So you’re doing a workshop. And you explain a concept.
Then you ask the audience if they get it.
And the answer is usually in the affirmative.
Audience members get it—if you’ve done a good job of explaining the concept.
But they’ve only got it intellectually.
Because all you have to do is get them to do an exercise.
Get them to implement what you’ve just taught them.
And all hell will break loose.
They’ll make mistakes. They’ll do silly things that you just don’t expect.
And you’ll wonder…
Did they really get it?
No they didn’t.
Because one of the element of consumption is not just getting it, but implementing the concept.
And the best way to get someone to implement a concept is to isolate some of the components and then highlight them.
So the old becomes the new.
As this video below aptly (and very accurately) demonstrates.
Let the irony of this video not be lost on you.
7 responses so far ↓
1 Flora Morris Brown, Ph.D. // Sep 10, 2008 at 7:30 pm
I’ve struggled with this problem on one of my websites. I get calls and emails from folks asking for information that is already on my main sites or one of my sister sites.
I’ve provided links to the information on the home page, but some people still have difficulty going there. When I talk them through on the phone, it’s no problem. But it seems that on their own they want the info they seek to jump out at them. They don’t want to look left or right or scroll.
What to do?
2 Sean D'Souza // Sep 10, 2008 at 9:49 pm
One of the problems to ‘consumption’ is distraction. If whatever you’re presenting is like a buffet, people get lost—or at the very least distracted. Having too many links, or elements on a page can do that. Have Google Adwords down the side of the side, can do that.
There’s a massive difference between a meal served at a French Cafe and a buffet.
The difference is what cause the lack of confusion.
3 Mary Elaine Kiener // Sep 11, 2008 at 8:50 am
Sean–not exactly sure what you meant by “irony”–unless it was that one of YOUR questions actually prompted them to make the videocast.
4 Sean D'Souza // Sep 11, 2008 at 11:16 am
Oh, I should have explained. The irony of this video is that SnagIt got hundreds of requests for new features.
And those features had existed for a long time (even on earlier versions of Snag It). It was ironical that many users weren’t even aware of these features, and were suggesting that Snag It add these features to new versions of Snag It.
That’s what’s ironical.
And that’s what caused Snag It to create this video. And to their credit, they did it with good humour.
5 Mary Elaine Kiener // Sep 11, 2008 at 1:11 pm
I still thought it was pretty cool that they also answered YOUR question
6 Sean D'Souza // Sep 11, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Well, they’re pretty responsive. Snag It is PC-Based and I use it on all my PCs. But I told them to make Mac Tutorials (because they can), and because I do watch all my videos on my MacBook Pro (because the battery lasts 4:30 instead of a pathetic 1 hour or so on my PC laptop).
And they were responsive. They still haven’t made the videos, but it’s an ongoing conversation and it highlights consumption.
Just because your product is used in one medium (PC), doesn’t mean it’s not learned in another medium (Mac). What’s easy for them, is that they make stuff in Camtasia, so making a Flash file and a iTunes download is a matter of pressing a few buttons, instead of a whole new movie.
7 Sean D'Souza // Sep 11, 2008 at 3:01 pm
I didn’t notice they answered my question too.
That’s not why I posted the video. But how’s that for personalisation?
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