“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes “Awww!”
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The Specials this Week are
AdRants He once had an awkward moment — just to see how it feels. He can also speak French. In Russian. …
Chief Happiness Officer Many companies will do the usual and promote their young employees and increase their pay. If you read this blog on a semi-regular basis you know this isn’t good enough. You have to have a whole plan to retain the young superstars.
davidbullock Social Media has changed the way that the world communicates and gathers information and what is called “news”. What will news look like in the future? What will be the next generation of newspaper?
This week was week of the same conversation. Clients — businesses and individuals — were stuck in the noise. They had lost or never found their signal. They didn’t know who they were trying to be. I kept hearing about folks being everything for everyone, doing everything that everyone could need.
When I’d say, “So what, who, does that make you?”
The answer came back in a passel of words — mushy and undefined — unfocused and noisy. The answer was really. “We’ll be whatever, whomever they want us to be.”
They were floating without direction, changing ideas with every shiny new thing. Wandering aimlessly. What they couldn’t see is that no one else has the information, inclination, or time to do the work for them. To the rest of us they are so much noise with out signal.
We all have too much noise. Road traffic, little hassles, things that break and don’t work as they should. What we look for in the people and businesses that attract us is a clear signal of who they are and what they do. That let’s us know that we can count on them to be what they say they will be.
All winter the tiny crocus only does one thing — gather nourishment so that every spring it can show us outstanding flowers. A crocus knows what it does and it does it beautifully — without saying a thing. That strong purpose — that signal — makes the noise around crocus fade into irrelevancy. People who love crocuses know them, seek them out, and bring them home to their gardens and their fields.
Have a strong signal and rise above the noise.
What’s the one thing that you want to be known for? What’s signal sets you above the noise?
Do you ever want to try something new with your blog? How about video blogging or vlogging? I’ve been thinking about it for a while. Every time I visit a blog where there are video posts my first reaction is always, “Wow that took courage.” There’s something very inviting, very personal that I like about it. It’s like a welcoming invitation to get to know someone a little better. Not unlike that message on Twitter that turns into a DM, then to an email exchange. And sometimes a phone call and, if you’re lucky, a face-to-face conversation.
The film person in me screams, “You need good lighting, you don’t have the right camera, etc. etc.” The vain part of me screams, “You don’t look on camera – you sound okay, but you look funny.” Truth be told, some people just do look better in front of the camera than others, but I when I settle into watching a good video post, it’s like good writing: I become engaged – I’m listening. Processing and thinking. So, having said that, here are a few hints that will help your video look better:
– First and foremost, be you. Don’t change the way you communicate just because there’s a camera on. For instance, if you need to laugh, use your hands when you talk, use a certain turn of phrase, do it. Be you.
– Think background – it matters. Point your camera at where you’ll be talking from, then stand behind the camera and have a look. It’s called setting the frame. Anything distracting there? It could be as simple as a picture on the wall, bulletin board with something flashy pinned on it, a mirror (always a definite no) or anything that causes your eye to drift from where you’ll be talking.
– Think lighting – it matters. If you’re using natural light streaming in from outside, uncover all those windows and let in as much as you can. Shoot a little test and see how it looks. You may have to change to get the best positioning for the optimum lighting advantage — lighting that makes you look good. If you need to add light, move some lamps, etc. around to get the best effect. Lighting from behind usually does not look the best. Light your face from the front, point a lamp at your face from beside the camera or on the floor in front of you. Move things around, experiment and play with it – have fun.
–Think sound – You really do need to have it quiet when you record. You can have a bad background and poor quality lighting and still have an ok post. If you have poor quality sound you have nothing. Viewers automatically disengage when they can’t hear. You can look like a rockstar but if they can’t hear you it doesn’t count for anything!
– Think timing – Most people watch videos that are between 3:00 and 4:00 long. After that, unless you’re giving an informational talk or doing an exercise video you lose people’s attention, sad, but it’s true. Think about a regular post you would write and how long it would take to read it. Maybe you’re doing a vlog as something special or just for fun. Stick to what you’re hoping to convey.
– Think articulation – If you’re nervous, you may have a tendency to rush your speech. Think about being clear and delivering your words effectively so others can make them out. This doesn’t mean drone on in a monotone. It just refers to being aware of how you are talking. Sometimes when speaking in public or on camera it’s helpful to think of reading a story to a child out loud . It helps to slow you down a bit.
Last but not least, have fun!
Have you tried a video blog? If you have, please leave a link — I’d love to check it out. I need inspiration too! If you haven’t, what’s stopping you?
1. Don’t fight it. Trying to cajole, warn, threaten or even sue someone who is misusing your product or making a joke will only come off as heavy-handed. “Maybe some Neanderthal thinks that they can control this, but the reality is no one can,” said Pete Blackshaw, exec VP of Nielsen Online Digital Strategic Services. And antagonistic attitudes will only invite more criticism and mocking. 2. Survey the extent of the problem. Is it a small group of jokers no one will take seriously or a more reputable group? How damaging is what they’re saying or doing? That is, are they completing maligning the product and associating it with extremely unsavory behavior? Or is it just goofing around? 3. Turn to your social-media crisis plan. And if you don’t have one yet, develop one. 4. Be open with employees. They use social media too and likely already know about it. But make sure to discuss what’s happening and give them the information you want conveyed (for instance, what to say if a friend asks at a party, “Hey, what’s up with all these kids smoking Smarties?”). 5. Respond accordingly. At the very least, have a prepared statement for any media calls. Make sure it is available to all senior executives who may be queried. And make sure to respond as quickly and as transparently as possible to any direct questions from your customers.
Here is a short video that has a little more information on the crowdsourcing project that I mentioned previously. It is a group-sketchnotes project based on Mike Rohde’s sketchnotes from SXSW.
