Ross: Hi I’m Ross Dawson a Futurist based in Australia. Together with, uh, Gerd Leonhard another Futurist based in Switzerland.
Gerd: Yeah.
Ross: And having a series of conversations and today’s looking at Twitter and so Gerd has used the phrase TNN for Twitter News Network. So what does that mean is that the future?
Gerd: It’s actually not for me I think it’s from Jeff Jarvis a television critic, a television author and uh and uh writer. Um I think the idea of Twitter News Network it to say what we’re seeing on Twitter right now is that it would take about 40 seconds for any news to be broadcasted and sent out by a Twitter. For example, the Osama death uh was twittered within 26 seconds and it took about 40 minutes for the first television coverage.
So what we’re seeing now is that Twitter, the speed of news, is like increased tremendously. And this is why I said Twitter News Network is a pretty good description of the future which to me I think TNN will be bigger than CNN. In fact we’re going to have video and audio on Twitter and so we can watch TV through Twitter produced by the masses and with a completely unclear relationship of who owns what and why and who’s controlling the quality and the verification, which of course in television that was also the thick leaf anyway because we didn’t know it was true just because Fox News was broadcasting it, it didn’t mean it was true right. And so we had the same problem in television that we have on Twitter.
Ross: It’s interesting, I mean just the point about integrated the video and audio, in China Twitter has blogs but they have Sina Weibo which is basically as big as Twitter. And one of the things the very interesting distinction with Sina Weibo is that it does include video and audio in the stream. So it is becoming more of that news channel than Twitter is currently, so it’ll be very interesting to see if Twitter takes that on. Clearly one of the biggest differences between TNN and CNN is that filtering.
Gerd: Um-um.
Ross: When you have somebody who appears on CNN you know there’s some person who presumably has had some training and uh responsibility has made a choice to put that up for everybody, whereas on Twitter there are people who are not only untrained but also may even have some even tried to mislead.
So uh it’s interesting I think there’s – that we’ve all absolutely I believe is the decade of the reputation of economy where more and more will have that reputation mechanism to assess whether particular tweets or news or reports or videos, whatever, uh worthy of paying attention to. Though it’s once we’ve always had to do it I think absolutely as individuals we to have a far more finely tuned census as to what is um worth paying attention to. And if we want earlier news then we go to Twitter with that understanding that we have to filter and make sense of that and be possibly mislead along the way.
Gerd: Yeah I think this is a difficult question because clearly the fact that mass mediums were mass financed and channeled through cable, which was expensive to have, didn’t mean it was any more accurate. I mean look at weapons of mass destruction how it didn’t exist like we all thought it did, but you know we started a war over it, but never mind it wasn’t real. And so are we then going to say just because Twitter is free and cheap, you know, is it any less accurate? I don’t think so. I think the biggest problem and the biggest distinction really is that Twitter is like a river, like an ocean of…
Ross: Yes.
Gerd: …stuff right and CNN is like a droplet right and so therefore it’s manageable right.
Ross: Yes, yes.
Gerd: And we tend to believe that it’s better for that. So I think if Twitter can solve this problem how to take this river and cut it down to the kernels of truth and wisdom, you know, then I’m for Twitter.
Ross: But that’s not Twitter’s role I mean so far it hasn’t. I mean while Twitter is taking more and more of the ecosystem…
Gerd: Right.
Ross: …that is in fact the role of that, you know, those around Twitter to be able to take it and to make sense of that so…
Gerd: But this is why we have Flipboard and other things…
Ross: Yes exactly.
Gerd: …to take the filtering process. This is a big opportunity for Twitter is to generate this. Right.
Ross: Absolutely. And in fact I’ve got a venture, uh our company’s got a venture in this space as well, basically Twitter filtering to be able to pull out most reliable around a particular theme. Then there’s other ones around that Paper Lead, Twitter Times, GDIO and so on, which are all trying to take that and make sense of it. Um but to be frank I think we’re pretty early on in terms of that, as you say, taking that ocean into a disturbing matter to meaningful droplets.
Gerd: But I mean we have similar situations, for example TripAdvisor or Wikipedia where we’re saying Hey is the wisdom of the masses is that true or is it just bullshit of the masses? You know I think of course it’s both. But I mean if you look at for example on TripAdvisor like 95 percent of these comments I actually create on the money when you get there right.
Ross: Yep.
Gerd: And that’s because there is a filtering process there is authenticity, there is review.
Ross: Yep.
Gerd: There is verification right. And that has to be part of Twitter as well. And verification of Twitter is not how many times you’ve been re-tweeted and those kinds of things, but there is a long way to go to verify this.
Ross: Though in a way the Twitter should be providing the ocean. And yeah Twitter as well or others as well can provide some of those filtering mechanisms, but we all want to get our own slice out of that or our own droplet.
Gerd: Yeah.
Ross: So our own droplet as of the same droplet for everyone. So they still need to give us access to that unfiltered ocean. Interestingly was one of uh Twitter’s big revenue mechanism now is charging for its uh the fire hose of all Twitter streams you actually still can get two percent of all Twitter streams for free and uh it’s called the Spritzer I think.
Gerd: Yeah I think that we, you know, the future basically means that we’re going to have a combination of the sort of broadcast medium which is centralized and then…
Ross: Yeah.
Gerd: …topped down and the broadband medium where we have actually both. And the combination of broadcast and broadband is where the interesting stuff will happen in the future. It’s not either or as we discussed in the previous show right.
Ross: Yeah.
Gerd: It’s not like a wide winning broadcast when you broadband, but just a broadcast medium in my view have not been sufficient really to actually express what…
Ross: Yeah.
Gerd: …could be happening right. So the combination of the two and this is why of course CNN is a heavy Twitter user at some point…
Ross: Yes absolutely.
Gerd: …and actually promoting Twitter, Skype, YouTube and all that on the air right. So the combination of the two is where it’s going.
Ross: I recently wrote a post Say Your 7 Reasons Why Twitter is Central to My Life and there’s a lot of reasons why. One, in fact people are often surprised as a Futurist I always get asked “How do you keep on top of all the information out there? How do you find what’s really useful?” And when I say Twitter is my primary information source a lot people are surprised because they don’t understand how Twitter works. So Twitter is both an information source and it really is central to my life so I certainly see that as a big chart of my life, my information sources, my way of finding information and uh I’m sure it’s the case for you as well.
Gerd: Yeah maybe a quick message for people out there watching this I think the most important part you can’t talk about uh uh swimming if you don’t want to get wet, you know, so it’s very hard to talk about stuff like Twitter if you’re not actually inside. So the way to find out what it does is to try it. And the same goes for Facebook and all the other tools there. And that’s how you find out what it can do for you. And this is a good part of it because you have to actually get inside.
Ross: So this has been uh a quick conversation on Twitter and its role in the news in future. So on Twitter I’m Ross Dawson.
Gerd: And I’m Gerd Leonhard, L-E-O-N-H-A-R-D, otherwise just Google Gerd G-E-R-D, and futurist and you’ll find I don’t know 50 million, no I’m just kidding, to the tune 250,000 thousand links or whatever. You can spend your weekend poking around in my tweets.

Speaker: For decades now, America’s evangelical Christians have been vigorously promoting their faith. Taking it into the mainstream of society and politics. The countries atheists and agnostics have increasingly felt pushed to the margins. But, now they’re fighting back, trying to make their views just as widely known. The non-believers recently gathered in Houston for the annual Texas Free Thought Convention where the star attraction was Christopher Hitchens. Straight from his hospital bed and ready to throw a few more verbal hand grenades. Despite what appears to be a terminal illness. David Burr went there.
Respondent: Why don’t I believe in God? Because there is absolutely no evidence for him. The religions that endorse him are ridiculous.
Respondent: You know, we are pretty open and friendly and intolerant to all kinds of folks.
Respondent: I don’t know if there’s any supreme being or not. I’ve never seen the evidence for it so, I call myself an atheist.
Speaker: They have to come to hear the word against God and there are plenty of preachers.
Respondent: There is not a reason for us to follow the rigid guidelines that Christianity has dumped on us.
Respondent: Religion does not deserve respect. And, this is…there we go.
Speaker: At this convention center at downtown Houston, a new brand of atheism is being offered up.
Respondent: We are moral and just as good as you are. But that’s it. Quite saying it.
Speaker: These are daring views. Here in the Christian heartland of Texas.
Nick Lee: We’re here. We’re proud and we ain’t going away. Our worldview is just as important as the Sunday afternoon preachers that have the floor.
Speaker: Nick Lee is the President of the Atheist Alliance of America.
Nick Lee: Imagine, you’re sitting here in Houston, Texas in the heart of Rick Perry country. Can you believe that? We are sitting here in defiance along with that.
Speaker: Rick Perry is the Governor of Texas. His highly evangelical beliefs have been widely reported.
Rick Perry: We pray for our nation’s leaders Lord. For parents, for pastors, for the generals, for governors, that you would inspire them.
Nick Lee: I would not have been active as an atheist if I had not moved to Texas. And, I discovered, after my career of moving around the world, living in various places, even the United States where I never felt the oppression of religion. When I moved to Texas I did feel it and…
Speaker: Lee is frustrated that religion is even enshrined in the law here.
Nick Lee: In the Texas State Constitution is that there shall be no religious test for holder a public office as long as he believes in a higher supreme being. [Laughter] If anybody step forward, any candidate stepped forward in Texas and ran on an atheist platform they would have no chance of getting voted dogcatcher.
Speaker: The star attractions of this year’s gathering are the movement’s great defenders. Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkens. Increasingly frail, yet undiminished Hitchen’s is here to receive the free thinker of the year award.
Respondent: He’s aspired and energized and encouraged us. He’s very character has become an outstanding and unmistakable symbol of the honesty and dignity of atheism.
Speaker: This is an extremely rare public appearance for Hitchens who is diagnosed with stage four cancer last year.
Hitchens: Now, some of know, well I guess all of you know, I’m not as I was. Um…
Speaker: At a point in life when many people looked to religion for solace, the concept of belief continues to rail Hitchens.
Hitchens: The realization that comes to one often that religion, the human need to worship, the need to abase ourselves, I would sometimes say. They say we’re narcissistic . Impulse is unfortunately deplorable strong. Many People would make the trade of security for freedom. Thinking that they would get at least one and don’t know that they will end up with neither.
Speaker: And, Hitchens sharp critique has awakened in any way.
Hitchens: Jesus wasn’t the Son of God. He was a hideous, wicked imposter whose words were vain and tempting and tending to deceive.
Speaker: Despite or maybe because of his illness Hitchens continues to write perefically. Last month he released a mass of collection of essays and for some his work has had the profound impact.
Respondent: You changed my life.
Hitchens: Well, I tend to say to people that they would have gotten there themselves, which I think they were.
Speaker: What do you think of all of this?
Respondent: Well, this is incredible. I’ve actually came from an evangelical family. I’m the only atheist in the household. So, this helps me get away for a little while and be around some light-minded people and get away from the crosses and bibles all over the house.
Speaker: While their preaching to the converted here both Hitchens and Dawkins have been criticized elsewhere for their blind faith in their own opinions.
Hitchens: Bring it on.
Speaker: But, they remain undeterred.
Dawkins: I don’t give a damn for anybody’s opinion. I mainly care about the facts. So, I’m not an enthusiast for diversity of opinion where factual matters are concerned. I am against the propagation of outdated, rather unimaginative ideas about the world. Which is much less exciting. So much less infrauling. So much less thrilling than the truth. I’m against religion. It teaches people to be satisfied with non-explanations for things. When in the 21th century we had fairly good explanations and were getting better ones.
Hitchens: Hitchens is keen to pass on these good explanations to a new generation. Like this eight-year-old girl who wanted to know what book she should read.
Hitchens: Yeah there’s an author called Robert Graves, who isn’t going to be far out of her reach or anything. It has wonderful tales of Greek and Roman. Which all, most of the Greek stuff is pretty good.
Respondent: I’ve already read those.
Hitchens: You’ve read all of them?
Little girl: Yes.
Hitchens: This is getting worse and worse. She’s floored me twice now. This is not the rabies confronting Jesus outside of the temple you know.
Respondent: Well, I was eager to meet famous free thinkers.
Hitchens: Yes.
Respondent: And, because I want to grow up to be a free thinker. My Mom says I’m not, but I already am.
Hitchens: I really wish you well there. I wish there were more like you. Actually, what would we do if there were? Lots of love. Take it easy. Remember the love bits.
Speaker: David Burr reporting there. And, it may have been difficult to recognize Christopher Hitchens. He was a very regular commentator on Australian television. If his health holds out, Hitchens is scheduled to appear at the Global Atheist Conference being held in Melbourne next year.

Daniel: So, I am Daniel Levy. I am welcoming you here to the New America Foundation and Jeremy here we are about to do the launching. The official launching of your new book “New Voice for Israel.” Give me the very parted version of what you want do you want the take away when people finish this book they say, to be?
Jeremy: Clearly, to me the take away is a call to action. You know, for those of us who care deeply about Israel and the future of the state of the Jewish people. Uh, this is a critical moment and uh, the future of the state really does hang in the balance. And uh, the call to action is we need to change the way American politics work when it comes to Israel and the voices of matters of pro Israel or pro peace Jews need to come to be heard. Second, the way the Jewish community works needs to change and we need to open up the conversation. Not silence voices of decent. Otherwise, we’re going to see the American Jewish community wither, as well. But, most importantly uh, for the state of Israel uh, the opportunity to be a Jewish and a Democratic homeland hangs in the balance. If separation doesn’t happen with the Palestinian people and two states now, we may lose the chance for a viable two state solution. And therefore, I think lose the chance for a viable Israel.
Daniel: Now, you address those questions and you bring this book out, not as a uh, uh observer from the sidelines of all of these developments. You brought this out three plus years now. Since, founding, leading and being the driving force behind J Street. When your flight back on those three years what is impeded not being able to get more progress despite the great achievements that J Street has undoubtedly made?
Jeremy: Well, there is impediments on all fronts. Uh, number one you would want to see a government of Israel that is going in different directions. But, we are trying to help change the course of a country who’s government is driving it off a cliff. And so, impediment number one is we’re trying to help re-steer a boat that is under someone else’s control. And so, that’s problem number one. Problem number two is I think here in this country. The government, the Obama administration has not been uh, as assertive and uh, pro-active as we might have hoped. Trying to make that change uh, course correction take place. And, there has been a little bit more to the subject to politics than we might have hoped. Uh, certainly it is partly the American Jewish establishment that is not used to hearing decent and not use to hearing different voices and particularly not used to hearing criticism of the policies of the state of Israel.
Daniel: Let’s, let’s stop with that last them. The American Jewish establishment Because, you’re not the first member of your family to be pushing against the tide.
Jeremy: Right.
Daniel: Uh, and you go into this into your book. And really, you draw the analogy of your Father whose politics on his row to the right of both of us. To uh, revisionists, japakinska, right wings arm tradition. But, here in the U.S. the group that he was central to were going around the American Jewish Establishment in the thirties and saying get on board with this Zionist project choosing your face-appending catastrophe. And, you draw the analogy of the message that you have been trying to spread about the pending catastrophe that Israel faces. How do you reflect back on that and say, is there more captivity now or is the establishment is as closed as it ever was?
Jeremy: Well, I think it’s now at a fascinating parallel. You know, in the nineteen thirties and the early nineteen forties, those with right of central politics and with those far of central politics were really trying to sound the alarm bell and saying disaster is wombing. And, the establishment tried to shut down the voices of decent. The establishment was left of center. It was socialists, Zionist and uh, they attacked and smeared and planted informants in the office of uh, got my father drafted into the U.S. Army in nineteen forty three. All in an effort to shut down the voices of decent. And, I find a similar dynamic today when those of us who are slightly left of center on this issue at least in the connectional political spectrum. Uh, we are trying to sound that similar alarm. And, saying that there is real trouble ahead and there really needs to be a change of course. There needs to be action. And, now the establishment is now right of center rather than engaging us on the substance of the issue. Is trying to smear us and cut off funding and shut off the debate and shut of decent and those dynamics are so parallel it seems to be the knee jerk response of establishment entities, rather to engage in the voices to actually shut them down.
Daniel: We are going to shut this conversation down. That is because we are going to go across to the conference room and be joined by Steve Clemmons and we are gonna have a conversation with you and also who can watch on line.
Jeremy: Great. Looking forward to it. Thank you very much for having me.
Daniel: And, that’s the book.

Gerd Leonhard: Hello, I’m Gerd Leonard, media futurist from Switzerland. I’m here in beautiful Sydney, uh, albeit of course, it’s winter and it’s not sunny. But, in any case, I’m here with, with Ross Dawson. Uh, also a futurist and, and we’re having conversations today about some important topics that we deal with, uh, on a daily level. And so uh, what we’re going to talk about now is the music industry and, uh, the future of music, which some of you may know I, um, I’ve been, uh, writing books about for quite some time. But let me ask Ross. You know, Ross, what’s, what’s your take on where’s the music business going? Does it have a future? Uh, are you listening to music, and if so where are you stealing it? No, just kidding. Uh, go ahead and, and uh

Ross Dawson: Well, there’s, uh, there’s obviously less money in music than there was, and there probably will be less money again in the future. But you know, it’s driven by human desires. Humans like music and, uh, humans also want to make music. So there, there will be markets for music in various ways. I guess what I’ve been really interested in is a couple of things. One is this collaborative filtering in music. This idea of how do we collaborate to find the music that we love. And, you know, one of the early, uh, forays and that’s based at Last FM, which is still a solid offering, and I, I suppose is one of the better ones. I, I prefer Last FM to Pandora in terms of, because it is truly about looking at the matchmaking. As in, what are music profiles and how they do, they match up with music? Now what I’ve been very excited about Turntabled on FM, which is bringing us into the social music realm. And this is something we, we haven’t truly had before, this ability to basically to, to, to collectively create playlists. Playlists have all been done by individuals now. Now playlists are being done by groups, and I think that’s these are two of the, the, the spaces in which, certainly shaping the way in which we are going to be listening to music.

Gerd Leonhard: Yeah, I think, in many ways, I think we’re going back to what used to be, maybe seventy years ago, so before the invention on vinyl and, and the CD, of course. Is that music is about an experience, and it’s about what happens between people, and it’s about sharing. Because what the record industry had done for a long time on the CD is to productize music, right? So that you would buy a CD and that’s all they wanted. And then you would buy another one, and that would be it. And now you’re buying on iTunes, right? But music isn’t about products, right? Music is about experiences, it’s about sharing. It’s about discovering new stuff. It’s about the whole ecosystem. And artists are not that concerned, I think, necessarily about unit sales, but about audiences, right? They want to have large audiences. They want to be recognized. So we’re going back to what the good part about music is, which is the creation of, of, of sort of like minded people. But also, uh, being able to share and to, um, and to figure out the commercial process of this. Because music as a product, I think is dead. Because, uh, that means CDs, it means paper unit, it means a sort of a commercial process, right? If you make music an experience again, using services like Spotify, Simfy, Mark, Last FM, Pandora, and then it’s not all about buying units, you know. Then I think we’re getting back into a good stream of thought to where to [Inaudible 00:03:04] of the music industry, of course, has shrunk seventy percent in a decade, right? That’s not surprising because of the refusal of the industry to essentially allow it to go further than the product, you know? In my view, that’s the biggest problem.

Ross Dawson: Well, I mean as you say, music is an experience. And though there’s, there’s many artists, clearly, where their major revenue sources are not in music sales, but in associated, uh, products, not, uh, least, uh, concerts, though not all musicians have that model. Not all musicians even want to or are in a situation to perform live. So that’s, I suppose you get this divide between musicians who are able to and want to engage in the, the ancillary revenue streams of uh, um, entertainment and products and endorsements and all sorts of things, and those really focused on the music. But the, I still, I still think there is a model for, for unit sales. I still think, you know, iTunes and a proliferation of others ones will be able to get it. I still buy songs that I hear on the radio, uh, capture on uh, uh, on, uh, Shazaam and uh, and I, and I buy them. Because I do want them in my collection and I do want them a part of my own personal playlist.

Gerd Leonhard: And then I think, you know, we’re off course by age, and so we’re not a typical consumer in the sense today. You know, for kids, music is just a click. And so when you like something, you click on it, it plays, plays on YouTube, plays anywhere else. And your willingness to pay is going to be subject to other added values, uh, around the music. For example, you may decide that you want a service to work and stream high definition or webcast, you pay extra for that. It’s a bit like cable TV, except that the first step would be included somewhere, right? So we’re going to see offerings of, uh, flat rate services, uh, bundled into, into, uh, ISPs, uh, free and paid both, right? And it’s not going to be about buying music. It’s going to be about buying access, right? The shift from copy to access. And I think if the music industry keeps on refusing what people actually want, it will just die, you know? Because you know, this, this sort of controlling what people do and then [Inaudible 00:05:04] them as in any which way, sort of the idea of saying that this can be handled like it was twenty years ago, right, the only way to make money is to sell a CD, you know, that’s completely broken. So, uh, and, and we’re seeing, we’re seeing that shift now. We’re, we’re going to see all of the major music companies either die or adopt the access-based model, which of course, they’re working on. I hope that you guys are working on that. Pay attention.

Ross Dawson: So back in, uh, 2002 in our living networks, and just, that very simple analysis of what would happen if you shifted, uh, CD sales to, uh, basically, streamed, uh, subscription models. Basically meaning that not only would you get four times the revenue, but everybody would have access to far more music than ever before. So it’s like value creation on both sides. Why wouldn’t you do it? But uh,

Gerd Leonhard: Because they can’t control that part, right? If you, you can control distribution, but you can’t control attention, right? And so therefore, this is the important part I think, that’s something we have to let go of and then it will just come to enterprise. I mean, the music industry is a fraction of the, of the appetizing or the, uh, mobile industry of the ISPs. I mean, there’s like three trillion doors. The music industry is seventeen billion. That’s like, uh, can’t even see it in comparison. So, you know, there’s lots and lots of potential there, I think, if we get used to the idea that we’re, we’re not controlling what people do with distribution. We’ll get, we’re basically making money off the attention, whether its ad support or, or subscribed, or paid for units, all in different proportions. But, uh, that’s sort of, I think that’s what it comes down to.

Ross Dawson: So there’s a snapshot of the future of music. Uh, for more, uh, from me, look at rossdawson.com or Ross Dawson on Twitter. And for Gerd.

Gerd Leonhard: It’s, uh, media futurist .com. And I’ve written a bunch of books. Most of them are free on the internet, except for The Future of Music, which you have to buy on Amazon. But my book Music 2.0 is available. Just, uh, put Music 2.0 and Gerd, G-E-R-D, you’ll find lots of free PDFs around the web, and, of course, at mediafuturist.com, and on Amazon. If you do want a dead tree, you can buy it there as well. Thanks very much for listening.

Irv: What’s up?

Hottchris: What’s up everyone?

Irv: What’s going on?

Hottchris: You tell me.

Irv: Uh, there’s a lot of things going on in the news lately.

Hottchris: Like what?

Irv: Uh, like the bullying. I think the bullying should stop.

Hottchris: Yeah.

Irv: All these people should stop picking on people who stutter and pick on people because, um, of any reason why they pick on others. That should stop now.

Hottchris: Very true. It’s not good to bully, so you need to stop that. You know what I mean? It’s not really cool to do that stuff.

Irv: And people should stand up to the bullies.

Hottchris: Yeah, I know.

Irv: Because they’re a bunch of cowards.

Hottchris: You need to get some help man. Tell someone.

Irv: The bullies are a bunch of cowards.

Hottchris: Hey, help somebody out man, you know. It’s not cool to bully people like that man. That’s not cool, dude, you know. That’s not cool, man. And how would you like it if I came up to you and punched you in your mouth? Would you like that? For no reason. Come on, man. Man, think before you do something stupid. For real. What else, man? What else, bro?

Irv: Uh, holidays.

Hottchris: Holidays. Like what?

Irv: What do you enjoy most about the holidays?

Hottchris: I like, I like, I like Christmas, cause, you know, we get to exchange gifts and get, and show love to the people we care for, you know. We show, like, uh, family comes together. That’s always a great thing, you know, for the holidays, you know what I mean? Like, you spend time together with the, with your loved ones and everything. What else? What about you? What’s your favorite holiday?

Irv: I love the holidays. I love, um, Christmas

Hottchris: Christmas? Why? Why Christmas?

Irv: Because the birth of Jesus Christ, and you get to spend it with your family, and get to go to church.

Hottchris: Sounds

Irv: And you get to be thankful for everything you have. And, of course, Thanksgiving.

Hottchris: That’s true.

Irv: Also .

Hottchris: That’s true, too.

Irv: And, uh, and happy birthdays.

Hottchris: See? Advice from my brother, cause he knows. He’s, he’s older than you by a little bit, but he knows more, because he’s been around longer than I have. So ,take that advice, people.

Irv: Uh, relationships. Um.

Hottchris: Relationships. Man, that’s a hard one, man. You know what? It’s hard to find a good girl, or if you’re a girl, it’s hard to find a good guy, I know. You know it’s hard for me to find a good woman in life. But I still looking, you know what I mean? I’m not going to give up just cause some, a bad relationship. You got to keep moving on, find somebody else who you think you can fall in love with, and like, who you can care for, show your love to, and all that good stuff, you know what I mean? What about you, Irv?

Irv: Right now, I’m single. Just looking for a good woman, except but really, the most important thing to my in my life right now is, uh, to better myself, and uh, to achieve my goals, so I could be a better, greater person.

Hottchris: Yeah.

Irv: And to have everything I need to when I have a family, future family

Hottchris: So, if you had, if you had

Irv: I could support them.

Hottchris: Say you had a lot of money, what would you do first?

Irv: First thing, I would buy my mom, our mom, a, a, a beautiful house to live.

Hottchris: Sounds good.

Irv: And our dad, of course.

Hottchris: You always got to take care of your family.

Irv: And us.

Hottchris: Take care of your parents, man. They’re the one who raised you, took care of you when you were a little kid.

Irv: Cause

Hottchris: Take care of you.

Irv: My parents are still taking care of me now, so.

Hottchris: They the one that raise you, so sometimes, you know.

Irv: Course, I’m helping them.

Hottchris: It’s a one parent, either you’re with your mama or with your pops. But, you know, you gotta love your parent, no matter who they are. You know, show love to them, say hi. Even when you get older, man, just say, phone call, man, phone call. You never know what’s tomorrow. We could die any time, any minute, any second. So say hi, say, say your loved ones, you know, I love you. You know, don’t be sca- don’t be ashamed, don’t be scared to say I love you, cause you never know what’s tomorrow. So that’s how I feel, you know what I mean? How you feel, Irv? What do you think about it?

Irv: I feel that, I, I, I feel the exact same thing.

Hottchris: Right.

Irv: I feel the exact same thing what you feel .

Hottchris: You know, and it’s all about love, you know what I mean? Like, nobody wants to see your family members get killed or hurt. No one wants to see, nobody wants that shit. So, you know what I mean, like, everyone wants to be loved and cared for and, you know, everyone wants to be happy. Everyone wants to laugh and smile and joke, joke around, have fun, have a good time, you know. I thought about me, like, I like to have fun and I like to smile. I like to joke around. I like to meet interesting people. You know, it’s always good to be interesting, man, you know. Be yourself, you know. Don’t try, don’t try to copy anybody else. This is me. This is who I am. Like, I’ve been doing this since I was, like, a very little kid. So, it’s not like I just started this. I been doing this since I was very little, since I was like, five years old. So anyway, what about you?

Irv: What, what do you wanna, uh, tell the world about your, um, career? What should they be looking out for in 2012? What are your plans for your career?

Hottchris: I know this. I have more music, and that’s for real. I’m speaking from my heart. I love music. It’s one of my passions, you know what I mean? I love, because I love to do it. It’s what I love to do. I love music. I can’t live without music, man. It’s like, I love everything. Rock and roll, hip-hop, heavy metal, all that stuff.

Irv: Who are your, uh, musical influences that inspire you?

Hottchris: I like, I like, well, when I was growing up, I’m from L.A., so when I was growing up, I used to listen to Easy E, NWA, Ice Cube, DJ Quick, you know. Who else? E40, Snoop Dogg, Daz Corrupt, Dog Pound, Dr. Dre, of course, you know. And then I listened to Tupac, of course, and Biggie Smalls, and Eminem, DMX, TI, everybody down there, man. Cause, you know, without them, there won’t be me. Cause, you know, I gotta give up to all the rappers, cause you know, I admire them. I want to be just like them one day, and try to be a millionaire and successful and just get, be as big as them, you know. Show my, my talents to the world. That’s what I would love to do, so. What about you, Irv? Enough about me, what about you, Irv?

Irv: I want to do the same. Inspire love and care for the world. Alright, so um, you want to wish everyone a happy holidays?

Hottchris: Sure. May God bless everybody in the whole wide world. I love y’all. What’s up ladies? You know I love you, too. It’s your boy, Hottchris. Peace and one love. We outta here. I’m signing off. Peace out, y’all.

Keith Parnell: Alright. Great question. Lead in right here. Know your social graphics. I’m gonna run through that real quick. Um, knowing behaviors, who likes to talk about what and on what platforms they like to talk about. We use a totally different tone on Twitter than we do on Google Plus, and on LinkedIn, and on Facebook, because to us, they’re a different audience. Facebook may be our family members. There may be a few clients in there, but we don’t carry on business on Facebook. Google Plus, a little bit. Definitely on LinkedIn. And Twitter, we put out everything in the world. Personal, business, everything. That’s just how we live in our social communities. Um, where are your customers hanging out? That’s the very first thing you guys should identify. We talked, I said something about this at the very beginning. You have to figure out if this is right for you. What, is social media even right for you? Which it probably is, because there’s like a billion people in social media right now. Um, and then what social communities are right for you? Identifying where your customers are hanging out online. Um, there’s a few statistics out there. There’s, LinkedIn will put out some statistics, Facebook will put out some, but they change so often. The best way to find out those true numbers is to test the waters. Talk about what homes you have available in a certain area, and get that out to your network. Your network on LinkedIn, your network on your blog. You should be blogging. Everybody should be blogging. Before you get on LinkedIn, start your blog, if you’re not already doing that. ‘Cause that’s where you’re going to meet the masses, is on your blog, through SEO.

Mm-mm, like a word press blog, like attached to your website. I’m sure most of you probably have a website. Um, you’re going to reach a much larger audience in every geographic area in the United States by blogging than you are about any of the other sessions that you guys are going to go through today. Um, this should be an add-on to that. There’s also tools in the background where you can automatically get your information from your blog to LinkedIn. But, we don’t want to talk about that today. So, knowing where they’re hanging out online, testing the waters, getting the information out there. If you’re looking for new partners in the title industry, start talking about that kind of thing and see what kind of feedback you get back, see what kind of conversations get started off of that. So, that’s what that means. Um, who do your customers trust online? You’ve got to know, you’ve got to know what your customers like and what they don’t like. Do they want to see you forcing all your homes, your listings, on LinkedIn all the time? And you’re only going to know that by the conversations. Remember we talked about living, going out and living in these social communities. That’s what we’re talking about here. You have to get out and live and you have to have conversations. Not just one-way advertising like we used to do in the old days, throwing up a billboard just because our creative director said it’s the right thing to do. That’s not the way social media works. You have to get out there and live with these guys, and you have to build that trust relationship. Uh, who trusts your customers online? Remember we talked about this, these, these networks of connections out here on LinkedIn? What, what is this guy, what’s number 35 out here talking about? Because that’s, that’s the person that you don’t know yet. But they are a potential client because of the information that’s gonna filter through out into the social media world. So, who do they trust, and who are they?

So, you’re almost like profiling these folks that are going to be looking at the content you’re putting out there and the conversations you’re carrying on. Don’t focus on the tools and technology. That is so important. Um, don’t focus on LinkedIn. Don’t focus on your blog. Stand, pull out what I said a few minutes ago about you should be blogging, because today in 2011, you should be. In 2012, that might not be true. So that’s the point there. Don’t focus on Twitter, don’t focus on Facebook, don’t focus on Google Plus. ‘Cause think about Google Plus. Brand-new. It hasn’t even been opened, it’s still there by invitation only. It hasn’t even been opened to the public. But who knew, twelve months ago, that when Google Wave failed and Google Buzz failed, that Google was actually going to come out with a decent product? Well, they did, and if we would have just been focusing on Facebook, or if we would have just been focus, focusing on Twitter, that’s a lot of effort and a lot of money to pour into one platform, and now you gotta say, “oh my gosh, there’s another one out there.” But, if masses are there, you’ve got to be there. You’ve got to get out there because you have to get those conversations going out there. So, focus on the strategy. How you build your conversations going, and what type of tone you use in these social communities, or through your blog in getting out to the social communities. Build that strategy. Then when there’s another tool, it just fits into your strategy. Any questions there?

[Inaudible question in background 00:04:50]

Keith Parnell: Only if the masses get there. Only if people go. Only if people go there. Only if people migrate over off of Facebook, or they migrate off of Twitter, or they migrate off of wherever, wherever else. Right. Right. I can say that we’ve been playing with Google Plus for a while now, since we first got an invite a few weeks ago, and it’s a solid product. It’s nice. It’s very easy to use. The clutter’s not there. Um, there’s still some early trash in there. I was talking about that guy in Vietnam who, there’s, there’s just junk out there, like with any other social community. But, it’s easy to use, and I’ve found that it’s easy to use from all social media maturity levels. Teenagers can use it, and it’s easy to use, and seventy year olds can easy, use it and it’s easier to use. It’s, it’s very easy. It’s just logging in.

[Inaudible question in background 00:05:53]

Keith Parnell: Nothing. No, nothing ties in yet. There’s no open APIs or anything like that. So, none of your tools. The question was does Who Tweet tie into it, or Sees Me? And those are little panels you can open and it’s got your little Twitter timeline and your Facebook timeline, and your LinkedIn, I’m not sure if LinkedIn ties in, I think it does. But, it’s one console where you can see all those conversation. Google Plus doesn’t yet interact, or tie into Who Tweet and Sees Me. But that should be soon.

Chris: Alright I uh, got a chance to catch up with Chuck Grindstaff. A few presentations at the Los Angeles event. And, uh you talked about three different components of our gross strategy. You talked about industry strategy, our organizational alignment and then our technology vision. I’d like to talk to you a little bit about each of those elements. In the industry studies, you talked about the solution mapping process. Um, can you give a little bit more information on how that’s to work. That is pretty interesting.
Chuck: Sure Sure. Yeah, what we are trying to do Chris is it like you said. That, our vision of how to use our products is really understood by our sales force but, really most importantly by our customers. The simplest way to do that. To look at the key elements of a particular set of activities within a company. Call it a solution threat or a technical threat. To understand what decisions are made within each of those elements. It might be a planning decision. It might be a set of technical decisions. It may be some simulation results and if you look across the activities uh, uh, that connect them together with information full with process steps and really understand what we can do today. How we might want to refine and improve that. We might want to remove redundancies or wastes and come up with the next version of that solution. Really, use that as a road map of how to solve a problem. Maybe it’s uh, warranty and repair. Maybe it’s design for uh, instability in an industry setting. We have done this across a variety of industries and a variety of uh, disciplines. We are continuing to do that faster and better. And, it has given us the line of sight of how to optimize our investment. So, instead of just making a feature and a function that might look too hot to some as being a standard feature and function it might be a whole process that our sales force, that our customers can immediately see and understand more.
Chris: It is great. It sounds like the approach is not just specifically to one. It works on everything we’ve tried it on so far.
Chuck: Absolutely. It works everywhere. The question is uh, and the reason we put so much focus on it there in the meeting was we are really anti. We are willing from doing this just around our core industries, major functions on and now through the rest of the value chain. It just broadens the value to us. Broadens the impact of the approach to all the products.
Chris: Great. The second point you talked about was the organizational alignment. Now, and obviously the first news you announced. Your first on the block today so, congratulations. So, what is a simultaneous equation of what we put in the solution, how or, what we need for a solution. How the product addresses that and of course, the competitive and market pressures that go on. How is this new organizational alignment going to help us solve that more consistently?
Chuck: Well, we just talked about the industry side of things so, um, so, pulling all our industry experts together and to a very focused center around understanding the semantics and the value by industry, by solution.
Chris: Right.
Chuck: Number two. The big focus on CTO. So, yes we are very good at leveraging our R and D, the things like our visualization strategy. Like GT, our common modeling kernel, our decube tools. These kinds of models that we have shared across the product lines have been very useful for us as we go forward there is more and more projects like our active work space that span the entire suite of product and then the CEO’s office can help us accelerate getting those staff funded and to market. I think the active workspace from inception to delivery may be fourteen, fifteen months really. Maybe more. I’d like to get that cycle time down even further. CEO’s offices are helpful in accomplishing that. So that under pinning. Then, we have the business segments where we uh, are adding some responsibility, putting together some additional functions together with R and D. Like, marketing, product management. So, we really have business units, they are sizeable business units among themselves. They are common segments because, they are part of the overall suite. But then, we have the key leaders that are driving those segments. They can look with the development and the market needs by product. We have got the industry guys looking at uh, the cube from the industry side. And, we have GSS that is organized around geographies. So, that three-dimensional cube, industry, geography and product all come together.
Chris: That’s great. Yes. Really a strangulation. Just get one piece of it and then bring all the other all together so..
Chuck: Just simplify complexity with a little bit of organization.
Chris: Okay. The last point you brought up was the technology vision and obviously, uh a lot of interesting parts to that. But, also I want to pick up on is the guys at dream force. The sales force dot com.. One of the big themes there was gamification. You know, they are really trying to look in to how can we make these things fun to use. Not only things to use but, fun to use. How do you think someone with workspace fits into a trend like that?
Chuck: Well, at the workspace we are trying very hard to make sure that it’s uh, uh a flattened user experience, so it is like a game. Really, the things that you want to interact with are always available. There is not a big training process associated with it. At least most good games.
Chris: That’s right.
Chuck: Uh, there’s uh, there’s feedback and immediately on success or lack of success right? So, a game makes you feel good if you are making progress. So, after core as a lot of those good attributes. Also, it has a notion of context, your role within that context. Um, has the very visual feedback. It has the ability with high performance with the search engines. Um, so, all those things together. Flattened user experience, direct feed back on the results, ability to reach out and collaborate uh, and do that simultaneously with the explicit and direct group of people that are involved in your little of design. Or, big area of design. All of those things come together. Maybe they are along the same lines as what you hear.
Chris: Yes, it’s just like I said, modern warfare. Cool. So, last question. So, this whole strategy, this whole presentation was all about lining this up for growth.
Chuck: Right.
Chris: You care to shed a little light on what we can expect to see over the next twelve to twenty four months in terms of growth from the software? If I were statements applying?
Chuck: We’re growing, we’re growing very rapidly right now. We have been for quite a while um, companies now eight thousand colleagues strong. It is really great to be part of that growth engine. Now, the organizational structure we talked about. Some of the ways in which we’re decomposing the problem to analyze it and optimize. Those all go together to make sure we’ve got, not only where we are today well under control and optimized but, that we can run through. And, whether that is for the organic growth or whether that’s through uh, finding business partnerships and uh, other more strategic alignments with other companies. We have now a structure where we knew that we could have new business segments. We could have new functions and capabilities that are across the product line and we have the ability to add on new industry. So, the two. Depending on where you add a partner and what you do. We have got a place to do that very thing.
Chris: Well, I appreciate it. Thanks for taking the time and I am sure you have a lot of folks to meet with and it will be a good conference.
Chuck: Okay. Thanks.

Participants: Active Listening Workshops.
Speaker: Is beginning right now.
Participants: Is beginning right now.
Speaker: Right here.
Participants: Right here.
Speaker: Teenagers and today I want to talk about Active Listening. I’ve been walking around the camp now for a couple of days and, you know, seeing people have very impassions conversations. This is a topic that draws a lot of emotions and there’re a lot of ideas being thrown about and in general I find that discussing ideas can be very difficult. It could be really hard to have a conversation that is anyway product about ideas, especially when people’s emotions are also behind it. So I thought that a workshop like this would help everybody sort of navigate negotiating the differences.
Uh I also noticed that given that the slogan is We are the 99 percent we end up gathering people from a pretty wide political spectrum, which means that especially these sort of featured camp conversations and then people walking about they’re willing to stop and have a conversation. Yeah it’s important to make somebody feel heard because if you would like to be heard you’re going to make them out to feel, you know, feel heard first. So I thought this might be a nice way to do it.
I thought before I got to my very obvious steps that our posted on my poster here uh I would introduce a really obvious distinction that is also very profound. The distinction is self and other. It’s about as simple as you can get there without getting in anyway really intense about it. If you ever use the word I or me to refer to yourself then I’ll call you a self. So in selves in the audience? Yeah you identify as self. If you don’t identify yourself I’m going to ask you why. Identify as self are you a self. Do you use the word I?
Participant: Yes.
Speaker: Okay excellent. So we all know what that is. How about other? If you see somebody who’s other point at them, don’t be afraid. I know it’s going to be great. Yes it was actually pretty obvious that those were others because you all did it very quickly. I’ll call on my client from the audience here. Amy, how did you know that I was an other?
Amy: Because you’re not me.
Speaker: Okay and how did you know that?
Amy: I don’t know what you’re thinking and feeling and doing.
Speaker: Great. So my thoughts are all in here and yours are all in there is a pretty obvious point, and yet it kind of makes a world of difference when we’re trying to communicate with one another. Right and the fact that, you know, that I’m standing here and you’re over there. So there’s exactly – we’re inhabiting different bodies, these are obviously things but on the top of the fact that I’m in my head and you’re in yours makes communication relatively difficult.
Okay. What else makes conversation really difficult with two impassion people we’re trying to discuss ideals? I am taking audience participation here. What makes any conversation about important topics hard to have? Yes.
Participant: You tend to, myself anyway, I tend to run on at the mouth.
Speaker: Okay great. So uh, you know, if you’re sharing your idea you’ll be very preoccupied with it and you’ll kind of keep talking. And that’s hard if somebody else wants to be heard also. Thank you yeah.
Participant: Somebody walks by and use a bunch of profanity and then just walks off believing that he’s right.
Participants: No, no.
Speaker: Sure I mean that’s not even a conversation. We’re talking about people who are having conversations. What makes it hard to talk about important things with one another yeah?
Participant: A lack of an open mind.
Speaker: A lack of an open mind. Great. Uh and again it comes back to that self and other uh the fact is I’ve got my own opinions and it just so happens I agree with all of them. Do you all kind of feel the same way you end up agreeing with your own opinion?
Participant: Uh sometimes.
Speaker: On account of that it could be very difficult to make space for another person over something that you clearly aren’t onboard with yet. People it’s very hard. I have that problem myself to be open minded for someone else’s ideas. Any other reasons why important conversations are hard to have productively? Yes.
Participant: Anger.
Speaker: Anger great. If you care about it it’s going to be really hard to listen. Somebody else.
Participant: Different language.
Speaker: Grief.
Participant: Grief.
Speaker: Wow! Thank you that’s a good one too.
Participant: Different language.
Speaker: Different language that’s a great one, whether that’s very literally uh English or Spanish or a different language.
Participant: Different, different English.
Speaker: Yes two people can both be speaking English and yet not really know, you know, what the other one is saying. I could run on and on and on about justice or something, and the fact is it can make no sense to you because you’re thinking justice means this while I think it means that. So language being ambiguous and always calls problems.
All right that’s actually all the philosophical part I’ll get to the actual lesson. Um the power I think of active listening is that while we’re having important conversations about supporting ideas. We get carried away, we talk over each other, and active listening kind of slows down the process. It says “Alright you’re going to make your point and before I get to make mine I’m going to make sure that I really understand your points and that you feel like I understood your points.” Um.
Participant: That’s all right.
Speaker: All right so I’ll continue. They’re really actually basic steps and I’ll warn you once I finish teaching them I’m going to sort of give a prompt and you’ll be turning to the people around you and trying this alright. So get stoked for that you’ll be talking to each other momentarily. I don’t need these notes it’s on here. How to make someone feel like you’re listening and that you care and hope.
Participant: How to make someone feel.
Speaker: That’s okay.
Participant: Look like.
Speaker: All right step number one is probably the easiest step. Look like you’re listening, which is great. How would you look like you’re listening?
Participant: Eye contact.
Speaker: Eye contact is a pretty easy one. How else?
Participant: You don’t talk when they’re talking.
Speaker: What’s that?
Participant: You don’t talk when they’re talking.
Speaker: That’s a great one. If I’m talking while you’re talking you’ll probably guess I’m not listening thank you. And I’ve got a lot of friends while I’m talking to them look like this. I think not looking at your phone is a good way of showing them you’re listening.
Participant: Actually I love it.
Speaker: The other day on the sidewalk there was a guy with sunglasses and headphones on having a really intense conversation with some protestors I thought that was kind of interesting, because he like plugged at all the various, you know, face holes there. So look like you’re listening. Waiting patiently, not going like this. Obvious points how to look like you’re listening.
Step two is a great one. If I had to get rid of all the other steps and keep one I would keep step two, which I will put as reflect and/or ask for clarification. It can seem as simplistic. I would say don’t necessarily echo paraphrasing is better than echoing. Uh somebody makes a point to me and I say “Oh so you’re saying that”, and then I try to make sure I understand what they’re saying by repeating it. Now what’s great about that step is that if I got it wrong they can correct me and once they correct me I can try again. That’s reflection.
Clarification I think is a nice move if you think you disagree with them or think that you’re offended by what they’re saying. Oftentimes I will be offended by what someone’s saying and it turns out I didn’t understand what they were getting at. So ask me your question saying “Wait it sounds like you’re saying this”, you know. And you can say it like this seems kind of offensive it sounds like you’re saying this then they actually get to uh, you know, own their own words and take possession of it and let you know if you’re on the right track. So that’s step two.
Step three is a bonus one that I put in there it’s more for showing that you care. If somebody’s trying to share themselves, their ideas with you, uh asking them more questions is nice. Often if somebody says something and I say “Oh yeah that reminds me of my thing”, it’s not showing that I really care what they were getting at right. If you tell somebody a story they’ll go, oh yeah the same thing happened to me, and then they tell you their story. You know there’s no real sharing happening.
And then lastly this is sort of like a higher level one, if you can do this one you’re very impressive. Acknowledge the emotions or values that are behind what they’re saying. And again this comes back to the kind of conversations people are having around here. There’s a lot of reasoning going on when the fact is there are deeply held values and emotions that are motivating all this reasoning. And when somebody is making a case to you they want to know not only that you understand but also that you see what’s behind it. They want to be acknowledged as a person who cares about something.
So, you know, to be able to say “Oh so were you saying this”, and they say “Yes”. And you say “Oh so, you know, it sounds like, you know, your sense of justice is really motivating you. Or it sounds often getting into a deep value that’s getting to maybe the fundamental of the base of what they’re trying to get at it. If they’re not being as philosophical it’s still very powerful to be able to acknowledge their emotions. If you say “Oh, you know, you sound really angry about that, or that sounds hard.” All these things just make somebody feels heard.”
Now another edition that I’ve add to this is my new favorite section. How to Know if Somebody Feels Heard? And I almost see this like a game because it’s really a beautiful thing, because if somebody feels heard they’re going to automatically say “Well one of these things all the time.” And you can tell that the conversation is going well because they say something like “Right” or “Yes” or “Yeah” or “Exactly” or “Thank You.” And you’ll find yourself doing it too. There’s something about feeling like you’ve made a connection that somebody else gets what you’re saying that you just can’t help it you end up saying one of those things.
All right to recap real quickly cause I’ve been talking for awhile. Look like your listening, reflect back what they’re saying or ask for clarification. You know if you feel, you know, like you’re up to it. Ask follow-up questions acknowledge the emotions or values that are informing what they’re trying to say. And again not because I have a little crowd here, I just want to say why I’m doing this. I find that this movement because it has this 99 percent identity that we’re drawing people from a wide range of political identities. And so, you know, if we’re going to get anywhere I feel like its pretty valuable in our conversations to not talk past each other. And that’s what active listening does it make sure that when you speak it lands. You can see that it lands and that I get it and vice versa.
All right so I prepared an exercise. Let me see about timing here. All right I’ll just do two of them because I didn’t have much – I don’t know how long I keep the crowd like this. At a certain point, you know, I can just break this out and we’ll have conversations with one another. So turn to somebody and, you know, just sort of two minutes per side here, and just ask them what are you here for? And after they tell you see if you can make them feel heard and then tell them what you’re here for and try to make them feel heard. So I’ll give you a few minutes to try that out and I’m going to just sit here and try that out too. I’m only giving you a couple of minutes so you can’t get too far into anything.
[Crosstalk participants conducting first exercise]
Speaker: I don’t know how many people are listening I can see that you’re listening because you’re looking like you’re listening.
Participant: Thank you.
Speaker: If you are listening look like you’re listening and I’ll be able to tell. All right I want to try one more. And again if you want to have a conversation that’s fine but feel free to just share with the person, have them listen back actively, and then do that to them. If you want to get into it get into it. I’m going to put in a question for you and you can answer it three ways. And I’ll put it this way right. Uh do you think that this movement is here to promote reform or revolution?
Participant: Revolution. Revolution.
Speaker: Now hold on the third option is why is that a dumb question? So turn to somebody and share with them, you know, have them ask you and share with them whether you are here to promote reform, revolution or it’s a dumb option. All right so try this one.
[Crosstalk participants conducting second exercise]

Sabrina Stevens Shupe: Hello, I’m Sabrina Stevens Shupe. I teach students in low-income communities, and I’m a writer and activist as well. I recently launched the Failing Schools Project as a way to help folks outside of so-called failing schools to better understand what it’s like inside of them. There’s a lot of mythology out there that prevents us from making positive change in schools, and our goal is to shed some light on the reality. Today I’ll be talking to you about what happens in schools that face the prospect of a turnaround. I’m speaking from my own direct experience in such a school as well as what I’ve learned from listening to many other teachers across the country whose schools are in the same position.

These are schools that have been labeled ‘needs improvement’ for a few years and are being considered for a turnaround but may not have been officially designated yet. The fear of it hangs around like an ominous cloud, though. The tension’s palpable, the same way you can feel it when there’s about to be a thunderstorm. Now, no one here is saying that these schools were perfect before, but rather than attempting to understand the full picture of what’s going on, our government currently looks at a few indicators of success, primarily test scores, and then decides whether or not to label a school as failing. They pay lip service to the idea of support, but federal intervention tends to be way more punitive than it is supportive. Because of the ‘get tough’ political climate we’re in, school turnarounds are typically a pretty disruptive, destructive affair. The Obama administration and the Department of Education under Arnie Duncan are very supportive of districts that take visible extreme measures to turn around these so-called failing schools, and because of this, the threat of a turnaround is a stressful, worrisome thing.

The kind of change necessary to stave off a turnaround requires significantly more time and resources than district and government officials are willing and able to provide. Given those circumstances, a predictable pattern of advance is set into motion. Public school teachers in many places, not just the most threatened schools, are being pressured to take some academic shortcuts, but as a school gets closer to the possible turnaround, the pressure to make changes quickly increases the pressure to take these kinds of shortcuts. So we start to see interventions or curriculum that are either used inappropriately or just plain can’t do what its proponents say it can. It’s like my mother always says, there are no shortcuts in life. If 8 Minute Abs couldn’t make look Americans like the cast of Baywatch, we really shouldn’t expect six-minute solutions to turn non-readers into readers. We also see increased assessment. It’s currently in vogue to be data driven. However, when schools are trying to fight off a turnaround, increased assessment becomes more about predicting who will and won’t pass the test and less about understanding and meeting student needs. That, of course, leads to targeting the students who are on the cusp of proficiency instead of trying to move all the students forward that well documented bubble kids phenomenon. That also leads to targeting certain aspects of the curriculum that are more likely to be tested instead of trying to give students the full depth and breadth of knowledge that they’ll need to be successful later on.

Academic shortcuts, ironically, lead to more work for teachers. When formative assessment becomes progress monitoring, it becomes an exercise in showing growth instead of meeting student needs. That means teachers will spend even more time on forms and preparing materials to be presented to adults rather than spending that time preparing for their students. In many places, teachers are reporting spending between two and three months of the school year on test preparation and testing. That’s between twenty and 30 percent of the school year. So, teachers who still want to help students grasp the whole curriculum or engage in meaningful activities apart from test prep and testing, will have to spend time figuring out how to fit true instruction into a school year that’s been effectively shortened. Teachers will also spend more time figuring out how to compensate for the quicker pace, since students won’t always have the time, they need to fully grasp the material. And of course, when the curriculum moves too fast or becomes too boring, there will be an increase in behavior problems. When students are frustrated or unhappy with what’s going on, they act out. That means more time spent dealing with misbehavior, any accounting or paperwork that goes along with office referrals and the like, and more energy spent compensating for the time lost to those issues.

As people feel increasingly burdened and stressed out, it begins to affect the whole work environment and the rest of their lives. Sometimes people pull together, but often, people start to turn on each other. People who fear for their jobs are less cooperative and less trusting of their colleagues. Some staff members and administrators may also begin to justify increasingly unethical behavior. They start pretending to do things in their classrooms and throughout the building that they’re really not, or they may inflate school scores on interim assessments, or start to cheat on those big tests. The feeling of being under attack leads people to rationalize doing whatever they can to keep their administration or the district or the government off of their backs. The stress also hinders performance because stress has a negative impact on people’s health. Absenteeism rises, and people are less able to be productive when they are at work because they’re defe- devoting so much time and energy to dealing with the ambient tension. Something else to keep in mind here, students are not immune to this. People often dismiss teachers or principals’ complaints as if they don’t matter, but even if you’re not concerned about the teachers, the students are dealing with the same tension that the staff members are battling. Stressful working conditions for adults also lead to emotional issues, behavior problems, and conflicts for students. If you’re a parent of a student who’s increasing stressed out about going to school, this might be part of the reason why.

Now, if only a few people are willing to buck these trends, they will be fighting an uphill battle. That becomes a very dangerous situation for them, especially for those who are still probationary and don’t have due process rights or those who don’t have a strong union to help protect them. That’s true of an increasing number of teachers these days because our increasingly young teaching force as well as laws and local contracts that make it harder to achieve or maintain non-probationary status. After witnessing what happens to those who speak up, people feel powerless, so they give up. They spend their time trying to run out the clock and get through the day instead of trying to do their jobs well. In effect, fear of the turnaround can give rise to the very culture of failure that these disruptive turnaround models have been designed to remedy. Because teachers haven’t been able to teach to the best of their ability and because students have been distracted and haven’t been consistently engaged in real learning, they’ll make minimal progress. Even if they do manage to eke out a tiny score bump, their actual skills probably won’t be up to par. This means that the next teacher’s going to have even more difficulty helping them improve. If a school manages to stave off a turnaround one year through these means, it’s probably just a temporary reprieve. Taking shortcuts only postpones the eventual fallout.

So why should I care? A disturbing trend I’ve noticed among teachers in high performing schools and among the general public is distancing. In their attempts to dissociate with the bad teachers who are assumed to infest these low performing schools or avoid dealing with the bigger problems like poverty and violence, people buy into the hype and they take part in trashing so-called failing schools. But it’s important for people outside of these situations, teachers, parents, and the rest of the community to stand for those within them. Often, the people inside have little power or standing. No one is listening to them because they’ve been discredited as professionals. But, if we collectively allow this to happen in one place, we can be sure it will happen elsewhere. Remember, schools are being judged based on where they fall in comparison to other schools. Someone will always be on the left tail of the normal curve. Someone will always finish last in any race. When those people are eliminated, you’re next. Additionally, if No Child Left Behind isn’t changed, there will come a point when no one makes AYP. This is a basic statistical reality. We’re already starting to see schools falling victim to the ceiling effect. They were highly rated for years, but are starting to max out on how much growth students can make. This can trigger the pre-turnaround cycle for them, or can lead them to start taking unethical steps to protect their standing, like pushing out low-performing students. Finally, we all know that students who don’t get an empowering, whole-child education are at risk for problems in the future. Their problems become our problems when a critical mass of our population is poorly equipped for the demands of responsible citizenship. That is why it’s critically important for all of us to work for alternatives to the punitive turnaround strategies currently embraced by our federal government. We need to help the powers that be understand and acknowledge the powerful forces these schools are fighting against, create reasonable expectations for what teachers can accomplish, and offer meaningful support to do our work more effectively, rather than assuming that staff are the problem. Thanks for watching, and keep your eyes on this space for more to come.

Interviewer: We’re joined by Melissa Shaddock a franchise owner from Westerville, New Jersey. As that, tell us what your overall thoughts on liberty, social, media emissions.
Melissa: It’s, it’s been incredible. Because of small business owner, I don’t really have the time John Bast in uh, a multiple media strategy. And, anytime the corporate office contained on some of that for us it’s always a benefit. And so, having a social media presence is another way for me to keep my customers engaged all year long when I might not have the pleasure of the time to do that on my own. And, because of the strategy date insulated, it’s really a value added. I know when I send my customers there they are going to get a taste of the culture of liberty tax. There is going to be information of some value to them and I do not have to feel like they are going to go to a competitive for that information. Because, that, that corporate engaged with them throughout the year. So, I feel very comfortable referring my customers to them throughout the year. Yes. So, I feel very comfortable referring my customers to defend our page out there.
Interviewer: You use your social media to promote your business typically, separately.
Melissa: Well, you know initially I did. Uh. At this. This is my third year as a franchise owner of liberty tax. In my first year I have created a face book page here under uh, the policies that were set forth by name. But, what I have learned pretty quickly is that it really does take a lot of time and you really do have to have a strategy for every day. Because, I think it can be harmful if you put your page up in the united teaching in your uh, knowing post. In communicating with the online community that you develop. And, so since the corporate office has created a page, I slowly stepped back away from my small franchise. Uh, the page that I had out there because, I just think that the court refused to sell much of a more valued offer. So, my strategy has certainly changed since they got on board.
Martha: We bring some really great um tools to the table and uh, so there’s a lot of information out there that not only the customers getting and, and participating and learning about the culture and the activities that are happening at Liberty Tax service. But the franchisees are using its communicating to and tends to give to each other. Making it a genuine community.
Interviewer: I think. It’s not a little bit about it uh, sometimes for franchise businesses. The struggle with deciding whether to do one corporate social media page during a location. Basically, talk about what fees alleges that.
Martha: Well, I think these are very independent and they like to try new things. So, we wanted to make it flexible enough that they could in fact, have their own face book page and uh, create the content for her. But, were also wanting to have a strong enough presence so that we were answering all the needs of the friends to that page, etc.. So, that the franchisee did not have to do that. Some people just have the time or they have skill there where they just have the passion to be active on face book. Or, to be active on twitter. Or, some of the other social media sites. So, we didn’t want to limit that enthusiasm. Where that passion was. But, we also wanted to make it where they didn’t have to participate at that level. If they didn’t want to.
Interviewer: Let me, having been recognized by Women’s Magazine Hispanic Network, Black Ely Journal. Because, it makes business ownership that majority minorities. How social media help increase diversity efforts.
Martha: Here we have a variety of robots to Senate marketing initiatives that has really taken off in the last two or three years. And, I think that are armed presence on face book and some of the other social media initiatives that we’ve undertaken have been very valuable in, in getting the word out to all walks of life. That this is a great business opportunity. That Liberty is a great company that is a fair company. That is Islam is very open to diversity. Not, not just your employment or franchise ownership but, also to our customers. And, we are able to make that message very real through our media offered. So, we’ve been, we’ve been lucky in that regard. The fact that, number one, we have that initiative and we also ought to have this, this opportunity to, to. I’m promoting to gaining enough for me.
Melissa: When I was looking for a business opportunity, it was really important for me to uh, find an organization that uh, created this inclusive work environment and one that would give me the tools and support that I need so I can effectively connect with my community as well. So, I think the Hispanic marketing initiatives that Liberty created are really uh, ground breaking as a small business owner because, we have the opportunity to become a Hispanic certified office. There is documentation that we can provide our customers in Spanish. We get to help those that need credit find information, filing taxes anywhere else. And, so it really does help separate us from the competition and all of those things. When I research an organization, it is important to me because, I want to make sure that I have a business that will continue to grow and as my community continues to grow. Grow as my community continues to grow. And, as a woman, looking for business opportunities it was very easy. Uh, you know, there’s, there’s all different types of opportunities to get financing when you’re a woman entering a business and Liberty helps you know in great success stories of other women entrepreneurs. That I was a little up to their role models. And, as for me, that was done. You know, one of the criteria that I may be making in the decision to choose liberty tax as a business.
Interviewer: So, how have you seen that it has helped your business? Is it everything, very simple little things that you know?
Melissa: There is a page that we have that gives a franchise owner things to make things fine. You know, whether it’s artists are engaging in heartier fun recipe for, you know, cupcakes at the event. And so, I use it for little things like that. I have also used it to check on what new tax information is coming out because, they are still relatively timely. When the information comes out, I know I can use it as a valued resource as well. I also like to stay connected to the other franchise owners around the country. So, when I see posts that their making it helps me stay in tune with what else is going on outside of my four walls. It’s nice to be able to check in and see what great things are happening in California, Atlanta and, I love the post when I see a new picture from a customer in another state. Shows what the liberty wavers are doing in their area. So, it’s a great way to just get ideas to improve my business, as well.