TOP 10 RULES (continued)
Did you guess the number 10 rule? “No.” That’s okay. I got it wrong too. Well, here is the final DON’T:
10. DO NOT FORWARD INAPPROPRIATE JOKES, ANY CHAIN LETTERS, ETC.: Be very careful of attachments or any other material that are not of the professional kind. If they look suspicious, don’t open them and hit delete. If you know the source and you open the material, inspect it. If it’s off-color, potentially offensive, or inappropriate for professional consumption, delete. Do not forward unprofessional material or spam to colleagues and students.
As a humorist, I often recommend that faculty, staff, and students send each other “appropriate” jokes, cartoons, pics, and video clips for stress relief and possible class or conference presentation use. The operative word here is relief. No it isn’t. It’s appropriate. The humor can serve important functions, but it must be handled by a trained professional; it should not be attempted at home by rank amateurs. Don’t throw the baby …!
Tomorrow, I’ll summarize the list, mention some other rules you may have to honor in your institution, and offer an epilogue. We’re nearing the end. Hang in there.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
A PRE-EMPTIVE “NONOFFENSIVE” STRIKE
How do you roll out acceptable standards in your classroom or workplace to minimize the chances of anyone getting offended? What steps do YOU need to take? Here are a few steps to consider:
3 STEPS:
1. Careful Review---Carefully review your humor, music, videos, or any other form of media you plan on using. If you have any reservations about their appropriateness, DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!
2. Peer Review---Pick 2 or 3 colleagues to review your material regularly before you use it, especially if you have any doubts. A fresh perspective or 3 can be eyeball opening to what you didn't see in your review.
3. Setting the Standards---On the 1st class of the semester OR other appropriate time with co-workers,
a. set standards for offensive material with everyone involved. You propose and define the categories and adjust accordingly based on their feedback. Make sure everyone is clear on what is appropriate and inappropriate material---where the LINE IS DRAWN, and
b. issue a disclaimer to all students OR employees regarding your own behavior to hold you accountable to those standards, such as
“Should I ever offend anyone with anything I say or do, or any print material, music, or videos offend you, please know it wasn’t intended. I may make mistakes. Tell me about any material that offends you so I can change it before the next class or semester.”
This 3b disclaimer is extremely important. We rarely hear that anywhere. Instead, to the contrary, we hear performers and, possibly, even our colleagues and friends tell us they don’t care who they offend. They often do that with great pride, puffing themselves up, as if offending people intentionally and having no respect for another person’s values or principles is a badge of honor. That should not be your position in the classroom or workplace.
If the preceding steps are taken regularly, you should be able to minimize offensive jokes and media from rearing their ugliness in your workplace and, more importantly, minimize the chances of hurting the people with whom you work every day. At least, when you do make mistakes, and you will, you’ll be prepared to handle them appropriately.
Well, that’s the end of my offensive blog series. Can you believe it? I know you couldn't wait for my anti-climatic, predictable finale. I hope at least one idea hit you that was of value to think about in your teaching or position in the workplace. Let me know your thoughts.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
THE 7 HABITS
This series has addressed the following categories of offensive material:
1. PUT-DOWNS
2. SARCASM
3. RIDICULE
4. SEXUAL CONTENT AND INNUENDO
5. PROFANITY
6. VULGARITY
7. SENSITIVE PERSONAL ISSUES AND TRAGEDIES
There’s been a lot of reaction to these topics on the LinkedIn higher education groups. Since most professionals do not systematically consider these categories and the consequences of offending people in their daily conduct in the classroom or workplace, I hope that some of the content, examples, and guidelines in my blogs and the healthy discussion of these topics will generate some thought on WHERE TO DRAW THE LINE.
The consequences of disregarding my OFFENSIVE ALERT can be devastating to your students and your co-workers. Remember: This is all about them, not you.
If you are serious about making this work, you need to consider a pre-emptive strike to set standards everyone can accept before you or your students offend someone.
SHOULD YOU MIRANDIZE YOUR STUDENTS OR CO-WORKERS?
This blog level one head conjures up the mental image of a Shawshankian line-up of our students or co-workers facing a wall, with their hands up and feet spread, as they’re read their rights on what offensive content is out-of-bounds in the classroom or workplace. While some you may be drooling at the idea of executing such a sweep, I don’t recommend it for two reasons:
1. It may be difficult to find a clear wall long enough without pictures of dead past deans or college presidents on it.
2. That’s probably not the best approach to get these people to buy in to these rules of behavior or conduct for their learning or work environment.
The final blog in this series will proffer specific guidelines for executing a pre-emptive strike against offensive material in your classroom and workplace. It’s almost over.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
VULGARITY
Telling jokes with vulgar images and sounds for laughs belongs in a comedy club or a Jim Carrey movie, but not in your classroom or workplace. Similarly, any music or video clips containing vulgar material is out of bounds.
EXAMPLES: Who can’t forget the flatulence and toilet humor in Blazing Saddles, the Nutty Professor, and the animated PG-rated Shrek and Shrek 2? Most recently, the TV cable series Jackass takes the prize for “Extremely Vulgar.” What an honor. The parents of executive producer Trip Taylor must be so proud. (Note: Sarcasm is excusable when writing about vulgarity.)
SENSITIVE PERSONAL ISSUES
Many years ago, Jay Leno launched a relentless joke attack night after night on former New York Yankee Darryl Strawberry’s cocaine addiction. The jokes were so cruel and inappropriate that they still stand out in my mind as one example of “humor” in this category. He probably is still doing those types of jokes with other celebrities now.
Entertainment, political, and sports personalities are especially vulnerable to jocular barbs about divorce, abortion, sexual infidelity, cosmetic surgery, DUI arrests, alcoholism, drug addiction, HIV/AIDS, and personal tragedies. This category also includes what are called “sick jokes” in the humor literature, which make fun of death, disease, dysfunction, or deformity, usually following a significant disaster or tragedy.
CELEBRITY TARGETS: Individuals who engage in humor on these topics or disseminate those types of YouTube videos in the classroom or workplace exhibit screamingly bad taste. The jabs at entertainers and sports celebrities, such as Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, Tiger Woods, and all the politicians, religious leaders, and talk-show comedians (aka David Letterman) guilty of sexual indiscretions are examples of this type of derisive humor by talk-show comedians? Steer clear of this category. DO NOT jab your students, co-workers, or celebrities.
FINALE: My next final blog in this long-winded series on offensive material will address how to Mirandize your students and co-workers on rules for humor and media to minimize the chances of offending them. Refreshments will be provided.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
What better way to start off the week on Easter Monday then blog on profanity and vulgarity with a sarcastic rhetorical question? Talk about blogger’s license! Instead of an Easter Egg Hunt, we’re going on an Expletive Hunt. However, before we start bleeping out bad words, there is one additional bad news thought I want to add on the previous sexually explicit topic.
SEXUAL CONTENT AND INNUENDO (Addendum)
One addition to my previous blog is sexting, a combination of “sex” and “texting,” I think. Downloading and texting sexually explicit material from the Internet at large, YouTube, and personal videos in class or in the workplace presents another new set of problems. If it’s out there to abuse, the technology enables evil minds to find it and disseminate it. Stop it before it starts if it’s within your power to do so.
PROFANITY
You hear expletives just about everywhere. What the “&!%#” is going on? It’s pervasive in our culture and workplace. There are no boundaries or profanity ceiling. In water-cooler jokes and conversations with students and colleagues, usually their first or second sentence or fragment will set the profanity tone for the dialogue, hopefully not the barrage of filthy, Tarantino-type language. (NOTE: Quinton Tarantino’s Motto—“No Profanity Left Behind.”)
EXAMPLES: This "blue material" appears in all forms of media. What used to be considered the language of police officers, soldiers, athletes, and stand-up comedians is now used regularly by most comedians, foulmouthed TV cops and perpetrators (Law & Order: SVU, CSI: NY, NCIS, The Closer, Reno 911!), lawyers (The Good Wife), doctors (House, Grey’s Anatomy), and school kids (South Park). Movies rated PG-13 and worse are larded with gratuitous profanity. YouTube videos run the gamut.
LEVEL OF DISCOURSE: This coarsening of media in our culture suggests that nothing is sacrosanct. However, despite the increasing frequency of profane language around us, its use in the classroom is unnecessary and inappropriate. It cannot be bleeped out of your lecture or conversation with students. Whenever it occurs, its crudity debases the level of discourse and the “discourser.”
Please consider what you say and how you say it. Your students are always listening. Be creative in your use of our language and stretch your vocabulary, and, maybe even, encourage your students to do the same. Consider the plethora of unusual words you can use to express your elation or discontent. Don’t stoop to the lowest common denominator.
Next up is vulgarity. We’re coming to the end of this series on offensive humor and media. WHEW!
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
SEXUAL CONTENT AND INNUENDO
Sometimes our thoughts just travel down this road naturally. That’s what evil minds do. For many of you, these naughty trips may be more frequent than for others. They can be stimulated by the bombardment of media that permeates so much of what we see, hear, and do or over-advertised medications you may be taking. Our students are exposed to these same stimuli.
MEDIA BOMBARDMENT: This topic is the core of many stand-up routines by comedians who appear on HBO, Showtime specials, and Comedy Central. It is also the primary vehicle for many popular TV shows, such as Desperate Housewives, Private Practice, Cougar Town, Nip & Tuck, and Reno 911!, the syndicated Boston Legal and Sex and the City, a large proportion of R rated movies, and a bazillion YouTube videos.
CLASSROOM BOUNDARIES: Regardless of the gender composition of your class, sexual humor is out of bounds. Be sensitive to sexual comments and innuendo in the music and video clips you select to illustrate various types of content. It is up to you to place blocks on sexually-based material in any jokes, references, or media.
Try not to even think about it as you are lecturing. Move rapidly over anything suggestive. Students’ comments on what you say can get out of control very quickly. They take their cues from the way you handle everything in class, especially edgy issues. (Note: These guidelines do not apply in the same way to those of you who teach courses on human or rodent sexuality. You have even more problems to address.)
As the beloved Sgt. Phil Esterhaus of the classic TV series Hill Street Blues said every morning at the end of his precinct briefing of his police officers: “Let’s be careful out there!”
WORKPLACE BOUNDARIES: Read my letters: S E X U A L H A R A S S M E N T!! If adulterous, evil political, sports, and entertainment celebrities are your role models, get clinical help. Unless you want to be reprimanded, fired, sued, shot, or worse, don’t even think about it in jest with co-workers in your department—at meetings, at retreats, in training, in the elevator, at the water-cooler, in the storage closet, or in business travel or conferences. (ALERT: If you're not sure how to get in BIG trouble in these venues, watch reruns of Boston Legal.)
My next blog moves into the “locker room,” so to speak, with the use of profanity and vulgarity in the classroom and workplace. I know this is a topic near and dear to the hearts of a few of you who may see nothing wrong with that language on the job. You can dig your tongues in, but please remember that this blog material is not about you or me; it’s about your students and co-workers and the effects it can have on their learning and productivity, respectively. At least, think about it.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
RIDICULE
DESCRIPTION:It doesn’t get any nastier. Ridicule may be a jest that makes fun of someone sportively or good-humoredly, but usually it is intended to humiliate. It may consist of words and actions, such as scornful or contemptuous laughter. It is usually mean spirited and malicious, and may include sarcasm or other derisive, taunting, or jeering comments. Motives for and functions of this type of insult-humor may range from the actual expression of hostility to self-deprecation to ironic reversal, where the insult is turned around and used against the attacker.
EXAMPLES: In the popular comedy Meet the Parents, the character Greg Focker (played by Ben Stiller) was ridiculed throughout the movie by several hostile members of his fiancée’s family for being a male nurse and, at the end of the movie, for his real first name, Gaylord (“Gay Focker”).
Comedian, composer, author, and producer Mel Brooks describes the power of ridicule in his smash Tony-award winning Broadway musical The Producers. (Note: Brooks also produced movies with the same title preceding and succeeding the show.) In an interview on 60 Minutes with Mike Wallace (April 5, 2001), Brooks noted that the greatest form of revenge he could execute against Adolph Hitler is ridicule:
"How do you get even with him [Hitler]? There’s only one way to get even. You have to bring him down with ridicule…. If you can make people laugh at him [Hitler], then you’re one up on him. It’s been one of my lifelong jobs to make the world laugh at Adolph Hitler."
Brooks did just that in the show’s signature production number, “Springtime for Hitler.”
PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS: Any personal characteristic can be held up to ridicule. A foreign accent, a lisp, a stutter, an unusual gesture, and a physical disability represent common targets. For example, one of the lawyers on the defunct TV series Boston Legal, Jerry Espenson (played by Christian Clemenson, who was promoted to M.E. on CSI: Miami), had a condition known as Asperger’s Syndrome (a form of autism). In numerous episodes, he was ridiculed repeatedly by his colleagues and clients for his awkward and strange physical symptoms.
BOTTOM LINE: Ridiculing a student in the classroom or a faculty or staff member in a meeting to embarrass or humiliate that person is inexcusable. Be sensitive to unusual physical characteristics and disabilities. Try to understand their source and resist every temptation to ridicule them.
Next, I move on to sexual content and innuendo. Isn’t it amazing that blog time and words are being spent on these topics in an effort to raise your consciousness level about how you teach? Unless you’re willing to make mistakes like I did, your sensitivity to offensiveness needs to be fine-tuned, and, even then, you’ll probably offend. It is a constant battle with which I still struggle in my presentations. I hope these examples and descriptions are helpful.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
PUT-DOWNS
Ya gotta love ‘em. Most everybody does it. The put-down may be the most ubiquitous form of humor. Everywhere we look, from Leno to Conan (Where ever you are!) to Letterman, to images of professionals on sitcoms, to colleagues, and even to our closest friends and our families, the put-down is inescapable.
Check out the regular insults spewed by Dr. Gregory House (played by Hugh Laurie) at his colleagues, boss, associates, and patients on House. Lawyer Denny Crane (played by William Shatner) on the now defunct, but great, TV series Boston Legal was just as insensitive in his put-downs of racial and religious groups and people with physical disabilities.
DISPARAGEMENT HUMOR: Tendentious or disparagement humor belittles an individual or group that has been victimized, or that has suffered some misfortune or act of aggression. Sometimes it is rather harmless in the context of kidding around or teasing; at other times it can be mean, cruel, and hurtful, albeit a powerful weapon for verbal abuse. Freud believed this to be an important function of humor, allowing people to express aggressive and hostile feelings in a “socially acceptable” manner. There is even research evidence that people enjoy put-downs more when they have negative attitudes toward the victim.
Although there may be a time and a place for put-down humor, such as in those over-advertised videos of Friar’s Club Celebrity Roasts emceed by the late Dean Martin and others, the classroom is definitely not the place. Even recent versions of those roasts have become mean-spirited, profane, and vulgar.
HIGHER EDUCATION EXAMPLES: In higher education as elsewhere, the perpetrator is usually in a superior position in the organizational food chain compared to the victim. Since the victim, which is often the student, administrative assistant, TA, RA, or lower rank colleague, is already in a vulnerable position, the put-down by a lofty faculty member or dean can be devastating. This behavior is part of the bullying mentality and incivility in the workplace that is on the rise.
In the classroom and department, a faculty put-down may be followed by the words, “I was just joking” or “I was only kidding.” This is the typical “redeeming” strategy to get the faculty member off the hook for the direct hit (aka put-down insult). It never does redeem and never will. Anyone who does that should be reprimanded.
SPECIFIC TARGETS TO AVOID: I suggest you avoid the following specific targets of put-downs in all forms of media in the classroom and workplace:
• Popular, entertainment, or political personalities
• Race, ethnicity, culture, nationality, gender, religion, or sexual orientation
• Physical characteristics (e.g., fat, thin, short, tall, blonde, pregnant, bald, or all of the preceding)
• Physical disabilities or handicaps
• Mental handicaps or illnesses
Also, don’t even think about these put-downs of your students, administrative assistant, TA, RA, and colleagues.
ALTERNATIVE HUMOR: Creating humor that builds your students up rather than tearing them down is not easy. However, yielding to the temptation to tear down can produce the negative consequences described previously.
Are you having fun yet? Next topic is sarcasm, which is almost as much fun as put-downs. What do you think about these issues? Have you had experiences you would like to share? Please comment.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
IMPACT ON STUDENTS (continued)
My previous blog listed 6 possible negative effects of offending any student in your class. So what’s the impact?
DISCONNECT: Does the word disconnect come to mind? It should. It's the paragraph head. Those emotional effects can squash a student’s motivation and spirit. More importantly, a single offensive comment can irreparably damage your relationships with those offended students. If collaborative learning activities are an integral part of your teaching repertoire, that collaboration could be uncomfortable or impossible based on the offensive remarks you made to any student. That student may intentionally avoid you to minimize the chance of confrontation. This is an individual issue in each offense because what is offensive to one student may not be offensive to other students.
CONNECT: The aforementioned negative effects of offensive media content are exactly the opposite of the positive effects to accrue from many of the uses of media in the first place. One primary purpose of humor, music, and videos is to improve relationships and connections by leveraging content and media to which students can relate. For example, nonoffensive humor and media content can break down barriers, relax, open up, and reduce stress, tension, and anxiety to foster connections between you and your students. It can grab and maintain the students’ attention and ability to focus or refocus on a particular point.
BEST TEACHERS: Furthermore, consider the characteristics of the “best teachers.” Use of offensive material is inconsistent with some of the affective character attributes of effective teachers, such as sensitivity, caring, understanding, compassion, and approachability.
MAJOR CATEGORIES OF OFFENSIVE CONTENT
In the humor research literature, joke types usually fit the following themes: superiority, aggression, hostility, malice, derision, cruelty, disparagement, stupidity, sex, and ethnic put-downs. Is there anything positive or nonoffensive in that list? I don’t think so.
The problem is that these themes are also prominent in music, movies, music videos, YouTube, and other media products that we could potentially use in our classroom as teaching tools. For example, some music, videos, and comedy with big name performers carry warning labels of “Adult Content.” These media have become increasing risqué by attacking and maligning the police, women, and political and “establishment” figures and issues. They are also chock full of obscenities, profanities, vulgarity, and other crude and explicit language.
I’ve identified seven major categories of offensive content: (1) put-downs, (2) sarcasm, (3) ridicule, (4) profanity, (5) vulgarity, (6) sexual content and innuendo, and (7) sensitive personal experiences. This material appears in jokes, music lyrics, and video content.
My future blogs will address those 7 categories.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
WHAT IS OFFENSIVE?
Definition: It seems that we should know what is offensive when we see or hear it. We do, but it’s not that simple. Any medium that offends is based on an individual, subjective interpretation. Consider this definition:
Any word, object, or action that violates a person’s values, moral principles, or norms of behavior is offensive.
The operative word here is VIOLATION. A significant violation is what offends. The determination of that violation is very personal. You can not take a vote in your classroom and determine by a majority what is offensive to your students or not. It’s an individual, reflexive reaction. Ah, the plot thickens. Therein lies the difficulty of determining teaching material that could be offensive.
Examples: An example of violation is sexist jokes. They offend feminists because they stereotype and degrade women. Racist or ethnic humor offends people who are strongly committed to the principles of human dignity. Belching and other bodily sounds in comedies such as Shrek, The Nutty Professor, and Doctor Doolittle 2 offend many adults because such noises violate propriety; other adults and children find such behavior hilarious.
The level of attachment or commitment to principles may determine whether the medium is offensive. A violation of others, such as put-downs, does not produce as strong an attachment as a violation of oneself. Disparaging and vulgar lyrics about women in rap music and videos would constitute a personal violation to women. Lyrics, dialogue, and jokes at the expense of other people are more acceptable to performers than spewing put-downs of themselves. Why? Because they are much more committed to their own dignity and comfort than that of others.
IMPACT ON STUDENTS
When a student is offended by something we say, do, or present, he or she experiences this personal violation. What emotional effects are manifested from this offense? It can produce the following negative effects:
• Withdrawal
• Resentment
• Anger
• Tension
• Anxiety
• Turning off/tuning out
If we are offended by something we see on TV, in the movies, or at a concert and exhibit those reactions, we can turn it off or walk out. Our students have no where to go if they're offended by a YouTube clip we showed in class. They have to come back to class over and over again as they fester anger and resentment toward you. Quite possibly, you have lost those students for the semester and may not even be aware it.
My next blog will examine those responses further and suggest a few guidelines for minimizing the chances of these problems from occurring.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
DISCLAIMER: This blog series deals with censorship in the classroom. Despite our academic freedom, the issue here is exercising your best professional judgment and discretion to set boundaries on what material could offend students and destroy your classroom environment. It is not my intention to preach, but to inform based on 30 years of teaching statistics and measurement with what most faculty would consider over-the-top methods involving humor, a variety of media, and drama. I learned the hard way at the expense of several students along my journey. I hope these blogs will spare you and your students those lessons.
METASTASIS OF OFFENSIVE MATERIAL
Offensive material is metastasizing throughout our culture. It permeates every nook and cranny and is spreading into our classrooms. Consider the following:
WRITERS, DIRECTORS, AND PERFORMERS: We already know there are whack-jobs everywhere. But here I’m thinking of specific whacky writers, directors, and performers who have lost their minds. Hannibal Lecter has dined on their brains? Why do so many (a) stand-up comedians on Comedy Central and in comedy clubs, (b) writers for commercial media, TV, and movies, and (c) singers or rappers seem addicted to content that pushes the boundaries of profanity, vulgarity, sexuality, and political incorrectness, or is just plain out there to offend?
For example, Quinton Tarantino has become infamous for the barrage of filthy, profane language, violence, and sexuality in all of his movies. If there is a substantive message to be conveyed in one of his films that would be valuable to your students, should that clip be shown?
DON’T CULTURAL NORMS SET THE STANDARD? Rather than reflecting prevailing norms and tastes, some of the content in the products of our culture seem to be lowering them. The producers have trained consumers like our impressionable students and us to accept progressively lower standards of language and behavior. For example, many movies are edgy, cryptic, potty-mouthed dramas that mutilate the old proverbial envelope. This sinking of standards enables their work to stand out in an increasingly crowded field. Profits outweigh whatever criticism results. Falling standards, consequently, become self-fulfilling. Each new breach of the existing “standard” establishes a new, lower standard that comes to be seen as the norm, at least until the next breach.
You need to define what is potentially offensive and set explicit guidelines to prevent it from invading your classroom. The next blog will tackle a definition and then move on to identifying specific types of material.
It doesn’t matter whether you agree with the list I present. The decision you have to make to where you are going to draw the line—set the standards for your classroom. Every instructor may draw the line at a different point. That LINE is the over-riding bottom line for these blogs, if you ride over lines.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
ATTENTION, POWERPOINTERS!!
I recently Googled “PowerPoint,” “Presentations,” and “Conference Presentations” to make sure I am not spewing material you could obtain elsewhere. I’m NOT. However, I encourage you to peruse Microsoft’s recommendations and those by other “experts” on communication principles with PowerPoint.
THEIR INTENT is: To present a nice, neat, semi-interesting, professional presentation of important information.
OUR HERO’S INTENT is (Watch out! Are ya ready?): To deliver the same information while connecting, engaging, exciting, motivating, and, maybe even, inspiring your audience so that their presentation experience with you is unforgettable and the information memorable. Your audience should be on the edges of their uncomfortable seats, not relaxed and passive in a beach lounger. That’s kinda like teaching, but without the students, although I recommend the same approach in the classroom.
DISCLAIMER:
My suggestions in these blogs will blow the traditional PowerPoint recommendations to smithereens. Will I violate the rules? You bet. They will be shredded, ground into pulp, and smashed into PowerPoint road kill. (Note: I apologize for the violence in this disclaimer. Sometimes I get carried away.) For example, I tried the recommended traditional, one color slide-same font approaches. Guess what? The slides were as boring as the content on them. (Sidebar: As a former freelance photographer, I learned early on that if a picture doesn’t elicit some feeling [positive or negative] by the viewer, then it should be discarded as ineffective.)
NEW RULE FOR POWERPOINT: That rule should apply to our PowerPoint slides. Our audience should be emotionally involved in our presentation. That begins with the slides. A spiritless, unemotional reaction to our slides is totally unacceptable. If my strategy is making you nervous or you already started throwing up in this 1st paragraph, you might want to get a vomit bag or close this blog.
BERK'S GOAL: To arm you with the tools to create break-the-mold presentations, not create a moldy audience as they drift into a coma.
BERK'S AUDIENCE ASSUMPTIONS: I assume every audience to whom I present has better things to do with its valuable time than attend my session. The cynics and know-it-alls are thinking: “Tell me something I DON’T already know.” The students probably have the attention span of goat cheese and mentally operate at “twitch speed.”
THE CHALLENGE: Open the presentation with a bang and sustain that bang or you’ll lose them. It’s opening night on Broadway!
7. SIMPLE VISUALS
The research evidence to support the power of images and the value of tapping visual/spatial intelligence has been well documented. Images stick in people’s memories. They can also have a profound emotional impact. Adding visual images to your PowerPoint can radically change the meaning of the content and how much your audience learns and remembers.
Your strategy for considering images should be to review each content slide and answer this question: WHAT IMAGE COULD BE USED TO MAKE THE POINT OF THIS CONTENT CLEAR AND MEMORABLE?
CREATE A POOL OF IMAGES: There are at least 3 categories of simple images available for use: (1) pictures, (2) cartoons, and (3) graphics.
a. Pictures—Begin with personal and professional pictures related to the content. Then Google free pictures floating in cyberspace.
b. Cartoons—If you want to infuse a little jocularity into your presentation, here’s your first opportunity. Consider both single panel and multipanel cartoons.
c. Graphics—There are buckets of clip-art/artwork in a variety of forms that can be used to illustrate different content.
EDIT THE IMAGES: Once you’ve assembled a pool of possible images to include in your presentation, you need to EDIT according to specific criteria:
(1) Emotional Impact—If the image doesn’t elicit a feeling by the viewer, it can be just as boring as dead words on the screen. What affect do you want to the image to elicit? What's its emotional outcome?
(2) Intellectual Impact—What does the image contribute beyond the content already presented? What increment in information does it provide? What’s its unique purpose?
(3) Offensiveness—Make sure there is nothing about the image that can offend anyone in your audience. Test it out on several colleagues or students. If you have any doubts, DON’T USE IT!
Pick only the BEST images for the final cut. Colleagues can be very helpful in providing impartial, first impression reactions to the images. Images do not require explanations; they should have immediate in-your-face positive impact if they’re doing their job.
My next blog will cover how to insert your picks into PowerPoint and test their effectiveness.
COPYRIGHT © 2009 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
Jokes about placing your oxygen mask on your child's face, seatbelts, FAA regs for landing, landing the aircraft, etc.? Are you kidding me? Are jokes appropriate on an airline flight? According to SA, you bet they are. They’re part of Southwest’s “casual” branding or image, along with singing, wearing shorts, the Southwest hokey pokey and the flight announcement rap on YouTube, funny hats on Halloween, “Adopt a Pilot” program, and other behaviors that have helped build an enormous client base.
No other airline regularly engages in these behaviors. Of course, occasionally, some comedian on US Airways, Delta, or Northwest might provide a winner, but it’s rather rare. Typically, it’s all business formal and serious. Sound familiar? Is business casual with humor unprofessional? That’s for you to decide. Which airline has been the most profitable? Take a wild guess. Granted, there are several factors that have contributed to that success, including a single aircraft and cost; however, the humor has made a significant customer-relations impact. Ask anyone who flies Southwest regularly.
I have written extensively on the topic of offensive humor in my books and articles. If you skim through the flight attendants’ jokes, I think you will notice that most are self-deprecating. They poke fun at their own practices and mistakes. None is a put-down of passengers or mean-spirited attack of their competitors. On every one of my flights, the joke or song has produced laughter and enthusiastic applause throughout the cabin. You be the judge. Below are a few of my FAVES. Google “Southwest Airlines flight attendant jokes” for loads of sites for other jokes. Enjoy.
During Preparation for Take-Off
“Welcome aboard Southwest Flight whatever. To operate your seatbelt, insert the metal tab into the buckle, and pull tight. If you don’t know how to operate a seatbelt, you probably shouldn’t be out in public unsupervised.”
“In the event of a sudden loss in cabin pressure, margarine cups will descend from the ceiling. Stop screaming, grab the cup, and pull it over your face. If you are traveling with two small children, decide now which one you love more.”
After a Very Hard Landing
“Ladies and gentlemen, please remain in your seats with your seatbelts fastened as our captain taxis what’s left of our aircraft to the gate.”
“We ask you to please remain seated as Captain Kangaroo bounces us to the terminal.”
Let me know your reaction to these jokes and Southwest’s behaviors. I fly them frequently and look forward to their shenanigans. Maybe you do too. What a breath of fresh air from the stuffiness of the other airlines, plus I get to use words like "shenanigans" in my blog.
COPYRIGHT © 2009 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
