutely brilliant and sometimes even a game-changer in attendees’ lives.

This got me thinking though. Why do we wait for one event, once a year, to achieve this “high” – this development – this connection – this hit of holy-crap-this-is-amazing! What is stopping us?

We have social networks, active airlines, and Skype to connect us with like-minded folks around the world. We have the ability to dedicate time each day to reflection, or reading, or sweating – whatever helps us uncover new areas of our selves or a subject. We can do yoga online to relax when heading to a studio just doesn’t fit into the day and our sneakers are always ready for us to take them out for a run. We have access to brilliant presenters and their ideas worth spreading at TED.com – all at convenient time increments too! (A 5 minute hit of inspiration? Don’t mind if I do!) We also have the ability to surprise our colleagues by inviting them over for dinner, or a drink after work, or to a local market to do some holiday shopping. A different interaction can come from simply adding in a different location.

Determining the rational we tell ourselves that stops us from connecting, developing, and reflecting on a daily basis is probably more valuable than determining the next conference we should attend or the outline of our next team retreat.

Why not make everyday a friggin rad conference? We’ll call it life.

Pick of the Post: Chris Assaad – Pave The Way

Stopped Down in London Town

Matt Corker — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 21:56:20 +0000

I headed to London on a whim and, as previously mentioned, these stories tend to have a happy ending.

I got off the plane, found my Oyster card from my bag, and minded the gap all the way to the London Business School. After getting off at the wrong stop, realizing my cell phone network doesn’t provide service in the UK, and getting lost for 15 minutes – I found my way to LBS to meet up with Derek. Did he tell me it was an open bar event for their MBA students and that another rad Vancouver-ite would be there to make my first night in London SO memorable? No, he didn’t. Life is great when it comes with surprises eh!

I made my way to the hotel where my friends from lululemon were staying only to discover that they weren’t back yet. (Party animals!) I found a glass of red wine at the hotel bar, my highlighter, and my Innovation & Entrepreneurship readings and went to town. Halfway done the glass (and two pages into the reading….) the crew arrives and we top up empty glasses.

Rocking out at the Yoga Show was the intention of the 3 day weekend. After 8 yoga classes (including 3 challenging workshops), a visit to one of lululemon’s partner studios, connecting with tons of cool instructors from around the world, chillin on bean bag chairs with new friends as they waited to try on PILES of clothing, and seriously kickin it up kitchen-party style – I would say we rocked it.

Being surrounded by, and working out with, such talented and hilarious people all weekend was like going for a run in my favourite sneakers. It reminded me what it feels like to be at my best, to be alive, and to be really truly sweaty! Thank goodness for silverescent. Just sayin.

After big days came big nights. A dinner with friends I’ve had since first year at UBC bled into a swank evening out at the Home House. More belly laughs, more great conversations, and, after all that yoga, my body actually lasted til 4 am. Time flies when time doesn’t matter! Before I knew it I was folding up my (un) mat and heading to the airport again.

As I boarded my last tube ride of the trip, I reached into my bag to put away my Oyster card and pulled out a bookmark left on my mat after one of the workshops I attended. It read:

Let the beauty of what you love be what you do. – Rumi

BOOM!

Thank you to everyone who made this past weekend one for the books. (I told you these stories have happy endings.)

Pick of the Post: David Guetta ft Jennifer Hudson – Night of Your Life

Full Out & Off To London

Matt Corker — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 12:14:24 +0000

Before I left Vancouver, a friend and colleague of mine looked at me and said:

Play full out over there. You don’t want to look back and wish you did something different.

BOOM! Words I’ve taken to heart since I’ve arrived in Copenhagen for sure!

To me, playing full out means dropping the excuses, the “shoulda, coulda, woulda”s, and reconnecting with what makes me, me. Playing full out means sharing my full self – the vulnerabilities and the strengths – with the people around me that will inspire and challenge me. It means taking care of myself in a way that allows me to giv’r when the time comes. Playing full out means getting out of my own way.

I got to live this mantra a few hours ago when the opportunity to head over to London to meet up with some great friends from lululemon athletica at the London Yoga Show arose. I knew I had to take it, yet there were tons of excuses why I shouldn’t. It wasn’t part of the plan. The logistics weren’t all confirmed. There is school work to be done.

I acknowledged the excuses and then chose to get out of my own way and book a friggin flight! It’s another classic “commit, then figure it out” story! (And those stories always have a great ending.)

So off to London I go. To reconnect with people that inspire and challenge me. To shake my asana and get my downward dog on. To live and love doing it.

Here we go!

Pick of the Post: Pixie Lott – Turn It Up