February 2013 – Jim Tigwell

The Birthday Party Theory of Personal Communication

We’re all busy. Our lives are saturated with events, information, and things to do, so many that it’s more common to feel that things are slipping through your fingers like a buttery sponge than that you have nothing to do (side note: If you don’t have anything to do, I can find something for you to do). Your message, whether it’s an event, a vote, a lesson, or an idea, has to penetrate the cloud of tasks and commitments a human carries around with them. Automation does not do that, it just adds to the cloud. It piles one more thing into it, more often an unwelcome intrusion than anything else. If you want to make sure you reach someone, you have to focus on them as a person. One way to do that is to think of it as a birthday party.

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February 28, 2013

Humans! Become passionate about education!

Social Media

Smashing Looms

This is one of those things that everyone in communications has to talk about at some point, preferably early on. I like to think of it as smashing your looms, after the fictional General Ned Ludd, but what it really means is that automation kills communication. Well, it wounds it gravely, and your messages will ultimately limp rather than leaping like they should.

Other things which are dead: this analogy.

Automation can be your greatest ally when communicating with large groups of people or when using a lot of different media, but it is an ally of the most insidious sort. It breeds a level of laziness which can poison your efforts in the long run. Today I will prove that this is the case. That is my mission.

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February 21, 2013

Weekly Update

A Novel Idea

I'm not writing a book. But I read one. I just finished The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green, and it's something else. I'm trying to fall in love with novels again, and if I keep finding books like this one, it's going to be easy. The best video I saw this week also comes from John Green, because he's apparently the center of my universe right now. He was in a Hangout with the President. The President of the United States. The idea that somebody who writes books and makes Youtube videos can meet with the President is…

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February 17, 2013

Social Media

Defining Engagement

It may be Valentine’s Day, but that’s not the kind of engagement I’m referring to. No, engagement is a really popular word right now. I thought about being a word snob and inventing my won hipster word for the same phenomenon, like “Ascultonation” (if you know the root of that, you might also be a word snob. Please feel free to use it), but engagement is exactly the right word for what you want. It describes the condition you’re trying to evoke down to a T. Engagement is more than talking at people, and it’s more than getting them to listen.

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February 14, 2013

Weekly Update

Where’s my Frakkin’ Video?

I know that’s what you’re asking. Well, I hope, anyway. I also hope you’re not a Cylon, because frakkin’ cylons. But the answer is both simple and awesome. I moved it. Partly because as I write this, I’m splitting up the video from last year’s Headshots from the Heart, and partly because I think it’s better to post the video during the week. Other up side? You get two videos, one with talking, and one with a song. For the most part. I’m gonna play it by ear, which is the best way to do it, I think.

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February 10, 2013