Dan — Your sincerity has NEVER been in contention. To points 1-4 above (re: tools, design, amateur, et al), there is NO doubt that you are both a constant learner and an unapologetically rigorous seeker of knowledge with the expressed goal of ever-improving your design sensibilities, techniques, and outcomes. On both fronts, my head dips forward out of respect and admiration.

As for your respectful request that I (or anyone) not disagree with you “on this mistaken presumption that my fellow gray-bearded experts and I are concerned we’re gonna have more competitors on our turf”, I can only say that there is a marked difference between the audience’s take-away’s when reading the original post on Vid Snacks and your follow-up. The first is — forgive me — reactionary for the purpose of reaction, holds no punches as to disappointment without conceding even a hint of synthesis of opinion, and clearly draws a line in the sand via charged language, examples, and biases. NOTHING wrong with that, my friend. Truly. We’re all grown-ups here and we are allowed to strike with whatever hand we select.

On the other hand, the second post — aka “the follow-up” — achieves marvelously in terms of the one thing you are seeking from the multi-media presenters: “clarity”. And this benefits all concerned.

Your argument and expectations are clearly dilineated on a number of fronts. Your tone is measured, respectful, and professional. And your long-term goals (esp. point #3 re: “how has she done this?”) are worth all of our calm consideration.

Heck, even if it’s ‘just me’, I’m listening, appreciating the chance to look through your lens, and have much to learn by your passionate expectations. Especially when the ultimate point isn’t about finding a straw man to set fire because we are quick with our typed tongues…but it turns out to be about the ‘opportunity’ for all of us to seek intentional conviction in the execution/design/presentation of our best ideas in public (rather than just shouting for the sake of a free 2.0 podium of sorts).

I have a great deal of interest in your final points here, Dan. You wrote about the student who will want to eventually express something to a significant audience (beyond a trendy echo-chamber, if you will) but may lack the skill sets or visionary instincts to seek true presentation acuity:

“They’ll want to express it with clarity but it’ll be impossible.

They’ll be able to explain simple concepts to large audiences.

They’ll be able to explain complicated concepts to small audiences.

But if they and their teachers aren’t immersing themselves constantly in better, clearer work than their own (made by experts? doesn’t matter. it’s just clearer) work which for the first time in history is available freely and quickly, how in that vacuum can they rise to any greater occasion?”

My responses:

1. Once ‘clarity’ of expression (aka ‘presentation’) becomes the primary goal in school, we will be afforded a tremendous can of worms to crank open, you and I. Hope it’ll be in our lifetime. Look forward to your leadership when that moment arrives. Sadly, content acquisition remains remarkably 1-dimensional when it comes to expression/delivery.

2. Education — historically — has never taught ‘presentation’ or ‘managing audience’ (one-way or two-way) as a vital skill. It’s often value-added, but it is rarely (never?) the key desire. Public speaking classes, a cute science fair poster-talk, or the ubiquitous student council election moment notwithlegitstanding, ‘presentation’ is a radically novel concept at play these days…and the raw expectation that ‘how’ we present will matter as much as ‘what’ we present is something that is a bit Gallileo-like in terms of reversing the predominate sun-around-the-earth tendencies of education. In otherwords, there’s a bit of inherent blasphemy in your vision (although I dig it).

3. All speakers are assured real-world success when they can deliver “simple concepts to large audiences” (consider your local uber-church, your local motivation seminar, your local news hour, etc.). Great story tellers and soap box ministers have always known this formula was the surest way to engage the largest audience. As someone who spent much of the last 3+ years speaking to a wide array of professional audiences about school design/architecture, emerging technology, the future of learning, and all the messy stuff in between, it would have been foolish of me to under-estimate the power of conveying “simple concepts to large audiences” on a regular basis (or, turning complex patterns of ideas into simple concepts). The goal of a speaker is not to prove that they are the smartest; it is to prove that the audience can engage the topic ‘come Monday’ without the speaker being present…and allow for remarkable customization on the back-end.

4. Same holds true for “complicated concepts for small audiences”. Not a weakness, this is in fact equally valuable for any professional presenter (on stage, in film, or in graphic print) to grasp and be able to accomplish well. There is a reason why the ‘art house’ movie roll has a smaller demographic reach than the mainstream mega-plex film selection.

5. Yes, for the first time in history, extraordinary tools are available easily and freely. This does not suggest, however, that the goals of being exceptionally agile in message or image is the end-goal for the majority that seek to use them. Remember, just ‘getting on stage’ is the most frightening choice that most trained professionals will ever face. Even the worst bullet point PPt takes most adults insane couage to ‘deliver’, no matter how expert or interested they may be. And never forget that for the majority of people, just having an audience (or imagining that they have one) via blogging, podcasting, vodcasting, etc. is a radical extension of what may otherwise be a more humble life at home and at the workplace. Grace is not the goal. Not drowning often is.

Lower the bar? Depends on why the bar exists in the first place. Even more so, depends if everyone agrees on the same bar for the same reasons.

Between you and I, Dan, I desperately want all presentations to radically improve by taking advantage of the profound tool sets and info-sharing that is available today. And like you, I’ve spent the last few years in an unapologetic search for knowledge to support my own passions (school design, etc.) and learned first-hand what it means when you follow through on what you propose (my last career is testimony to that, my friend).

But, slidedeck lampooning a passionate educator (V. Davis, etc.) who may not share the same design sensibilities as you do or spending enormous time/energy paper-shredding a professional who is offering a service many ‘might’ appreciate (Vid Snacks) seems to lower the bar on what I consider to be the best conversation of all:

Dan Meyer celebrating the possibilities of design (classic golden mean ratios to editing techniques to rap lyric inspiration to graphic design wunderkinds) within the hallowed (and often cinderblock) halls of education.

Yes, you’ll get some nudge-nudge style points for thinning the weaker members of the herd. The irony, however, may be that the heard your thinning may be more of the arts-n-craft snipe hunt variety than a legitimate big game contender for epic design feasting that serves a wider table.

When all is said and done — as this post of yours demonstrates from beginning to end — you are an unmatched voice and leader when you focus your energies/insights on helping folks play off of their strengths and authentic interests as a gesture of bold appreciation, rather than spraying graffiti on their backdoors to prove just how much they lack in potential.

You deserve mad credit for saying the following:

“My “end-game” is a world where people across ages and cultures communicate with each other better, more clearly, a world where people can express complicated ideas with a maximum of clarity and art.”

Curious. How can this be achieved in a way that empowers those who do not *** yet *** possess your instincts or abilities or opportunities?

I think you’re one of the few legit ‘bridge builders’ between traditional education and global presentation, Dan, and hope that in time you’ll realize the exponential power of your message/insights when you seek their success rather than mock their efforts.

In clarity and art we trust (or find pretty keen).
Cheers from Texas,
Christian

P.S. Even when I disagree with your content (rarely) or tone (occasionally), I think you need to “keep on keepin’ on”. We’re all the better for it. Far better for it.

Dude, you still teach math? That’s the coolest part of this. From an English teacher or a video arts teacher, I would expect this type of attention to communication skills. But for many math teachers it’s good enough to just understand the math. I want to start a school where every class is a math class but you learn all the other stuff along the way. I’m kidding, but only kinda. I’d need to find 15 more teachers like you.

I’m going to jump in and then immediately jump out—you guys can be verbally intimidating!! Hang with me a minute and hopefully you’ll get my point. Why do gifted kids make notoriously poor academic role models in the regular classroom? It’s because their abilities are out of reach for most students. Just one more minute….I’m almost finished here…if we went to an inservice given by our principal we would nod and agree and understand…but if Albert Einstein or Stephen Hawking were leading the inservice we may get nothing out of it. There is something to be said for getting instruction and advice from someone who is not too far away from your skill level. Did that make any sense? Mr. Holt at VidSnacks is just like me but he knows more than I do about video. I may learn more from him than I would Stephen Speilberg. Ok, done.

You are dead-right to question anything that uses “the future of [anything]” phrase as a marketing element with only a thread-bare set of evidence (or articulation). Especially if money signs are ever in the hazy backgroud. Never back off from that, Dan, especially if you have some skin on the proverbial table as you do via video editing, presentation savvy, etc.

As for canapes or crepes or fig newtons delivered on any sort of quaint or elegant serving platter, everyone loves a snack. Especially to wash criticism down.

As I said ealier — perhaps one of the parts that didn’t gracefully fit with your serve-n-volley instincts — the 2nd post you wrote clearly demonstrates your potential as a voice and leader, Dan. The first, however, shows a potentially snarky instinct that rarely elevates the conversation or inspires real change. You are — of course — free to opt for either or both. Consider it an observation that can be ignored or considered. Your call. I believe you know (and knew) that at first read, although it may not have been as compelling to respond to when you took the gun out of the holster.

BTW, will there be chocolate milk with the canapes? Or at least the well-justified questioning?

Here’s an interesting link on the topic of amateur versus expert:
http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/03/how_to_be_an_ex.html

“Most of us want to practice the things we’re already good at, and avoid the things we suck at. We stay average or intermediate amateurs forever.”