NICHOLAS MARK SLATER / NICKY SLATER
LID OFF THE BOX ENTERTAINMENT is home to the creative work of Nicholas Mark Slater (aka Nicky Slater). Slater was British Champion in ice dancing, ranked fifth in the World and a two times Olympian back in the mid eighties. With his partner Karen Barber he was a household name in Great Britain. And he was lost... Coached by his mother (a World Champion Skater with his father) he learnt of deals being done between Judges across the kitchen table from the earliest age. He summised that everyone in the world was on the take . Don't trust anyone. He hated the game of having to be nice to judges to win their marks, yet played it to win. The boy sought integrity, fair competition, honour... He knew the system, too well and he lived in a bubble without a normal societal construct (he was nearly always practicising). His mother, (one of the world's top coaches) driving things forward. Eventually, traumatically, he left her and got a new coach. Another chapter, some wonderful moments and still lost. In today's age as we look at the psycholgy of bringing up children, his being left constantly, whilst his parents went out to work (nannies looked after him) and the environment of dealmaking, allied to the fact he never chose ice and did not have a normal social life with friends, have scarred him for life. Since then he has sought to break free of a life defined by his success in Ice Dancing and his lack of a normal upbringing that left him ill equipped to deal with the challanges of 'real life'. SHOW BUSINESS Show Business stirred his soul, music a key part of performing and dancing on ice, comedy a gift he inadvertently stumbled upon at times along the way. Today that area of SHOW BUSINESS and particularly the areas of music, comedy and writing, light his soul. This is what Lid Off The Box Entertainment is powered by. Show Business, being entertainer and being a singer / songwriter / dancer / comedian would have done it. So is it too late now? Die and be done with it, or not? THE JOURNEY Slater has performed on ice and as a presenter, commentator, celebrity judge and entertainer in arenas, on TV and in Theatre. He has produced and co-produced shows for ITV, NBC, USA Networks, ESPN, BBC, Cystic Fibrosis, and The Shaftesbury Society. He created his own Theatre and Ice Arena Productions which he Directed, Produced and Starred in. He has commentated and been in vision talent for ITV, Channel 4, Eurosport, HDTV, TWI, ABC, BBC. He has coached entrepreneurship, peak performance at schools and to business teams to provoke insights, breakthroughs and strategic change. Born in Liverpool, England he moved to Manchester at a young age. He attended North Cestrian Grammar School, has a Masters in Marketing from Bristol Business School / University West of England, was a Member of Mensa and has an Honorary Doctorate for his charity work in the UK from the Universities of Suffolk and Essex. His mother and father were British and World Professional Ice Dance Champions before him. He and his family are immigrants to Kelowna, Canada as of 2016.
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CHRISTIANE ELIZABETH SLATER
Christiane Elizabeth Slater is Nicky's wife, a full time mum and home-maker. She is also a professional photographer, a former contemporary dancer/physical theatre artist and film actress. She was a co-founder of Diakonos Physical Theatre originally based out of Ontario, Canada and later London, England. She was an Office Manager for Tribal Consulting in London. Christiane is part time for LID OFF THE BOX providing imagery, proof reading, admin support, acting insights, singing on tracks, character inspiration, along with wisdom and food to keep Nicky going. Born in Brighton, England Christiane was adopted and grew up in East Africa, Fiji and England as her father was a British Civil Servant and Captain. Christiane has created much of the international media archive LID OFF THE BOX has exlusive access to. Today she captures photographs of the Okanagan in BC, Canada where the Slaters reside.
INDIGO
A key member of the team. Indigo is always available when the fridge opens and treats may be in the offing. Chief Therapist and encourager by sleeping on feet when overwhelm strikes. Relentlessly optimistic, particularly when it's time to run around to catch the favourite orange plastic bone. A brilliant communicator and protector of the establishment. Listens patiently on walks to NMS externally processing.
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Indigo's New Corporate Head Shot
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About Lid Off The Box Entertainment.
LID OFF THE BOX ENTERTAINMENT is the vehicle for the creative and production work of Dr Nicholas Mark Slater (Hons) MA - (aka Nicky - Nick or Nicholas... Slater).
Welcome...
We are storytellers. Be it in a song, the written word, a photograph, a film, a brand, a character. Be it compiled into a music album, a book, a breakthrough enabling teaching, a music video, a series, a film, a live event... It's always about the story. Over a lifetime and in earnest in the last twenty years this story has been incubating, growing, hidden out of the light. Now is the time for these stories to be shared. It is time to take THE LID OFF THE BOX. It is time to build a DREAMTRYB. And, it's time to be MAKING CRAZY WORK.
LID OFF THE BOX ENTERTAINMENT is an online enterprise based at lidoffthebox.com and lidoffthebox.net. Why two sites? Our DOT COM site is the framework for what I have always envisioned. A Media Channel that enables my bank of stories, songs and brands to live. For over twenty years it's been a huge interelated perpetually growing structure. I have grappled with how all I create fits together, how I can present it. And nothing ever gets finished to the point of publication, to be released... The web battle has been between Wordpress and Wix as providers. My analyst has looked at these in detail, become overwhelmed, developed both; and time flies by. I try to save money by doing it myself, it ends up costing a fortune and I don't want to be beholden to others. All part of the journey. Our DOT COM site is Wordpress based, it's Elementor with a template. It is much more clunky and time intensive to design into than here at this WIX site. Wordpress has eaten years of my life! Designing the structure to harness all I create a challenge. Taxonomy design anyone? And...currently my Wordpress site has more power in depth under the hood to deliver what I envisage. Importantly it automatically adds postage rates to items to come for our store internationally... Doing it manually in WIX gives me the heeby jeebies. How do you know it will work? So the structure is: DOT NET - (here) development, communication, a bit messy, unfinished work shared, our DREAMTRYB community developed. Fast communication and design build. DOT COM - finished articles, Branded Series. All looking tikety boo :) A Disney+ format for our media. Currently DOT COM is simply a framework, waiting for the boxes to be populated so you may see template elements in place. It will change as we go and I see how to develop the two sites together... Enjoy looking around. Yes it's crazy having to have two sites but - we are making crazy work...
Our Clients = U
Nicky Slater has worked with some great media companies as shown. Now it's a different game.
YOU (U) ARE THE CLIENT... This is being designed as a one to one internet based endeavour and conversation that seeks to serve you directly. No middle men, no gatekeepers.
The 'died and gone to heaven' success will be when we see our community, our DREAMTRYB, being part of this journey, helping it grow and benefiting with insights and great products as it does.
DARING TO STEP
What is our identity, our purpose? What do we want to do with our lives? What if we are more sensitive souls in a world where social media amplifies the voice of the mockers and haters? How do we cope, overcome our fear?
And... How do we find the courage to go for what the world might say, and our own voices in our head may convincingly argue, is completely ridiculous?
Re-inventing yourself with music at the heart of all you do. Risking all. Too old? No safety net? What an opportunity :) Discuss...
COURAGE
LAUGHTER
HOPE
At the base of everything in development here is Slater's battling and quest for identity and freedom. This banana skin journey powered by a relentless Olympian's drive to be the very best he can be has cost a lifetime of searching, false starts and a house of money... The mission has been pursued in earnest over the last twenty years. He had his family in tiny rented accommodation over a studio for ten years whilst being a national name on reality TV in the UK. Today he continues to risk everything to pursue what you see developing here in Canada, as an immigrant, with no safety net in place, risking all. For a Brit the North American continent imbues songs, storylines and a pioneer spirit. TREASURE TROVE The result of Slater's journey is a huge treasure trove of unreleased: songs, stories, art, design, characters, brands and philosophic and psychological observations along with a revolutionary Breakthrough Framework for individuals and teams. THE STORY For Slater as founder and driver of this project, LID OFF THE BOX ENTERTAINMENT is now the front for a jigsaw of inter-related characters that make up the world he has created over the years. He is, as many of us are, acting the parts. Characters have developed and deepened over time in their personas. Brands have planted roots. The story is ever unfolding as each character and facet bring their unique viewpoints to bear on the mission at hand. And it is all on file, or in the head of its creator. THE MISSION That Mission is to change the world for good. An epic battle of good against evil forces that rages behind the scenes at LID OFF THE BOX. It is the DREAMTRYB story. It embodies the battle that lives in everyone of us and we see manifest in our society. It is comedic, it is dramatic, it is nuts at times. And all of this may also simply be an elaborate avoidance strategy that saves Slater having to stand up and be counted. But then there's NICKSTIR... The developing saga is James Bond meets the Office alongside Marvel with Music. It is Brits in the North American Continent facing the final battle against evil based from MI5 North American Safehouse #37. Really? Oh yes. The stage is set. But this is for behind the scenes, for those with security clearance. So we can't tell you more here.
BOTTOM LINE
Whilst this is about one man learning to take the LID OFF THE BOX of his life, seeking the courage and competence to be who he feels called to be, this becomes, in many ways, a study of Peak Performance (and often how not to do that).
It's the story of a Champion who has climbed the wrong ladder, and faced a lifetime of angst as a result, seeking to use the drive and learning to excel in another field.
To entertain and inspire is the mission. Making Crazy Work; the result.
Pivot
This website represents a pivot in approach.
Instead of hiding away to develop everything until it is perfected, the shift is to structure so that work in development can be shared. The mockers have stopped this approach up until now, and may do their worst again but...
Maybe standing in the battle over fear and daring to share might bring breakthroughs and encourage others, which is the mission.
IDENTITY?
I've battled with using NICKY SLATER all my life. But maybe, before I die I will be OK with the nomenclature. Here is the WIx site I created quickly when my mother died. Somehow I'm starting to like it... It would be a lesson if the humungous epic envisioning of LID OFF THE BOX reduced itself back to NICKY SLATER at some point.