By Poornima Vijayashanker
It’s been a really fun two weeks at Femgineer! Karen and I have been filming for our upcoming Confident Communicator Course. And in case you’re curious about how much fun we’re having, well I’ve included a few funny pics from our sessions together.
Once we’re done filming all the lessons, I’m definitely going to get to work on the a blooper reel to share with students in the course.
Now it’s not all fun and games at Femgineer…
OK it’s like 80% fun and games.
Who am I kidding?!
It’s like 99% fun and games.
Seriously though.
The reason it’s 99% fun and games is because we’ve made it a priority.
Yup that’s right, having fun while filming is a priority.
Why?
Because when we’re having fun, then we’re funny and lively.
Who wants to watch a bunch of lessons about being a “Confident Communicator” if the instructors aren’t entertaining?
Who’s going to believe that we can actually engage an audience, if we cannot engage our own students?
And who’s going to believe that we’re “confident” if we can’t flex our own muscles on camera and make a little fun of ourselves…
So yes there are times where I will say a line, realize that it was BORING, stop myself, and do it again. And yes I make Karen do it too, she’s such a good sport about it, thank you Karen!
Now you might be thinking, “Well Poornima, that’s great, I’m happy for you and Karen. You two can have all the fun in the world, but the rest of us have to finish reading this post and get back doing ‘real’ work… Our bosses and teams won’t take us seriously if we’re silly on the job or having fun.”
I was hoping you’d say that!
Fifteen minutes of fun time
When I was working on Mint.com, my buddy Atish and I would be hard at work coding for most of the day. Inevitably in the afternoon we’d hit a slump. Instead of reaching for another Coke Zero, we’d watch funny cat videos on YouTube. This one is my person fav.
Since we were in an open space someone would stop by and say, “Ugh can you guys keep it down? I’m trying to work…”
Instead of trying to oppose them, we’d be like, “Dude! Real quick you’ve gotta watch this!”
One look of that cat on a roomba, and that person’s scowl would turn into a smile.
People knew Atish and I weren’t slackers. They grew to appreciate our sense of humor.
More importantly, because we were usually pretty easy going, when there was something serious that came up (and the look on our faces showed it) they’d actually take us seriously.
When you’re always serious, that’s all people see, and eventually they tune out.
You put people at ease and open them up
A few months ago, I was invited to a lunchtime talk, and the company served tacos.
I noticed that people were pretty quiet during lunch and just sat there eating their tacos.
I like my tacos spicy, so I slathered on salsa, took a seat, and ate silently with the others.
Of course, I happened to be wearing a white blouse, and while I’d like to think I’m pretty graceful, I ended up spilling salsa on my blouse.
I didn’t have time to change, and I also didn’t have a spare blouse, so I walked on stage and delivered my talk with salsa on my blouse.
I sensed it was going to be pretty tough crowd, since they had been silent during lunch, so before I began my talk, I told everyone in the audience, “In case you’re wondering… yes I did spill salsa on my shirt during lunch. But hey I like my tacos spicy!”
The audience starting laughing, someone shouted out, “I like mine spicy too!” And it was the first sound of life I had heard from them. After that like joke, the audience was pretty engaged throughout my talk.
Someone came up to me later and said, “Wow thanks for making this talk so lively, it was the first one I didn’t sleep through or walk out on, and I learned a lot!”
That person stayed, listened to me speak, and most importantly, learned something, because I had started off making fun of myself.
So yes people will take you seriously and think you’re credible even if you’re just a little silly.
Pro Tip: I know humor can be a scary thing for most people, because they’re afraid of offending someone. The easiest person to make fun of is yourself!
Now I want to know when was the last time you injected a little fun into your work day? What did you do and how did people react? Let me know in the comments below!
Upcoming Course
Registration for our Confident Communicator Course is open now through Friday February 10, 2017. The course begins Monday February 13, 2017.
Sign up here to get a sneak peek of our upcoming Confident Communicator Course!
