Archive for the 'Hook-Humor-Humanize' Category

Humanizing Example: Brainteaser

A psychologist on how our brains don’t always work the way we think they do…

“Without stopping to think, add these numbers in your head: Start with 1000. Add 40. Now add 1000. Add 30. Now add another 1000. Add 20. Now add another 1000. Add 10. What’s the total?”

[Answer: Did you get 5000? The correct answer is 4100!]

Published on Monday June 22, 2009 in Hook-Humor-Humanize and Humanize Examples. 0 Comments Tags: .

Humanizing Example: Metaphor

The speaker, who worked for a printing company, wanted to demonstrate why humidity is so much worse in hotter weather than in colder weather.

He placed two glasses on a table, one a tall drinking glass, the other a shorter juice glass. He put a sign in front of each indicating the temperature they represented: the tall glass represented 90 degrees, the shorter one was 65 degrees. He poured water into the shorter glass, filling it to the top.

“This is 100% humidity in 65 degree weather,” he explained. Then he poured the contents of that glass into the taller one, bringing it to about two thirds full. “But notice that the same amount of moisture is not 100% humidity at 90 degrees. Hotter temperatures hold more moisture, therefore making the relative humidity much greater.”

Published on Monday June 22, 2009 in Hook-Humor-Humanize and Humanize Examples. 0 Comments Tags: .

Humanizing Example: Props

A conservationist held up an apple. “Consider that this apple represents our earth.” With a knife, she sliced it into quarters. She set aside three pieces, saying, “Three quarters of it represent the oceans.”  Holding up one quarter, she said, “This represents our land area.” She sliced that in half and discarding one piece, said, “That portion represents the land area that is inhospitable to people: polar areas, deserts, swamps, high or rocky mountains. The piece that’s left, which is 1/8 our original apple, is for the land areas where people live.”

She sliced that piece into four sections.  Setting three of those aside, she said “These pieces represent the areas too rocky, wet, cold, steep, or soil-poor to produce food. They also include the cities, suburbs, highways, shopping centers, schools, parks, factories, parking lots, and other places where people live but where they can’t grow food.”

The remaining piece was 1/32 of the apple. She peeled the skin off that tiny slice. “This tiny bit of peel represents the very thin surface of the earth’s crust, less than five feet deep, which is all we have to grow the food to feed the world.”

Published on Monday June 22, 2009 in Hook-Humor-Humanize and Humanize Examples. 0 Comments Tags: .

Humanizing Example: Anecdote

An architectural engineer started a presentation on the importance of good engineering in architecture design with this little gem: “I’m a new grandfather.  Recently I was holding our new grandson in my arms and I marveled at what an architectural and engineering marvel he was.  Suddenly, there was a problem.  I realized there had been a major plumbing malfunction.”

Published on Monday June 22, 2009 in Hook-Humor-Humanize and Humanize Examples. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Humanizing Example: Demonstration

A marketing exec, making a point about enduring the unpleasantness of change for a better outcome, pounded on a flat piece of metal to demonstrate the violent work that has to be done in metal working. Then she pulled out a beautiful, handcrafted metal box to show what the end result can be after you invest all that hard work.

Published on Friday January 9, 2009 in Hook Examples and Hook-Humor-Humanize. 0 Comments Tags: .