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March 12, 2007

Mini-Session 1: Mistakes and Laughter

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 7:55 am

Guest Speaker: Robyn McMaster, PhD

Have you ever laughed at a mistake that could have sunk you? Not long ago, while leading a conference for doctors, business leaders and faculty, I spilled a glass of water on Ellen Weber’s suit. I froze. But Ellen laughed, and soon amusement bounced off walls of the room.

Laughter instantly changes people’s mood when things go wrong, because it releases into the brain, serotonin, a chemical of well being. I’d like to laugh more at silly annoyances - and hoped you lighter hearted bloggers might toss in a few tips.

How do you manage to laugh out loud with your readers – especially when stuff lets you down or you’re just too serious?

Thank you, Robyn!
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Visit Robyn’s blog Brain-Based Biz where Robyn taps into arts and mind to gather insights that stir creativity in business applications.–ME “Liz” Strauss
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Let’s open the Q&A . . .

I’ll go first, Robyn, what do you do when everyone is laughing but you?


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58 Comments to “Mini-Session 1: Mistakes and Laughter”

  1. March 12th, 2007 at 8:18 am
    Robyn McMaster said

    Well, Liz, in that situation, I laughed because Ellen did. I was horrified and laughter just wasn’t my first reaction. I want to learn some stragies the help me see the lighter side sooner rather than being “old sobersides.”

    Humor is about pace… and I just want to get a sense today of how the “experts” out there do this on their blogs.

  2. March 12th, 2007 at 8:22 am
    Char said

    I would have to try to laugh too - though it would be tough.

    Good morning everyone! Lots of work to do today but I will be stopping in regularly through out the day - I’m sure this virtual conference will be a hit!

  3. March 12th, 2007 at 8:25 am
    Chris Garrett said

    One of the traits I find most endearing about people is when they can laugh at their self, in real life or on a blog :)

  4. March 12th, 2007 at 8:27 am
    Robyn McMaster said

    Hi Char, welcome and I’m glad you can take time out. Do you use humor in your blogs?

  5. March 12th, 2007 at 8:29 am
    Char said

    Absolutely! Although I am sure that not everyone gets my sense of humor sometimes.

  6. March 12th, 2007 at 8:30 am
    Robyn McMaster said

    Wow, to laugh at yourself is great, Char. I sense it’s a way to get past any mistakes since it levels the playing field…

  7. March 12th, 2007 at 8:30 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Robyn,
    How could a sweet person have laughter come at that point when you were the one who spilled the water. Had it been the other way, you would have laughed and Ellen would have joined after.

  8. March 12th, 2007 at 8:31 am
    ME Strauss said

    Thanks, Char, I know how you lurk. You’ll be adding a word or two I bet and they will be so worth reading. :)

  9. March 12th, 2007 at 8:32 am
    ME Strauss said

    Chris,
    You make it easy to take mistakes lightly on your blog and when you’re around in the comment box. I think it’s because you’re that yourself.

  10. March 12th, 2007 at 8:33 am
    Robyn McMaster said

    Oops, I meant to say Chris and not Char…

    Hey Chris…a bank teller didn’t recognize me. He said, “I need to see two pieces of ID, Robyn.” So I tore my driver’s license in half.

  11. March 12th, 2007 at 8:33 am
    Robyn McMaster said

    Char, would you be willing to share an example?

  12. March 12th, 2007 at 8:35 am
    Ellen Weber said

    Thanks Robyn, Wow - what a great group to get the lips parted in a good way to start the week - people must have had a good weekend! My kind of community - it’s fun to walk into this setting!

  13. March 12th, 2007 at 8:36 am
    Robyn McMaster said

    Liz, that’s so true, but I wouldn’t have laughed had Ellen spilled the water on me in front of a large group of prestigious people.

    There’s something about thinking quickly on your feet to make something that could be disasterous come out just the opposite and be an asset.

    Have you ever been in such a situation?

  14. March 12th, 2007 at 8:38 am
    Ellen Weber said

    Laughter - when it goes to our own foibles and comes from us - can level the playing field in rooms where people feel anxious, competitive or excited. Laughter also opens the door to new ideas and prepared the brain to snap em’ up. I like groups like this - who enjoy laughter - cause it keeps me balanced on a busy day:-)

  15. March 12th, 2007 at 8:39 am
    Chris Garrett said

    One thing I found in a business setting, where people can laugh tends to be also the places where the best ideas come from. It is way harder to have creativity when tense. Next time you are brainstorming start with a joke :)

  16. March 12th, 2007 at 8:39 am
    Robyn McMaster said

    Welcome Ellen. Great to have you since you have one of the answers for us. Tell us how you were able to laugh so quickly when I spilled water on you. What’s your secret?

  17. March 12th, 2007 at 8:44 am
    Char said

    Robyn - I’m still looking…

  18. March 12th, 2007 at 8:45 am
    Steve Remington said

    In person I think it would be a lot easier to laugh at yourself because you can try to make it appear natural and spontaneous which will come across as somewhat sincere.

    I know during my wedding my mom knocked over a candle and almost burnt down the church. People starting giggling and she was embarrassed. I think she was unsure how the bride and groom would feel about this so my wife and I started giggling and made light of it. Everybody then felt ok and we moved on.

    Though it wasn’t a business speech you can learn a lot from those moments.

    When it comes to blogging it has to be a lot tougher to laugh. You will have to find the write words and not expressions in order to cover your butt and make things right again. My guess is it would take time posting every so often referring back and highlighting your mistake. Showing you aren’t ashamed of what you did but not overdoing your apology. ;)

  19. March 12th, 2007 at 8:45 am
    Robyn McMaster said

    Ellen, it’s really great to have you on board, since I need to know more about letting loose and laughing more. I like your sense of being able to look at my foibles.

    Hmmm, let me see, you’re so fast that before I can even boot up my comuter, yours has crashed three times!

  20. March 12th, 2007 at 8:48 am
    Ellen Weber said

    It’s called ADHD and it moves:-)

    Robyn, did you know a first grader laughs over 300 times daily and adults laugh 17 times a day. New research shows us that this discussion is long overdue!

  21. March 12th, 2007 at 8:49 am
    Steli said

    Hello everyone,
    for me - humor begins always with my inner voice. You can try this little experiment if you like: Think about a big problem in your life right now. Try as hard as you can to get in this state of “not-so-well” being just for a second. And then change your inner voice to silvester “the cats” voice. Start to lisp and tell yourself about all the problems in thhat voith that leth you thmile a little :) I don´t know how good this works for you guyz - but it sure puts a smile on my face whenever I´m in a bad mood! Humor is king! Steli

  22. March 12th, 2007 at 8:51 am
    Char said

    Okay - not exactly roll on the floor laughing humor - much more subtle.

    http://casualkeystrokes.com/who-needs-toys-when-you-have-a-box/

  23. March 12th, 2007 at 8:51 am
    Robyn McMaster said

    Steve, I can just picture your Mom at that wedding. The fact that you and your bride could laugh says a lot about you!

    Steve, I like your take on letting the mistake go and simply giving a sincere apology. Would humor work well here, Steve?

  24. March 12th, 2007 at 8:56 am
    Robyn McMaster said

    Char, my hubby always maintained that boxes were more popular with our kids than the gifts that they set aside. Thanks for sharing. You also write Essential Keystrokes. Would you ever consider using humor on that blog?

  25. March 12th, 2007 at 8:56 am
    Steve Remington said

    I think humor is great in an apology type setting as long as it is subtle and not overdone. It is not something you can really teach and you have to have some intuitive/people skills to really pull it off.

    I know people that will use humor but they also will dwell on their mistakes and they continue to highlight their mistake when it is time to move on.

    You will end up respecting someone a lot more if they acknowledge their mistake, giggle a little bit, say sorry, and then just move on.

  26. March 12th, 2007 at 8:58 am
    Karin said

    Ellen, thank you for “did you know a first grader laughs over 300 times daily and adults laugh 17 times a day”

    So that is what happened, I thouhgt it was just me ;-)

  27. March 12th, 2007 at 8:59 am
    Robyn McMaster said

    Steve, great advice. Perhaps timing’s part of intuition. I think you had a great model in your mother given the story you told us. My guess is that you would have laughed had I dumped the glass of water on you at the conference…

  28. March 12th, 2007 at 9:00 am
    Sandy Renshaw said

    Great session!
    This is an amazing statistic. I want to be more like the first grader!

    “a first grader laughs over 300 times daily and adults laugh 17 times a day”

  29. March 12th, 2007 at 9:00 am
    Robyn McMaster said

    Hi Karin, welcome. Does humor come second nature to you?

  30. March 12th, 2007 at 9:01 am
    Char said

    Robyn - I try to keep things light at Essential Keystrokes too - primarily through the use of words and mental images. Since the topics tend to be more technical in nature, I don’t want my readers falling asleep.

  31. March 12th, 2007 at 9:03 am
    Steve Remington said

    I would have laughed probably. Or forced a smile.

    If I were the one who spilled the water, then no I would not laugh. But whatever the person did who got wet, I would try to match their reaction.

    If they smiled and sort of laughed it off I would probable measure it and giggle too just the same, but not more. Then help them with a new shirt haha

    At the wedding for instance. Because we laughed, my mom then laughed. But before my wife and I laughed there were a lot of serious “oh crap” faces.

  32. March 12th, 2007 at 9:04 am
    Karin said

    Hi Robyn
    I hope so ;-) We are in a ‘different’ situation at work and try to use humour when we can’t find the correct English words - blaming it on our Double Dutch ’standards’

  33. March 12th, 2007 at 9:05 am
    Robyn McMaster said

    Folks, since I draw a lot from new research on the brain, that can be a little intimidating for some folks. Here’s a thought from Robert Frost you’d enjoy…

    “The brain is a wonderful organ; it starts working the moment you get up in the morning and does not stop until you get into the office”

  34. March 12th, 2007 at 9:09 am
    Robyn McMaster said

    Steli, I’m glad you stopped by. Posts were coming in so fast that I bypassed you. Your “Sylvester the Cat” strategy to change your inner voice at a hard moment sounds great. Humor is king, Steli. Does it reign in that great school of yours?

  35. March 12th, 2007 at 9:09 am
    Karin said

    Nice one Robyn, made me chuckle.

    Which reminds me: since we’re talking aobut humour on a blog: does anyone has a icon (smiley) that represents a chuckle?
    Might come in handy one in a while

  36. March 12th, 2007 at 9:11 am
    Robyn McMaster said

    Sandy, great to see you, here. I’d like to take a paintbrush to a canvas and have a few laughs with you. We do find a lot more well-being when we bring more laughter to our day.

  37. March 12th, 2007 at 9:14 am
    ME Strauss said

    Everyone!
    Enjoy the conversation as long as you like . . . Sandy, your post fired late, but it’s up now! :)

  38. March 12th, 2007 at 9:14 am
    Robyn McMaster said

    Karin, you could join Flick’r and search for one that’s neat. And then follow Sandy’s post yesterday on how to make it just the size you want.

    If you insert a smile here maybe you could use a colon, a hyphen and a parenthesis, maybe a smiley face turns up. I’m not the expert on that. :-)

  39. March 12th, 2007 at 9:17 am
    Robyn McMaster said

    Karin, I like the term, “double-Dutch” standards you use to get past some of the language barriers. Wow, it’s great to be able to look at a problem through humor’s eyes.

  40. March 12th, 2007 at 9:17 am
    Sandy Renshaw said

    Hi Robyn,
    A paintbrush to canvas and we would have a lot of laughs! That does sound fun.

  41. March 12th, 2007 at 9:18 am
    Sandy Renshaw said

    Oh, thanks Liz!

    See you at the next session!

  42. March 12th, 2007 at 9:19 am
    Karin said

    Thank you for the typ Roby, I’ll look into it.

    As as for humour in our language dealings - we like to keep it simple ;*)

  43. March 12th, 2007 at 9:21 am
    Robyn McMaster said

    Sandy, I love to be like a kid at times…I can laugh and be crazy. Painting is one fun activity. I walked through our mall the other day and saw amazing children’s art and just got inspired. I know kids have lots of fun!

  44. March 12th, 2007 at 9:23 am
    Sandy Renshaw said

    I went to a creativity session a couple weeks ago with people of all ages. We built bridges using marshmellows (2 sizes), spaghetti, Play Doh, and one other thing. It was great fun to have hands-on. We laughed a lot!

  45. March 12th, 2007 at 9:23 am
    Steli said

    I hope so Robyn! That´s why it´s name is Supercool School. We want to do good AND feel good doing it! And having fun will hopefully become an important part of this learning place! Here´s a school joke I posted some time ago on my blog: http://supercoolschool.typepad.com/blog/school_jokes/index.html
    Reminds me that I should post more often in the joke category!!!
    Keep on rockin´
    Steli

  46. March 12th, 2007 at 9:25 am
    Robyn McMaster said

    Thanks Sandy, since your session is underway, I hope folks join you now.

    If anyone wants to add more for us here, I’ll be checking back throughout the day.

    Thanks all for a great session. You’ve taught us a lot!

  47. March 12th, 2007 at 10:54 am
    Marti said

    If I couldn’t laugh at life’s foibles, I’d be in a rubber room! LOL (And have nothing to blog about!)

    Wonderful session! Delightful to read. Thanks for sharing!

  48. March 12th, 2007 at 11:09 am
    Karin said

    Robyn, found the ‘chuckle’ ;-) (well it is supposed to represent a chuckle anyway)

  49. March 12th, 2007 at 12:14 pm
    Robyn McMaster said

    Marti, let’s laugh our way out of straight-jackets. :-)

    You’ve got a good handle on this — so how do you bring in humor as you blog, Marti?

  50. March 12th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
    Marti said

    “Marti, let’s laugh our way out of straight-jackets. :-)”

    INDEED! LOL!

    My entire blog is about humor! LOL

    I tell funny stories of silly things that happen to me and my family. By finding the humor in even terribly tragic events, it takes away the “power” of a bad thing that has happened. By turning bad luck on its ear and laughing at it, I don’t fall into a pit of depression about it. I also believe that it gives other people hope, to see how we can laugh at our own misfortune. I get great responses from people who read my blog, saying they feel better, and are more able to cope with the bad things in their own lives, by reading how someone was able to make fun of adversity.

    Keep up the good work! Best wishes to you!

  51. March 12th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
    Robyn McMaster said

    Marti, I’m glad you stopped by and the description of what you offer on your site would prompt folks to stop by if they need a laugh. Thanks for sharing.

  52. March 12th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
    Robyn McMaster said

    Hi Karen, you almost have it. You need to press on your shift key at the same time you press a semicolon so that you get a colon. Otherwise you won’t get the smiley face. Hope that helps.

  53. March 12th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
    Robyn McMaster said

    Karin, as you click on your semicolon key, push shift at the same time to get a colon. You need the colon to get the smiley face. But yours looks like a wink, so I like it.

  54. March 12th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
    Yoav said

    Hi all,

    I apologize for arriving so late.

    I love comics and read a few comics blogs. Usually I link to them or to other funny stuff on the web when I feel my blogging is becoming “heavy” and that my 7 readers need a laugh.

    Here is one of the comics blogs I read

    http://raymondsbraindoodles.blogspot.com/index.html

  55. March 12th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Yoav,
    Welcome. Thanks for the link!
    Most of the conversation is over at sessions 7 and 8 now. :)

  56. March 12th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
    Robyn McMaster said

    Yoav, never to late. Sure glad you stopped by.

    Wow, thanks for sharing the site, Raymond’s Brain Doodles. Since it relates to the focus on my blog, I can sure use it.

    Most of our reader’s like to laugh. Makes them feel good when they come by. Great strategy to use this when you sense your blogging’s getting too heavy.

    Thanks for the tip!

  57. March 13th, 2007 at 10:45 am
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    […] Robyn McMaster on Laughter and Mistakes […]

  58. July 18th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
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    […] - Robyn McMaster on Laughter and Mistakes 9:00 - Sandra Renshaw on The Importance of Graphics 10:00 - Mark McGuinness on Creativity 11:00 - […]

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