shirt easily communicates Geeknights to a wider cross-section of the geek community in society.
lol whut? How does it do that?
I've worn that shirt several times to various geek conventions and have only been approached by one person about the shirt. The only reason was because the stuff she was selling had a lot of Russian influence on it and she complimented me on the shirt.
If you want more people to listen to the show, whenever you talk to them recommend the damn podcast.
But not everyone knows what a podcast is, or if they do, they've never even thought to find out. With something as eye-catching as that, some people might be curious enough to go find out what Geeknights is and (hopefully) what other good podcasts are out there. Also, I don't think a convention is a very good example of when you've worn the shirt because there are thousands of people there for all three days and it's highly unlikely that someone would notice one shirt that someone was wearing.
But not everyone knows what a podcast is, or if they do, they've never even thought to find out. With something as eye-catching as that, some people might be curious enough to go find out Geeknights is and (hopefully) what other good podcasts are out there. Also, I don't think a convention is a very good example of when you've worn the shirt because there arethousandsof people there for all three days and it's highly unlikely that someone would notice one shirt that someone was wearing.
Dude, you're seriously over-imagining the possibilities of a fucking shirt.
You're also very wrong about wearing that shirt to a convention. PAX 2004 was also known as the geeky shirt convention. Even if you don't talk to people, as you're walking through the convention people look at other people's shirts. All the time.
But not everyone knows what a podcast is, or if they do, they've never even thought to find out. With something as eye-catching as that, some people might be curious enough to go find out Geeknights is and (hopefully) what other good podcasts are out there. Also, I don't think a convention is a very good example of when you've worn the shirt because there arethousandsof people there for all three days and it's highly unlikely that someone would notice one shirt that someone was wearing.
You're also very wrong about wearing that shirt to a convention. PAX 2004 was also known as the geeky shirt convention. Even if you don't talk to people, as you're walking through the convention people look at other people shirts. All the time.
I've never seen that before. Then again, different conventions have different cultures and different demographics.
And you're one to talk? Don't even talk about shit-talking because both of you are the worst offenders in terms of that. Also, what if some of us had motivation just by the offer alone and not by any response on your part?
Rym is the shit talker. What shit do I talk?
In every other podcast I listen from you guys, especially in terms of Tech, you guys always talk about how Society or a Company is doing something completely and totally wrong. And you two would go on a tangent on about how it would be so easy to fix a problem or making something 100% more efficient and or fun. Or "I have this idea that would be widely successful if handled correctly."
But do you guys ever take initiative to actually make changes? Or tell officials of a particular company about your idea? I seriously doubt it.
And you two would go on a tangent on about how it would be so easy to fix a problem or making something 100% more efficient and or fun. Or "I have this idea that would be widely successful if handled correctly."
In business? All the time. I propose ideas often, but no one is ever interested in them. Or, I don't have the capital to invest to make things happen on my own.
But do you guys ever take initiative to actually make changes?
To what? I don't work for Nintendo or Google or the IRS. They don't pay me to help them, and some email from some guy won't even be read.
Or tell officials of a particular company about your idea?
That doesn't work. Ever.
So, I'm not exactly sure what you're getting at. I write to my representatives fairly regularly, I provide feedback to businesses with whom I have relations, I critique and comment. It's not as though I said "I'm going to fix x company!" at any point. What do you mean?
I think what Rym is saying is that you just have to pick and choose your battles. Yes people can make a difference, but you've only got so much difference making to go around, so let your voice be heard in the venues it will most likely be acted on.
Corporations and organizations that make their name on a certain way of doing business can be incredibly resistant to highly logical changes to their business models. As long as it's just not pure bitching, I actually enjoy picking apart businesses and saying what they should do. It can often lead to some fairly interesting discussion.
That being said, can't we all just... get along? [this is a rhetorical question] Everyone shit talks to a certain extent, as much as we may try to prevent it. You can't get angry at Scott for being Scott, and his original post actually did help me by causing at least 2 people to admit they were over-committed.
Oh and I havent ever seen the original Geeknighs shirt (pic?), but I have to weigh in that the human chest is particularly poor advertising space. People either don't care about the product there, or are looking for other reasons.
Well, they do, when in sufficient number. That's what all "geek cred" shirts are really there to do. They advertise the thing on the shirt, and they advertise you as a geek to other people. The issue is that the shirts need to be widely available. A person will have to see something a number of times to say, "OK, there's something going on here. Where did you get that shirt and what's it about?"
Yes, you have to tell people about the podcast in order to get them into it. If we also had enough t-shirts to go around, we could also make sufficient passive noise.
but I have to weigh in that the human chest is particularly poor advertising space.
I find that the back is usually better advertising space. A lot of people feel awkward about reading a shirt when the main stuff is on the front. I mean, it is really sort of awkward to walk up to a person and stare at their chest without saying anything.
At cons especially, you're often behind a large crowd of people. You see a lot more backs than you do fronts, so the back space is really where the premium advertising is happening.
Well, they do, when in sufficient number. That's what all "geek cred" shirts are really there to do. They advertise the thing on the shirt, and they advertise you as a geek to other people. The issue is that the shirts need to be widely available. A person will have to see something a number of times to say, "OK, there's something going on here. Where did you get that shirt and what's it about?"
That's why I was asking that, because if it was only him wearing the shirt, people aren't really going to wonder as much unless he wore that shirt frequently.
I find that the back is usually better advertising space. A lot of people feel awkward about reading a shirt when the main stuff is on the front. I mean, it is really sort of awkward to walk up to a person and stare at their chest without saying anything.
I guess it depends. For PAX you have 3 sets of escalators to where people are facing eachother, but going in opposite directions. I constantly look at what people are wearing and make comments when I like a shirt.
I especially look for cute animal type shirts and tell the person I love their shirt, or I want to see their shirt and inquire about it. I also love yelling "Communist Party!" whenever I see someone wearing that shirt.
I think what Rym is saying is that you just have to pick and choose your battles. Yes people can make a difference, but you've only got so much difference making to go around, so let your voice be heard in the venues it will most likely be acted on.
Corporations and organizations that make their name on a certain way of doing business can be incredibly resistant to highly logical changes to their business models. As long as it's just not pure bitching, I actually enjoy picking apart businesses and saying what they should do. It can often lead to some fairly interesting discussion.
That being said, can't we all just... get along? [this is a rhetorical question] Everyone shit talks to a certain extent, as much as we may try to prevent it. You can't get angry at Scott for being Scott, and his original post actually did help me by causing at least 2 people to admit they were over-committed.
Oh and I havent ever seen the original Geeknighs shirt (pic?), but I have to weigh in that the human chest is particularly poor advertising space. People either don't care about the product there, or are looking for other reasons.
That's more of what I was getting at. Shit-talking can be in the same context as how many us what to assist gundabad by blogging, the same way you guys rant about issues within the industry/society. But onto a cooler topic...
Almost at the beginning of 2010 I printed out a calendar. The kind of calendary you see when you do cal -y on the UNIX command line. I marked every day that I did something that was not shit-talking. A majority of the days are checked. About half of the days that are not checked are days where I partook of some social activity, and was unable to work on anything. Luckily, many days I was able to do a check anyway, like a day when I gave a panel at a convention. I will show you this calendar next chance I get.
Haha I was hoping someone would ask that. Might be something simple such as "read 10 books"
Oh and I also think that shirt is friggin badass. Definitely exceeded my expectation for what a Geeknights shirt would look like. As far as advertising on shirts I agree that the back works well, but unfortunately I usually use a full backpack at conventions rather than a messenger.
Thanks for the clarification on what shit-talking means here. I was rolling in the act of saying you should do something but never commiting to it.
I interpret one goal as "Write one song per month" and another one reads "Attend four juggling conventions". Things like that means I can end up with decimal places of wins.
Comments
You're also very wrong about wearing that shirt to a convention. PAX 2004 was also known as the geeky shirt convention. Even if you don't talk to people, as you're walking through the convention people look at other people's shirts. All the time.
But do you guys ever take initiative to actually make changes? Or tell officials of a particular company about your idea? I seriously doubt it.
So, I'm not exactly sure what you're getting at. I write to my representatives fairly regularly, I provide feedback to businesses with whom I have relations, I critique and comment. It's not as though I said "I'm going to fix x company!" at any point. What do you mean?
Corporations and organizations that make their name on a certain way of doing business can be incredibly resistant to highly logical changes to their business models. As long as it's just not pure bitching, I actually enjoy picking apart businesses and saying what they should do. It can often lead to some fairly interesting discussion.
That being said, can't we all just... get along? [this is a rhetorical question] Everyone shit talks to a certain extent, as much as we may try to prevent it. You can't get angry at Scott for being Scott, and his original post actually did help me by causing at least 2 people to admit they were over-committed.
Oh and I havent ever seen the original Geeknighs shirt (pic?), but I have to weigh in that the human chest is particularly poor advertising space. People either don't care about the product there, or are looking for other reasons.
Yes, you have to tell people about the podcast in order to get them into it. If we also had enough t-shirts to go around, we could also make sufficient passive noise. I find that the back is usually better advertising space. A lot of people feel awkward about reading a shirt when the main stuff is on the front. I mean, it is really sort of awkward to walk up to a person and stare at their chest without saying anything.
At cons especially, you're often behind a large crowd of people. You see a lot more backs than you do fronts, so the back space is really where the premium advertising is happening.
I especially look for cute animal type shirts and tell the person I love their shirt, or I want to see their shirt and inquire about it. I also love yelling "Communist Party!" whenever I see someone wearing that shirt.
As for the GeekNights shirt, gundabad:
It says "Get the #!@ off my internets!"
THAT SHIRT LOOKS INCREDIBLE.
Emily designed it. I plan to order another run before the shop goes live.
Fail: 6.5
Future win: 6
Win in progress: 10.4
Win: 27.1
cal -yon the UNIX command line. I marked every day that I did something that was not shit-talking. A majority of the days are checked. About half of the days that are not checked are days where I partook of some social activity, and was unable to work on anything. Luckily, many days I was able to do a check anyway, like a day when I gave a panel at a convention. I will show you this calendar next chance I get.Oh and I also think that shirt is friggin badass. Definitely exceeded my expectation for what a Geeknights shirt would look like. As far as advertising on shirts I agree that the back works well, but unfortunately I usually use a full backpack at conventions rather than a messenger.
Thanks for the clarification on what shit-talking means here. I was rolling in the act of saying you should do something but never commiting to it.