Category: Professional Development

Meaningful Land Acknowledgements in Corporate Practice

I was invited to attend a session on “Meaningful Land Acknowledgements in Corporate Practice” hosted by Envol Strategies and lead by Johnathon Strebly (former Chief of Staff, Skwxwú7mesh Úxwumixw, Squamish Nation).

My takeaways

Here are a couple points that stood to me out amongst all the notes I took during that session:

  • Land acknowledgement as a diplomatic gesture.
  • A map to find out who to acknowledge no matter where you’re engaging.
  • “No such thing as a wrong mistake”. Knowingly making the same mistake is wrong.
  • Doing one thing (even poorly) is moving forward.
  • Taking 20 seconds to acknowledge a territory is easy, subverting the power is hard.
  • You’ll never know it all. The day you think you know it all you know nothing.
  • Make mmmmistakes.
  • If you cringe, you’re learning more.
  • Saying it out loud matters, feel the words.
  • Spellings of the Nations should be first (Skwxwú7mesh Úxwumixw, Squamish Nation)
  • Words mean different things for different people.
  • Never interrupt an elder. Build it into your timelines. Make your meetings 4.5 hours. No one complains about an hour early finish.
  • Don’t ask someone to fix, ask to learn.
  • “At what cost?”. Easy to make a splash, hard to predict the ripples.
  • Don’t amend policies, ask why they’re not working.

Land Acknowledgement Examples

Initiating a dialogue to build better and more relevant land acknowledgements was something that gave a clear next step. Based on what I learned at the talk and with some feedback from others also doing this work, this is what I landed on (I’m sure it will change and evolve over time as I continue to learn more).

Website Acknowledgement

“We at FYBS respectfully recognize and honor the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Peoples. These Nations have maintained a deep connection to the lands and waters of what is now known as Vancouver for countless generations.

We are dedicated to nurturing respect for the histories, cultures, and rights of Indigenous Peoples as we continue to live, work, and thrive on these shared territories.”

Event Acknowledgement

“As we gather today, I’d like to take a serious and meaningful moment to recognize the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. These communities have lived in connection with the lands, waters, and skies of this region for countless generations, long before it became known as Vancouver.

Taking this moment to acknowledge this place as their traditional and unceded territory is the least we can do and invites us to reflect on the privileges we enjoy and the responsibilities we hold. At FYBS, we are committed to learning from this history and taking concrete and measurable steps toward reconciliation.

This includes supporting Indigenous-led initiatives like the Indian Residential School Survivors Society. If not that, we encourage everyone here to explore how they, too, can contribute to fostering respectful relationships and meaningful change for a better future.”

Question time

I came to this event with a question that’s been bothering me for a while.

  • Q: What do land acknowledgements look like in 25 years?
    • A: They’re no longer needed

After getting that succint (and retroactively obvious) response, I realized I asked my question incorrectly. First, I admitted my mistake to my tablemates, tracked down the speaker after we wrapped, and re-asked my question in a different way.

I wanted to know “What is the next evolution of land acknowledgements?”, as I’m sure we’ve all heard them kick-off events we attend but they haven’t changed in the last umpteen years of events I’ve been attending.

The answer to that version of the question was “Starting a dialogue, invite the right people into the room.”. That was what I was looking for and helped and give me a new goal to push for in all the organizations I work with.

Recommended reading

Conference Presentations 101: Back to the Basics

I gave a talk to the Product Managers of Product BC leading up to their yearly conference. By giving this talk, we were hoping to empower more people to apply to present at the conference.

Want the non 47 minute video version version…? Great, here are 7 common mistakes to watch out for when giving a presentation:

  1. There is no slide # cap
    • School teaches us to hit a specific word count, that doesn’t apply here.
    • I’ve seen someone show 350 slides in a 30 minute presentation (~11 slides/min) and it was one of the most engaging talks I’ve been to.
  2. 2-3 points/slide max
    • Don’t stuff your slides with too much information. The more information on a slide, the less attention the audience is paying to the speaker.
    • Some slides should be broken into multiple slides. Digital space is free and keeps people focused on the point you’re making at that moment. You don’t need information you shared 10 minutes ago still up on the screen (it’s distracting).
  3. Read each slide out loud
    • This will help you gauge how much information you’re dumping on your audience. Do you have 10 slides that take 30 seconds to read each? Congrats, you’ve just spent 5 min of your presentation getting people to read (sometimes a good thing…sometimes not).
    • This will also help you gauge how much time you should give them to read/process this new information vs. talking over them while they’re trying to read (no one loves that).
  4. No plan for questions
    • Questions can make or break a presentation. Can you take interruptions on the fly? Do you prefer to do a Q/A at the end? Let your audience know what the plan is at the start.
    • I like using Slido Live Q&A to allow the audience to submit questions throughout a talk and anyone can vote on what they want answered. By the end of a talk, I have a curated list of questions vs. rolling the dice on people putting up their hands or scrolling back in the Zoom chat to find who asked what.
  5. Trying to memorize
    • I hate (/suck at) memorizing. I design my slides to be reminders of what I am supposed to talk about next, like cue cards. This helps me keep on track.
    • People came to listen to you. If you’re going to read off a slide deck, your presentation could have been an email.
  6. Design for mobile
    • You never know how people are going to be watching your talk these days so design for the smallest screen you use yourself. They might be watching on their phone while riding the bus. As an audience member, it sucks to have to squint/zoom in constantly.
    • Also, you’re also never sure how big the screen is going to be that you’re presenting on. The more you design for mobile, the easier it is for the people in the back of the room to read your slides.
  7. Copying a big speaker
    • Presenting is a very personal act. Copying someone else can be risky as people have a pretty good radar for if you’re not being genuinely you.
    • How do you talk to your friends? What are you known best for at work in your interactions? You should leverage those elements for creating your speaker persona.

That’s the speed-run version of the talk. If you’re curious, you can get a copy of the slides here.