I’ve used TiVo for years now. Even though I watch very little TV, I would hate to be forced to return to my pre-DVR days.
So why did it take my office manager, Robyn, two years to convince me to get Tivo?
Because it was something completely outside of my experience, and I couldn’t imagine how and why it would be an improvement on my time-tested “pop in a VHS tape and set it on ‘record’ ” method.
Underlying this is a principle I discovered nearly a decade ago.
I produce an annual event called PD Grad School, and I’m always on the lookout for cool gifts with which to surprise our attendees: official PD Grad School umbrellas with built-in flashlights; wastebaskets with attached basketball hoops and cheering crowds when you “sink” a shot; a tiny desktop helicopter that actually flies up to the ceiling and gently floats back down.
Oh, and who can forget the Moo Mixer — a device that automatically mixes milk and chocolate, thereby removing the strenuous effort heretofore associated with making a glass of chocolate milk?
And the Pro Thumb Wrestling Ring.
Often I discover these by attending an annual event called The L.A. Gift Show. It’s a big event that runs several days.
When I happen to be in town during this event, usually I attend it. I always go on a Sunday, because usually that’s my only “free” day.
One Sunday a few years ago, I had “L.A. Gift Show” on my calendar. But I just didn’t feel like going.
Not because I didn’t want to discover more cool gifts for our attendees. But because….
I simply could not imagine what they might have there that would be worth giving up most of my Sunday.
I tried to imagine what exciting, innovative, fun gadgets & toys they might have. But I’d been to so many of these gift shows over the years; what could they possibly have that’s both new and worth my time?
Because I couldn’t imagine what new goodies they might have there, I decided not to go. Too much hassle. I had too many other things to do.
And then, at the last moment — knowing I’d be wasting my time — I decided to go anyway.
Attendees at that year’s PD Grad School left with half a dozen incredibly cool, completely unexpected, valuable gifts. Items that I never even knew existed until I attended that year’s L.A. Gift Show.
The Gift Show I didn’t want to attend turned out to be the most productive one of all for me. But I came this close to not attending …because I could not imagine what they possibly could have there that I didn’t already know about.
No matter how much you know, you don’t know it all. And most of what you don’t know you don’t even know you don’t know.
Now, I’m using PD Grad School as an example because I’ve just announced the 2009 lineup of topics and guest speakers. And I know (sigh) that there are lots of smart, ambitious radio station program directors who won’t even consider attending — because they can’t imagine what it is our guest speakers might know that they don’t know.
I’m not talking about arrogance. These aren’t smug, “know it all” PDs. But they see the topics and think, “Well, I know something about that topic. What could that guest speaker know about it that I don’t already know?”
Answer: A lot.
This applies to all kinds of new experiences. No, you shouldn’t indiscriminately say yes to every new offer that comes your way.
But don’t pass up new experiences solely because you don’t know exactly what will happen. You don’t know what you don’t know. (Of course, maybe you already know that.)
If you’d like to see some of the things we’ll be teaching at PD Grad School that you might not yet know, here’s where to look.
