The Brand Gap read aloud by someone else (instead of me hearing me reading The Brand Gap inside my head)

So, I just spent the day at a workshop (which was held at the lovely Hotel Lucia in scenic and refreshingly warm downtown Portland, Oregon) centered around The Brand Gap, that fantastic book by Marty Neumeier at Neutron. (Strangely enough, Scrivs just pulled a little excerpt from the book in one of his postings, today. Focusing on creating a distinctive name. Well, okay, that's not really strange, but I'll look for any fanboy-type excuse to put myself in that kind of company. So sue me. Scrivs and I were thinking about the same thing on the same day. No, he doesn't know that I call him Scrivs, but I figure he let's you call him that, so that's what I'm calling him. So that we're on the same page, chatting about Scrivs. Thinking about the same thing. The Brand Gap. Now where was I?)

Oh yes, The Brand Gap. The book, The Brand Gap, was designed to be a pretty version of the speakers notes for The Brand Gap presentation. And The Brand Gap presentation is what I sat through today. Exactly the same presentation you'll find here. And, the exact same presentation and speaker's notes you'll read by purchasing the book. Or by attending the workshop, after which they'll give you the book. And the presentation on CD. So it's like you get it four times: read the book, attend the workshop, get the book, get the presentation.

Now, the workshop did include some working sessions which were very quick "put these ideas into practice for 20 minutes" kind of scenarios. And those were interesting, but let's be honest: I didn't really pay to attend the session to listen to myself talk.

I mean, c'mon. I talk all the time. For free. At home. At the office. Hoo boy. Ask anyone at the office and they'll tell you they can't get me to shut up about "all the marketing stuff I think is so important." And about how "I just want to work on what I want to work on" and that's always tied to this unhealthy obsession with this amorphous brand thing permeating the entire company as if it were the be all and end all of our corporate existence. Talk talk talk.

If you don't believe me, read this blog. Brevity, not my strong suit.

Seriously, do I ever shut up?

Well, I try. I try to go and shut up when I want to learn something. But you know what? I just got to hear the book again.

Hear the book, in someone else's voice, mind you. Not in my voice. Which is what I hear when I read books. Of course, it's also what I hear when I type this blog. Which brings me to a very interesting point. Get down on your knees, right now, and thank your lucky stars I'm not podcasting. Because my voice is annoying and if you had to listen to it all day long like I do, or like my co-workers do. Well, it wouldn't be pretty.

So, now, all the poor attendees at The Brand Gap seminar had to hear my voice too. Why? Because I've read the book like 10 times. I reread the thing all the time. "Am I crazy?" I ask myself. And then I reread it and go, "No, no, you're not crazy." (Again, with the voice. Good googly woogly.) And so, as they were going through The Brand Gap presentation/book/hymnal, I was singing right along. Because I know all the words. I might (might) even be able to give the presentation myself. (I'm not saying that I have. In the shower. Or while mowing the lawn or anything. Or as a very strange bedtime story. But I might be able to do it.)

Which, finally, brings me to my question. And that question is...

Why? Why couldn't we go to a different level? To a deeper level. To explore the concepts mentioned in The Brand Gap book or the presentation or whatever because they're exactly the same thing. Why did we just have to gloss over what was already there.
I mean, they assigned us homework. Why couldn't the homework have been "read the book, you nut"? I mean, I could have read it, again. I wouldn't have minded. Really. Even though it would mean having that voice in my head, again.

I wouldn't have minded because I would have liked to get somewhere new. Rather than covering the same ground. I would have liked to have taken it to the next level. To have actually learned, rather than rehashed.

But I guess, for that, I have to pay the big bucks. And that's when I really shut up and focus my obsessive compulsive behavior on checking my watch every thirty seconds. Trying to compute the billable rates.

So my advice to you? If you're planning to attend The Brand Gap seminar, skip the book and see the presentation. You'll likely get more out of it.

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