Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. But few people practice this. Until we become nicer people, there will be no peace in this world.
Kirk Douglas
A
Triumph of the Spirit: a Tribute to Kirk Douglas, June 2002
YouTube.com From
the “Sunday Morning” archives: Hollywood Legends 40:30
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No self-respecting presenter or instructional designer would
ever willingly overload a slide. And yet… somehow, we all get roped into
it. Maybe we’re only allowed a single slide in a shared presentation or
something. The single slide gets five points to cover. (Here’s my sarcasm
showing: just try and tell me it’s never happened to you.)
There’s the presenter droning on for ten minutes displaying a
slide with nothing happening on it. And the audience’s attention? It’s wandering
all over the slide trying to find its place. Or… it’s wandering off the slide
trying to get away from this place.
It’s a clunky hack (but worth it) to highlight the point you’re
talking about. The highlight could be a box or an arrow or anything to point
out what the current topic is. Yes, we’d rather have separate slides for each
segment, but we have to make do in the real world.
Recently, we had a company-wide town hall webcast. It was a
video call from headquarters. We noticed that each of the executive speakers
had a popular song playing as they approached the stand. So, in our team’s follow-up
conference call, we indulged in choosing our own “walk-up songs” for when we’re
called up to speak. I blurted out “You’ve Got a Friend in
Me,” from the Toy Story movies. After the initial laughter, my colleagues
seemed to agree that it was a suitable song for me. “Great,” I thought sarcastically.
“I just revealed myself as being NICE.” (Though that’s no big revelation.)
But niceness is not a weakness. It’s confident, supportive,
civil, and persuasive. It’s also pleasant and friendly. I made informal
observations of my educator/instructional designer colleagues. Along with their
high organization and creativity traits, a lot of them have
mentoring/shepherding traits. I suppose
it helps to be nice when you’re teaching something. (I know that’s not a hard
and fast rule. Some content demands a disciplined mind for it to be learned.) Being
nice doesn’t exclude me from my career crowd, though. It seems to go with the
territory.
So, don’t shy away from being nice. It’s a superpower. And,
by the way, you’ve got a friend in me.
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We all know how putting our best foot forward can tie us
into knots. At times, it's simply discouraging. We also know that the main goal
is landing that role that fits. We focus on that at the expense of all else.
But wait, there's more. I'm way impressed with the caliber
of the people I meet along the way.
Whether or not I land the position, there are people I want to associate
with. I may be some kind of weird social butterfly, but I've connected with
folks who have turned me down for jobs I was applying to. (Surprise! You
thought you were done with me!)
Sometimes that has paid off in the long run, leading to
future roles. Mostly not. But having friendships and positive contacts are
their own reward. They enrich both my professional and my personal life.
But wait, there's more. I'm way impressed with how my
current friends and colleagues rally around to alert me to openings that I may
miss otherwise... besides enriching both my professional and my personal life.
You get a huge, heartfelt thank you!
Maybe I'm stretching to see a silver lining, but I think I
found a couple.
For the last ten years I've been working as an instructional designer in the health care field. In that area, privacy and security are high priorities. So, I was unable to copy examples of my work for a proper portfolio. So, I mocked up some example slides without using my former employers' assets.
