Month: November 2012

PR/Business/Journalism Students

Garth Beyer

While in school you accomplish a lot, some of a lot of value, more so of little value, but you still complete a plethora of tasks. Traditionally speaking, the largest achievement is acquiring a degree.

I beg to differ.

The largest achievement is you starting your own business, releasing your first product, building a sales team, creating an online store, or transforming fans into a tribe that kickstarts your passion. All of which can easily be done by one method.

Find a way to get together with other students in a focus group. Schedule one meeting a week that is one to three hours long. Brainstorm. Simple as that.

You start to do that your freshman, sophomore, junior and possibly even senior year of college and you will, without a doubt, have achieved something far greater, overwhelmingly valuable, and more remarkable than a degree at the end of your time there.

There are other passionate people waiting to meet you.                                                            Call out to them, organize, and create.

 

Start Schooling Dreams (Speech)

Garth Beyer

A few weeks ago, with my upcoming (now partially released) eBook, Start Schooling Dreams, I presented a speech to my Toastmasters club on three chapters of SSD.

Responses: “Fantastic & engaging. Excellent job w/ including the entire audience.” I even curved some mindsets of people who regard themselves as true “schoolies.” Above all, every single person couldn’t help but note my passion for it. I truly am passionate about improving school/education/learning, whatever you want to title it. Without further ado, here is my speech. (I’ll start videotaping them from now on.)

 

*Welcoming Applaus*

Alright, I’m going to ask you just a couple questions and I reallllly want you to raise your hand to answer.

How many of you have a passion for something?

How many of you found this passion, whether it is just a hobby or an actual job, from school?

It’ll be easier for you all to see if I asked it this way, how many of you developed your passion outside of school?

Yes this speech is partially about where you find your passion, but more about where you don’t find it; school.

One more question, let’s imagine this room being occupied by a real teacher and packed with real students. And the teacher asks a question, how many of you are passionate about this class? *No hands go up… people laugh at the realization*

Education is racing … to the bottom.  And I want to cover three points out of my 35,000 word manifesto I’ve written called Start Schooling Dreams. Since the Pygmalion affect, impatience, and accidents are three separate chapters in my book, I’m going to make it easy for you to catch my transitions.

Whenever I ask you a new question, I’m going to lead into the next topic and I’ll expect you to acknowledge by raising your hands or nodding your head. Does that sound fair enough? [Yes… that was a question]

Pygmalion Effect

I took a sociology class a couple of years ago and I loved it. Particularly, I loved asking questions in the class. Not just any questions, specific types of questions. Questions that couldn’t be answered, questions that made you think. But one day, I asked a question thinking I was being sly again, but I got an answer back. And that answer still scares me to this day.

We were learning about the Pygmalion effect, also known as the Rosenthal effect. It refers to the observable fact that the greater the expectation of a student, the better they perform.

I raised my hand during one sociology lesson and asked my question …

“Are teachers taught about the Pygmalion effect?”

I wasn’t the only one shocked at the answer, all the students and even the teacher were taken aback.

Am I wrong to think that a single teacher can’t have a powerful and positive expectation of only 30 students?

I have seen teachers tell other teachers how a student is a bad student, how they don’t listen, or that they aren’t very smart. I have also seen the teacher whom that was told to, change their behavior toward that student when she entered their class. As a result? The student became worse, listened less and became – dare I say it – even dumber.

All the while, the few “bright” students got brighter because the teachers challenged them and expected them to be “perfect” students.

Want to create passionate learners in school? Expect passionate learners.

Want to expect passionate learners? Hire teachers who understand the Pygmalion effect.

Impatience

Who here is impatient?

Wonderful, I admire that. Impatience is a valuable talent to have and it’s a hard talent to acquire when going to school because school initiates patience. You have to be patient and wait to get to the next lesson and you have to wait until the class you really love that starts at 2:00pm. Worst of all, you have to wait until the class you despise is over. Day after day.

The most successful people on the planet can’t handle being patient. Younger versions of the most successful people in the world will, instead of memorizing facts in the class, exchange it with practicing their passion, planning to ship their product their letter, their art, and so on.

Teachers are meant to spark impatience but so few do. Out of the 30 plus teachers I’ve had, only one has wanted all the students to learn, to dream, to find and go after their passion. Only one out of 14+ years of school.

The need of the student isn’t to learn information; it’s to be motivated to learn it and the best way to motivate that is to spark impatience.

Accidents And Questions

Which came first, the dumb caveman or the fire?

Either way, the discovery of fire was an accident but that accident made a dumb caveman look smart – of course, after it made him seem dumb for touching it and burning himself.

What matters is that breakthroughs used to happen very often. It has died down, not because of everything that can be discovered has, but because we reprimand those who make accidents or constantly ask questions.  Without the curiosity and the mistakes of the caveman, we may never have evolved into who we are today.

The biggest successes in history were accidents or resulted from consistent questioning.

I found two great examples to share with you.

Will Keith Kellogg had accidentally left some boiled wheat sitting out and it went stale. Instead of throwing it away, Will and his brother Dr. John Harvey Kellogg put it through the rollers to make long sheets of dough. Once it went through, they realized the dough had turned into flakes which they decided to toast. Soon after, they chose to run the same experiment with corn and in 1906 the Kellogg’s company was created, along with the internationally known Corn Flakes.

Richard James, a naval engineer attempted to invent a spring that would stabilize the sensitivity of ships equipment. When a spring he had worked on fell off a shelf and continued moving away, the idea was sparked. With help from his wife, they decided to name the invention Slinky and have sold over 270 million globally.

Scientists, engineers, philosophers and alike, all became famous due to the questions they posed and accidents made. They would ask why until they either found an answer or created one.

Setting things on fire and seeing what happens is helpful too. If you think about it, you can’t be smart until you are dumb.

Now that we know what it means to be smart, what is success?

School is all about success but it’s taught us to love success instead of teaching us of what we are doing. School has said, “Here is success, follow this curriculum to get it.” When school really needs to be saying, “Where is success? How will you get there? How can I help?”

In school, the result holds significance. At the end of life though, is it the results we have attained that makes it a life worth lived, a significant life, one that was lived to the fullest?

Or at the end of life, is it the journey, the actions we took, the decisions we made, the experience we accumulated, the adventure we enjoyed and the understanding of it all that makes life, well, … Life.

The definition school has for “success” is all too wrong. And I knowing the Pygmalion effect, sparking impatience, and creating an environment open for accidents and failure are just three ways education can begin to change for the better. Let’s race to the top.

 

Stay Positive & If You Haven’t Already …Here Are The First 14 Chapters!

Garth E. Beyer

Commonly Misused/Misspelled Words

Garth Beyer

1. That, Which

Google is a search engine that newspapers cannot ignore.

Les Hinton is publisher of the Wall Street Journal, which operates a pay model on its site.

** Which is often used for extra clarification on something in a sentence.

 

2. While

While advertising executives desperately search for the best ways to target audiences through Facebook and Twitter, there’s another social media format that is proving to be a highly effective tool for reaching consumers. [Incorrect] (Text pulled from Website Magazine, March 9, 2010)

Advertising executives desperately search for the best ways to target audiences through Facebook and Twitter. Now, there’s another social media format that proves to be a highly effective tool for reaching consumers. [Correct]

** Using “while” at the beginning of a sentence will often create a run-on sentence with too many parts.

 

3. Over, More than

The builders put an awning over the roof.
Website Magazine has more than 140,000 readers nationwide.

** “Over” is spatial. “More than” relates to quantity.

 

4. Too many verbs

City officials will work with the DNR to try to obtain a state grant. [Incorrect]

City officials will work with the DNR to obtain a state grant. [Correct]

(Text pulled from Northside News, Feb/March 2010 issue)

** Too many verbs confuse the reader and add words that take up space.

 

5. Its, They

The Northside Planning Council will hold its next meeting on Feb. 24.

The boys are going to play basketball with their friends.

(Text pulled from Northside News, Feb/March 2010 issue)

** “Its” is used for things. “Their” is used for people.

 

6. Insure, Ensure

To ensure the event went well, we prepared for 150 people.

The company was insured against losses.

** “Ensure” guarantees events and conditions. “Insure” is used in reference to finances.

 

7. Effect, Affect

John’s new position affected the future of his students. The effect was long-term.

** “Effect” is often used as a noun (effective). “Affect” is often used as a verb (influence).

 

8. Then, Than

Lucy is better than Ethel because she’s funny.

If I go running this morning, then I can eat cake.

** “Than” is used to indicate difference. “Then” means next or consequently.

 

9. Can, Able to

By using a real-time Web search engine, you are able to see the day’s hot topics. [Incorrect] (Text pulled from Website Magazine, March 9, 2010)

By using a real time Web search engine, you can see the day’s hot topics. [Correct]

 

10. Media, Medium

Do the media need to pay attention to the Web?

The Wisconsin State Journal is one medium.

** “Media” is the plural form of medium. Many mediums are media.

 

Other words

  • Every day, Everyday
  • Just, Only – replace “just” with “only”
  • Got, gotten – they aren’t words so don’t use them
  • They, Their, They’re
  • Your, You’re
  • Loose, Lose
  • Choose, Chose
  • Misspelled – this word has two Ss
  • Definitely – often misspelled
  • Embarrassed – this word has two Rs and two Ss
  • Vacuum – often misspelled
  • Very – often not needed so remove it

Commonly misused punctuation

1. Spacing after period

One space after a period. Previous rule of two spaces was due to typewriters.

2. Ellipses

We will always remember John … oh the memories.

** Ellipses are sometimes used to show emphasis. If used, there should be one space between the word and the start of the ellipses, and another space after the ellipses.

3. Semicolon

It was hot and sunny outside; Johnny went to the pool.

** Use a semicolon when putting two clauses (thoughts) together in a sentence. Oftentimes you can replace the semicolon with a period.

4. Comma

Once the year comes to an end, most of us anticipate receiving tax refunds.

Johnny likes soccer, basketball, baseball and swimming.

** Use commas when there is a pause in the sentence. If you say the sentence aloud, and there is a natural break, add a comma where the break occurs. Also use commas when listing things.

5. Punctuation in quotes

The instructor is providing information on “commonly misused punctuation.”

The instructor is providing information on “commonly misused punctuation,” and giving examples.

Consumers in online forums post such targeted questions as, “What should I look for in a laptop?”

Does Dr. Williams always say to his students, “You must work harder”?

** This is the most often misused form of punctuation. Periods and commas ALWAYS go inside quotations. Other forms of punctuation are only used inside the quotations if it’s part of the text that is being quoted. If it is not, then it is used OUTSIDE the quotes. Also, only put quotations around text that is pulled directly from something. Don’t use quotations for emphasis.

 

Thanks to @MaureenAlley for creating this.

Advertising: Who Is The Real Persuader?

Garth Beyer

If you think that advertisers are there to persuade you, you may want to think again. In another excellent documentary by Douglas Rushkoff titled The Persuaders, published in 2004 by FRONTILINE, Rushkoff dives into the advertising world to explore “how the cultures of marketing and advertising have come to influence not only what Americans buy, but also how they view themselves and the world around them.”

The more messages advertisers create, the more resistant we, as consumers, become. It’s a paradox that at some point must crumble. There is only so much room on the planet to place an advertisement and I would say that advertisers will be maxed out on space within five years if they don’t change their ways or we don’t change our minds. Out of the hundreds of years of advertising, it’s unlikely they will change their minds. In The Persuaders, we learn that advertisers aren’t necessarily trying to get us to consume their product, they are trying to get us to change our minds; about life, about conformity, about individuality, about power, and anything meaningful.

Advertisers realize that once they are in the game, they can’t stop; they must continue to bombard possible consumers with reminders, not to buy their product, but to buy their brand. Take Tide for example, it’s not about getting clothes clean anymore. You can buy any laundry detergent and it will do the job. What they advertise for is that you buy your way into their brand, into the tribe of Tide users, into the idea that “Tide Knows Fabric Best,” so you know best.

By now you may be thinking that none of what has been said offers support to the assumption that advertisers aren’t here to persuade you. That is exactly what advertisers want; they want you to know less about yourself and more about what you can be, feel, and think by buying what they offer. What it comes down to is that we see the advertisements that we want to associate ourselves with. We don’t want to have just a Mac computer; we want to have the feeling of luxury and the title of “early innovator” as all Mac users have. Advertisements aren’t here to persuade us, they are there for us to persuade ourselves. We convince ourselves that this is the image we want of ourselves – Mac user – or maybe you want to feel like an upper-class badass, so you buy a BMW. We see the advertisements we want, we persuade ourselves.

Start Schooling Dreams

Garth Beyer

Yes, it’s finally finished, but I can’t give it all away at once.

 

In light of three events,

1. Today is my birthday and I want to give you all a gift.

2. This is my 300th post, which means that this is important (to me and you).

3. I never pass up a chance to express the impact Seth Godin has made on me. He persuaded me to write and share my thoughts on education.

 

Below you can click to download the PDF version of the first 14 chapters of my upcoming eBook Start Schooling Dreams.

Start Schooling Dreams Ch. 1-14

 

Stay Positive & Next Week I Will Release Another Batch Of Chapters

Garth E. Beyer

 

If you would like to get the second batch of chapters early, email thegarthbox@gmail.com

World’s Greatest Branding Motto

World’s Greatest Branding Motto

Garth Beyer

“create loyalty beyond reason”

To elaborate, making your lovemark is to bring something forth that was not originally there. That “something” being committment; not an average level of commitment, but commitment that surpasses any predisposed beliefs or judgements.

Learning From The Music Industries Failures And Recent Flailings To Stay Alive

Garth Beyer

I’m guilty.

Being a millennial, I have to accept a sliver of the blame for the continuous downfall of the music industry. However, going into the world of journalism, print media, and digital PR, I hope to apply what I learned from the downfall of the music industry so that other media industries can adapt and overcome.

I am not applying what I have learned to specifically save any piece of a media industry. No. I am aiming to create a new business model for them to adapt and prosper with. I’ve understood a few factors that I think other media industries can learn from the music industry to help them progress through the 21st century.

The first is that there is a lack of great music which often gets confused with “commercial.” You can find great music all day every day, there is evidently a surplus. That’s because so many musicians try to be great in the commercial sense. When really, when a musician releases music that is remarkable, worth talking about and passing to a friend, then you have great music. Other media industries need to realize what it is that gets talked about. Is it the products they create for the mass, the commercial, the revenue?  Or is it the products they create for the passionate individual, the human inquirer, and the loud mouth?

A second factor involves looking at how musicians are making their money, not how the music industry is making money. Most musicians make little to nothing from selling CD’s, selling their work on iTunes, or any other form of technological distribution. They make their money from playing at venues, going on tour, collaborating with other musicians to play at a huge festival, and asking for direct donations from fans (most recently utilizing Kickstarter and other crowdfunding sources which I call devotedfanfunding). They don’t sell music anymore, they sell an experience. Once other media industries realize that producing content isn’t what will get them to survive, we may see them pick up and push forward, refusing to meet the same demise of the music industry.

The last variable is built from the previous experience concept. Other media industries must focus either on an individual or small group of like-minded individuals, tribes. You can no longer market to the mass; it’s proven ineffective, especially in the music industry. Think about all the music that is out there, presented to billions of people, yet the music industry is still crumbling. The factions of the music industry that are prospering are those groups which have faithful fans. People come together to connect with other fans, synchronously sing the lyrics, and exchange what next event of the musicians they will be going to. It’s the tribes that are keeping the music industry alive, shifting, and possibly raising it back on its feet.

Other media industries need to realize these paramount shifts, these core variables if they wish to keep their industry going.