And it's not that people are immediately turned off when they hear about a new workshop they're required to attend (nothing like 4 hours in a room learning about speeches to really start the day off right!).
It's because of other people who teach public speaking skills and do dumb stuff like (no kidding -- I literally copy and pasted this from a professional speaking coach's blog):
"I use hats as an outline of my presentation. Let's say I was talking to a company about the past, present and future of their marketing. I might use one of those funny ball caps that has a long pony tail attached to it and talk about how when this company first started it was wild and carefree in it's marketing efforts.
I would put this funny cap on or have an audience member volunteer wear it. The humor really starts here and in many cases you don't have to say a word. The audience members may start picking on one of their male buddies who is bald or one of their short haired female colleagues who always wanted long hair."
Who thinks this is a good idea? What bald man out there wants to go to a workshop (on public speaking, no less) and get picked on to wear a stupid hat that a cheesy "public speaking coach" thought would add some visual interest to his presentation?
Puh-leeze.
It reminds me of that 80's movie where Sylvester Stallone saves the world with a strong arm and a backwards hat. Okay, he doesn't save the world, but he does bring an emotionally wrought and remarkably cheesy movie to a rather satisfying end . . .
1 comment:
Loved the post! What always surprises me about people like this who are so proud of their "creativity" (and hat illustrations) is that some company is paying them for this type of "insight." Huh? I suppose the BravoCCs of the world and other legit communication experts have nothing to worry about if this represents the competition.
Steve Hughes
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