High Yield No Till Integrated Gardening means less work, lower cost, and more produce.
Click to Download Your Free Heritage Pickling and Culturing e-Book Now!
Instant Download, NO Registration Required!
Your Compelling Conversation Isn’t
Nothing turns me off faster than inviting me to a “Compelling Conversation” or “Gripping Conversation”. The latest in a long line of “internet marketing” fads, this verbiage is currently making the rounds.
It is just a little too much like the bad internet marketing books I read years ago (when I was too dumb to know better), that spend the first three chapters telling me how great the rest of the book was, which were invariably followed by more chapters that absolutely failed to deliver on the promise.
Compelling and Gripping events happen spontaneously – a combination of individual response and great presentation. They happen DURING an event. They are described as such AFTER the event. To call it that BEFORE the event has even taken place is a misuse of the words, and smacks of an attempt to manipulate. Most intelligent people won’t be manipulated – which means that the people who respond may not be the intellectual upper crust. Not my idea of a great target market!
If it truly IS compelling, you don’t have to TELL me that it is. You make your title and your description compelling instead.
Telling someone how to feel, or describing emotions, is far less effective than inspiring them to FEEL the emotion. Don’t TELL me it is interesting… MAKE it interesting.
If you do, I might attend. If you call it Compelling, I won’t be there because I’ll be off doing things that really WERE compelling.
3 Responses to Your Compelling Conversation Isn’t
Gardening doesn't have to be that hard! No matter where you live, no matter how difficult your circumstances, you CAN grow a successful garden.
Life from the Garden: Grow Your Own Food Anywhere Practical and low cost options for container gardening, sprouting, small yards, edible landscaping, winter gardening, shady yards, and help for people who are getting started too late. Plenty of tips to simplify, save on work and expense.
Just as “compelling” as “attend my web-inar!” Blech!!
While I understand your perspective and share your disgust with false advertising that manipulates readers, may I gently disagree?
As an English teacher assigned to teach an oral skills class at Santa Monica Community College, I found the textbook deadly dull, impractical, and quite expensive. Consequently, I developed 45 conversation lessons – beginning with relevant vocabulary and provocative questions – and added 10-12 quotations from numerous perspectives. The classroom atmosphere became engaged and lively as we shared experiences, insights, and reflections.
Eventually, I compiled the lessons – and added more classroom activities, American idioms,and proverbs from around the world. And, as you’ve guessed, I chose the title “Compelling Conversations: Questions and Quotations on 45 Timeless Topics” that has annoyed you so much.
Many ESL teachers – in over 40 countries around the world – have purchased the book. Several English teachers, however, have also criticized the title since so many English language learners do not know the word “compelling”. Perhaps both you and these teachers are correct, but I still like it and believe that it accurately captures the spirit and content of my niche conversation book. Try it … you might like it.
Thank you, however, for warning me that the phrase has become a tad too common and
I’m not saying it should never be used as a title. Only that it is SO overused, and completely inappropriately. Every single interview promoted on FaceBook seems to use that title.
The word “compelling” means that it draws you in and inspires you to a reaction that you would not otherwise have. The only compulsion inspired by the misuse of the word is to make the invite go away as quickly as possible.