Have you ever met someone at a company trade show? Say they stopped by your booth, pointed out something interesting, made a joke, etc. and that gave you a positive feeling but not enough that it made you want to go out for a beer or coffee together. The next time you see each other a similar interaction happens, and you start to reveal something personal about yourselves, and then at some point, you’re calling each other friends or at the very least a close acquaintance and are now going out for that beer or coffee.

I think the same is true online, though much more difficult when you can’t see each other smile, laugh, respond to sarcasm, facial expressions, hear vocal inflections, etc. And the coffee or beer doesn't taste quite as good as if you were sitting across from each other. This is where it becomes necessary to break away from “run of the mill” comments, introductions, and content sharing. We’re human. We need authentic human interactions, even if they are not in person. So, we work a little harder crafting thoughtful content, introductions, and comments to help us all in connecting.
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I am a firm believer that if we behave the same way we would online as we would in person that we are bringing our most authentic self to the forefront. The tones are certainly different between Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. It’s the difference between whom you are speaking to and where. Instagram is a fun visual platform, it’s where I see pictures of cats, stunning baked goods, mountain tops, smiles, and people living their lives. Whereas LinkedIn is that replacement or in addition to, a conference room, a trade show floor, stopping into a business to drop off a flyer, lead and industry groups, thought sharing, best practices, etc.

So, find a connection. Think about how YOU want people to approach and connect with you. A blind request? A sales pitch? Or pointing out that you both love skiing or went to the same college or share similar views on managing employees. What do we have in common?

 A couple of quick places to find information are their LinkedIn profile, their website, and their socials. It’s not creepy to learn about whom you want to connect with. That’s why they have a public website, socials, and a LinkedIn profile, to make connections. If we don’t make connections we can’t grow, we can’t help, and we can’t create new experiences with each other.

I think we all play the game in our heads that leads to hesitation. You start off by typing a message to connect then you hesitate, creating an untrue narrative like “they don’t know me why would they connect?” or “this sounds dumb or stalker-like” I think keeping it short and light is the key and hitting send before you have a chance to retreat makes all the difference. But make sure it is proofread, there’s nothing more embarrassing than having a word spelled incorrectly or an obvious grammatical. error. Also, don’t beat yourself up if something isn’t perfect, your potential new connection isn't perfect either.
Once you’ve made connections it’s come time to interact which means liking, commenting, and creating content. Comments are better than Likes. Why? Well, how do you feel when someone Likes vs. Comments? Like I mentioned earlier social media is about having conversations and sharing experiences. Could you imagine being at a trade show and instead of people coming up to your booth to chat they just gave you a thumbs up and kept walking? This actually happened to me once. It didn't feel as great as chatting with someone though.
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To sum it all up. Let your attitude, personality, and character shine by making connections, being human and personalizing your interactions, have conversations, and learn about the people around you.

​Edutainment is, by definition, “any form of entertainment that is educational”.  This could also be a documentary, eLearning modules, podcasts, certain video/computer games, and the list can go on and on.  One example that comes to mind is this: I don’t recall a thing from my 8th grade science teacher but I do remember him showing a Bill Nye the Science Guy video on static electricity that I still remember to this day.  That is a form of edutainment.  If you’re a millennial than you probably remember Number Crunchers, the Oregon Trail, etc. all those computer games were a form of edutainment. 

It's been proven that this type of learning promotes critical thinking, increased engagement, and growth mindsets.  The one key factor being we remember material that strikes emotion.  That's one reason using entertainment to educate works.

Keep your audience engaged in the content you are creating. A solution to successful edutainment is striking an emotional chord with your audience. Using audio is a great way to achieve this.  If you have lesson plans, are an instructional designer, video producer or simply have educational material that you want to communicate to your audience. Keep them engaged by hiring a professional voice over "edutainer" to pair with your visuals. Voice over that helps explain and inform in an entertaining manner helps in retaining the content being viewed.  Think of it as a guide to the visuals, walking your viewer through the experience.

Having trouble finding a way to keep your audience engaged? Let’s connect to fix that. Get a free audition and quote.
Contact me at [email protected].