[FOCUS] Walking Talk for Work and Fundraising with Deborah Drummond

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Deborah.

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So we are excited to have you on, uh, the

carbon sessions today, , because we like

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to have conversations with people, uh,

around the world, about things that we can

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do to help reduce the carbon footprint.

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And one of the things

you and I were talking.

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was, , working while walking, and I wonder

if you wanna talk about that a little bit.

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So instead of driving, instead of

maybe even going to a restaurant,

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just actually just getting together

and walking that meeting, whether

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it's by earbuds or together.

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So yes, we're exercising, we're doing

great stuff, but we're not, it doesn't

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take anything extra to, to do that.

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And literally, that's how I

do as many of my meetings as.

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It's just walk.

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I call it a walk and talk.

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It's just this walk and talk.

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And do you walk outside in our

beautiful Vancouver rain, are we walking

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inside on a treadmill or what are you

doing ? So yes, I do live in Vancouver.

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I do live in the rainy city of Vancouver.

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And every time you see

it, it's got a range up.

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But you know what?

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As a Vancouver rate, like literally

born here, the rain doesn't bother.

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. Um, and we do walk in the rain cuz

if you don't do something in the

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rain, you're staying a lot inside.

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But I also , I have the fortunate,

I live downtown and I, you know,

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live in a con condominium that

does have also exercise facility.

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And so I, you know, I'm doing a big walk,

like I'm walking across Ireland, so I'm

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now in that gym, uh, three days a week.

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And I actually go with friends

and we actually do treadmill

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and we do exercise together.

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And then we all, I also do.

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So we have a pool and I, we, we

literally will swim and have meetings

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and we'll talk a little bit, then

we'll do a lap, and then we'll

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talk a little bit and we do a lap.

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So just try to mix, mix

those two things together.

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Happens quite a lot.

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But yes, rain is not a deterrent here.

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. That's great.

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Um, Debra, this is Brian.

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So nice to meet you, uh, and

excited to be here with you.

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I'm, I'm curious, so I do, I, I'm

a big fan of the walk and talk.

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I was excited to join today's

session and, and hear about you

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and this pattern you've been.

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I've got some clients and colleagues

that it's normal practice.

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Like they know what it's about

and they're like, oh yeah,

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like I stand up for my desk.

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I'm like, let's walk and talk.

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Right?

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And they like get into it.

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And some clients will even do hike

and talks and we'll like, yeah, our

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planned meeting is we go once a quarter

and we go hike this hike together.

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So for some people in my life,

that expectation is sort of hard.

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I don't know how it got

built in the first place.

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, how do you, how do you broach that with

someone that you're just getting to know?

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Meetings are often, you're getting

to know someone in the first, on

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the front side of a relationship.

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Do you bring this up early in the

relationship and the conversation?

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Yeah.

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And how do you tips on setting

that kind of expectation?

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I think because, um, I come from

an entrepreneurial background

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and so do most of my clients

and colleagues that I'm talking.

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and, um, particularly with

the fact that not a lot of us

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have gotten together lately.

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Um, so depending on who I'm

talking to, one, I can go at

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it from an economic standpoint.

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It's like, Hey, you know, let's not

go and, you know, have lunch again.

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I'm sure you have lots

of lunches with people.

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I'm sure.

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Lunch again.

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And, um, why don't we layer, and

people really love that word layering.

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I mean, because you know, if you're,

if you're, I don't say the word B

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and ends with Y and there's an S

in the middle, it's not something.

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Our team doesn't allow each other to say.

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So, you know, in my very abundant,

passionate, fulfilling life, , that leaves

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little room in my schedule, I'll come at

it from like, You know, let's, let's not

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spend 50 bucks on lunch today and let's

just go exercise and let's just talk.

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Let's just talk what

we need to talk about.

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At the same time, some people are like,

yeah, why am I going to sitting in my

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house driving and sitting in a restaurant?

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So I'll kind of come from an

exercise standpoint or from a.

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, you know, let's save

some money standpoint.

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Or the other thing is I'm not getting

enough time to go out there and exercise.

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I'm finding that I'm sitting at

my desk all the time, you know,

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you don't live that far from me.

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I think it would be really easy.

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Or look, why don't we

just go and walk and talk?

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And they're like, it's, it's con,

it's like a new concept, right?

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They're also trying to

find time to exercise.

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They're also trying to

find time to get out.

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But no one's just really approached

him with the idea, or especially

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when I go, I've got a hot.

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I've got a hot tub, I've

got a pool in a hot tub.

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When's the last time

that you went swimming?

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And they're like, I don't

know, like 20 years ago.

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And I'm like, well, why don't

we just do our meeting there?

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It's super fun.

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And they might think it's a little

obscure, but when I'm like, well,

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when's the last time you exercised?

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And look, it's super cool and you

know, we can just come to the house

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after and have a drink or something.

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But, you know, not a martini,

but it just, it's just different.

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And people are thinking, I

think they're trying to find

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creative ways to get together.

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And I also think that they're

trying to find ways to save money.

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Most people will go exercise if they're

looking at the walk is exercise.

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If they make a commitment

to go with somebody.

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And so I'll go, oh my gosh.

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Great.

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A lot of people also know that I'm

training for a big event in: 2024

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and I'm like, look, I've gotta get

in as much exercise as possible.

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I had a friend, for example,

last Saturday, you know, and

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he's like, Hey, let's hang out.

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I'm like, well, unless you're prepared

to walk, I'm not really into hanging

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out right now cause I have to use

all my time to trade for this event.

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Super important to me.

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He's like, okay.

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And literally he was like,

As we were walking, I'm like,

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come on, you can do this.

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And he's like, I gotta go.

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He had to go shopping.

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And I'm like, okay, let's walk

downtown, get your things and walk back.

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And we came back.

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He, I'm like, good, right?

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He's like, yeah, that's fun, . You

may never call me again.

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But um, so I just injected in a way

that it's good for us, it's gonna save

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money and one of those two things work.

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That's awesome.

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Do you, do you have clients or colleagues

that are sometimes come back to and.

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They've taken this and carried it

forward and they're instigating it.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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So the guy that I was just talking

about, I mean, I've been, we've

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been friends for a long time and um,

so he now is doing the same thing.

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He likes to hike.

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He doesn't like to huff

and walk long distance.

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He likes to, to hike.

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But I think that a lot of people

are, are finding that because, It is

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really just doing something that we

probably all did during the time that

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we couldn't be so close to each other.

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Um, you know, depending where you are.

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Some places I was, we were pretty

locked down here, and so people

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would walk and talk, right?

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Because anytime you had a chance to

get out and walk, so people were doing

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it with their earbuds in, um, and so

why not do it with somebody, right?

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Because I think it also helps in

terms of that, you know, we're trying

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to recover from being lonely for a.

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