What higher ed can learn from an underdog wrestling promotion.

You may be rolling your eyes already. You’ve been subjected to hundreds of “what higher ed can learn from ________” posts by now, and here’s another asking what you can learn from a so-called “fake sport” usually playing out in front of a few hundred fans.

Turns out, we can learn quite a bit from anything … including organizations like 2CW wrestling, which touched down in Oswego last week.

That’s pro wrestling veteran Spike Deadly about to hit an opponent with a chair … in the crowd, a few feet from us.

Look, if you work in higher education, there’s a greater than 99 percent chance you don’t work at Harvard or Yale. Odds are you feel underfunded, understaffed and underappreciated. So you can pout about it or you can do what the wrestlers of 2CW do, which is go out and give 100 percent and always think about their audience.

To use a very strange simile, WWE is the Harvard of sports entertainment … the most prominent and known brand in its field. They are flush with success by many metrics, yet follow the #wwe tag during any major pay-per-view or read posts in a group like Anti-Cena Army and you’ll find many disappointed and disillusioned fans fed up with shows that are more talk than action, lazy performances by some superstars and the organization’s reluctance to push newer talent while propping up the same, usual celebrity wrestlers.

2CW knows they won’t topple WWE, but they know their scrappy performers can put on a better show. And that everyone in their organization can share the goal of being fan-friendly.

I attended because my graduate assistant for video, Kevin “The Man” Graham, is in a long-standing 2CW tag team with a gent named Punisher Van Slyke. While the event seemed potentially interesting going in, the level of skill, punishment the wrestlers took and the overall passion far exceeded what I imagined. For what some would term a “fake sport,” the wrestlers take a lot of bumps — we saw people thrown into barricades, body-slammed onto very thin mats atop a gym floor and fly through the air in death-defying maneuvers. One wrestler suffered what looked like a legit knee injury, wrestling through it before getting ring assistance that appeared quite real and concerned.

Unlike often-uninspired WWE blowout bouts meant to pump up a star, every 2CW match was evenly contested, full of two-counts and constant swings back and forth. When fans talk about “telling a story in the ring,” these entertainers had it down. Fans are encouraged to take and post videos of live shows. 2CW often will host a former superstar like Spike Dudley (in Oswego), Matt Hardy, Hacksaw Jim Duggan or John Morrison as a headliner to get extra notice. But most of its stable are hard-working independent wrestlers or people with day jobs … or, in Kevin’s case, completing his master’s in HCI in Oswego.

Wrestler Spike Dudley grabbed my friend Jason’s Coke can, smashed into an opponent’s head and signed it later. “The best $1.50 I ever spent,” Jason quipped.

And the crowd was really part of the show. During a falls-count anywhere bout, I found Dudley getting his face twisted by ”Juggernaut” Jason Axe right in front of me in the middle of the crowd. Dudley later hit him with a chair a couple feet to my right, then borrowed my friend Jason’s can of Coke to smash it on Axe’s forehead (Dudley signed it later). Face wrestlers (good guys) regularly high-fived and shook hands with the crowd going to or from the ring, while heels (bad guys) routinely argued with or exchanged insults with delighted fans. After their match, wrestlers went to the merch table to chat with fans and autograph anything. I don’t think The Rock does that at WWE live events.

In whatever we do in higher ed or business, do we offer that level of fan-friendliness? If not, why not? Some of these wrestlers traverse the highways and byways of America, town to town, hoping for their big break somewhere else, and may never see Oswego again … so why shouldn’t we prioritize pleasing students, faculty, staff, clients or customers who we want to come back happy again and again? We should think about giving our all the way these grapplers did … but how many people watch the clock and avoid doing anything meaningful on the job from time to time because they don’t feel like it? Everyone we serve deserves our best, any day and every day.

As for Kevin, it was a very good night. He and Punisher wound up with an unexpected shot at the 2CW tag-team titles. After a long, hard-fought match, Kevin hit a top-rope maneuver and scored the three count as the duo recaptured the gold! Since they weren’t billed as wrestling for the title in pre-promo materials, perhaps it was a hometown favor, showing the local boy made good. Whatever the motivation, the crowd loved it and the title change made the night more memorable for everyone in attendance … including Kevin’s mother! When you talk about making memories and pleasing people, hard to imagine doing it much better.

Kevin “The Man” Graham (known in some circles as my grad assistant) celebrates winning the 2CW tag team titles with a very special audience member … his mother. Just one more thing to make the night memorable.

comings, goings and the circle of life.

Within an hour last Friday, I called my mom to let her know I was going to be a father and found myself staring at the desk of a college employee who passed away earlier in the week. Those minutes, so close together, give a real perspective on the circle of life.

***

I met Amy (aka Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em) through the crazy world of roller derby. A smart, beautiful lady who can converse on science and literature one moment and lay out opposing blockers the next, she and I dated for a while last year, broke up, grew up and got back together. We’ve communicated better the second go-round and generally have been much happier. (While I work in and teach communication for a living, I don’t always use this ability in my personal life.) Then, Thursday evening, she came over with a bit of news to share.

“We’re going to have a baby!” she said, before I could even close the door after letting her in. I could have thought a thousand things at that moment, but joy was the first emotion to leap forward. Many others have shared that joy, including family members. My mother, who may have wondered why both her twin sons took until this year to have children, was pleasantly surprised and thrilled at the news when I called, and giving her a grandchild in October is one of the best parts of this experience. Plus the child will have a whole family of crazy derby aunts and uncles who can’t wait to spoil the future derby girl or ref, depending on gender.

Lots of challenges await all of us on this road, but as I walk around in this daze, I am happy.

***

I didn’t know Tracy beyond that she would smile and say hello to whomever passed and that she worked in my building. We were all stunned to learn she passed away last week, way too suddenly and way too young. I wrote an In Memoriam piece to email faculty and staff, and talked to one of her Student Accounts co-workers and friends, Debbie. “She was such a giving person,” Debbie said of Tracy. “She was always asking if there was any way she could help. She will really be missed.”

Debbie took me into Tracy’s office area, marked by a tidy and organized desk surrounded by photos of her family. She shied away from public recognition, remaining an unsung hero. And, from talking to Debbie and looking at a desk Tracy would never revisit, the clear picture formed someone who focused on her children and grandchildren. In a world where way too many people obsess over fairly meaningless stats like number of Facebook fans, Twitter followers or Klout scores, here was someone who placed her priorities on a very logical and loving place: her family.

I have a feeling I’m going to start understanding that much more in the days ahead.

***

Sorry if there’s no profound lesson in social media or the web or management to take away from this entry. Only things like: Life is precious. Life is unpredictable. Life is a gift to be enjoyed and celebrated every day.

the best and worst of us: thanksgiving and black friday.

This week brings some of the best and the worst things in modern American life: the joy of Thanksgiving followed by the insanity that is Black Friday.

Thanksgiving may well be my favorite holiday. What’s not to like about food, loved ones and reasons to give thanks? Our family doesn’t get together until Sunday, but I was exceedingly fortunate that an amazing local family invited me over for their Thanksgiving dinner. “The more the merrier!” was the greeting extended to me, and the food and laughter unfolded in generous amounts. I may have learned more about some of the guests than anticipated as the stories ensued, but their level of comfort in doing so says a lot about the family. The room was filled, ultimately, with love. The feast was excellent, but the gathering and the fellowship were the real stars of the show. And that is, perhaps, the way it should be.

The way it shouldn’t be is having around 20 people injured when a WalMart shopper who really wants some video-game consoles busts out the pepper spray. Or seeing shoppers brawl in the electronics department of WalMart, with two injured and at least one arrested. And let’s not forget the WalMart employee trampled to death in 2008 in what sounds more like a scene from “Lord of the Flies” than holiday cheer.

Black Friday just keeps getting bigger and scarier. Worse, Black Friday is invading Thanksgiving day among many major retailers. Instead of letting retail workers facing the very hectic holiday season spend a nice dinner with their families, chains summon them to face large crowds bordering on hysteria. When did this week become about appeasing selfish greed instead of sharing the holiday spirit? When did getting a deep discount on a piece of electronics become more important than the safety and lives of others?

But that Thanksgiving spirit still exists. My friend Mike Petroff of Emerson College started an #eduthanks hashtag on Twitter Wednesday night listing all those friends in higher education he was thankful to know, and why. Dozens of others picked up on the thread, which Mike has posted in Storify, and spawned a touching Shelley Keith blog entry.

And the spirit still suffuses homes large and small throughout the country, giving all of us hope. When I left the gathering last night, several members of the family thanked me for coming. They opened their home, their hearts and their family cheer … and yet they thanked me? I was rather bowled over by that. Some things you just can’t put a price tag on, and have much greater value than any Black Friday bargain.

what a johnny cash cover band can teach us about project management.

[Daniel Laird photo]

Strange things happen sometimes. Like going to a conference in Austin and winding up in a Johnny Cash cover band, as took place at HighEdWeb11. But the experience also offered lessons on some factors in successful project management.

Behind the scenes, group members secured a surprise slot on the stage at the Highball club in Austin, rewrote songs by the Man in Black to reflect working on the web in higher ed and handled all kinds of logistics required to bring it all together. We only had one practice in advance, and that didn’t include all songs or all members. But it came together, somehow, because of four strong aspects to the project:

Social. Communication took place through a secret Facebook group. I was the last in, invited because Georgy Cohen knew they needed a bass player. Earlier, members had collaborated on reworking titles on Cash classics and sharing new lyrics they penned (one of my faves being from “Frames and Tables Blues,” formerly “Folsom Prison Blues”: “I bet there’s rich folks working in a fancy CMS/I bet they’re drinking coffee, not cleaning up this mess”). In hindsight, we probably could have used a Google hangout to practice a bit more in advance if we could have somehow coordinated schedules.

Passionate. It certainly reflected a labor of love for a group of devoted Cash fans with varying levels of musical talent. Granted, it’s much easier to bring passion to something this fun and crazy as opposed to, say, building a web portal. But if you can focus on the positive results that can come from any project, that can help you become excited about the outcome.

Democratic: Aaron Rester was the ring(of fire)leader, but ideas and suggestions came from many group members. We each brought our own skillset to the mix and the group collectively figured out how to pool our talents.

Flexible. When you only have one practice in a hotel room (apologies to any neighboring rooms), you figure you’ll have to adjust on the fly. And we did, such as when Larry Falck stepped up to take on vocal duties for “Get Tweetin” (“Get Rhythm”) which included his suggestion via Facebook to change keys and chord structures on the day of the show to accommodate his vocal range. Because the project was social, passionate and democratic, we could easily be flexible.

Between-song transitions could have been smoother, and I played the first verse of “Frames and Tables Blues” in the wrong key, but the surprise performance was exceedingly fun and very well received. We ripped through seven Cash covers and (for the absurdity of it) Rebecca Black’s “Friday” without major incident to a crowd that really seemed to enjoy it. We even had folks clamoring for an encore, which is tough since we didn’t know any other songs. If that was our biggest problem, I’d say it was a success … thanks to some sound principles of project management.

a logo is not a replacement for content or actions.

I’m a member of our college’s Sesquicentennial Steering Committee, which includes outreach to various campus entities to get them to become active participants in events celebrating our 150 years. We’re hoping to cultivate things like lectures, performances, research, readings and other activities that engage people with this grand occasion.

And yet here are some actual responses I’ve had to the question of how folks are actively working the sesquicentennial into their activities:
- “We put the logo on our website!”
- “We’re putting the logo onto some T-shirts!”
- “We’ve included the logo on some of our printed materials.”

My general reaction is “wha-huh?” A logo can build awareness, but it’s passive. By saying you’re slapping the logo on something, you’re essentially participating by not really participating. It’s low-investment activity, sort of like bringing a canned good to gain free admission to a sporting event, then believing you’ve done your part to make the world a better place.

On another note, this exchange, for an emerging program on campus, also took place:
Me: “What are you doing to promote the program?”
Them: “We’ve been working with a student for the past couple months to design a logo.”

Again … what? So often I see people put all kinds of time and energy into creating a logo when they should be using that instead to develop real content. Such as: What this program is. How it benefits participants. How you can take action. A logo tells you none of those things. We don’t make major purchases because of logos. We buy things because they provide various benefits, tangible and intangible, to us.

I don’t know how to break the obsession with logos over real content or actual action. I guess people decide logos represent low-hanging fruit that can postpone making difficult core decisions. That so many of these logos have very little institutional tie-in is yet another complication, as if it fulfills a need to claim some kind of separate turf. Except it’s like staking claim to some property then designing a national flag in lieu of developing the land or coming up with a governance plan.

ingredients + improvisation = keys to success anywhere?

A misadventure of the weekend for #pancaketweetup — which strayed from delight to despair to desperation to determination to diligence to deliciousness — made me ponder some key tools to success anyone’s workplace. What I learned: Ingredients and improvisation mean a lot.

For those who don’t know, #pancaketweetup is a monthly virtual online breakfast gathering via social media. It started as a joke between @LaneJoplin and I, but now attracts dozens of participants worldwide, has seen meals from every continent but Antarctica (here’s hoping) and even served as a signature part of the Canadian Post-Secondary Education conference (#pseweb). You can make other foods than pancakes, as demonstrated when I planned to pull together leftovers for what I originally termed Found-Object Omelette on Saturday morning.

The ingredients themselves were quality — eggs, green pepper, mozzerella cheese, sausage and pepperoni, most leftover from homemade pizza — and intriguing enough that my friend Dan Rapp the ad man dubbed it a “Pizza Omelette.” Fair enough. But then I kept having to add eggs to balance the multitude of other ingredients as the butter didn’t fold in and by the time I put it into the pan, it had all the makings of a grand train wreck.

Throughout the process, I kept improvising the mix, the consistency, the plan. Spatula in hand, I toiled ceaselessly once it hit the pan, until I released it was more like scrambled eggs than an omelette. With this new current emerging, I hoisted my sails to tack in this new direction and — voila — the result was what I called Pizza Scramble (see recipe). And you know what — it was really good! And enough left for dinner as well!

Yes, I’ve just bored you with my cooking story, but I have a point. The end product worked because I had good ingredients and no fear of improvisation. In the workplace, I’d say ingredients involve putting the right people in place and giving them the tools to succeed. And improvisation is a necessary part of any experience (to the point I recommend to students they take an improv theatre course).

With the right employees, you can accomplish a lot, even if they don’t necessarily fit into some kind of cookie-cutter hole. I like to work with folks showing enthusiasm, growth potential and willingness to learn over those who may look better on paper but won’t want to learn, grow and be part of a team. As for improvisation … when is the last time you’ve had a day that went according to plan? The ability to think on your feet, brainstorm new (sometimes crazy) plans and seek alternate routes to meet your goals when necessary are critical when management decisions may involve seconds, or nanoseconds. Where being able to turn on a dime is a trait beyond value.

Moreover, it reminds us the greatest adventures involve trying new things. As the saying goes, you can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs … even if you don’t end up making an omelette after all.

recipe (for disaster?): pizza scramble (nee found-object omelette)

Ingredients:
6 eggs
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup mozzarella (approx.)
1/4 cup chopped pepperoni (approx.)
1 Johnsonville sausage (jalapeno and cheese = my favorite)
1 medium-sized green pepper
large dollop of optimism

Serves 2 hungry people, or 1 hungry person for lunch and dinner

Slice up green pepper into manageable pieces (less than 1 inch squares). Microwave sausage, then realize this has made it easier to slice; slice it anyway. Slice mozzarella into (attempted) small cubes.

Mix together 4 eggs. Add 2 tablespoons butter. Realize this doesn’t mix well. Upgrade from fork to wisk to hand mixer. Panic. Add 2 additional eggs to account for large number of ingredients.

Pour mix into pan. Realize it will not make omelette as intended. Panic . Decide to serve it as a pizza scramble, sort of like a western scramble, but not. Break up dish a la scrambled eggs. Work hard at scraping to keep it from sticking to pan.

When it looks done, place on plate. Consume. Enjoy.

how roller derby helped me fall back in love with PR.

In some form or another, I’ve worked in public relations most of my adult life. While I love my ever-evolving day job, there’s a chance some things can feel a bit stale after a while. But I have to admit that doing publicity for Oz Roller Girls has reminded me what I enjoy about public relations.

My day job is for a college that’s also the largest employer in the county, so what we do is news whether we want it to be or not. And sometimes decisions involve what not to write about under the If We Cover That Bake Sale, We Have To Cover All Bake Sales theory.

But with the Oz Roller Girls, it’s like a budding relationship where everything is fresh and new. We’re starting, essentially, from square one, so seeing Oz news releases and photos in the media is exciting again, and watching folks on the team post Facebook links to our coverage gives a sense of accomplishment, of being part of a group that deeply appreciates it.

Since we recently launched the @OzRollerGirls Twitter account, I find myself going back to basics. My regular Twitter account having 1,300+ followers and the college account having 900+ followers has spoiled me. With the derby account, I have to remember how to build an audience again through interesting content and engagement.

It’s also refreshing to write about a new subject and be able to start a campaign from scratch. If I have an idea for a good story, I can just dive into it. The Media Committee also has awesome volunteers ready to help at any time. The whole team is so cooperative and supportive when I need something from them, and the enthusiasm for the sport is contagious and fulfilling.

The Oz Roller Girls are still an underdog in the media game. We’re a novelty act to some, hard to categorize to others, unproven to others still. But as we build toward our home debut on April 23, you can feel a kind of momentum from dozens of skaters and volunteers all believing in something and working together. When they see publicity come through, it’s just further encouragement. And being a part of all that, of seeing everything come together and enjoying every little success, makes me fall in love with public relations all over again.

Postscript: My advice: If you ever feel a little stagnated, finding a volunteer outlet can prove refreshing. You don’t have to get as far in as I have, but just meeting new people and gaining new perspective can really be a boost.

2011 goal: become a better five-tool player

In baseball parlance, a five-tool player is one who does many things well (batting average, power, speed, fielding, throwing). In today’s workplace, where we need to perform many, many different tasks  — how many folks get to specialize any more? — flexibility and improving several skills is at a premium.

In that way, I’m studying my major skillsets, or desired skillsets, to examine where I want to grow and improve:

1. Writing. This has been my bread and butter. I started writing poetry when I was 4 (didn’t say “good poetry”) and have been paid to write since I was 20. But improvement is always possible. The character constraints of Twitter (and to a lesser extent Facebook) reinforce the most important writing tip ever, Strunk and White’s “Omit needless words.” I think sometimes, with my general writing, I’m too satisfied with a first or second draft when I really need to keep trying to make it better.

2. Web communication. This could represent several tools in itself, but for the sake of keeping it to five, I’ll consider this a mashup of social media, analytics and website management. This is an area I’ve had to learn on the fly, but often with the help of reading and expert advice — much of it free from colleagues. Analytics, which I just started getting into after last year’s SIMTech Conference, represents countless opportunities for improving our web presence. Not included in this list but related is …

3. Content strategy. Thanks to the awesome book Content Strategy for the Web by Kristina Halvorson (a later blog post), I gained more of a handle on, and case for, better institutional content strategy. This has resembled the Wild West in our decentralized web presence, but combining analytics with rolling content audits and content strategies could work wonders. Or so I hope …

4. Video. My communication degree had a broadcast concentration, so I know the basics. And they sat dormant for many, many years until I had to start supplying more video content a few months ago. I started using iMovie — so much easier than the analog editing I learned on ginormous machines — and now look to improve my camera work, which requires better equipment as much as anything. But I know that, underlying it all, sits a basic desire for storytelling that I cherish.

5. Management. I’ve read books, had training, but what does it mean in the real world? I supervise two full-time workers (who I view as colleagues, never subordinates), a small student social-media team (interns and volunteers) and student bloggers. I’m trying to track, prioritize and document things better, but don’t want to make it a chore. As a discipline of the Tom Peters empowerment strategy, I sometimes wonder if I’m too permissive … but my hope, especially with students, is to put them in position and with the tools and opportunities to succeed.

So, what about you? What skills would you like to gain or improve?

thursday travelogue: las vegas: everything is possible but nothing is real.

Welcome to fabulous Las Vegas
Give us your dreamers, your harlots and your sins
Las Vegas
Didn’t nobody tell you
The house will always win?
– “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas,” Brandon Flowers

Others have filed great recaps of the outstanding #simtech10 conference in Las Vegas, so I figured, as an urbanist, I could file my thoughts on our host city. No other place has such a pervasive and glitzy ad campaign, telling people that what happens there, stays there. It’s a casually well-crafted image.

And yet, leaving Las Vegas, I knew I would not miss the city. My friends from the conference I would — and do — miss tremendously, but Las Vegas is too loud, too brash, too in-your-face, too crowded … just too much. Every block on the strip involves running a gauntlet of card-slapping hired hands trying to push strip clubs and prostitution. Coupled with the slow-moving tourists and the overstimulation of sights and sounds, it resembles some kind of smoky, seedy video game.

Oh sure, I can recommend all kinds of things. Dollar drinks and the crazy karaoke characters at Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall and Casino were a hoot. Our group dinner at Bradley Ogden in Caesar’s Palace was quite possibly the most delicious (and not coincidentally, most expensive) I’ve ever had. Our hotel, The Paris, was inexpensive and features the awesome Napoleon’s Dueling Piano Bar and fantastic Le Village Buffet, among other attractions.

And yet one of my lasting impressions came from taking a 6 a.m. run with some friends, which seemed like being backstage at a carnival. People are still out drinking or stumbling in at that hour. You can see senior citizens sitting at slot machines — were they still there from the previous night or getting an early start? And cleaning crews attempt to take care of some of the profuse of refuse from the previous day’s carousing.

One thing the ads won’t show you is that, among the revelry, you can feel an undercurrent of sadness in Las Vegas. The unemployment rate is a staggering 15%, evidence of what happens when a boom goes bust. While the hustlers crowd the more unfortunate panhandlers off the strip, you can find people begging, busking or sleeping on overpasses and in the city’s less glamorous areas. And if you gaze at people mesmerized by slot machines for hours, blank expressions make you wonder if the machines sucked their souls along with their cash.

I started this entry with Las Vegas favorite son Brandon Flowers, but will paraphrase the band Living Colour for my succinct summation of the city: It’s a place where everything is possible but nothing is real. Decadence walks beside despair, splendor sits aside sorrow. The city runs rife with contradictions, of soaring reveries and dashed dreams. The one truth is that, ultimately, the house wins, and it’s mainly the city promoters laughing all the way to bank.