Don't Bury the Lead
June 22, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
I recently attended an event at a world-famous sports arena. Upon leaving, I noticed a glossy flyer describing the arena's charity.
Unfortunately, I also noticed the flyer's content.
It buried the lead.
For this exercise, let's call the charity and arena XYZ Charity and Sports Arena respectively. Because XYZ Charity focuses on children, you would think the lead sentence would read something like this: XYZ Charity helps children in need.
Instead, the rather cold language on the actual flyer reads: XYZ Charity is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charity that works closely with all areas of Sports Arena, including [list of teams and television subsidiaries] "to make dreams come true for kids in crisis."
By the time I got through the 501(c)(3) designation and the list of a half-dozen areas of the Sports Arena, I was confused.
The message of helping kids got lost in the corporate-speak. The message I received was the number of organizations related to Sports Arena and an IRS label, not the inspiration I'm sure XYZ Charity wanted to trigger in me and other patrons.
The first sentence in writing -- any writing -- will set tone, attract interest, and create curiosity concerning the rest of the message. Take a cue from good news writing. Make the lead enticing so that the reader will want to read further.
david@davidkrell.com
I recently attended an event at a world-famous sports arena. Upon leaving, I noticed a glossy flyer describing the arena's charity.
Unfortunately, I also noticed the flyer's content.
It buried the lead.
For this exercise, let's call the charity and arena XYZ Charity and Sports Arena respectively. Because XYZ Charity focuses on children, you would think the lead sentence would read something like this: XYZ Charity helps children in need.
Instead, the rather cold language on the actual flyer reads: XYZ Charity is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charity that works closely with all areas of Sports Arena, including [list of teams and television subsidiaries] "to make dreams come true for kids in crisis."
By the time I got through the 501(c)(3) designation and the list of a half-dozen areas of the Sports Arena, I was confused.
The message of helping kids got lost in the corporate-speak. The message I received was the number of organizations related to Sports Arena and an IRS label, not the inspiration I'm sure XYZ Charity wanted to trigger in me and other patrons.
The first sentence in writing -- any writing -- will set tone, attract interest, and create curiosity concerning the rest of the message. Take a cue from good news writing. Make the lead enticing so that the reader will want to read further.
Corporate Communications and Social Media
June 13, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
Social media -- media where consumers, customers, and curiosity quenchers can interact with producers, distributors, and creators -- is here to stay.
Companies must adapt to the new paradigm of social media or otherwise increase the risk of damaging consumer relationships in an already fragile economy. The challenge intensifies if the company owns brands that rely on a personal relationship with the consumer, for example, children's entertainment.
Parents make the ultimate purchasing decision regarding children's entertainment in the household. Companies attempt to reach these consumers by investing time, money, and personnel resources to create elaborate product launches, marketing campaigns, and public relations strategies.
These methods all have their place in creating anticipation, building loyalty, and maximizing awareness. Old school methods communicate messages to media in the traditional sense, usually trade magazines (Hollywood Reporter, Ad Week) and consumer magazines (Parents).
Social media, however, allows the company to communicate directly with the consumer.
For example, a blog gives the company terrific flexibility in consumer relationships. In our scenario of a children's entertainment company, a blog can reinforce the company's brand values and reflect the parents' values. Because a blog may have opportunity for comments, the communication becomes a conversation directly with parents in the language they speak instead of the rather dry language used for press releases.
Additionally, a blog can provide information about children's safety, health, and education to reinforce the company's image of understanding the complex challenges involved in improving children's well-being.
Facebook also allows the company to build, maintain, and increase customer awareness of its brands. Besides giving information about the company's products, the company can create fun quizzes for the parents to find out which of the company's franchise characters match their respective personalities. Parents were once kids, too!
Also, when parents become Facebook fans of a character or the company, then the company has another outlet for immediate communication to customers.
Through awareness comes interest. Through interest comes decision. Through decision comes action. If this cycle is successfully repeated, customer loyalty increases.
Twitter requires more active maintenance of communications. In short, rapid-fire bursts of 140 words or less, the company can keep "followers" informed of deals, upcoming product launches, and reviews.
The responsibility for maximizing the value of social media falls squarely on the corporate communications team. The team needs to be proficient in three key areas:
1) History
Because the corporate communications staff comprises the "face" of the company in communicating with the media, staff, and consumers, it must show deep knowledge about the company. It begins with the history, particularly when the company revives brands. For example, when Warner Brothers released the film Batman in 1989, it was the first major relaunch of the property since the 1960's television show Batman starring Adam West. Warner Brothers heavily promoted the rich history of the Batman property in comic book reissues, press releases, and news stories.
Accumulating knowledge about a company's property is a deep challenge. Institutional memory fades with layoffs, cutbacks, and lateral moves within the industry. Corporate communications staff must build its own institutional memory through a variety of sources. In the entertainment industry, for example, fan sites, books, and previous press releases will be helpful in addition to the memory of long-time employees who still work for the company.
However, all information must be vetted. Trust but verify. No corporate communications staff member wants to be challenged because the information represented is false, incomplete, or misleading.
2) Listening
Corporate communications staff will represent the company's message, brand, and values to consumers, trade media, and mass media. However, different divisions in the company will have different priorities. Consequently, the elusive skill of active listening is an invaluable asset. Corporate communications professionals must incorporate the needs of the respective divisions and the company as a whole in its communication strategies.
3) Crafting a Message
Ultimately, the corporate communications team will have to craft a message. It can be a speech by the CEO to an industry group. It can be a press release touting a product launch. It can be an update about deals on Twitter.
Whatever the media, the corporate communications team needs to have a plan for each avenue of communication. What is the objective of sending the message? Who will be the voice of the company? What is the crisis communication plan?
Additionally, avenues of communication exist beyond courting editors in old media and consumers in digital social media. Executives can speak at industry conferences, author scholarly and mainstream articles in industry media, and speak to consumers at the grass roots level -- Kiwanis Club, Rotary Club, PTA, et. al.
In every case, though, corporate communications staff must have the writing, speaking, and networking skills necessary to ensure the message it sends is the message received.
david@davidkrell.com
Social media -- media where consumers, customers, and curiosity quenchers can interact with producers, distributors, and creators -- is here to stay.
Companies must adapt to the new paradigm of social media or otherwise increase the risk of damaging consumer relationships in an already fragile economy. The challenge intensifies if the company owns brands that rely on a personal relationship with the consumer, for example, children's entertainment.
Parents make the ultimate purchasing decision regarding children's entertainment in the household. Companies attempt to reach these consumers by investing time, money, and personnel resources to create elaborate product launches, marketing campaigns, and public relations strategies.
These methods all have their place in creating anticipation, building loyalty, and maximizing awareness. Old school methods communicate messages to media in the traditional sense, usually trade magazines (Hollywood Reporter, Ad Week) and consumer magazines (Parents).
Social media, however, allows the company to communicate directly with the consumer.
For example, a blog gives the company terrific flexibility in consumer relationships. In our scenario of a children's entertainment company, a blog can reinforce the company's brand values and reflect the parents' values. Because a blog may have opportunity for comments, the communication becomes a conversation directly with parents in the language they speak instead of the rather dry language used for press releases.
Additionally, a blog can provide information about children's safety, health, and education to reinforce the company's image of understanding the complex challenges involved in improving children's well-being.
Facebook also allows the company to build, maintain, and increase customer awareness of its brands. Besides giving information about the company's products, the company can create fun quizzes for the parents to find out which of the company's franchise characters match their respective personalities. Parents were once kids, too!
Also, when parents become Facebook fans of a character or the company, then the company has another outlet for immediate communication to customers.
Through awareness comes interest. Through interest comes decision. Through decision comes action. If this cycle is successfully repeated, customer loyalty increases.
Twitter requires more active maintenance of communications. In short, rapid-fire bursts of 140 words or less, the company can keep "followers" informed of deals, upcoming product launches, and reviews.
The responsibility for maximizing the value of social media falls squarely on the corporate communications team. The team needs to be proficient in three key areas:
1) History
Because the corporate communications staff comprises the "face" of the company in communicating with the media, staff, and consumers, it must show deep knowledge about the company. It begins with the history, particularly when the company revives brands. For example, when Warner Brothers released the film Batman in 1989, it was the first major relaunch of the property since the 1960's television show Batman starring Adam West. Warner Brothers heavily promoted the rich history of the Batman property in comic book reissues, press releases, and news stories.
Accumulating knowledge about a company's property is a deep challenge. Institutional memory fades with layoffs, cutbacks, and lateral moves within the industry. Corporate communications staff must build its own institutional memory through a variety of sources. In the entertainment industry, for example, fan sites, books, and previous press releases will be helpful in addition to the memory of long-time employees who still work for the company.
However, all information must be vetted. Trust but verify. No corporate communications staff member wants to be challenged because the information represented is false, incomplete, or misleading.
2) Listening
Corporate communications staff will represent the company's message, brand, and values to consumers, trade media, and mass media. However, different divisions in the company will have different priorities. Consequently, the elusive skill of active listening is an invaluable asset. Corporate communications professionals must incorporate the needs of the respective divisions and the company as a whole in its communication strategies.
3) Crafting a Message
Ultimately, the corporate communications team will have to craft a message. It can be a speech by the CEO to an industry group. It can be a press release touting a product launch. It can be an update about deals on Twitter.
Whatever the media, the corporate communications team needs to have a plan for each avenue of communication. What is the objective of sending the message? Who will be the voice of the company? What is the crisis communication plan?
Additionally, avenues of communication exist beyond courting editors in old media and consumers in digital social media. Executives can speak at industry conferences, author scholarly and mainstream articles in industry media, and speak to consumers at the grass roots level -- Kiwanis Club, Rotary Club, PTA, et. al.
In every case, though, corporate communications staff must have the writing, speaking, and networking skills necessary to ensure the message it sends is the message received.
Peace Is Conflict Management
June 11, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
When I was a senior in college deciding where to attend law school, I visited Pepperdine University School of Law in Malibu, California. An invitation from Pepperdine for an orientation triggered the visit. My knowledge of the area consisted of Baywatch frequently showing scenes from Malibu and Pepperdine hosting the classic sports event Battle of the Network Stars.
My first solo trip -- no family or friends. I only vaguely remember the cross-country plane ride, the hotel, and the Pepperdine faculty whom I met.
Although I did not ultimately attend Pepperdine, I did learn a valuable lesson during the orientation. A faculty member closed his presentation on lawyers and negotiation by saying, Peace is not the absence of conflict. Peace is the management of conflict.
When I was an in-house counsel at an entertainment company, a gentleman approached the company with artwork of a famous character owned by the company. His father created the artwork for character merchandise in the 1940's. Although the artwork was in pristine condition, we clarified, emphasized, and repeated our intellectual property rights to the character. Translation: You can't merchandise this artwork without our permission. Corollary: Let's make a deal.
Managing the conflict led to a deal. The client did not have intellectual property rights. The company did not have the artwork. Neither side could exploit the artwork without the consent, compromise, and acknowledgement of each other.
Consider this fictional scenario with real-life implications, counterparts, and challenges. A fictional character is the subject of a short story written as a promotional giveaway for a department store in 1945. A song written about the character debuts in 1950. A 1965 cartoon featuring the character and the song becomes the best-known incarnation of the character. The beginning credits indicate the cartoon is based on the song.
If the company owns the copyright to the cartoon but the songwriter's heirs own the rights to the song upon which the cartoon bases, then who has the merchandising rights to the cartoon version of the character? Logically, one would think the company that owns the cartoon will control the merchandising rights associated with it.
Each side will stake its claim to rights through torturous, sometimes byzantine avenues of legal argument, theory, and chains-of-title. In some cases, original contracts may not exist. So, the challenge intensifies because the starting point for rights clarification begins not at the beginning but at the date of the first existing document -- contracts, letters, memoranda, affidavits, court filings.
Let's say a licensee approaches the company with a deal for a snow globe featuring the character. A week later, the licensee revises the deal proposal to include a turnkey that plays the aforementioned song. What was once a standard licensing deal now becomes more complex. If you are the attorney for the company, do you notify the owners of the song? If so, who will be responsible for quality control of the product? What will the royalty breakdown be between the company and the song owners? Who will be the point person responsible for negotiating with the licensee? These vital questions have the undercurrent of conflict that must be addressed, clarified, and managed if each side wants to realize a deal.
Again, peace is not the absence of conflict. Peace is the management of conflict. For either side, management of a business relationship requires traits beyond legal and business acumen -- stamina, people skills, quest for compromise where each side will benefit. These are the traits they don't tell you about in law school. Some lawyers are born with them. Some lawyers acquire them. Some lawyers ignore them, ultimately to the detriment of their relationships with other members of the bar.
Consider the case of Leonard Goldenson as an example of excellence in conflict management. In 1953, Leonard Goldenson was an entertainment lawyer who bought a ragtag group of stations from Life Savers king Edward Noble and built it into the powerhouse television network ABC.
Because the entertainment industry's engine relies on the fuel of content, Mr. Goldenson had to be nimble, creative, and courageous in taking risks.
In the early 1950's, Walt Disney needed seed money for his dream project -- Disneyland. No studio or bank would invest in Disney's idea.
Leonard Goldenson needed product for ABC. The two moguls struck a deal. ABC invested in Disneyland and Walt Disney provided the shows Disneyland and The Mickey Mouse Club.
The conflict for Disneyland was lack of money vs. innovative entertainment. The conflict for ABC was lack of product vs. already established networks NBC and CBS. By acknowledging their respective conflicts, each side managed them effectively. Each side needed something from the other. And each side agreed to fulfill those needs.
Leonard Goldenson and ABC also struck a deal with Warner Brothers to produce television shows for ABC. Before the deal, no movie studio wanted to touch television. At the time, they viewed television as a threat, not an opportunity. Leonard Goldenson knew different.
Warner Brothers created shows revolving around young, hip private detectives with character crossovers a common occurrence. They became signature shows for ABC in the late 1950's and early 1960's -- 77 Sunset Strip, Hawaiian Eye, Bourbon Street Beat, Surfside Six.
The conflict for Warner Brothers was embracing the new medium of television vs. letting a competitor get a potential jump start. The conflict for ABC was mirroring the already established programming paradigm of NBC and CBS vs. trying something new for a younger demographic.
david@davidkrell.com
When I was a senior in college deciding where to attend law school, I visited Pepperdine University School of Law in Malibu, California. An invitation from Pepperdine for an orientation triggered the visit. My knowledge of the area consisted of Baywatch frequently showing scenes from Malibu and Pepperdine hosting the classic sports event Battle of the Network Stars.
My first solo trip -- no family or friends. I only vaguely remember the cross-country plane ride, the hotel, and the Pepperdine faculty whom I met.
Although I did not ultimately attend Pepperdine, I did learn a valuable lesson during the orientation. A faculty member closed his presentation on lawyers and negotiation by saying, Peace is not the absence of conflict. Peace is the management of conflict.
When I was an in-house counsel at an entertainment company, a gentleman approached the company with artwork of a famous character owned by the company. His father created the artwork for character merchandise in the 1940's. Although the artwork was in pristine condition, we clarified, emphasized, and repeated our intellectual property rights to the character. Translation: You can't merchandise this artwork without our permission. Corollary: Let's make a deal.
Managing the conflict led to a deal. The client did not have intellectual property rights. The company did not have the artwork. Neither side could exploit the artwork without the consent, compromise, and acknowledgement of each other.
Consider this fictional scenario with real-life implications, counterparts, and challenges. A fictional character is the subject of a short story written as a promotional giveaway for a department store in 1945. A song written about the character debuts in 1950. A 1965 cartoon featuring the character and the song becomes the best-known incarnation of the character. The beginning credits indicate the cartoon is based on the song.
If the company owns the copyright to the cartoon but the songwriter's heirs own the rights to the song upon which the cartoon bases, then who has the merchandising rights to the cartoon version of the character? Logically, one would think the company that owns the cartoon will control the merchandising rights associated with it.
Each side will stake its claim to rights through torturous, sometimes byzantine avenues of legal argument, theory, and chains-of-title. In some cases, original contracts may not exist. So, the challenge intensifies because the starting point for rights clarification begins not at the beginning but at the date of the first existing document -- contracts, letters, memoranda, affidavits, court filings.
Let's say a licensee approaches the company with a deal for a snow globe featuring the character. A week later, the licensee revises the deal proposal to include a turnkey that plays the aforementioned song. What was once a standard licensing deal now becomes more complex. If you are the attorney for the company, do you notify the owners of the song? If so, who will be responsible for quality control of the product? What will the royalty breakdown be between the company and the song owners? Who will be the point person responsible for negotiating with the licensee? These vital questions have the undercurrent of conflict that must be addressed, clarified, and managed if each side wants to realize a deal.
Again, peace is not the absence of conflict. Peace is the management of conflict. For either side, management of a business relationship requires traits beyond legal and business acumen -- stamina, people skills, quest for compromise where each side will benefit. These are the traits they don't tell you about in law school. Some lawyers are born with them. Some lawyers acquire them. Some lawyers ignore them, ultimately to the detriment of their relationships with other members of the bar.
Consider the case of Leonard Goldenson as an example of excellence in conflict management. In 1953, Leonard Goldenson was an entertainment lawyer who bought a ragtag group of stations from Life Savers king Edward Noble and built it into the powerhouse television network ABC.
Because the entertainment industry's engine relies on the fuel of content, Mr. Goldenson had to be nimble, creative, and courageous in taking risks.
In the early 1950's, Walt Disney needed seed money for his dream project -- Disneyland. No studio or bank would invest in Disney's idea.
Leonard Goldenson needed product for ABC. The two moguls struck a deal. ABC invested in Disneyland and Walt Disney provided the shows Disneyland and The Mickey Mouse Club.
The conflict for Disneyland was lack of money vs. innovative entertainment. The conflict for ABC was lack of product vs. already established networks NBC and CBS. By acknowledging their respective conflicts, each side managed them effectively. Each side needed something from the other. And each side agreed to fulfill those needs.
Leonard Goldenson and ABC also struck a deal with Warner Brothers to produce television shows for ABC. Before the deal, no movie studio wanted to touch television. At the time, they viewed television as a threat, not an opportunity. Leonard Goldenson knew different.
Warner Brothers created shows revolving around young, hip private detectives with character crossovers a common occurrence. They became signature shows for ABC in the late 1950's and early 1960's -- 77 Sunset Strip, Hawaiian Eye, Bourbon Street Beat, Surfside Six.
The conflict for Warner Brothers was embracing the new medium of television vs. letting a competitor get a potential jump start. The conflict for ABC was mirroring the already established programming paradigm of NBC and CBS vs. trying something new for a younger demographic.
The Power of a Handshake
June 09, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
Social media is a necessity for networking in the digital age.
From microblogging on Twitter to posting on Facebook to making connections on Linked In, social media allows us to exponentially expand our network with a few keystrokes.
Sometimes the old-fashioned way works, too. Nothing replaces face-to-face conversation, handshakes, and body language.
When I attended the International Trademark Association Annual Meeting last month in Seattle, I was part of a group approximately 7500 strong. Like other trade association conferences, the pace is challenging.
From early morning to late night, I created new connections, reinforced existing relationships, and cultivated new business. I met people at workshops, seminars, and after-dinner parties in a continuous loop during the course of a few days.
And the conversations all began with a handshake.
I got an assignment to write an article about legal writing through a chance meeting with an editor from Marcasur, a Latin American intellectual property law magazine. She asked about Write This Way 2.0 and the conversation ended with the assignment.
I learned about an article in need of an author for The Trademark Reporter, INTA's scholarly journal. Topic -- Trademarks in Virtual Worlds. My discovery came through a conversation with a friend at a Mariners game. My friend is a premier intellectual property litigator and a member of the editorial staff at The Trademark Reporter. I immediately volunteered to write the article about this relatively new phenomenon.
A couple of hours before the Mariners game, I attended a cocktail hour for the media. Since I had an extra ticket in my block of tickets for the game, I invited a law firm marketer whom I met at the cocktail hour. He and I are having lunch today to discuss a potential web site copywriting project involving one of his international intellectual property law firm clients.
At the same cocktail hour, I met a British legal journalist who later agreed to be a member of the writing workshop I will moderate at the INTA 2010 Annual Meeting in Boston.
I also connected with an already existing contact who graciously arranged to send the materials for the Write This Way 2.0 CLE workshops to the decision makers at her downtown Manhattan law firm. Getting in front of the decision makers is the first step to creating new business. To be fair, our conversation in Seattle took place via E-Mail, however, we first met a couple of years ago at a legal seminar -- not by following each other on Twitter, friending each other on Facebook, or joining each other's network on Linked In.
To be sure, those actions have a definite place in networking. One ignores social media at his or her peril in the digital age.
But don't discount the power of a handshake.
david@davidkrell.com
Social media is a necessity for networking in the digital age.
From microblogging on Twitter to posting on Facebook to making connections on Linked In, social media allows us to exponentially expand our network with a few keystrokes.
Sometimes the old-fashioned way works, too. Nothing replaces face-to-face conversation, handshakes, and body language.
When I attended the International Trademark Association Annual Meeting last month in Seattle, I was part of a group approximately 7500 strong. Like other trade association conferences, the pace is challenging.
From early morning to late night, I created new connections, reinforced existing relationships, and cultivated new business. I met people at workshops, seminars, and after-dinner parties in a continuous loop during the course of a few days.
And the conversations all began with a handshake.
I got an assignment to write an article about legal writing through a chance meeting with an editor from Marcasur, a Latin American intellectual property law magazine. She asked about Write This Way 2.0 and the conversation ended with the assignment.
I learned about an article in need of an author for The Trademark Reporter, INTA's scholarly journal. Topic -- Trademarks in Virtual Worlds. My discovery came through a conversation with a friend at a Mariners game. My friend is a premier intellectual property litigator and a member of the editorial staff at The Trademark Reporter. I immediately volunteered to write the article about this relatively new phenomenon.
A couple of hours before the Mariners game, I attended a cocktail hour for the media. Since I had an extra ticket in my block of tickets for the game, I invited a law firm marketer whom I met at the cocktail hour. He and I are having lunch today to discuss a potential web site copywriting project involving one of his international intellectual property law firm clients.
At the same cocktail hour, I met a British legal journalist who later agreed to be a member of the writing workshop I will moderate at the INTA 2010 Annual Meeting in Boston.
I also connected with an already existing contact who graciously arranged to send the materials for the Write This Way 2.0 CLE workshops to the decision makers at her downtown Manhattan law firm. Getting in front of the decision makers is the first step to creating new business. To be fair, our conversation in Seattle took place via E-Mail, however, we first met a couple of years ago at a legal seminar -- not by following each other on Twitter, friending each other on Facebook, or joining each other's network on Linked In.
To be sure, those actions have a definite place in networking. One ignores social media at his or her peril in the digital age.
But don't discount the power of a handshake.
Reagan's D-Day Speech
June 06, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
Today marks the 65th anniversary of D-Day -- June 6, 1944.
D-Day was an extremely significant turning point of World War II. The name "D-Day" is a military code name for the day the Allied forces executed Operation Overlord -- the invasion of the beachheads in Normandy, France. The code names for the beaches were Utah, Omaha, Sword, Juno, Gold.
To mark the 40th anniversary of D-Day on June 6, 1984, President Reagan gave one of the all-time greatest speeches at Normandy, famously known as the Boys of Pointe du Hoc speech. Peggy Noonan was the speechwriter.
From a storytelling standpoint, Noonan's words vividly recreate the circumstances of D-Day, detail the bravery of the Allied soldiers, and capture the sentiment of ending war.
From a technical standpoint, Noonan's words reflect a classic technique throughout the speech -- write in threes. It's a lesson in speechwriting.
Below is a copy of the speech. I have bolded the words and phrases that appear in a trio.
==============================================================
We're here to mark that day in history when the Allied armies joined in battle to reclaim this continent to liberty. For 4 long years, much of Europe had been under a terrible shadow. Free nations had fallen, Jews cried out in the camps, millions cried out for liberation. Europe was enslaved, and the world prayed for its rescue. Here in Normandy the rescue began. Here the Allies stood and fought against tyranny in a giant undertaking unparalleled in human history.
We stand on a lonely, windswept point on the northern shore of France. The air is soft, but 40 years ago at this moment, the air was dense with smoke and the cries of men, and the air was filled with the crack of rifle fire and the roar of cannon. At dawn, on the morning of the 6th of June, 1944, 225 Rangers jumped off the British landing craft and ran to the bottom of these cliffs. Their mission was one of the most difficult and daring of the invasion: to climb these sheer and desolate cliffs and take out the enemy guns. The Allies had been told that some of the mightiest of these guns were here and they would be trained on the beaches to stop the Allied advance.
The Rangers looked up and saw the enemy soldiers—the edge of the cliffs shooting down at them with machine guns and throwing grenades. And the American Rangers began to climb. They shot rope ladders over the face of these cliffs and began to pull themselves up. When one Ranger fell, another would take his place. When one rope was cut, a Ranger would grab another and begin his climb again. They climbed, shot back, and held their footing. Soon, one by one, the Rangers pulled themselves over the top, and in seizing the firm land at the top of these cliffs, they began to seize back the continent of Europe. Two hundred and twenty-five came here. After 2 days of fighting, only 90 could still bear arms.
Behind me is a memorial that symbolizes the Ranger daggers that were thrust into the top of these cliffs. And before me are the men who put them there.
These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war.
Gentlemen, I look at you and I think of the words of Stephen Spender's poem. You are men who in your "lives fought for life . . . and left the vivid air signed with your honor."
I think I know what you may be thinking right now—thinking "we were just part of a bigger effort; everyone was brave that day." Well, everyone was. Do you remember the story of Bill Millin of the 51st Highlanders? Forty years ago today, British troops were pinned down near a bridge, waiting desperately for help. Suddenly, they heard the sound of bagpipes, and some thought they were dreaming. Well, they weren't. They looked up and saw Bill Millin with his bagpipes, leading the reinforcements and ignoring the smack of the bullets into the ground around him.
Lord Lovat was with him—Lord Lovat of Scotland, who calmly announced when he got to the bridge, "—Sorry I'm a few minutes late," as if he'd been delayed by a traffic jam, when in truth he'd just come from the bloody fighting on Sword Beach, which he and his men had just taken.
There was the impossible valor of the Poles who threw themselves between the enemy and the rest of Europe as the invasion took hold, and the unsurpassed courage of the Canadians who had already seen the horrors of war on this coast. They knew what awaited them there, but they would not be deterred. And once they hit Juno Beach, they never looked back.
All of these men were part of a rollcall of honor with names that spoke of a pride as bright as the colors they bore: the Royal Winnipeg Rifles, Poland's 24th Lancers, the Royal Scots Fusiliers, the Screaming Eagles, the Yeomen of England's armored divisions, the forces of Free France, the Coast Guard's "Matchbox Fleet" and you, the American Rangers.
Forty summers have passed since the battle that you fought here. You were young the day you took these cliffs; some of you were hardly more than boys, with the deepest joys of life before you. Yet, you risked everything here. Why? Why did you do it? What impelled you to put aside the instinct for self-preservation and risk your lives to take these cliffs? What inspired all the men of the armies that met here? We look at you, and somehow we know the answer. It was faith and belief; it was loyalty and love.
The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead or on the next. It was the deep knowledge—and pray God we have not lost it—that there is a profound, moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt your cause. And you were right not to doubt.
You all knew that some things are worth dying for. One's country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. All of you loved liberty. All of you were willing to fight tyranny, and you knew the people of your countries were behind you.
The Americans who fought here that morning knew word of the invasion was spreading through the darkness back home. They fought—or felt in their hearts, though they couldn't know in fact, that in Georgia they were filling the churches at 4 a.m., in Kansas they were kneeling on their porches and praying, and in Philadelphia they were ringing the Liberty Bell.
Something else helped the men of D-day: their rockhard belief that Providence would have a great hand in the events that would unfold here; that God was an ally in this great cause. And so, the night before the invasion, when Colonel Wolverton asked his parachute troops to kneel with him in prayer he told them: "Do not bow your heads, but look up so you can see God and ask His blessing in what we're about to do." Also that night, General Matthew Ridgway on his cot, listening in the darkness for the promise God made to Joshua: "I will not fail thee nor forsake thee."
These are the things that impelled them; these are the things that shaped the unity of the Allies.
When the war was over, there were lives to be rebuilt and governments to be returned to the people. There were nations to be reborn. Above all, there was a new peace to be assured. These were huge and daunting tasks. But the Allies summoned strength from the faith, belief, loyalty, and love of those who fell here. They rebuilt a new Europe together.
There was first a great reconciliation among those who had been enemies, all of whom had suffered so greatly. The United States did its part, creating the Marshall plan to help rebuild our allies and our former enemies. The Marshall plan led to the Atlantic alliance—a great alliance that serves to this day as our shield for freedom, for prosperity, and for peace.
In spite of our great efforts and successes, not all that followed the end of the war was happy or planned. Some liberated countries were lost. The great sadness of this loss echoes down to our own time in the streets of Warsaw, Prague, and East Berlin. Soviet troops that came to the center of this continent did not leave when peace came. They're still there, uninvited, unwanted, unyielding, almost 40 years after the war. Because of this, allied forces still stand on this continent. Today, as 40 years ago, our armies are here for only one purpose—to protect and defend democracy. The only territories we hold are memorials like this one and graveyards where our heroes rest.
We in America have learned bitter lessons from two World Wars: It is better to be here ready to protect the peace, than to take blind shelter across the sea, rushing to respond only after freedom is lost. We've learned that isolationism never was and never will be an acceptable response to tyrannical governments with an expansionist intent.
But we try always to be prepared for peace; prepared to deter aggression; prepared to negotiate the reduction of arms; and, yes, prepared to reach out again in the spirit of reconciliation. In truth, there is no reconciliation we would welcome more than a reconciliation with the Soviet Union, so, together, we can lessen the risks of war, now and forever.
It's fitting to remember here the great losses also suffered by the Russian people during World War II: 20 million perished, a terrible price that testifies to all the world the necessity of ending war. I tell you from my heart that we in the United States do not want war. We want to wipe from the face of the Earth the terrible weapons that man now has in his hands. And I tell you, we are ready to seize that beachhead. We look for some sign from the Soviet Union that they are willing to move forward, that they share our desire and love for peace, and that they will give up the ways of conquest. There must be a changing there that will allow us to turn our hope into action.
We will pray forever that some day that changing will come. But for now, particularly today, it is good and fitting to renew our commitment to each other, to our freedom, and to the alliance that protects it.
We are bound today by what bound us 40 years ago, the same loyalties, traditions, and beliefs. We're bound by reality. The strength of America's allies is vital to the United States, and the American security guarantee is essential to the continued freedom of Europe's democracies. We were with you then; we are with you now. Your hopes are our hopes, and your destiny is our destiny.
Here, in this place where the West held together, let us make a vow to our dead. Let us show them by our actions that we understand what they died for. Let our actions say to them the words for which Matthew Ridgway listened: "I will not fail thee nor forsake thee." Strengthened by their courage, heartened by their value [valor], and borne by their memory, let us continue to stand for the ideals for which they lived and died.
Thank you very much, and God bless you all.
david@davidkrell.com
Today marks the 65th anniversary of D-Day -- June 6, 1944.
D-Day was an extremely significant turning point of World War II. The name "D-Day" is a military code name for the day the Allied forces executed Operation Overlord -- the invasion of the beachheads in Normandy, France. The code names for the beaches were Utah, Omaha, Sword, Juno, Gold.
To mark the 40th anniversary of D-Day on June 6, 1984, President Reagan gave one of the all-time greatest speeches at Normandy, famously known as the Boys of Pointe du Hoc speech. Peggy Noonan was the speechwriter.
From a storytelling standpoint, Noonan's words vividly recreate the circumstances of D-Day, detail the bravery of the Allied soldiers, and capture the sentiment of ending war.
From a technical standpoint, Noonan's words reflect a classic technique throughout the speech -- write in threes. It's a lesson in speechwriting.
Below is a copy of the speech. I have bolded the words and phrases that appear in a trio.
==============================================================
We're here to mark that day in history when the Allied armies joined in battle to reclaim this continent to liberty. For 4 long years, much of Europe had been under a terrible shadow. Free nations had fallen, Jews cried out in the camps, millions cried out for liberation. Europe was enslaved, and the world prayed for its rescue. Here in Normandy the rescue began. Here the Allies stood and fought against tyranny in a giant undertaking unparalleled in human history.
We stand on a lonely, windswept point on the northern shore of France. The air is soft, but 40 years ago at this moment, the air was dense with smoke and the cries of men, and the air was filled with the crack of rifle fire and the roar of cannon. At dawn, on the morning of the 6th of June, 1944, 225 Rangers jumped off the British landing craft and ran to the bottom of these cliffs. Their mission was one of the most difficult and daring of the invasion: to climb these sheer and desolate cliffs and take out the enemy guns. The Allies had been told that some of the mightiest of these guns were here and they would be trained on the beaches to stop the Allied advance.
The Rangers looked up and saw the enemy soldiers—the edge of the cliffs shooting down at them with machine guns and throwing grenades. And the American Rangers began to climb. They shot rope ladders over the face of these cliffs and began to pull themselves up. When one Ranger fell, another would take his place. When one rope was cut, a Ranger would grab another and begin his climb again. They climbed, shot back, and held their footing. Soon, one by one, the Rangers pulled themselves over the top, and in seizing the firm land at the top of these cliffs, they began to seize back the continent of Europe. Two hundred and twenty-five came here. After 2 days of fighting, only 90 could still bear arms.
Behind me is a memorial that symbolizes the Ranger daggers that were thrust into the top of these cliffs. And before me are the men who put them there.
These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war.
Gentlemen, I look at you and I think of the words of Stephen Spender's poem. You are men who in your "lives fought for life . . . and left the vivid air signed with your honor."
I think I know what you may be thinking right now—thinking "we were just part of a bigger effort; everyone was brave that day." Well, everyone was. Do you remember the story of Bill Millin of the 51st Highlanders? Forty years ago today, British troops were pinned down near a bridge, waiting desperately for help. Suddenly, they heard the sound of bagpipes, and some thought they were dreaming. Well, they weren't. They looked up and saw Bill Millin with his bagpipes, leading the reinforcements and ignoring the smack of the bullets into the ground around him.
Lord Lovat was with him—Lord Lovat of Scotland, who calmly announced when he got to the bridge, "—Sorry I'm a few minutes late," as if he'd been delayed by a traffic jam, when in truth he'd just come from the bloody fighting on Sword Beach, which he and his men had just taken.
There was the impossible valor of the Poles who threw themselves between the enemy and the rest of Europe as the invasion took hold, and the unsurpassed courage of the Canadians who had already seen the horrors of war on this coast. They knew what awaited them there, but they would not be deterred. And once they hit Juno Beach, they never looked back.
All of these men were part of a rollcall of honor with names that spoke of a pride as bright as the colors they bore: the Royal Winnipeg Rifles, Poland's 24th Lancers, the Royal Scots Fusiliers, the Screaming Eagles, the Yeomen of England's armored divisions, the forces of Free France, the Coast Guard's "Matchbox Fleet" and you, the American Rangers.
Forty summers have passed since the battle that you fought here. You were young the day you took these cliffs; some of you were hardly more than boys, with the deepest joys of life before you. Yet, you risked everything here. Why? Why did you do it? What impelled you to put aside the instinct for self-preservation and risk your lives to take these cliffs? What inspired all the men of the armies that met here? We look at you, and somehow we know the answer. It was faith and belief; it was loyalty and love.
The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead or on the next. It was the deep knowledge—and pray God we have not lost it—that there is a profound, moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt your cause. And you were right not to doubt.
You all knew that some things are worth dying for. One's country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. All of you loved liberty. All of you were willing to fight tyranny, and you knew the people of your countries were behind you.
The Americans who fought here that morning knew word of the invasion was spreading through the darkness back home. They fought—or felt in their hearts, though they couldn't know in fact, that in Georgia they were filling the churches at 4 a.m., in Kansas they were kneeling on their porches and praying, and in Philadelphia they were ringing the Liberty Bell.
Something else helped the men of D-day: their rockhard belief that Providence would have a great hand in the events that would unfold here; that God was an ally in this great cause. And so, the night before the invasion, when Colonel Wolverton asked his parachute troops to kneel with him in prayer he told them: "Do not bow your heads, but look up so you can see God and ask His blessing in what we're about to do." Also that night, General Matthew Ridgway on his cot, listening in the darkness for the promise God made to Joshua: "I will not fail thee nor forsake thee."
These are the things that impelled them; these are the things that shaped the unity of the Allies.
When the war was over, there were lives to be rebuilt and governments to be returned to the people. There were nations to be reborn. Above all, there was a new peace to be assured. These were huge and daunting tasks. But the Allies summoned strength from the faith, belief, loyalty, and love of those who fell here. They rebuilt a new Europe together.
There was first a great reconciliation among those who had been enemies, all of whom had suffered so greatly. The United States did its part, creating the Marshall plan to help rebuild our allies and our former enemies. The Marshall plan led to the Atlantic alliance—a great alliance that serves to this day as our shield for freedom, for prosperity, and for peace.
In spite of our great efforts and successes, not all that followed the end of the war was happy or planned. Some liberated countries were lost. The great sadness of this loss echoes down to our own time in the streets of Warsaw, Prague, and East Berlin. Soviet troops that came to the center of this continent did not leave when peace came. They're still there, uninvited, unwanted, unyielding, almost 40 years after the war. Because of this, allied forces still stand on this continent. Today, as 40 years ago, our armies are here for only one purpose—to protect and defend democracy. The only territories we hold are memorials like this one and graveyards where our heroes rest.
We in America have learned bitter lessons from two World Wars: It is better to be here ready to protect the peace, than to take blind shelter across the sea, rushing to respond only after freedom is lost. We've learned that isolationism never was and never will be an acceptable response to tyrannical governments with an expansionist intent.
But we try always to be prepared for peace; prepared to deter aggression; prepared to negotiate the reduction of arms; and, yes, prepared to reach out again in the spirit of reconciliation. In truth, there is no reconciliation we would welcome more than a reconciliation with the Soviet Union, so, together, we can lessen the risks of war, now and forever.
It's fitting to remember here the great losses also suffered by the Russian people during World War II: 20 million perished, a terrible price that testifies to all the world the necessity of ending war. I tell you from my heart that we in the United States do not want war. We want to wipe from the face of the Earth the terrible weapons that man now has in his hands. And I tell you, we are ready to seize that beachhead. We look for some sign from the Soviet Union that they are willing to move forward, that they share our desire and love for peace, and that they will give up the ways of conquest. There must be a changing there that will allow us to turn our hope into action.
We will pray forever that some day that changing will come. But for now, particularly today, it is good and fitting to renew our commitment to each other, to our freedom, and to the alliance that protects it.
We are bound today by what bound us 40 years ago, the same loyalties, traditions, and beliefs. We're bound by reality. The strength of America's allies is vital to the United States, and the American security guarantee is essential to the continued freedom of Europe's democracies. We were with you then; we are with you now. Your hopes are our hopes, and your destiny is our destiny.
Here, in this place where the West held together, let us make a vow to our dead. Let us show them by our actions that we understand what they died for. Let our actions say to them the words for which Matthew Ridgway listened: "I will not fail thee nor forsake thee." Strengthened by their courage, heartened by their value [valor], and borne by their memory, let us continue to stand for the ideals for which they lived and died.
Thank you very much, and God bless you all.
Laid Off Means Don't Lay Down
June 02, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
A layoff, firing, cutback, or Insert Euphemism Here presents the massive challenge of repackaging your skill set for another buyer. Refining your resume, interview skills, and job search strategy becomes a daily chore. The work is tough. The rewards, somewhat elusive in this brutal economy.
Productive breaks in the job search refresh the mind, renew the body, and revive the spirit.
Reading.
Exercising.
Meditating.
Writing will also be a productive use of time during a layoff. What better way to show your expertise than starting a blog, writing an Op-Ed piece for your local paper, or authoring an article for a scholarly business or legal journal?
Channeling the writing skills that you use to burnish your resume, cover letter, and follow-up E-Mail communications can be an immensely valuable resource during a job search. Ceteris paribus, a tangible example of your expertise, passion, and knowledge will set you apart from the competition.
Wouldn't you rather show your depth in an article than explain it in a cover letter?
There's a hidden networking value as well. With the credential of researching an article, getting into inner sanctums will be smoother than if you're armed solely with a resume and cover letter.
Wouldn't you rather appear as an insider with sincere interest about the opinions, experiences, and challenges of decision makers than a simply competent professional with similar credentials as the competition's?
david@davidkrell.com
A layoff, firing, cutback, or Insert Euphemism Here presents the massive challenge of repackaging your skill set for another buyer. Refining your resume, interview skills, and job search strategy becomes a daily chore. The work is tough. The rewards, somewhat elusive in this brutal economy.
Productive breaks in the job search refresh the mind, renew the body, and revive the spirit.
Reading.
Exercising.
Meditating.
Writing will also be a productive use of time during a layoff. What better way to show your expertise than starting a blog, writing an Op-Ed piece for your local paper, or authoring an article for a scholarly business or legal journal?
Channeling the writing skills that you use to burnish your resume, cover letter, and follow-up E-Mail communications can be an immensely valuable resource during a job search. Ceteris paribus, a tangible example of your expertise, passion, and knowledge will set you apart from the competition.
Wouldn't you rather show your depth in an article than explain it in a cover letter?
There's a hidden networking value as well. With the credential of researching an article, getting into inner sanctums will be smoother than if you're armed solely with a resume and cover letter.
Wouldn't you rather appear as an insider with sincere interest about the opinions, experiences, and challenges of decision makers than a simply competent professional with similar credentials as the competition's?
The Power of Writing
June 01, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
While recently re-reading Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead, I came across a passage that goes to the heart of writing -- its power, joy, and inspiration.
In the story's final scenes, Gail Wynand is a media mogul whose New York Banner suffers a severe workers' strike. He begins to take on several jobs at once to maintain the newspaper's daily publication. Editorial writing is one of these jobs.
Wynand enjoys the challenge of conveying ideas, thoughts, and inspirations into tangible expression.
The pressure disappeared with the first word he put on paper. He thought -- while his hand moved rapidly -- what a power there was in words; later, for those who heard them, but first for the one who found them; a healing power, a solution, like the breaking of a barrier. He thought, perhaps the basic secret the scientists have never discovered, the first fount of life, is that which happens when a thought takes shape in words.
Indeed, writing is a basic yet powerful tool of communications. Digital devices allow immediate communications access to send and receive messages, most likely via E-Mail. That access is wonderful, powerful, and convenient. However, quick replies to instant communications on a Blackberry, iPhone, or computer, sometimes cause the underpinnings of an idea to get lost, misinterpreted, or conveyed incompletely.
To fully realize the power of words like Gail Wynand, one must first appreciate the power, whether the message is to 1 or 1 million. Remember that the words chosen for your message will be the words remembered.
In digispeak, Think before you hit the Send button!
david@davidkrell.com
While recently re-reading Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead, I came across a passage that goes to the heart of writing -- its power, joy, and inspiration.
In the story's final scenes, Gail Wynand is a media mogul whose New York Banner suffers a severe workers' strike. He begins to take on several jobs at once to maintain the newspaper's daily publication. Editorial writing is one of these jobs.
Wynand enjoys the challenge of conveying ideas, thoughts, and inspirations into tangible expression.
The pressure disappeared with the first word he put on paper. He thought -- while his hand moved rapidly -- what a power there was in words; later, for those who heard them, but first for the one who found them; a healing power, a solution, like the breaking of a barrier. He thought, perhaps the basic secret the scientists have never discovered, the first fount of life, is that which happens when a thought takes shape in words.
Indeed, writing is a basic yet powerful tool of communications. Digital devices allow immediate communications access to send and receive messages, most likely via E-Mail. That access is wonderful, powerful, and convenient. However, quick replies to instant communications on a Blackberry, iPhone, or computer, sometimes cause the underpinnings of an idea to get lost, misinterpreted, or conveyed incompletely.
To fully realize the power of words like Gail Wynand, one must first appreciate the power, whether the message is to 1 or 1 million. Remember that the words chosen for your message will be the words remembered.
In digispeak, Think before you hit the Send button!
Monuments and Memorials
May 25, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
The following is an edited version of a paper I wrote for Architecture 170, a class I took in the Fall of 1987 at the University of Maryland. Brian Kelly taught the class.
The paper analyzes the Vietnam Veterans Memorial within the paradigm dictated by Jean Labatut in the article Monuments and Memorials.
My edits cleaned up the grammar, clarified thoughts, and streamlined the presentation by breaking up longer paragraphs into numerous shorter ones.
The basic construct, theme, and content remains the same.
Because today is Memorial Day, posting the paper seems appropriate.
In his article Monuments and Memorials, Jean Labatut expresses many theories on the subject of monuments and memorials.
The function of monuments and memorials concerning human needs.
Universality of art.
Scale of monuments and memorials.
Quality of the structure from an architectural standpoint.
Feelings, emotions, and thoughts of the observer.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. supports the theories presented in Monuments and Memorials.
Located in Constitution Gardens, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial consists of two parts.
The first part is the polished black granite wall designed by Maya Ying Lin. The wall is V-shaped with one arm pointing to the Lincoln Memorial and the other arm pointing to the Washington Monument.
The names of soldiers dead or Missing In Action are inscribed on the wall.
The second part is Frederick Hart's sculpture of three soldiers. Seemingly, the soldiers are searching the wall for their names or the names of comrades.
The wall was dedicated in the Fall of 1982. The sculpture, two years later.
Labatut states, As landmarks and signposts, memorials and monuments answer a specific human need and demand.
To research Labatut's theory, I asked a Vietnam War veteran what the wall represents to him. He said that America finally understood and appreciated the veterans. Specifically, the men whose names were on the wall got their just recognition. The veteran felt that the Vietnam Veterans Memorial satisfies a need to recognize the people who gave their time and sometimes their lives for their country.
The memorial also fulfills the need to know that the soldiers who died did not do so in vain.
The Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial are two structures signifying our rights, liberties, and freedoms as Americans. Their reflections trigger a thoughtful pause so we can think about the fragility of those rights, liberties, and freedoms along with the their collective consequent cost in blood, treasure, and emotion.
Labatut also emphasizes the universality of art. [M]emorials and monuments of the past illustrate the fact that art is a universal language. Words, customs, methods of reasoning, and techniques may vary, but art is the easiest channel for common understanding; through the arts we can become easily acquainted with other times and other peoples and with other people in our own time.
Monuments and memorials help the observer gain a perspective that can not be found in books. The appreciation of Thomas Jefferson's brilliance is enhanced by a visit to the Jefferson Memorial where one can read his words in the memorial's majestic setting.
Similarly, one can not help but be moved when reading the names and touching their engravings on the wall at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. More than 55,000 names adorn the wall. The impact is massive. An explanation in words does not do it justice. Art is the conduit for that impact.
Scale plays a two-fold role in the design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
First, the scale helps convey the message of the monument or memorial while making the observer feel as though he or she is in the center of it. According to Labatut, The small visible world at the scale of man's range of visibility must be complemented by psychological qualities in order to reach the size of a universe of which every observer will be the center. This is true of any architectural air space, but it is especially true of architectural air spaces destined to form memorials and monuments. In art in general, and particularly in the composition of memorials and monuments, the exactitude of the visual message depends on the correction or creation of optical illusions.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial supports Labatut's thesis concerning a small visible world in two ways.
First, the wall creates an optical illusion that the names are seemingly infinite no matter where you stand at the wall.
Second, the wall is massive. An observer feels as though he or she is alone, though always connected with the names on the wall.
Labatut also mentions Greatness vs. Size. He believes that the former is not dependent on the latter.
Their greatness is measurable not in inches, feet, or miles but by their radiating effect...Man's needs and demands do not include dimensions but they do include the effect produced by dimensions.
If one compares the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to the other monuments and memorials in Washington, D.C., a definite contrast emerges.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is not towering like the Washington Monument nor is it larger-than-life like the Lincoln Memorial. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is effective because it is not overpowering. Rather, the memorial has a lifelike quality that creates a connection between it and the observer.
Greatness vs. Heaviness parallels Greatness vs. Size in Labatut's paradigm.
The greatness of memorials and monuments does not depend on the expression of heaviness, as has been and still is too often the case. Like other architectural compositions, the memorials and monuments of today and tomorrow should give the observer an impression of strength without heaviness. For memorials and monuments do not need the exaggerated size and heaviness of those of the past.
Again, although the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is not overpowering, it is still effective. It does not have what Labatut calls a false heaviness; yet, the life size and lightness make the memorial easier to appreciate. Indeed, it may be overwhelming at first sight without being overpowering.
Labatut also mentions two minor points -- illumination and durability of a monument or memorial.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is illuminated. However, the memorial has a graveyard-like quality at night. With more than 55,000 names staring back, I felt an immediate chill. There is no need for illumination during the day because the memorial is in an open space.
Concerning durability, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was the most visited monument or memorial in its first five years of existence. The legacy of popularity, curiosity, and urgency continues today.
The message of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is to honor the sacrifice of the Vietnam veterans without fanfare and without overwhelming the public.
Granted, it is not like other memorials or monuments.
It is not tall, white, towering, or larger-than-life.
It is life-size, made of black granite, and subterranean.
Because one arm points to the Washington Monument and the other arm points to the Lincoln Memorial, and because these structures are reflected in the wall's surface, the message is reinforced. The veterans of the Vietnam War were not larger-than-life. They were the boys-next-door. But they fought for the ideals planted by Lincoln, Jefferson, Washington, and other great American leaders -- freedom and liberty.
(In 1993, the Vietnam Women's Memorial was dedicated. It depicts three women -- Hope, Faith, Charity -- tending to a wounded solider. Most women who served in the Vietnam War were nurses. In 2004, a plaque was dedicated by the statue of the three soldiers to honor soldiers who died after the Vietnam War because of injuries sustained during their wartime service.)
david@davidkrell.com
The following is an edited version of a paper I wrote for Architecture 170, a class I took in the Fall of 1987 at the University of Maryland. Brian Kelly taught the class.
The paper analyzes the Vietnam Veterans Memorial within the paradigm dictated by Jean Labatut in the article Monuments and Memorials.
My edits cleaned up the grammar, clarified thoughts, and streamlined the presentation by breaking up longer paragraphs into numerous shorter ones.
The basic construct, theme, and content remains the same.
Because today is Memorial Day, posting the paper seems appropriate.
In his article Monuments and Memorials, Jean Labatut expresses many theories on the subject of monuments and memorials.
The function of monuments and memorials concerning human needs.
Universality of art.
Scale of monuments and memorials.
Quality of the structure from an architectural standpoint.
Feelings, emotions, and thoughts of the observer.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. supports the theories presented in Monuments and Memorials.
Located in Constitution Gardens, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial consists of two parts.
The first part is the polished black granite wall designed by Maya Ying Lin. The wall is V-shaped with one arm pointing to the Lincoln Memorial and the other arm pointing to the Washington Monument.
The names of soldiers dead or Missing In Action are inscribed on the wall.
The second part is Frederick Hart's sculpture of three soldiers. Seemingly, the soldiers are searching the wall for their names or the names of comrades.
The wall was dedicated in the Fall of 1982. The sculpture, two years later.
Labatut states, As landmarks and signposts, memorials and monuments answer a specific human need and demand.
To research Labatut's theory, I asked a Vietnam War veteran what the wall represents to him. He said that America finally understood and appreciated the veterans. Specifically, the men whose names were on the wall got their just recognition. The veteran felt that the Vietnam Veterans Memorial satisfies a need to recognize the people who gave their time and sometimes their lives for their country.
The memorial also fulfills the need to know that the soldiers who died did not do so in vain.
The Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial are two structures signifying our rights, liberties, and freedoms as Americans. Their reflections trigger a thoughtful pause so we can think about the fragility of those rights, liberties, and freedoms along with the their collective consequent cost in blood, treasure, and emotion.
Labatut also emphasizes the universality of art. [M]emorials and monuments of the past illustrate the fact that art is a universal language. Words, customs, methods of reasoning, and techniques may vary, but art is the easiest channel for common understanding; through the arts we can become easily acquainted with other times and other peoples and with other people in our own time.
Monuments and memorials help the observer gain a perspective that can not be found in books. The appreciation of Thomas Jefferson's brilliance is enhanced by a visit to the Jefferson Memorial where one can read his words in the memorial's majestic setting.
Similarly, one can not help but be moved when reading the names and touching their engravings on the wall at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. More than 55,000 names adorn the wall. The impact is massive. An explanation in words does not do it justice. Art is the conduit for that impact.
Scale plays a two-fold role in the design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
First, the scale helps convey the message of the monument or memorial while making the observer feel as though he or she is in the center of it. According to Labatut, The small visible world at the scale of man's range of visibility must be complemented by psychological qualities in order to reach the size of a universe of which every observer will be the center. This is true of any architectural air space, but it is especially true of architectural air spaces destined to form memorials and monuments. In art in general, and particularly in the composition of memorials and monuments, the exactitude of the visual message depends on the correction or creation of optical illusions.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial supports Labatut's thesis concerning a small visible world in two ways.
First, the wall creates an optical illusion that the names are seemingly infinite no matter where you stand at the wall.
Second, the wall is massive. An observer feels as though he or she is alone, though always connected with the names on the wall.
Labatut also mentions Greatness vs. Size. He believes that the former is not dependent on the latter.
Their greatness is measurable not in inches, feet, or miles but by their radiating effect...Man's needs and demands do not include dimensions but they do include the effect produced by dimensions.
If one compares the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to the other monuments and memorials in Washington, D.C., a definite contrast emerges.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is not towering like the Washington Monument nor is it larger-than-life like the Lincoln Memorial. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is effective because it is not overpowering. Rather, the memorial has a lifelike quality that creates a connection between it and the observer.
Greatness vs. Heaviness parallels Greatness vs. Size in Labatut's paradigm.
The greatness of memorials and monuments does not depend on the expression of heaviness, as has been and still is too often the case. Like other architectural compositions, the memorials and monuments of today and tomorrow should give the observer an impression of strength without heaviness. For memorials and monuments do not need the exaggerated size and heaviness of those of the past.
Again, although the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is not overpowering, it is still effective. It does not have what Labatut calls a false heaviness; yet, the life size and lightness make the memorial easier to appreciate. Indeed, it may be overwhelming at first sight without being overpowering.
Labatut also mentions two minor points -- illumination and durability of a monument or memorial.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is illuminated. However, the memorial has a graveyard-like quality at night. With more than 55,000 names staring back, I felt an immediate chill. There is no need for illumination during the day because the memorial is in an open space.
Concerning durability, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was the most visited monument or memorial in its first five years of existence. The legacy of popularity, curiosity, and urgency continues today.
The message of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is to honor the sacrifice of the Vietnam veterans without fanfare and without overwhelming the public.
Granted, it is not like other memorials or monuments.
It is not tall, white, towering, or larger-than-life.
It is life-size, made of black granite, and subterranean.
Because one arm points to the Washington Monument and the other arm points to the Lincoln Memorial, and because these structures are reflected in the wall's surface, the message is reinforced. The veterans of the Vietnam War were not larger-than-life. They were the boys-next-door. But they fought for the ideals planted by Lincoln, Jefferson, Washington, and other great American leaders -- freedom and liberty.
(In 1993, the Vietnam Women's Memorial was dedicated. It depicts three women -- Hope, Faith, Charity -- tending to a wounded solider. Most women who served in the Vietnam War were nurses. In 2004, a plaque was dedicated by the statue of the three soldiers to honor soldiers who died after the Vietnam War because of injuries sustained during their wartime service.)
INTA Networking Continues -- Write This Way 2.0 Goes Bilingual
May 20, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
Networking at an INTA Annual Meeting is a continuous process. It happens during the lecture halls before the CLE workshops. It happens at the parties, like tonight's Grand Finale at Seattle's The Museum of Flight. And it happens online with Twitter, Facebook, and blogs.
Today, it happened for me in the Press Room where I had the pleasure of meeting Victoria Pereira, Executive Director of Marcasur.
Marcasur -- The First Latin American Intellectual Property Media is a Spanish-language magazine. We talked briefly about my Write This Way 2.0 blog and Write This Way 2.0 workshop. Before I knew it, I had a request to write a 500-800 page article about legal writing for the July - September issue.
Can anyone recommend language translation software?!
david@davidkrell.com
Networking at an INTA Annual Meeting is a continuous process. It happens during the lecture halls before the CLE workshops. It happens at the parties, like tonight's Grand Finale at Seattle's The Museum of Flight. And it happens online with Twitter, Facebook, and blogs.
Today, it happened for me in the Press Room where I had the pleasure of meeting Victoria Pereira, Executive Director of Marcasur.
Marcasur -- The First Latin American Intellectual Property Media is a Spanish-language magazine. We talked briefly about my Write This Way 2.0 blog and Write This Way 2.0 workshop. Before I knew it, I had a request to write a 500-800 page article about legal writing for the July - September issue.
Can anyone recommend language translation software?!
Yes, David, There Is A Santa Claus
May 20, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
Brief moment of panic today when I realized that I did not have my Blackberry, just minutes after my last lecture of the INTA 2009 Annual Meeting.
I retraced my steps to the bathroom and then the ballroom where the lecture occurred. The only person left in the room was one of the speakers. I asked him if he saw a Blackberry laying around in the front row. He said no, but someone was waving one around asking if it belonged to anyone.
I immediately looked for a Washington State Trade & Convention Center staff person. When I found one, I asked her for the location of Lost & Found. Before she could answer, a gentleman passed by and asked, Are you David Krell? He retrieved the Blackberry.
Providence may be fickle, but sometimes she comes through in the clutch. What are the odds of our crossing paths at the exact moment of my Lost & Found inquiry?
By the way, the gentleman was Andrew P. Bridges of Winston & Strawn. He is the winner of the 2009 David Krell Good Samaritan Award.
david@davidkrell.com
Brief moment of panic today when I realized that I did not have my Blackberry, just minutes after my last lecture of the INTA 2009 Annual Meeting.
I retraced my steps to the bathroom and then the ballroom where the lecture occurred. The only person left in the room was one of the speakers. I asked him if he saw a Blackberry laying around in the front row. He said no, but someone was waving one around asking if it belonged to anyone.
I immediately looked for a Washington State Trade & Convention Center staff person. When I found one, I asked her for the location of Lost & Found. Before she could answer, a gentleman passed by and asked, Are you David Krell? He retrieved the Blackberry.
Providence may be fickle, but sometimes she comes through in the clutch. What are the odds of our crossing paths at the exact moment of my Lost & Found inquiry?
By the way, the gentleman was Andrew P. Bridges of Winston & Strawn. He is the winner of the 2009 David Krell Good Samaritan Award.
The Technology Curve
May 20, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
This morning, I posted a blog entry entitled Don't Tell Me, Show Me. The entry concerns the power of technology.
Walking over to the Washington State Convention & Trade Center for the last day of the INTA 2009 Annual Meeting in Seattle, I realized that a brief corollary merits attention.
Technology increases, expands, and democratizes access to information -- how we receive it, distribute it, and store it. The ever-expanding spectral curve of access is tremendous. The dangers, however, are sometimes ignored, dismissed, or outright rejected.
A curve's not a curve without a downside, declared Machiavellian advertising legend Miles Drentell in the 1980's-90's yuppie drama thritysomething.
Miles' quote applies in this digital era of instant communications.
We post items about everyday occurrences on Facebook -- what we're thinking, what we're doing, where we're going. And photos complement our statements.
We post our thoughts in briefer form on Twitter. This micro-blog restricts us to 140 characters or less.
And we post our views, recounts of experiences, and opinions on blogs in whatever length we wish.
The danger is that we spend so much time writing about our lives at the expense of living our lives.
Summer is fast approaching. It's an opportunity to enjoy the weather, disconnect from the Blackberry or iPhone for a few hours, and reconnect with friends, family, and colleagues.
Here are my steadfast resolutions for the summer.
Get together with some friends for a baseball game, barbecue, or happy hour without checking E-Mail.
Read a best seller on a Sunday afternoon instead of texting, E-Mailing, or web surfing.
Take a re-energizing walk during lunch hour without talking on the Blackberry or iPhone.
I'm inspired. Thankfully, I can use my Blackberry Curve 8330 between INTA Annual Meeting workshops to find the Mets schedule, learn about this month's best selling novels, and research potential walk routes with GPS.
david@davidkrell.com
This morning, I posted a blog entry entitled Don't Tell Me, Show Me. The entry concerns the power of technology.
Walking over to the Washington State Convention & Trade Center for the last day of the INTA 2009 Annual Meeting in Seattle, I realized that a brief corollary merits attention.
Technology increases, expands, and democratizes access to information -- how we receive it, distribute it, and store it. The ever-expanding spectral curve of access is tremendous. The dangers, however, are sometimes ignored, dismissed, or outright rejected.
A curve's not a curve without a downside, declared Machiavellian advertising legend Miles Drentell in the 1980's-90's yuppie drama thritysomething.
Miles' quote applies in this digital era of instant communications.
We post items about everyday occurrences on Facebook -- what we're thinking, what we're doing, where we're going. And photos complement our statements.
We post our thoughts in briefer form on Twitter. This micro-blog restricts us to 140 characters or less.
And we post our views, recounts of experiences, and opinions on blogs in whatever length we wish.
The danger is that we spend so much time writing about our lives at the expense of living our lives.
Summer is fast approaching. It's an opportunity to enjoy the weather, disconnect from the Blackberry or iPhone for a few hours, and reconnect with friends, family, and colleagues.
Here are my steadfast resolutions for the summer.
Get together with some friends for a baseball game, barbecue, or happy hour without checking E-Mail.
Read a best seller on a Sunday afternoon instead of texting, E-Mailing, or web surfing.
Take a re-energizing walk during lunch hour without talking on the Blackberry or iPhone.
I'm inspired. Thankfully, I can use my Blackberry Curve 8330 between INTA Annual Meeting workshops to find the Mets schedule, learn about this month's best selling novels, and research potential walk routes with GPS.
Don't Tell Me, Show Me
May 20, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
Last night at The Triple Door, I experienced the real-life power of technology. Having ditched my flip-up cell phone for a Blackberry Curve 8330 less than a week ago, I am still familiarizing myself with this powerful device and enjoying every minute of it.
The power of technology emerged when a fellow INTA Annual Meeting attendee asked me about Write This Way 2.0.
Rather than launch into my 30-second elevator speech, I took out the Blackberry, used the Browser function to get to my web site, and showed her the Write This Way 2.0 blog and web site along with my Twitter posts at davidkrell.
You're a good writer! she said.
It's a real-life example of the adage Don't tell me, show me.
In the old days, back in the beginning of the month, I would have E-Mailed her a link to my web site later in the evening or this morning. Now, instant communications.
The power of technology goes beyond texting, uploading photos, or taking pictures of yourself at Safeco Field and uploading it to your Facebook page.
At the beginning of the year, I sought to learn more about how to harness that power. My new year's resolution was to get over my quasi-phobia of technology and become immersed in the digital culture. I accomplished my goal in three steps.
First, I learned from an expert.
In February, I had the opportunity to take digital guru Shelly Palmer's Get Digital class. During the span of four hours over two nights, I learned through Shelly's real-life anecdotes how to keep pace with technology or be left behind professionally, socially, and personally.
Second, I learned from an expert.
I took a web site building class for novices at Tekserve, an authorized Macintosh sales and repair store in Manhattan. The instructor patiently listened to our concerns, answered our questions, and calmed our fears.
He suggested that I buy the RapidWeaver program when I explained my goal -- build two web sites. The first web site would have a blog with a bio page about me and an About Us type of page explaining my business. That's this web site.
The second web site would have a blog, a bio page, and 50-100 long-form articles. That's Television Archives -- Our Television Heritage.
I can honestly say that the two-hour class did not make me an adept digital guru who can immediately create web sites with ease. But it gave me enough to get started -- How to create a link within your site to another site. How to create a blog. How to download extras from Google Gadgets. For example, the Churchill Quote of the Day is a gadget provided by Google for web site owners.
Third, I learned from an expert. Initially, I encountered frustration by my lack of knowledge, familiarity, and ease with technology. But I figuratively glued myself to my seat, read the manual several times, and found that continuous trial and error eventually leads to trial and success. However, there comes a point where you have to call in the pros from Dover. When I did hit the proverbial wall, I found a Rapid Weaver expert at digitaLife Productions who revealed solutions during the course of a two-hour session.
Within two weeks, this web site was born. Because I had already been through the process once, the second web site took significantly less time to build the framework but more time to install the massive amount of content. Several of the articles only existed on hard copies, so the transfer was time-intensive. Six weeks later, Television Archives -- Our Television Heritage was born.
My embrace of technology continues at the INTA 2009 Annual Meeting. Not an extremely difficult task given the many sessions dedicated to the subject.
Attending Trademarks in Virtual Worlds inspired a conversation with a friend from The Trademark Reporter. The conversation led to my agreeing to write an article about the subject.
Industry Breakout: On the Internet -- Trademarks and the Web 2.0 gave a real-life example of the challenges in selecting domain names, purchasing keywords, and protecting intellectual property on the web.
And today, I am looking forward to the 11:45 am session Latest Developments in Internet Law and the Impact of Blogging on Trademarks.
david@davidkrell.com
Last night at The Triple Door, I experienced the real-life power of technology. Having ditched my flip-up cell phone for a Blackberry Curve 8330 less than a week ago, I am still familiarizing myself with this powerful device and enjoying every minute of it.
The power of technology emerged when a fellow INTA Annual Meeting attendee asked me about Write This Way 2.0.
Rather than launch into my 30-second elevator speech, I took out the Blackberry, used the Browser function to get to my web site, and showed her the Write This Way 2.0 blog and web site along with my Twitter posts at davidkrell.
You're a good writer! she said.
It's a real-life example of the adage Don't tell me, show me.
In the old days, back in the beginning of the month, I would have E-Mailed her a link to my web site later in the evening or this morning. Now, instant communications.
The power of technology goes beyond texting, uploading photos, or taking pictures of yourself at Safeco Field and uploading it to your Facebook page.
At the beginning of the year, I sought to learn more about how to harness that power. My new year's resolution was to get over my quasi-phobia of technology and become immersed in the digital culture. I accomplished my goal in three steps.
First, I learned from an expert.
In February, I had the opportunity to take digital guru Shelly Palmer's Get Digital class. During the span of four hours over two nights, I learned through Shelly's real-life anecdotes how to keep pace with technology or be left behind professionally, socially, and personally.
Second, I learned from an expert.
I took a web site building class for novices at Tekserve, an authorized Macintosh sales and repair store in Manhattan. The instructor patiently listened to our concerns, answered our questions, and calmed our fears.
He suggested that I buy the RapidWeaver program when I explained my goal -- build two web sites. The first web site would have a blog with a bio page about me and an About Us type of page explaining my business. That's this web site.
The second web site would have a blog, a bio page, and 50-100 long-form articles. That's Television Archives -- Our Television Heritage.
I can honestly say that the two-hour class did not make me an adept digital guru who can immediately create web sites with ease. But it gave me enough to get started -- How to create a link within your site to another site. How to create a blog. How to download extras from Google Gadgets. For example, the Churchill Quote of the Day is a gadget provided by Google for web site owners.
Third, I learned from an expert. Initially, I encountered frustration by my lack of knowledge, familiarity, and ease with technology. But I figuratively glued myself to my seat, read the manual several times, and found that continuous trial and error eventually leads to trial and success. However, there comes a point where you have to call in the pros from Dover. When I did hit the proverbial wall, I found a Rapid Weaver expert at digitaLife Productions who revealed solutions during the course of a two-hour session.
Within two weeks, this web site was born. Because I had already been through the process once, the second web site took significantly less time to build the framework but more time to install the massive amount of content. Several of the articles only existed on hard copies, so the transfer was time-intensive. Six weeks later, Television Archives -- Our Television Heritage was born.
My embrace of technology continues at the INTA 2009 Annual Meeting. Not an extremely difficult task given the many sessions dedicated to the subject.
Attending Trademarks in Virtual Worlds inspired a conversation with a friend from The Trademark Reporter. The conversation led to my agreeing to write an article about the subject.
Industry Breakout: On the Internet -- Trademarks and the Web 2.0 gave a real-life example of the challenges in selecting domain names, purchasing keywords, and protecting intellectual property on the web.
And today, I am looking forward to the 11:45 am session Latest Developments in Internet Law and the Impact of Blogging on Trademarks.
Write This Way 2.0 Blog Triples Visitors
May 20, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
I am glad to report that the number of visitors to the Write This Way 2.0 blog has tripled from Sunday, May 17th to Tuesday, May 19th! Thanks to the attendees of the 2009 INTA Annual Meeting who regularly check the blog!
Keep updated throughout today, the last full day of the conference -- Wednesday, May 20th.
I'll see you tonight at the Grand Finale taking place at The Museum of Flight!
david@davidkrell.com
I am glad to report that the number of visitors to the Write This Way 2.0 blog has tripled from Sunday, May 17th to Tuesday, May 19th! Thanks to the attendees of the 2009 INTA Annual Meeting who regularly check the blog!
Keep updated throughout today, the last full day of the conference -- Wednesday, May 20th.
I'll see you tonight at the Grand Finale taking place at The Museum of Flight!
The Power of Public Speaking
May 19, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
This morning, I attended Just Pretend They Are All Naked -- How to Be a Better Public Speaker.
The panelists approached the topic in an inventive manner.
Marc Lieberstein of Kilpatrick Stockton and Jody Drake of Sughrue Mion opened the session with a purposefully bland approach. They talked to each other about the important points of public speaking away from the traditional table setting.
Holland Campbell of ESPN interrupted with the garb of a silent movie director -- beret and megaphone -- to motivate the panelists to change the approach. And they did.
What was once bland became dynamic, targeted, and revealing. Carla Vrsansky of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney took the reins and got to the heart of successful public speaking: Be Brief. Be Creative. Be Relevant.
Regarding PowerPoint, Carla suggested the following:
One idea/topic per slide
6 x 6 rule: 6 lines of text, 6 words per line
Be consistent
Use bullets and/or numbers
Headlines are useful
Avoid using ALL CAPITAL LETTERS
Use a simple readable font
If you feel you must use a lengthy sentence or paragraph, highlight the main portion with color, larger font, bold, or italicized type. An alternative is to isolate that portion in a separate slide.
Keep it simple.
Less is more.
Build rapport with the audience.
Leave something behind that the audience will remember.
Audience participation.
Map out your presentation.
Plant a 'flag' around which to center your presentation -- What is the theme?
Continually summarize throughout the presentation.
Rehearse. Rehearse. Rehearse.
After twenty minutes, Peter Harvey of Harvey Siskind gave a brief presentation entitled Band Name Trademark Disputes as an example of public speaking. Mei-Ian E. W. Stark of Fox Entertainment Group handled the clapboard and shouted Take One!
Again, the presentation was purposefully bland to illustrate a point -- bring your passion to the presentation.
Holland Campbell interrupted with true director's insight and Mei-Ian again handled the clapboard and shouted Take Two!
Now, Peter's presentation took on a different tone -- clearer, inspiring, and effective. A true portrait of how to use PowerPoint effectively, how to summarize, and how to build a rapport with the audience. Peter's technique on this last issue is a Pop Quiz at the end of a case summary described in a PowerPoint slide. The quiz consists of asking the attendees who they think won the case.
The title also changed the tenor of the presentation from bland to inviting, boring to fun, descriptive to attention-getting.
Band Name Trademark Disputes became Trademarks Rock.
But one strong, unavoidable, inevitable lesson emerged throughout the session. Murphy's Law is true. No matter how much you check the technical aspects of the room, something will go wrong. At several points, the microphone sound skipped or disappeared completely. Towards the end, the speakers discarded the mikes, talked with projection, and invited audience participation.
So, a corollary lesson emerged though it was not on the PowerPoint. When technical difficulties occur, the technical or facilities crew will try to fix them. If the problems persist, ignore the difficulties and proceed with the presentation in good humor.
As a whole, the panelists encouraged the audience to seek public speaking opportunities with INTA. During Q & A, I briefly summarized my experience and lesson learned -- Start Early!
I first pitched a writing workshop to INTA in 2008 for the 2009 Annual Meeting. I learned that a year in advance is not enough time. INTA Annual Meetings usually require eighteen months of lead time.
The writing workshop will take place at the 2010 Annual Meeting in Boston
So, if you're passionate about a topic, pitch it to INTA during the summer for the 2011 Annual Meeting.
david@davidkrell.com
This morning, I attended Just Pretend They Are All Naked -- How to Be a Better Public Speaker.
The panelists approached the topic in an inventive manner.
Marc Lieberstein of Kilpatrick Stockton and Jody Drake of Sughrue Mion opened the session with a purposefully bland approach. They talked to each other about the important points of public speaking away from the traditional table setting.
Holland Campbell of ESPN interrupted with the garb of a silent movie director -- beret and megaphone -- to motivate the panelists to change the approach. And they did.
What was once bland became dynamic, targeted, and revealing. Carla Vrsansky of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney took the reins and got to the heart of successful public speaking: Be Brief. Be Creative. Be Relevant.
Regarding PowerPoint, Carla suggested the following:
One idea/topic per slide
6 x 6 rule: 6 lines of text, 6 words per line
Be consistent
Use bullets and/or numbers
Headlines are useful
Avoid using ALL CAPITAL LETTERS
Use a simple readable font
If you feel you must use a lengthy sentence or paragraph, highlight the main portion with color, larger font, bold, or italicized type. An alternative is to isolate that portion in a separate slide.
Keep it simple.
Less is more.
Build rapport with the audience.
Leave something behind that the audience will remember.
Audience participation.
Map out your presentation.
Plant a 'flag' around which to center your presentation -- What is the theme?
Continually summarize throughout the presentation.
Rehearse. Rehearse. Rehearse.
After twenty minutes, Peter Harvey of Harvey Siskind gave a brief presentation entitled Band Name Trademark Disputes as an example of public speaking. Mei-Ian E. W. Stark of Fox Entertainment Group handled the clapboard and shouted Take One!
Again, the presentation was purposefully bland to illustrate a point -- bring your passion to the presentation.
Holland Campbell interrupted with true director's insight and Mei-Ian again handled the clapboard and shouted Take Two!
Now, Peter's presentation took on a different tone -- clearer, inspiring, and effective. A true portrait of how to use PowerPoint effectively, how to summarize, and how to build a rapport with the audience. Peter's technique on this last issue is a Pop Quiz at the end of a case summary described in a PowerPoint slide. The quiz consists of asking the attendees who they think won the case.
The title also changed the tenor of the presentation from bland to inviting, boring to fun, descriptive to attention-getting.
Band Name Trademark Disputes became Trademarks Rock.
But one strong, unavoidable, inevitable lesson emerged throughout the session. Murphy's Law is true. No matter how much you check the technical aspects of the room, something will go wrong. At several points, the microphone sound skipped or disappeared completely. Towards the end, the speakers discarded the mikes, talked with projection, and invited audience participation.
So, a corollary lesson emerged though it was not on the PowerPoint. When technical difficulties occur, the technical or facilities crew will try to fix them. If the problems persist, ignore the difficulties and proceed with the presentation in good humor.
As a whole, the panelists encouraged the audience to seek public speaking opportunities with INTA. During Q & A, I briefly summarized my experience and lesson learned -- Start Early!
I first pitched a writing workshop to INTA in 2008 for the 2009 Annual Meeting. I learned that a year in advance is not enough time. INTA Annual Meetings usually require eighteen months of lead time.
The writing workshop will take place at the 2010 Annual Meeting in Boston
So, if you're passionate about a topic, pitch it to INTA during the summer for the 2011 Annual Meeting.
Woody Allen Settles for $5M
May 19, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
Woody Allen reached a settlement with American Apparel as their two respective entertainment law powerhouses hammered out a $5 million settlement. Loeb & Loeb represented Mr. Allen. Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp represented American Apparel.
American Apparel used an image from the film Annie Hall on a billboard in 2007. Allen's legal team based its argument on the unauthorized use of Mr. Allen's image and consequent violation of his right to publicity.
American Apparel's legal team based its argument on the traditional First Amendment right to free expression.
American Apparel's use of Allen's image was clearly intentional. Where were the attorneys who decided that unauthorized use of an image from a film under copyright protection depicting a public figure's likeness was a good idea?
American Apparel Chief Executive Dov Charney's view signals a free-for-all concerning public figures' likenesses. He said that the company's billboard campaign reflected the right of an individual or corporation to invoke the likeness of a public figure in a satiric and social statement.
What exactly was American Apparel satirizing when it placed a picture of Woody Allen dressed as a Hasidic rabbi on its billboard to promote its products? What was the social commentary involved? And did the marketing team even consider that a public figure would fight for the right to license, exploit, or merchandise his or her image?
Charney also referenced American Apparel's insurance carrier in his statement. [It is] responsible for the decision to settle this case and has controlled the defense of this case since its inception.
A phrase from my first-year Torts class comes to mind. Res ipsa loquitor. Translation: The thing/act speaks for itself.
david@davidkrell.com
Woody Allen reached a settlement with American Apparel as their two respective entertainment law powerhouses hammered out a $5 million settlement. Loeb & Loeb represented Mr. Allen. Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp represented American Apparel.
American Apparel used an image from the film Annie Hall on a billboard in 2007. Allen's legal team based its argument on the unauthorized use of Mr. Allen's image and consequent violation of his right to publicity.
American Apparel's legal team based its argument on the traditional First Amendment right to free expression.
American Apparel's use of Allen's image was clearly intentional. Where were the attorneys who decided that unauthorized use of an image from a film under copyright protection depicting a public figure's likeness was a good idea?
American Apparel Chief Executive Dov Charney's view signals a free-for-all concerning public figures' likenesses. He said that the company's billboard campaign reflected the right of an individual or corporation to invoke the likeness of a public figure in a satiric and social statement.
What exactly was American Apparel satirizing when it placed a picture of Woody Allen dressed as a Hasidic rabbi on its billboard to promote its products? What was the social commentary involved? And did the marketing team even consider that a public figure would fight for the right to license, exploit, or merchandise his or her image?
Charney also referenced American Apparel's insurance carrier in his statement. [It is] responsible for the decision to settle this case and has controlled the defense of this case since its inception.
A phrase from my first-year Torts class comes to mind. Res ipsa loquitor. Translation: The thing/act speaks for itself.
INTA, Networking, and Baseball
May 19, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
A ticket to the Mariners vs. Angels game last night. $58.75.
A cab ride from the Washington State Convention and Trade Center (WSCTC) area to Safeco Field. $10.
Teaching the rules of baseball to British INTA attendees, continuing a tradition of going to baseball games during the INTA Annual Meeting, and catching up with old friends...priceless.
When I decided to come to the INTA Annual Meeting as a blogger and member of the media, I checked the Mariners schedule. Yesterday, I wrote about the background of my baseball and INTA tradition at my media blog -- Television Archives: Our Television Heritage.
Luckily, the Mariners have a homestand coinciding with the conference. So, I bought a block of eight tickets. I took four and a friend took four. Between us, we invited four British attendees new to the game. What a pleasure it was for me to tell them about the beautiful, deep, and rich history of the game and see it through their eyes.
My passion for baseball history inspired me to tell them anecdotes, benchmarks, and turning points concerning the national pastime.
Jackie Robinson breaking the color line in 1947. The heartbreak felt in Brooklyn fifty years after the Dodgers bolted for Los Angeles. The fairly recent trend of corporations paying for naming rights of stadiums.
A quick explanation of the rules over dinner and brief reminders at the game were also in order.
My anticipation heightened during the week before INTA. I read a collection of Damon Runyon's articles from his sports writing days entitled Guys, Dolls, and Curveballs. I recommend it for anyone interested in learning more about the rich lineage of baseball.
One of my fellow Mets fans joined us at the game -- Jonathan Moskin of White & Case. This is the second time I've had the opportunity to see a baseball game with Jonathan with a legal conference as a backdrop. Jonathan co-chaired a USPTO Boot Camp conference I produced in Alexandria in September. The night before the conference, a group of the speakers and I enjoyed a Washington Nationals game.
Jonathan and I talked about The Trademark Reporter where he is a Senior Editor. Jonathan is looking for someone to write a law review type of article about trademarks and virtual worlds. Earlier in the morning, I attended the Trademarks in Virtual Worlds panel discussion, though the panel devoted precious little time to the subject and more time to revenue growth, copyright infringement cases, and companies using the virtual world technology to promote goods and services.
One trademark issue that arose from the panel and appears to be a central focus is the definition of 'use' in the concept of a virtual world. Jonathan emphasized this point as we watched Torii Hunter club a bases-loaded double to clear the bases in a five-run Angels fifth.
Instinctively, I volunteered to write the article. In The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith talks about an 'invisible hand' guiding the markets. Is there an 'invisible hand' guiding my INTA 2009 Annual Meeting experience? Read on.
At yesterday afternoon's INTA Press Reception, I met a lovely woman who is a reporter for Intellectual Asset Management. I learned about her experiences in sifting through the numerous press releases and marketing materials of law firms that pitch stories to her. I soon realized that she would be a terrific intellectual asset in her own right to a writing workshop that I am moderating at the 2010 INTA Annual Meeting. Pending approval from her boss, she will be on the panel.
In this new age where law firms have marketing plans, logos, and slogans, a media expert in the trenches who decides what stories get coverage will be a great complement to the lawyers in the trenches of courtroom battles, negotiating settlement agreements, and drafting briefs.
I didn't have to wait long to brief the person responsible for managing the 2010 workshops -- Brian Daniel of CRA. Brian was one of my invitees. I also had the pleasure of catching up with Brian and learning more about the intricacies, traditions, and unwritten rules of the home of his beloved Cubs -- Wrigley Field.
I briefed him on my potential new addition to the writing workshop panel that already features people I know, trust, and respect -- Kelly Slavitt, Trademark Counsel at General Electric and Bob Latham, Partner at Jackson Walker.
Bob and the Jackson Walker business development team brought me to the firm's Texas offices last year during this same pre-Memorial Day week to conduct my CLE writing workshop for the firm's associates. That wonderful experience inspired me to further develop Write This Way 2.0 as a CLE class to teach attorneys how to refine their written communications skills across the board -- briefs, contracts, memoranda, client communications.
Oh yeah, the Mariners lost to the Angels of Anaheim 10-6. Well, technically, they are the Angels of Los Angeles. It's all about the branding, isn't it?
david@davidkrell.com
A ticket to the Mariners vs. Angels game last night. $58.75.
A cab ride from the Washington State Convention and Trade Center (WSCTC) area to Safeco Field. $10.
Teaching the rules of baseball to British INTA attendees, continuing a tradition of going to baseball games during the INTA Annual Meeting, and catching up with old friends...priceless.
When I decided to come to the INTA Annual Meeting as a blogger and member of the media, I checked the Mariners schedule. Yesterday, I wrote about the background of my baseball and INTA tradition at my media blog -- Television Archives: Our Television Heritage.
Luckily, the Mariners have a homestand coinciding with the conference. So, I bought a block of eight tickets. I took four and a friend took four. Between us, we invited four British attendees new to the game. What a pleasure it was for me to tell them about the beautiful, deep, and rich history of the game and see it through their eyes.
My passion for baseball history inspired me to tell them anecdotes, benchmarks, and turning points concerning the national pastime.
Jackie Robinson breaking the color line in 1947. The heartbreak felt in Brooklyn fifty years after the Dodgers bolted for Los Angeles. The fairly recent trend of corporations paying for naming rights of stadiums.
A quick explanation of the rules over dinner and brief reminders at the game were also in order.
My anticipation heightened during the week before INTA. I read a collection of Damon Runyon's articles from his sports writing days entitled Guys, Dolls, and Curveballs. I recommend it for anyone interested in learning more about the rich lineage of baseball.
One of my fellow Mets fans joined us at the game -- Jonathan Moskin of White & Case. This is the second time I've had the opportunity to see a baseball game with Jonathan with a legal conference as a backdrop. Jonathan co-chaired a USPTO Boot Camp conference I produced in Alexandria in September. The night before the conference, a group of the speakers and I enjoyed a Washington Nationals game.
Jonathan and I talked about The Trademark Reporter where he is a Senior Editor. Jonathan is looking for someone to write a law review type of article about trademarks and virtual worlds. Earlier in the morning, I attended the Trademarks in Virtual Worlds panel discussion, though the panel devoted precious little time to the subject and more time to revenue growth, copyright infringement cases, and companies using the virtual world technology to promote goods and services.
One trademark issue that arose from the panel and appears to be a central focus is the definition of 'use' in the concept of a virtual world. Jonathan emphasized this point as we watched Torii Hunter club a bases-loaded double to clear the bases in a five-run Angels fifth.
Instinctively, I volunteered to write the article. In The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith talks about an 'invisible hand' guiding the markets. Is there an 'invisible hand' guiding my INTA 2009 Annual Meeting experience? Read on.
At yesterday afternoon's INTA Press Reception, I met a lovely woman who is a reporter for Intellectual Asset Management. I learned about her experiences in sifting through the numerous press releases and marketing materials of law firms that pitch stories to her. I soon realized that she would be a terrific intellectual asset in her own right to a writing workshop that I am moderating at the 2010 INTA Annual Meeting. Pending approval from her boss, she will be on the panel.
In this new age where law firms have marketing plans, logos, and slogans, a media expert in the trenches who decides what stories get coverage will be a great complement to the lawyers in the trenches of courtroom battles, negotiating settlement agreements, and drafting briefs.
I didn't have to wait long to brief the person responsible for managing the 2010 workshops -- Brian Daniel of CRA. Brian was one of my invitees. I also had the pleasure of catching up with Brian and learning more about the intricacies, traditions, and unwritten rules of the home of his beloved Cubs -- Wrigley Field.
I briefed him on my potential new addition to the writing workshop panel that already features people I know, trust, and respect -- Kelly Slavitt, Trademark Counsel at General Electric and Bob Latham, Partner at Jackson Walker.
Bob and the Jackson Walker business development team brought me to the firm's Texas offices last year during this same pre-Memorial Day week to conduct my CLE writing workshop for the firm's associates. That wonderful experience inspired me to further develop Write This Way 2.0 as a CLE class to teach attorneys how to refine their written communications skills across the board -- briefs, contracts, memoranda, client communications.
Oh yeah, the Mariners lost to the Angels of Anaheim 10-6. Well, technically, they are the Angels of Los Angeles. It's all about the branding, isn't it?
Trademarks in Virtual Worlds
May 18, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
This morning, I attended my first session of INTA's 2009 Annual Meeting -- Trademarks in Virtual Worlds. The panel consisted of:
David Naylor - Field Fisher Waterhouse
Marty Roberts - Linden Lab (Second Life)
Sheldon Burshtein - Blake, Cassels & Graydon (Moderator)
And I asked the $64,000 question of the panel -- On a scale of one to ten, how are law firms generally doing in embracing virtual worlds and Second Life to promote their professional services.
David Naylor said, Few law firms have engaged in virtual worlds. He theorized that clients may trigger an increased presence of law firms in the virtualverse. Lawyers will need to understand the technology important to their clients. The adage remains -- Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I'll remember. Involve me and I'll understand.
Sheldon Burshtein pointed out the resource-intensive demands of participating actively in virtual worlds.
Mr. Naylor backed up the point. You need to utilize resources in an effective way.
He gave three examples of how law firms are using or can use virtual worlds: education, recruiting, communication with offices/clients in other cities.
david@davidkrell.com
This morning, I attended my first session of INTA's 2009 Annual Meeting -- Trademarks in Virtual Worlds. The panel consisted of:
David Naylor - Field Fisher Waterhouse
Marty Roberts - Linden Lab (Second Life)
Sheldon Burshtein - Blake, Cassels & Graydon (Moderator)
And I asked the $64,000 question of the panel -- On a scale of one to ten, how are law firms generally doing in embracing virtual worlds and Second Life to promote their professional services.
David Naylor said, Few law firms have engaged in virtual worlds. He theorized that clients may trigger an increased presence of law firms in the virtualverse. Lawyers will need to understand the technology important to their clients. The adage remains -- Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I'll remember. Involve me and I'll understand.
Sheldon Burshtein pointed out the resource-intensive demands of participating actively in virtual worlds.
Mr. Naylor backed up the point. You need to utilize resources in an effective way.
He gave three examples of how law firms are using or can use virtual worlds: education, recruiting, communication with offices/clients in other cities.
Elle Macpherson: Not Just Another Pretty Face
May 18, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
Elle Macpherson told a room of several thousand trademark lawyers that she was a little nervous as she began her Keynote Speech for the International Trademark Association's Annual Meeting last night.
She was honest.
She was thoughtful.
And she was thought provoking.
I had the opportunity to meet her after the INTA speech at the Loeb & Loeb dessert reception. I can personally attest that Elle Macpherson has the gift of beauty, poise, and charm. But she's not just another pretty face.
In her speech, Ms. Macpherson gave some background on her extraordinary modeling history as pictures of her on magazine covers, billboards, and print ads complemented her presentation.
She said that she didn't like certain aspects of modeling.
She didn't like runway work.
She didn't like the insecurity she felt.
She didn't like being objectified.
So, she made her quotes higher to dissuade companies from hiring her.
More people wanted her.
Consequently, financial independence arrived. It was not the only stop for Ms. Macpherson. Twenty years ago, she financed a business with her monetary success because of her passion for lingerie. Elle Macpherson Intimates is now a leader in the lingerie industry.
That leadership took discipline, commitment, and passion. All qualities were clearly evident in Ms. Macpherson's presentation. She did not merely read the words, she meant them. And she pointed out an important lesson she learned in her business life -- Learn to listen. Listen to learn.
But the supermodel turned self-described 'accidental executive' did not only illustrate how a celebrity can turn herself into a brand and turn that brand into a worldwide powerhouse.
She took the opportunity to talk to the trademark and branding community about corporate responsibility beginning at home. She used BP as an example. British Petroleum promotes itself with the tag line Beyond Petroleum to indicate its commitment to renewable energy sources.
Ms. Macpherson also emphasized that the pursuit of the fast buck has a detrimental effect on the value of a brand. Consumers are questioning 'buy now pay later.'
She also embraced the power of instant communication in the digital age and its potential exposure of brand sensitivity. For example, Ms. Macpherson talked about Marks & Spencer placing a two-pound premium on bigger bras. 14,000 people complained on Facebook. Marks & Spencer reacted by reducing the cost to the same level as other bras.
Connect with brand values and the sales will follow, states Macpherson.
Macpherson's axiom is time-tested. Think about the brands enduring recessions, wars, and intense competition. Their collective endurance enjoys a foundation of strength based on core values.
Macpherson's described her seven main brand values for Elle Macpherson Intimates.
Faith, Intimacy, Spontaneity, Evolution, Rebel, Tribal, True.
So, what's the biggest challenge for maintaining her brand and staying true to her values?
My challenge is to remain who I am and not what I sell.
david@davidkrell.com
Elle Macpherson told a room of several thousand trademark lawyers that she was a little nervous as she began her Keynote Speech for the International Trademark Association's Annual Meeting last night.
She was honest.
She was thoughtful.
And she was thought provoking.
I had the opportunity to meet her after the INTA speech at the Loeb & Loeb dessert reception. I can personally attest that Elle Macpherson has the gift of beauty, poise, and charm. But she's not just another pretty face.
In her speech, Ms. Macpherson gave some background on her extraordinary modeling history as pictures of her on magazine covers, billboards, and print ads complemented her presentation.
She said that she didn't like certain aspects of modeling.
She didn't like runway work.
She didn't like the insecurity she felt.
She didn't like being objectified.
So, she made her quotes higher to dissuade companies from hiring her.
More people wanted her.
Consequently, financial independence arrived. It was not the only stop for Ms. Macpherson. Twenty years ago, she financed a business with her monetary success because of her passion for lingerie. Elle Macpherson Intimates is now a leader in the lingerie industry.
That leadership took discipline, commitment, and passion. All qualities were clearly evident in Ms. Macpherson's presentation. She did not merely read the words, she meant them. And she pointed out an important lesson she learned in her business life -- Learn to listen. Listen to learn.
But the supermodel turned self-described 'accidental executive' did not only illustrate how a celebrity can turn herself into a brand and turn that brand into a worldwide powerhouse.
She took the opportunity to talk to the trademark and branding community about corporate responsibility beginning at home. She used BP as an example. British Petroleum promotes itself with the tag line Beyond Petroleum to indicate its commitment to renewable energy sources.
Ms. Macpherson also emphasized that the pursuit of the fast buck has a detrimental effect on the value of a brand. Consumers are questioning 'buy now pay later.'
She also embraced the power of instant communication in the digital age and its potential exposure of brand sensitivity. For example, Ms. Macpherson talked about Marks & Spencer placing a two-pound premium on bigger bras. 14,000 people complained on Facebook. Marks & Spencer reacted by reducing the cost to the same level as other bras.
Connect with brand values and the sales will follow, states Macpherson.
Macpherson's axiom is time-tested. Think about the brands enduring recessions, wars, and intense competition. Their collective endurance enjoys a foundation of strength based on core values.
Macpherson's described her seven main brand values for Elle Macpherson Intimates.
Faith, Intimacy, Spontaneity, Evolution, Rebel, Tribal, True.
So, what's the biggest challenge for maintaining her brand and staying true to her values?
My challenge is to remain who I am and not what I sell.
Digital Defamation & Cyberbullying
May 12, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
Gossip at the water cooler, on the telephone, or at a company party now takes place on Instant Messaging, Text Messaging, E-Mail, and web sites.
Remember when somebody misbehaved in second grade? The teacher said, This will go on your permanent record. That permanent record now consists of the Internet and electronic communications.
And the dangers are quite real. Reputations can take decades to build, strengthen, and refine. In minutes, they can be destroyed. It all starts with pushing the "Send" button.
Cyber harassment. Cybersliming. Cyberbullying. Digital defamation.
The phrases differ in wording, but not in meaning. And everyone is at risk because of the ubiquitous nature of digital communications. Plus, the opportunities increase for cybernasties with readily available, easy to use, and affordable software to build blogs and web sites.
Undoubtedly, we live in an unparalleled age of access to information. If the adage is true that information leads to power, than so must the adage be true that with great power, comes great responsibility. Apologies to Spiderman.
So where are we headed in the digiverse?
Last night, I attended Digital Defamation: Cyberbullying and the First Amendment. The Media Council of the Paley Center for Media hosted this extraordinary panel discussion at its New York City branch about the power, plagues, and potential connected with digital communications. Brooke Gladstone, Co-Host and Managing Editor of NPR's On the Media, moderated the discussion.
The panelists were diverse in their experience, opinions, and predictions. Victor Kovner is a First Amendment lawyer at Davis Wright Tremaine. Mr. Kovner pointed out that protecting First Amendment rights in the digital age "is a serious problem, legislatively and otherwise." He also highlighted the viability of bringing a tort claim based on the theory of intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Clearly, defamation gets more attention from the media. Just look at the title for the event!
Joan Lukey is a litigator at Ropes & Gray. After successfully representing star author Patricia Cornwall in a cyber harassment case, Ms. Lukey finds herself in the position of her clients -- the victim position. Ms. Lukey has been cyberslimed quite viciously because of her success in the legal arena.
Consequently, she drafted legislation amending Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to strengthen its potential for victims of digital defamation. She also suggested fighting fire with fire. Ms. Lukey's advice to be digital savvy is a must in reputation management. Use the Internet and E-Mail to counter falsehoods. Procure media interviews to clarify the situations, protect your reputation, and turn misperceptions into perceptions.
Wendy Seltzer is a Berkman Fellow at Harvard University and a visiting professor at American University's Washington College of Law. Contrary to Ms. Lukey and Mr. Kovner, Ms. Seltzer does not believe the law is the source of the problem.
David Margolick is contributing editor at Vanity Fair. He recently wrote an article entitled Slimed Online. It's about two female Yale Law students who suffered cyberbullying from anonymous attackers. They're fighting back. Presently, the case is in the pre-trial stage.
While the women have enjoyed success in their early post-law school careers, the cost to their emotional makeup, psyches, and mental energy is something difficult to quantify, gut-wrenching to imagine.
Mr. Margolick's article inspired businessman, activist, and philanthropist Leo Hindery, Jr. to fund the event. During the Q & A, Mr. Hindery said that as the father of a daughter, he cringed when he thought about the anguish suffered by the Yale Law students in Mr. Margolick's article.
The Paley Center for Media records its seminars for future viewings by patrons. Check it out the next time you're there!
david@davidkrell.com
Gossip at the water cooler, on the telephone, or at a company party now takes place on Instant Messaging, Text Messaging, E-Mail, and web sites.
Remember when somebody misbehaved in second grade? The teacher said, This will go on your permanent record. That permanent record now consists of the Internet and electronic communications.
And the dangers are quite real. Reputations can take decades to build, strengthen, and refine. In minutes, they can be destroyed. It all starts with pushing the "Send" button.
Cyber harassment. Cybersliming. Cyberbullying. Digital defamation.
The phrases differ in wording, but not in meaning. And everyone is at risk because of the ubiquitous nature of digital communications. Plus, the opportunities increase for cybernasties with readily available, easy to use, and affordable software to build blogs and web sites.
Undoubtedly, we live in an unparalleled age of access to information. If the adage is true that information leads to power, than so must the adage be true that with great power, comes great responsibility. Apologies to Spiderman.
So where are we headed in the digiverse?
Last night, I attended Digital Defamation: Cyberbullying and the First Amendment. The Media Council of the Paley Center for Media hosted this extraordinary panel discussion at its New York City branch about the power, plagues, and potential connected with digital communications. Brooke Gladstone, Co-Host and Managing Editor of NPR's On the Media, moderated the discussion.
The panelists were diverse in their experience, opinions, and predictions. Victor Kovner is a First Amendment lawyer at Davis Wright Tremaine. Mr. Kovner pointed out that protecting First Amendment rights in the digital age "is a serious problem, legislatively and otherwise." He also highlighted the viability of bringing a tort claim based on the theory of intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Clearly, defamation gets more attention from the media. Just look at the title for the event!
Joan Lukey is a litigator at Ropes & Gray. After successfully representing star author Patricia Cornwall in a cyber harassment case, Ms. Lukey finds herself in the position of her clients -- the victim position. Ms. Lukey has been cyberslimed quite viciously because of her success in the legal arena.
Consequently, she drafted legislation amending Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to strengthen its potential for victims of digital defamation. She also suggested fighting fire with fire. Ms. Lukey's advice to be digital savvy is a must in reputation management. Use the Internet and E-Mail to counter falsehoods. Procure media interviews to clarify the situations, protect your reputation, and turn misperceptions into perceptions.
Wendy Seltzer is a Berkman Fellow at Harvard University and a visiting professor at American University's Washington College of Law. Contrary to Ms. Lukey and Mr. Kovner, Ms. Seltzer does not believe the law is the source of the problem.
David Margolick is contributing editor at Vanity Fair. He recently wrote an article entitled Slimed Online. It's about two female Yale Law students who suffered cyberbullying from anonymous attackers. They're fighting back. Presently, the case is in the pre-trial stage.
While the women have enjoyed success in their early post-law school careers, the cost to their emotional makeup, psyches, and mental energy is something difficult to quantify, gut-wrenching to imagine.
Mr. Margolick's article inspired businessman, activist, and philanthropist Leo Hindery, Jr. to fund the event. During the Q & A, Mr. Hindery said that as the father of a daughter, he cringed when he thought about the anguish suffered by the Yale Law students in Mr. Margolick's article.
The Paley Center for Media records its seminars for future viewings by patrons. Check it out the next time you're there!
Twitter Hits Prime Time
May 11, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
Twitter hits prime time.
On Desperate Housewives, Tom Scavo's recent story arc centers on the loss of his youth. Now in his early 40's, Tom finds himself in the eye of a mid-life crisis storm. In last night's episode, the storm intensified because of a job interview that reveals Tom's vulnerability in the digital age. The exchange between Tom and his wife Lynette masterfully highlights Tom's frustration.
Aren't you going to ask me about my job interview? (Tom)
Oh right. How'd that go? (Lynette)
Okay. Until the thirty year-old who was interviewing me asked me if I've ever used Twittering as part of a marketing campaign. (Tom)
And what'd you say? (Lynette)
Nothing. Because I don't know what Twittering is. (Tom)
It's a social networking tool where you send instant updates to anybody who signs up for them. (Lynette)
So you knew about this and yet you kept it from me? (Tom)
I didn't keep it from you. It's just one of those tech things that you don't care about. It's for young people. (Lynette)
And I am a dinosaur marching into the tar pit. (Tom)
Tom represents Generation Xers and baby boomers who have not yet embraced the new technologies of social networks. Facebook and Twitter are the present Internet darlings. True, social networks may disappear, evolve, or amplify individually. Collectively, they will survive in some form.
Electronic bulletin boards, Internet chat rooms, and E-Mail groups once dominated as the forms where we could exchange information with like-minded people. Today, the dominant form is a social network on a web site, for example, Twitter.
As businesses use the social network for business purposes, we must be vigilant in learning about the new forms of digital communications.
Unless you want to feel like a dinosaur marching into the tar pit.
david@davidkrell.com
Twitter hits prime time.
On Desperate Housewives, Tom Scavo's recent story arc centers on the loss of his youth. Now in his early 40's, Tom finds himself in the eye of a mid-life crisis storm. In last night's episode, the storm intensified because of a job interview that reveals Tom's vulnerability in the digital age. The exchange between Tom and his wife Lynette masterfully highlights Tom's frustration.
Aren't you going to ask me about my job interview? (Tom)
Oh right. How'd that go? (Lynette)
Okay. Until the thirty year-old who was interviewing me asked me if I've ever used Twittering as part of a marketing campaign. (Tom)
And what'd you say? (Lynette)
Nothing. Because I don't know what Twittering is. (Tom)
It's a social networking tool where you send instant updates to anybody who signs up for them. (Lynette)
So you knew about this and yet you kept it from me? (Tom)
I didn't keep it from you. It's just one of those tech things that you don't care about. It's for young people. (Lynette)
And I am a dinosaur marching into the tar pit. (Tom)
Tom represents Generation Xers and baby boomers who have not yet embraced the new technologies of social networks. Facebook and Twitter are the present Internet darlings. True, social networks may disappear, evolve, or amplify individually. Collectively, they will survive in some form.
Electronic bulletin boards, Internet chat rooms, and E-Mail groups once dominated as the forms where we could exchange information with like-minded people. Today, the dominant form is a social network on a web site, for example, Twitter.
As businesses use the social network for business purposes, we must be vigilant in learning about the new forms of digital communications.
Unless you want to feel like a dinosaur marching into the tar pit.
Happy Birthday, Will!
April 23, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
Today marks the birthday of one of the world’s greatest writers.
William Shakespeare.
The Bard.
His staying power is impressive to say the least.
38 plays.
154 sonnets.
And more than 400 years of performances, interpretations, and story fodder.
Romeo & Juliet inspired West Side Story.
Hamlet was a focal point of the 1993 movie Renaissance Man. Danny DeVito plays an out-of-work advertising executive who takes a job teaching Army recruits with subpar intelligence. Hamlet ignites their interest, education, and previously unexplored intelligence. Street smarts prove just as valuable in studying Shakespeare as book smarts.
In the Happy Days episode A Star Is Bored, Richie and his friends recruit Fonzie to star in the church’s performance of Hamlet. They need a star attraction to raise money for new uniforms for the church’s baseball team. In a dramatic moment elemental to the early Happy Days episodes, Richie explains to Fonzie the meaning of the line To be or not to be after the latter character inquires. Richie says that Hamlet is contemplating suicide. Fonzie reveals that he’s thought about whether to be or not to be.
The West Wing enjoyed an undercurrent of Shakespeare inspiration. Like the title character in King Lear, President Bartlet has three daughters, encounters deception within his ranks, and balances emotions with his duties as a leader.
Shakespeare gave us dialogue that we still quote today. For example, Julius Caesar dialogue includes:
Et tu, Brutus?
Experience is the teacher of all things.
Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion [beyond reproach].
Shakespeare gave us tragedy, farce, and romance. His themes are universal. His stories are timeless. His characters are unforgettable.
Happy Birthday, Will!
david@davidkrell.com
Today marks the birthday of one of the world’s greatest writers.
William Shakespeare.
The Bard.
His staying power is impressive to say the least.
38 plays.
154 sonnets.
And more than 400 years of performances, interpretations, and story fodder.
Romeo & Juliet inspired West Side Story.
Hamlet was a focal point of the 1993 movie Renaissance Man. Danny DeVito plays an out-of-work advertising executive who takes a job teaching Army recruits with subpar intelligence. Hamlet ignites their interest, education, and previously unexplored intelligence. Street smarts prove just as valuable in studying Shakespeare as book smarts.
In the Happy Days episode A Star Is Bored, Richie and his friends recruit Fonzie to star in the church’s performance of Hamlet. They need a star attraction to raise money for new uniforms for the church’s baseball team. In a dramatic moment elemental to the early Happy Days episodes, Richie explains to Fonzie the meaning of the line To be or not to be after the latter character inquires. Richie says that Hamlet is contemplating suicide. Fonzie reveals that he’s thought about whether to be or not to be.
The West Wing enjoyed an undercurrent of Shakespeare inspiration. Like the title character in King Lear, President Bartlet has three daughters, encounters deception within his ranks, and balances emotions with his duties as a leader.
Shakespeare gave us dialogue that we still quote today. For example, Julius Caesar dialogue includes:
Et tu, Brutus?
Experience is the teacher of all things.
Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion [beyond reproach].
Shakespeare gave us tragedy, farce, and romance. His themes are universal. His stories are timeless. His characters are unforgettable.
Happy Birthday, Will!
Opening Day
April 06, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
Around the country, today holds promise for baseball fans.
Today is Opening Day.
For the moment, the season is a clean slate with the future yet to be written.
Baseball pitchers will continue their intense study of batters’ tendencies and vice versa.
Mets slugger Carlos Delgado keeps a notebook in the dugout where he details each at-bat pitch-by-pitch. His notes prepare him for the next at-bat against the same pitcher.
In The Seventh Game, Roger Kahn explains the phenomenon of studying, memorizing, and exploiting the opposition. The story revolves around fictional New York Mohawks pitcher Johnny Longboat during the iconic seventh game of the World Series against the Los Angeles Mastodons.
Like most great pitchers, Johnny Longboat kept a mental book of batters, categorizing their strengths and weaknesses, their eagerness, their poise, their terror.
A lesson is here for attorneys.
Law firm associates serve many masters, i.e., partners. However, partners differ in their preference for how associates present legal research, analysis, and conclusions. Like pitchers and batters, associates who keep a record of the partners’ preferences will be better prepared for future assignments.
In litigation, intense research and record keeping is an absolute must. Which briefs has the judge found persuasive in the past and why? Which circuits beyond the judge’s own does he or she find influential? How has the judge ruled before in cases with the same circumstances?
Today is a day of beginnings. Wiping the slate clean and beginning a detailed record of reader’s preferences could lead to, pardon the baseball metaphor, home runs with partners, judges, and clients.
Play ball!
david@davidkrell.com
Around the country, today holds promise for baseball fans.
Today is Opening Day.
For the moment, the season is a clean slate with the future yet to be written.
Baseball pitchers will continue their intense study of batters’ tendencies and vice versa.
Mets slugger Carlos Delgado keeps a notebook in the dugout where he details each at-bat pitch-by-pitch. His notes prepare him for the next at-bat against the same pitcher.
In The Seventh Game, Roger Kahn explains the phenomenon of studying, memorizing, and exploiting the opposition. The story revolves around fictional New York Mohawks pitcher Johnny Longboat during the iconic seventh game of the World Series against the Los Angeles Mastodons.
Like most great pitchers, Johnny Longboat kept a mental book of batters, categorizing their strengths and weaknesses, their eagerness, their poise, their terror.
A lesson is here for attorneys.
Law firm associates serve many masters, i.e., partners. However, partners differ in their preference for how associates present legal research, analysis, and conclusions. Like pitchers and batters, associates who keep a record of the partners’ preferences will be better prepared for future assignments.
In litigation, intense research and record keeping is an absolute must. Which briefs has the judge found persuasive in the past and why? Which circuits beyond the judge’s own does he or she find influential? How has the judge ruled before in cases with the same circumstances?
Today is a day of beginnings. Wiping the slate clean and beginning a detailed record of reader’s preferences could lead to, pardon the baseball metaphor, home runs with partners, judges, and clients.
Play ball!
College Acceptance SNAFU
April 02, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
Colossal. Massive. Unprecedented.
Those are some of the many adjectives that appropriately describe a college acceptance E-Mail error earlier this week.
University of California – San Diego accepted about 18,000 students and rejected roughly 29,000 for the 2009-2010 term. Unfortunately, UCSD sent an E-Mail to ALL applicants congratulating them on acceptance.
For the students in the Rejection column, the sudden swing in emotions is unthinkable.
Hopes raised. Hopes crushed.
Instant elation. Instant anguish.
Awesome. Awful.
All because of a human error that serves as a lesson to take a moment before hitting Send.
Surely, an institution the size of UCSD has safeguards in place to prevent this type of situation. Either the people responsible for executing the safeguard procedures were negligent or ignorant.
Though malice did not trigger the false notification, the resulting emotional effect on the rejected students and their families remains the same. Desolation, frustration, and discouragement replace joy, pride, and self-respect.
Fortunately, the technology that instantly communicated the mistake allowed UCSD to perform immediate crisis control. The university admitted the mistake. However, UCSD must deal with the remaining stain on its prestige, reputation, and attraction. In the digital age, mistakes are forever preserved.
Something about a permanent record comes to mind.
david@davidkrell.com
Colossal. Massive. Unprecedented.
Those are some of the many adjectives that appropriately describe a college acceptance E-Mail error earlier this week.
University of California – San Diego accepted about 18,000 students and rejected roughly 29,000 for the 2009-2010 term. Unfortunately, UCSD sent an E-Mail to ALL applicants congratulating them on acceptance.
For the students in the Rejection column, the sudden swing in emotions is unthinkable.
Hopes raised. Hopes crushed.
Instant elation. Instant anguish.
Awesome. Awful.
All because of a human error that serves as a lesson to take a moment before hitting Send.
Surely, an institution the size of UCSD has safeguards in place to prevent this type of situation. Either the people responsible for executing the safeguard procedures were negligent or ignorant.
Though malice did not trigger the false notification, the resulting emotional effect on the rejected students and their families remains the same. Desolation, frustration, and discouragement replace joy, pride, and self-respect.
Fortunately, the technology that instantly communicated the mistake allowed UCSD to perform immediate crisis control. The university admitted the mistake. However, UCSD must deal with the remaining stain on its prestige, reputation, and attraction. In the digital age, mistakes are forever preserved.
Something about a permanent record comes to mind.
Tyra's College Essay
March 30, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
The skillful use of repetition is an incredible challenge to master.
In the Underdogs episode of Friday Night Lights, we see an outstanding example in a college essay.
Dillon High School senior Tyra Collette dreams about attending the University of Texas.
She has subpar grades, though improved tremendously in recent months.
She has the confidence of the school principal who wrote a heartfelt, detailed, and strong recommendation.
And she has leadership potential, proven by her winning the presidency of the senior class.
What she does not have is a college essay that even remotely expresses her personality, uniqueness, and potential value to the land of Longhorns.
Her friend/boyfriend Landry sees her attempts as clichés. He says her draft reads like a five-page needlepoint pillow. When he challenges her on the numerous mentions of her job at Applebees, she responds that it’s a metaphor.
But Landry gets to the heart of the matter when he asks her what’s changed in her life.
Landry’s probe peels away Tyra’s frustration.
In her deeply revealing essay, Tyra uses repetition to set up her background, ambition, and reason for wanting to attend college.
Two years ago, I was afraid of wanting anything.
I figured wanting would lead to trying and trying would lead to failure.
But now I find I can't stop wanting.
I want to fly somewhere on first class.
I want to travel to Europe on a business trip.
I want to get invited to the White House.
I want to learn about the world.
I want to surprise myself.
I want to be important.
I want to be the best person I can be.
I want to define myself instead of having others define me.
I want to win and have people be happy for me.
I want to lose and get over it.
I want to not be afraid of the unknown.
I want to grow up and be generous and big-hearted, the way people have been with me.
I want an interesting and surprising life.
It's not that I think I'm going to get all these things.
I just want the possibility of getting them.
College represents possibility.
The possibility that things are going to change.
I can't wait.
She got admitted.
david@davidkrell.com
The skillful use of repetition is an incredible challenge to master.
In the Underdogs episode of Friday Night Lights, we see an outstanding example in a college essay.
Dillon High School senior Tyra Collette dreams about attending the University of Texas.
She has subpar grades, though improved tremendously in recent months.
She has the confidence of the school principal who wrote a heartfelt, detailed, and strong recommendation.
And she has leadership potential, proven by her winning the presidency of the senior class.
What she does not have is a college essay that even remotely expresses her personality, uniqueness, and potential value to the land of Longhorns.
Her friend/boyfriend Landry sees her attempts as clichés. He says her draft reads like a five-page needlepoint pillow. When he challenges her on the numerous mentions of her job at Applebees, she responds that it’s a metaphor.
But Landry gets to the heart of the matter when he asks her what’s changed in her life.
Landry’s probe peels away Tyra’s frustration.
In her deeply revealing essay, Tyra uses repetition to set up her background, ambition, and reason for wanting to attend college.
Two years ago, I was afraid of wanting anything.
I figured wanting would lead to trying and trying would lead to failure.
But now I find I can't stop wanting.
I want to fly somewhere on first class.
I want to travel to Europe on a business trip.
I want to get invited to the White House.
I want to learn about the world.
I want to surprise myself.
I want to be important.
I want to be the best person I can be.
I want to define myself instead of having others define me.
I want to win and have people be happy for me.
I want to lose and get over it.
I want to not be afraid of the unknown.
I want to grow up and be generous and big-hearted, the way people have been with me.
I want an interesting and surprising life.
It's not that I think I'm going to get all these things.
I just want the possibility of getting them.
College represents possibility.
The possibility that things are going to change.
I can't wait.
She got admitted.
Emotion Not Seconded
March 29, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
Client hires Company.
Company assigns Client to Employee.
Client’s CEO is unhappy with Employee’s performance.
You can guess what happens next. Client’s CEO sends an E-Mail to Employee’s Boss.
Employee has dropped the ball on our account. I have not been able to get her on the phone. This, despite numerous tries over the past two weeks to set up a date for a site visit. We no longer wish to do business with Employee. We do not want her servicing our account. Additionally, we will give serious thought to finding a more reliable service provider.
This is a major problem for Employee, especially because Client’s CEO is distorting the situation by selectively editing facts.
Employee has been traveling on site visits to other clients during the past two weeks. Before the trip, Employee sent an E-Mail to all clients advising them to contact her by cell phone or E-Mail. She also set up her office voice mail greeting with the same advice.
Instead, Client’s CEO continually called the Employee’s office phone number. Also, the appropriate contact is Client’s Executive in Charge of Operations, not the CEO.
Employee also gave six potential dates to Company’s Group Manager for a site visit. Company’s Group Manager said that he would set up the site visit with Client.
To defend herself, Employee drafts the following E-Mail.
Client’s statements are 100% not true. I did not drop the ball on anything. In point of fact, I have always been readily available to Client. I have worked many times with Client’s Executive in Charge of Operations who handles the day-to-day functions such as being a liaison between us and Client. I have not dealt with Client’s CEO nor was there ever an instruction to do so. I also alerted all clients to contact me on my cell phone or send me an E-Mail during my business trip because I would be away from the office. Also, I believed that Group Manager is working with the client to set something up because I have provided dates for a visit and followed up with Group Manager. Let’s talk about this further tomorrow.
The content may be factual, but the impression is emotional, defensive, and pleading. In this situation, stripping the emotion is the key to clarity.
Client’s statements are 100% not true.
First, Client’s Executive in Charge of Operations is my contact, not Client’s CEO. I have dealt with Executive in Charge of Operations on several occasions through E-Mail exchanges and telephone conversations. However, I have not received any messages from Executive in Charge of Operations in the past two weeks.
Second, I am readily available to Client as well as our other clients. Before my recent business trip, I alerted clients to contact me by cell phone or E-Mail because I would not be in the office. I left similar instructions on my office voice mail greeting.
Third, I provided available dates for a site visit to Group Manager and followed up with her.
By removing the emotional components, Employee’s statement has a streamlined effect with more impact.
david@davidkrell.com
Client hires Company.
Company assigns Client to Employee.
Client’s CEO is unhappy with Employee’s performance.
You can guess what happens next. Client’s CEO sends an E-Mail to Employee’s Boss.
Employee has dropped the ball on our account. I have not been able to get her on the phone. This, despite numerous tries over the past two weeks to set up a date for a site visit. We no longer wish to do business with Employee. We do not want her servicing our account. Additionally, we will give serious thought to finding a more reliable service provider.
This is a major problem for Employee, especially because Client’s CEO is distorting the situation by selectively editing facts.
Employee has been traveling on site visits to other clients during the past two weeks. Before the trip, Employee sent an E-Mail to all clients advising them to contact her by cell phone or E-Mail. She also set up her office voice mail greeting with the same advice.
Instead, Client’s CEO continually called the Employee’s office phone number. Also, the appropriate contact is Client’s Executive in Charge of Operations, not the CEO.
Employee also gave six potential dates to Company’s Group Manager for a site visit. Company’s Group Manager said that he would set up the site visit with Client.
To defend herself, Employee drafts the following E-Mail.
Client’s statements are 100% not true. I did not drop the ball on anything. In point of fact, I have always been readily available to Client. I have worked many times with Client’s Executive in Charge of Operations who handles the day-to-day functions such as being a liaison between us and Client. I have not dealt with Client’s CEO nor was there ever an instruction to do so. I also alerted all clients to contact me on my cell phone or send me an E-Mail during my business trip because I would be away from the office. Also, I believed that Group Manager is working with the client to set something up because I have provided dates for a visit and followed up with Group Manager. Let’s talk about this further tomorrow.
The content may be factual, but the impression is emotional, defensive, and pleading. In this situation, stripping the emotion is the key to clarity.
Client’s statements are 100% not true.
First, Client’s Executive in Charge of Operations is my contact, not Client’s CEO. I have dealt with Executive in Charge of Operations on several occasions through E-Mail exchanges and telephone conversations. However, I have not received any messages from Executive in Charge of Operations in the past two weeks.
Second, I am readily available to Client as well as our other clients. Before my recent business trip, I alerted clients to contact me by cell phone or E-Mail because I would not be in the office. I left similar instructions on my office voice mail greeting.
Third, I provided available dates for a site visit to Group Manager and followed up with her.
By removing the emotional components, Employee’s statement has a streamlined effect with more impact.
Defriend vs. Unfriend
March 27, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
At a cocktail party last night, Facebook was a topic of conversation.
I mentioned my blog and a recent posting about the defriend concept to remove someone from your circle of friends on Facebook.
Presently, defriend seems to be the preferred term in the digital zeitgeist.
A woman asked me why people don’t use the word unfriend instead.
I suppose that people will use unfriend if the situation is rather benign.
Perhaps you don’t want to read a friend’s constant updates about mundane chores. Paying bills, feeding the dog, and doing laundry don’t meet the standard of information that you want or need on Facebook. So you simply say that you will unfriend that person.
Defriend has a more appropriate feel if the situation is bothersome, annoying, or serious. For example, a constant, unsolicited, and unwanted barrage of Instant Messages and E-Mails, may cause defriending.
One can make the argument that the two words are distinct from one another without really being different.
On the other hand, an analogy may provide further insight.
When something causes you pain, it is toxic. To get rid of it, you detoxify. You don’t untoxify.
Lexicogaphers, wordsmiths, and digital trendsetters, enjoy!
david@davidkrell.com
At a cocktail party last night, Facebook was a topic of conversation.
I mentioned my blog and a recent posting about the defriend concept to remove someone from your circle of friends on Facebook.
Presently, defriend seems to be the preferred term in the digital zeitgeist.
A woman asked me why people don’t use the word unfriend instead.
I suppose that people will use unfriend if the situation is rather benign.
Perhaps you don’t want to read a friend’s constant updates about mundane chores. Paying bills, feeding the dog, and doing laundry don’t meet the standard of information that you want or need on Facebook. So you simply say that you will unfriend that person.
Defriend has a more appropriate feel if the situation is bothersome, annoying, or serious. For example, a constant, unsolicited, and unwanted barrage of Instant Messages and E-Mails, may cause defriending.
One can make the argument that the two words are distinct from one another without really being different.
On the other hand, an analogy may provide further insight.
When something causes you pain, it is toxic. To get rid of it, you detoxify. You don’t untoxify.
Lexicogaphers, wordsmiths, and digital trendsetters, enjoy!
Seinfeld = !
March 26, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
When do you use an exclamation point?
By definition, when you want to exclaim an idea.
In The Sniffing Accountant episode of Seinfeld, a relationship between book editor Elaine Benes and book author Jake Jarmel hinges on the exclamation point.
Elaine and Jake argue about the appropriateness of using it in a written phone message.
The phone message concerns one of Elaine’s friends who had a baby. Jake triggers Elaine’s disturbance because he did not use an exclamation point when he wrote the message.
Elaine: Well, I mean if one of your close friends had a baby and I left you a message about it, I would use an exclamation point.
Jake: Well, maybe I don’t use my exclamation points as haphazardly as you do.
Elaine: You don’t think that someone having a baby warrants an exclamation point.
Jake: Hey look, I just chalked down the message. I didn’t know I was required to capture the mood of each call.
The difference between Elaine and Jake regarding usage of the exclamation point leads to a breakup.
Although the example is humorous, it’s also instructive.
People differ on when to use the exclamation point. In business and law, it rarely appears.
But when it does appear, it should be for emphasis, urgency, and importance, not caprice, quirk, and whim.
Alternatively, F. Scott Fitzgerald offers a contrary guideline.
Cut out all those exclamation marks. An exclamation mark is like laughing at your own jokes.
david@davidkrell.com
When do you use an exclamation point?
By definition, when you want to exclaim an idea.
In The Sniffing Accountant episode of Seinfeld, a relationship between book editor Elaine Benes and book author Jake Jarmel hinges on the exclamation point.
Elaine and Jake argue about the appropriateness of using it in a written phone message.
The phone message concerns one of Elaine’s friends who had a baby. Jake triggers Elaine’s disturbance because he did not use an exclamation point when he wrote the message.
Elaine: Well, I mean if one of your close friends had a baby and I left you a message about it, I would use an exclamation point.
Jake: Well, maybe I don’t use my exclamation points as haphazardly as you do.
Elaine: You don’t think that someone having a baby warrants an exclamation point.
Jake: Hey look, I just chalked down the message. I didn’t know I was required to capture the mood of each call.
The difference between Elaine and Jake regarding usage of the exclamation point leads to a breakup.
Although the example is humorous, it’s also instructive.
People differ on when to use the exclamation point. In business and law, it rarely appears.
But when it does appear, it should be for emphasis, urgency, and importance, not caprice, quirk, and whim.
Alternatively, F. Scott Fitzgerald offers a contrary guideline.
Cut out all those exclamation marks. An exclamation mark is like laughing at your own jokes.
Just Say It
March 24, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
Nike’s slogan is “Just do it.”
Our slogan as professionals in the business and legal communities should be “Just say it.”
Too often, we try to dress our ideas with big words.
Big words = big mistake.
An alternative to big words is plain language. Just say what you mean.
Using plain language can be a very effective tool for communicating a written message.
Let’s say that Lauren Lawyer is counseling Client Company on a potential acquisition. In a memo to Client Company, Lauren Lawyer emphasizes the importance of the due diligence process.
Without proper due diligence, theretofore unrevealed problems can arise during the negotiation process that we did not anticipate and, as such, for which we consequently did not prepare. Due diligence will identify the problems so we can brainstorm to create solutions for negating the problems.
A plain language approach where Lauren Lawyer just says what she means might read:
Without proper due diligence, we can get blindsided by unexpected problems during negotiations. Due diligence will allow us to identify problems and create solutions.
Without a plain language approach, the intent of your written message may be lost, distorted, or ignored by the receiver.
Or, as Lauren Lawyer would say,
Without a plain language approach, the intent of your message that may be undoubtedly clear to you, the sender, may not be so clear to the receiver, and, as such, the intent of said message may consequently be in the hands of the receiver, only to be potentially lost, distorted, or ignored.
david@davidkrell.com
Nike’s slogan is “Just do it.”
Our slogan as professionals in the business and legal communities should be “Just say it.”
Too often, we try to dress our ideas with big words.
Big words = big mistake.
An alternative to big words is plain language. Just say what you mean.
Using plain language can be a very effective tool for communicating a written message.
Let’s say that Lauren Lawyer is counseling Client Company on a potential acquisition. In a memo to Client Company, Lauren Lawyer emphasizes the importance of the due diligence process.
Without proper due diligence, theretofore unrevealed problems can arise during the negotiation process that we did not anticipate and, as such, for which we consequently did not prepare. Due diligence will identify the problems so we can brainstorm to create solutions for negating the problems.
A plain language approach where Lauren Lawyer just says what she means might read:
Without proper due diligence, we can get blindsided by unexpected problems during negotiations. Due diligence will allow us to identify problems and create solutions.
Without a plain language approach, the intent of your written message may be lost, distorted, or ignored by the receiver.
Or, as Lauren Lawyer would say,
Without a plain language approach, the intent of your message that may be undoubtedly clear to you, the sender, may not be so clear to the receiver, and, as such, the intent of said message may consequently be in the hands of the receiver, only to be potentially lost, distorted, or ignored.
Rule of Three
March 23, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
Three is a magic number.
A long-standing guideline in written and verbal communication is the Rule of Three.
Use three items, phrases, or words to make your point because two is not sufficient and people will not remember four.
President Obama exemplifies the rule. Indeed, he began his inauguration speech on January 20th by describing his thoughts in the Rule of Three paradigm.
I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors.
Humbled. Grateful. Mindful.
Three adjectives. Three thoughts. Three phrases.
The president’s liberal use of the Rule of Three (no pun intended) is evident throughout his inauguration speech, presidential campaign appearances, and presidential speeches.
Sometimes we can get lost in the Rule of Three.
Example:
Wrather Field will have restaurants, bars, and Box Seat, Mezzanine, and Loge ticket counters that accept cash, money order, or Visa, American Express, or Discover credit card.
A more effective message will have the same uses of the Rule of Three, but separated.
Wrather Field’s restaurants, bars, and ticket counters will accept cash, money order, or credit cards. However, the credit card must be a Visa, American Express, or Discover credit card. The ticket counters will sell tickets for the Box Seat, Mezzanine, and Loge Levels.
david@davidkrell.com
Three is a magic number.
A long-standing guideline in written and verbal communication is the Rule of Three.
Use three items, phrases, or words to make your point because two is not sufficient and people will not remember four.
President Obama exemplifies the rule. Indeed, he began his inauguration speech on January 20th by describing his thoughts in the Rule of Three paradigm.
I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors.
Humbled. Grateful. Mindful.
Three adjectives. Three thoughts. Three phrases.
The president’s liberal use of the Rule of Three (no pun intended) is evident throughout his inauguration speech, presidential campaign appearances, and presidential speeches.
Sometimes we can get lost in the Rule of Three.
Example:
Wrather Field will have restaurants, bars, and Box Seat, Mezzanine, and Loge ticket counters that accept cash, money order, or Visa, American Express, or Discover credit card.
A more effective message will have the same uses of the Rule of Three, but separated.
Wrather Field’s restaurants, bars, and ticket counters will accept cash, money order, or credit cards. However, the credit card must be a Visa, American Express, or Discover credit card. The ticket counters will sell tickets for the Box Seat, Mezzanine, and Loge Levels.
Form Follows Function
March 22, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
Form follows function is an architecture principle.
Essentially, the FFF principle says that the intended function, purpose, or goal of a building dictates the building’s shape.
It also applies to written communications, especially web sites. Documents have shape, too.
Memoranda, letters, annual reports, and even web sites follow a format depending on our intended function, purpose, or goal.
Are we trying to persuade? Are we providing information? Are we clarifying a misunderstanding?
Identifying the function is the key to deciding the form.
The recent change of Facebook’s format provides a cautionary tale of consequences for not incorporating FFF into communications.
Facebook’s function is simple – give users an easy-to-use format where they can add and read Status Updates, explore other features, and enjoy themselves.
Facebook’s new format frustrates, stifles, and confuses Facebook’s users.
Groups are forming to petition Facebook and return the old format. By all accounts, the old format worked smoothly.
Indeed, it served the function.
The new Facebook format triggered as much controversy for Facebook users as New Coke did in 1985 for soda drinkers.
The new Facebook format forces the user to work harder to navigate the site instead of making site navigation easy to the point of being intuitive.
The new Facebook format does not follow the web site’s function.
When form does not follow function, the consequences can be antagonizing, angering, and even repelling the reader or web site user.
david@davidkrell.com
Form follows function is an architecture principle.
Essentially, the FFF principle says that the intended function, purpose, or goal of a building dictates the building’s shape.
It also applies to written communications, especially web sites. Documents have shape, too.
Memoranda, letters, annual reports, and even web sites follow a format depending on our intended function, purpose, or goal.
Are we trying to persuade? Are we providing information? Are we clarifying a misunderstanding?
Identifying the function is the key to deciding the form.
The recent change of Facebook’s format provides a cautionary tale of consequences for not incorporating FFF into communications.
Facebook’s function is simple – give users an easy-to-use format where they can add and read Status Updates, explore other features, and enjoy themselves.
Facebook’s new format frustrates, stifles, and confuses Facebook’s users.
Groups are forming to petition Facebook and return the old format. By all accounts, the old format worked smoothly.
Indeed, it served the function.
The new Facebook format triggered as much controversy for Facebook users as New Coke did in 1985 for soda drinkers.
The new Facebook format forces the user to work harder to navigate the site instead of making site navigation easy to the point of being intuitive.
The new Facebook format does not follow the web site’s function.
When form does not follow function, the consequences can be antagonizing, angering, and even repelling the reader or web site user.