Came across an interesting essay that—among a few other things—gets down to the separating things you are “impressed” with and things you “like”… I thought the paragraph from the full “Copy What You Like” essay was particularly interesting.
It can be hard to separate the things you like from the things you’re impressed with. One trick is to ignore presentation. Whenever I see a painting impressively hung in a museum, I ask myself: how much would I pay for this if I found it at a garage sale, dirty and frameless, and with no idea who painted it? If you walk around a museum trying this experiment, you’ll find you get some truly startling results. Don’t ignore this data point just because it’s an outlier.
Thursday | July 13, 2006 at 1:02 am
This is challenging, when so much of so many jobs consists of presentation. What if it were widespread in the business world to “ignore presentation”? Well, I can’t drag this very far tonight, but it was an interesting essay, leading gracefully to the interesting paragraph quoted, and finally ending with the word “good” marked as a link, which I clicked, and read most of another essay, which had the following quotation which interested me:
The only style worth having is the one you can’t help.
As an amateur writer, I consider that partially true. I want to have a unique style, but some of the best I do comes when I just try to write WELL, and trust that I have been MADE a unique being and that it will show.
The paragraph quoted, and public speakers: What if the person delivering the speech were some shabby-looking, impoverished person on a park bench saying those same words. Would it be convincing?
OK, enough for tonight. Thanks, Matthew, for the mental stimulation.
Thursday | July 13, 2006 at 8:22 am
An interesting essay indeed.
On presentation: I’m not sure that it is possible to separate presentation from the substance at all. Trying to do so, in my opinion, is impossible and would get rid of something that is inextricably linked to the inherent value of what it is that you are examining. I would think that saying that one will ignore presentation is a futile exercise, nobody’s brain works like that, or at least mine doesn’t. But I’m clearly no Leonardo. Sure, if you found a Picasso at a garage sale, whether it looks nice or not, it’s still a Picasso. Picasso = part of the presentation, plus “at a garage sale” is hardly the normal state for a painting by Picasso, so what’s the use in expending brain cells thinking about it?
Another example: How can some fancy French restaurant charge so much for a little bit of crappy food? Presentation…I think that the point is that “presentation” is in fact a sub-set, if not the same thing, as substance.
As someone who works for an organization that spends a great deal of time on detail and presentation I can say categorically that if a speechmaker were to be dressed shabbily I would tend to be rather unconvinced and actually a bit put off that the person didn’t respect his or her audience enough to take the time to work on the presentation, regardless of the message.
Attention to detail is very important: aphorisms such as “only one chance to make a first impression” and even “the clothes make the man” are too entirely true. Job interviews, presentations to the boss, politics, music, art, love, etc–presentation is substance.
Unless of course I’m wrong.
Thursday | July 13, 2006 at 2:14 pm
One other important aphorism that comes to my mind is “never judge a book by it’s cover” - if I am listening to a person speak, what they are saying is what is important to me, not what they look like. I can listen to a man in a 3 piece suit do a presentation that is garbage, and a man on a park bench wearing shabby cloths may know more about the subject than the suit guy. Appearances and presentations are used far too many times to try to manipulate people into believing what is being presented. So, that is why finding out the facts for yourself, or forming an opinion for yourself is important. Don’t blindly follow some man/woman because he/she looks good standing in front of a bunch of people and is well spoken. That doesn’t make what he/she is saying true.
Making a plate of food look good, doesn’t make the food taste good. If I didn’t like the food, I wouldn’t go back to the restaurant.
That is just my two cents.
Yes, I believe that appearances will always matter in this world for some things. I know the points made by the other comments are valid. But I am not one who believes that the way someone/something looks is what is going to make my mind up about them/it.
Friday | July 14, 2006 at 12:23 pm
And still another is “there are exceptions to every rule.” However, I respectfully disagree. Sorry Matt and Deb for using up so much of your blog, but a bum on a park bench with brilliant ideas is still a bum.
My point is that there are too many other factors. No matter how “fair” it might be, presentation, looks, appearances, everything surrounding the substance, whatever you want to call it, influences the value of the whatever it is to such a degree that it is impossible to separate the two. Utterly and completely–look at baby name books, try to find Elmer in the top 100 names for 2006–it isn’t going to be there. Modern psychology has shown us that these things matter, on a basic subconcious level.
As an expat doing the kind of job I’m doing, I get invited from time to time to French restaurants where the food is crappy yet extraordinarily expensive. Ordering $100 bottles of wine, expensive steaks, etc. I can say though that I’ve never had escargot, yeck. One bill for four people once was well over $200 (I didn’t have to pay)–but I tell you what, the place is always packed, business is booming. But if the food a) isn’t good and b) is so expensive, why do people go there? It’s the presentation, the ambiance, the perceived notion that because one is eating in an expensive place that he or she is somehow in some elite category. That’s just the way it is.
It’s certainly comforting to one’s own psyche to say and think that one can make a distinction, but people are people, whereever you go, and if you know anything about me, you know I speak from experience there.
Friday | July 14, 2006 at 5:46 pm
Nor do I want to take up a bunch of space in the comments - I did concede at the end of my comment that your points are valid. I did not mean any offence by my comment, it is just my opinion. I could have a friendly debate with you over this, but not in the comments here. Matt and Deb have my email address. Have a great day!
Katie
Friday | July 14, 2006 at 9:18 pm
Friendly debate is good. We are hoping to spark some serious controversy so that we get tons of traffic and can start selling ads on the blog. That way we can both quit our jobs. So, keep it coming!
Seriously, everyone here is friends and family so I hope no one ever takes offense to what any one else says. If so we will make Colin slobber on you.
Matt finds the weirdest/most interesting things, doesn’t he?
Sunday | July 16, 2006 at 8:41 pm
Matt does find good stuff. Maybe the mass market is for presentation, but I will always fight responding to mass-market buttons, and to some extend I succeed. Maybe “a bum on a park bench with brilliant ideas is still a bum”, but a brilliant idea from a bum is still a brilliant idea. In some truly massive areas of life and commerce, presentation will always be the bread and butter, and I do enjoy a sandwich with excellent bread.
And some things like baby pictures have a lot to do with presentation. So can you get some baby-picture companies to advertise here? (Ah, the day job might just hang on for a while. Long way to go.)
Monday | July 17, 2006 at 1:45 am
Hello, it’s me again, of course you’re right, a bum is a bum and a brilliant idea is a brilliant idea. But to continue with my aphorisms theme, does a bum on a park bench with a brilliant idea make a sound if noone is there to hear him? (or is it: does a tree falling in the forest…etc. :smile:)
The point I’m trying to make is that although intellectually you can separate the two and examine each on its own, i.e. the bum, what he’s wearing, why he is a bum, how did he fall on hard times, and what the heck is that smell?!? as well as looking at the brilliant idea on its merits alone. But in a practical application, the combination of bum and idea (and park bench and nasty smell) means that the idea is somehow worth less because of its connection to the bum. Sure, there are Harvard educated bums, but the bum is there for a reason, and that’s part of it as well.
I’m reminded by my COMMS 102 class from years ago, when I actually went to class..is it the message or the messenger? Is it the music or the musician?
Is it the piece of art or is it the artist/gallery/audience/era/etc.? And perhaps the most important question: why is Britney Spears so popular in the first place?
Anyway, I agree as well, the baby pictures are excellent, very beautiful son you have, Matt and Deb…maybe someday I’ll get to meet him.
Monday | July 17, 2006 at 11:19 am
Welllll, Dave…
you went to eat at the fancy French restaurant at someone else’s expense, but have you ever voluntarily went back at your own expense? Did the atmosphere, presentation, and ambiance make you go back? And although you found the food to be crappy (I probably would too!), I’m sure that there are some people that actually like it. Hard to believe… but escargot (eeewwwww!) is actually enjoyed by some people! *shudder* lol
So, yes, you are right to a certain extent - it does matter to some people. Just not all people. I would never buy a Picasso just because it was a Picasso - it has to look good in the room I would be hanging it in, and I have to actually like it! lol
And yay Dad Ellsworth! You were able to sum it up in one single paragraph - while I have to ramble on and on!
Monday | July 17, 2006 at 7:58 pm
If you ever buy yourself a Picasso, buy me one, too, please. I think sometimes they have two-for-one sales.
Wednesday | July 19, 2006 at 2:40 am
Hello Matt & Commenters,
First, I scrolled through this blog page quickly noting a number of things…
1) Matt’s entry was short.
2) My dad’s comment was long… intriguing (and common :smile:).
3) Lots of comments… more intriguing.
4) Deb wrote something about being nice… even more intriguing… in fact enough so that I wanted to go back to the beginning to see what caused the fuss.
So, I did. I read the linked article. I was surprised it caused any commenting commotion. I wrote this portion of my comment… and now I will read the comments.
Hmmmm… Now I have read the comments… And a certain football coaching phrase comes to mind… “Last coach with the chalk wins.” I agree with both Dave S. and Katie (aka Alikat9373).
I think I am with Dave… “I’m not sure that it is possible to separate presentation from the substance at all.” In the paragraph Matt quoted, the article’s author says to ignore presentation. But when using his (museum) painting example, he mentally asks himself about whether he would like the painting with a different presentation (at a garage sale), not with no presentation at all.
And yet, I agree with Katie too… “So, that is why finding out the facts for yourself, or forming an opinion for yourself is important.” I have seen some impressive presentations about Ronco products on TV (but seriously, who used the spray-on hair), but I do not think the elaborate presentation means that Ronco products are superior (or even good).
I guess I am just in the mood for balance… always did and still do like yin yang symbol and meaning.
=)
“Little” brother John
Friday | July 21, 2006 at 6:17 pm
OK, Matt…. what else do you have for us to, ummm, ’spark some serious (however friendly! :grin:) controversy’ about? I think we have exhausted this topic, so you will need to go out and find something else!
Thanks for linking me, my site is just to keep family and friends up to date with happenings in our lives… so it may be a little boring for some.