{"id":1571,"date":"2011-09-21T10:03:57","date_gmt":"2011-09-21T16:03:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/WhiteHatCrew.com\/blog\/your-blog-is-a-performance\/"},"modified":"2015-05-29T11:40:00","modified_gmt":"2015-05-29T17:40:00","slug":"your-blog-is-a-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whitehatcrew.com\/blog\/your-blog-is-a-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Blog is a Performance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I'm trying to decide whether or not to agree with something <a href=\"http:\/\/www.copyblogger.com\/make-writing-real\/\">Brian Clark wrote<\/a> over at Copyblogger:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"blogriff\"><p>If someone asks you what's for dinner, you can stick with the substance:<\/p>\n<p>Tonight we're having pasta for dinner.<\/p>\n<p>Or you can add a bit of craft and style to make it more tangible:<\/p>\n<p>Tonight we'll enjoy a dinner of tender linguini, topped with a homemade marinara sauce featuring vine-ripened tomatoes, fragrant basil, and fresh oregano straight from our garden, accented with just a hint of garlic and red wine flavoring.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>On the one hand, yes, the second version is much more compelling.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, imagine yourself as a teenager asking you mom what's for dinner and getting that kind of answer. You'd think she was a space alien.<\/p>\n<p>It wouldn't seem <i>quite<\/i> as bizarre if my wife gave me that kind of answer, but I'd still wonder whether the furnace was leaking carbon monoxide or something. And if I just wanted to know whether to expect pasta or stew, I'd prefer the first version, because it's quicker and more to the point.<\/p>\n<h2>\"Be Yourself\"<\/h2>\n<p>That's blogging advice you've probably heard a million times. Don't try to be someone you're not. Would you give the second answer? I didn't think so.<\/p>\n<h2>But, On the Other Hand...<\/h2>\n<p>Everyday people are boring. Scratch that. People are interesting. But everyday interaction is boring.<\/p>\n<p>Can you imagine how dull it would be if you filmed a typical family eating dinner and put the recording on TV? Would anyone watch? Maybe if it aired after 4:00am when they're so tired that watching paint dry is a surreal and compelling experience. But not during prime time.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, watch a show during prime time, and imagine how dull it would be if the actors acted like real people.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cut out most of the snappy comments.<\/li>\n<li>Cut out the over-the-top reactions.<\/li>\n<li>Cut out the parts where they say things for the benefit of the audience where a real person would mumble a one-word response.<\/li>\n<li>Cut out the parts where a conversation that would last 15 seconds in reality lasts 15 minutes.<\/li>\n<li>Cut out the parts where somebody's acting so idiotic that, if that's how stupid they really were, they'd never in a million years have the relationships and comforts they enjoy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Boring.<\/p>\n<p>Imagine going to the theater and watching the performers act like real people. Sloppy posture. Voices that don't project. No large gestures.<\/p>\n<p>Boring.<\/p>\n<p>And yet, when we watch TV or a play, we don't sit there thinking \"this is so unrealistic. Real people don't act that way.\" Well, maybe we do, but only when things get really out of hand.<\/p>\n<p>The fact is, just about everything we see in most types of performances would be completely over-the-top for most people in real life.<\/p>\n<h2>Two Ways to Engage Your Audience<\/h2>\n<p>On the one hand, <a href=\"http:\/\/whitehatcrew.com\/blog\/creating-connections-through-shared-experience\/\">people connect with others who are like them<\/a>. If you're pretending to be someone you're not, eventually people are going to see through the facade, and the connection is going to break.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, people are engaged by the extraordinary. Run-of-the-mill may be comfortable, but it's not engaging.<\/p>\n<p>So, which way should you go?<\/p>\n<p>I suggest taking a middle road. Take advantage of the fact that performances are expected to be amplified versions of reality. Be a little more colorful than you generally are in face-to-face conversation. As long as you don't overdo it, you'll come across as a naturally colorful person.<\/p>\n<p>I believe that most people would like to be more colorful than they generally dare to be. They're a little dull because they're afraid to let their true selves out.<\/p>\n<p>And sometimes we're a little dull because simply because it's a waste of energy to always act like you're on-stage.<\/p>\n<p>If either is true of you, then maybe by ratcheting your performance up a little, you're actually being <b>more real.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>So yeah. Be yourself on your blog. But be your party self.<\/p>\n<p>When somebody asks what's for dinner, tell them \"we're having linguini with homemade marinara sauce that I made with tomatoes, basil, and fresh oregano from my garden.\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I'm trying to decide whether or not to agree with something Brian Clark wrote over at Copyblogger: If someone asks you what's for dinner, you can stick with the substance: Tonight we're having pasta for dinner. Or you can add a bit of craft and style to make it more tangible: Tonight we'll enjoy a...<br \/>[<a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/whitehatcrew.com\/blog\/your-blog-is-a-performance\/\">read more<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogging"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whitehatcrew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whitehatcrew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whitehatcrew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitehatcrew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitehatcrew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/whitehatcrew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1571\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whitehatcrew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitehatcrew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitehatcrew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}