At conferences, document camera companies often do
a nice job with their exhibit hall booths, offering friendly and welcoming
spaces for educators passing by. With their print messaging, not so much.
Here is the experiment I undertook: I procured the
literature from each manufacturer’s table, reading each one through. The ‘featured’ sales messages were enough to
scare an educator right back into their classrooms. Here’s a sampling of the offending
core messaging I found in my pouch:
“[It’s] a great pass-through camera…”
“HDMI Input & Output – ideal for integration…”
“Perfect for retrofitting any room.”
“VGA/USB Dual-Mode”
And, of course, my favorite:
“[Now] UVC (USB video class compliant) with the latest CMOS 3.4
sensor…”
Whatever that means. These manufacturers need to
understand that this style of “technical messaging” is gibberish to K-12 folks.
Say it in English. Say it simply. Or talk about effective visual teaching. Come
on—I know you folks—what’s with this? It looks like the technical department
certainly beat the marketing heads on this one. Most of this seems written in
the cryptic lexicon of university buyers or RFP junkies. Are you trying to sell
to educational customers, or just advertising to outshine your competition?
This type of technical messaging will never reach into the hearts and minds of
educational customers.
This message is tough love in nature, but you know
I love you. Don’t you?
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