Every single time I watch this video, I laugh.
Hysterical.
Also, now every time I go to a drop zone, at least one person makes the joke from this video with me. It’s f*cking awesome. I looooooooooove that so many people saw it, learned, and laughed too.
But how did this happen?
Why did this video have so much more impact?
How do we elicit this magnitude of response?
How do we inspire significant influence?
Read on to find out…
XO
Blue Skies Magazine, August 2017
“Watch Where the F*ck You’re Going”
By Melanie Curtis
My guess is we’ve all had that experience where we’re in some non-skydiving social setting, skydiving inevitably comes up, BAM, the broader conversation stops and the rest of the night you’re fielding questions in front of a wall of wide eyes.
If you’re new to the sport and haven’t had this experience yet, you will. You will many times. You will pretty much every time you bring up our sport with anyone who doesn’t do it.
The mere subject of skydiving brings with it a certain shock value. Skydiving is still very much on the fringe of what’s “normal,” and as such most people hear it and it hits their brain in a wow kind of way.
Most people just wouldn’t jump from a “perfectly good airplane,” ya know?
Some people think it’s cool.
Some people think it’s crazy.
Some people are instantly curious.
Some people are just confused.
Some people just don’t care.
All but the last one of those reactions indicates some kind of spike in attention when it comes to the subject of skydiving.
Aka the subject of skydiving = shock value.
Shock value elicits response.
Shocking events mark our memories.
Shocking subjects spark opinion.
Strong opinions can initiate shock.
Think about that last one… strong opinions can initiate shock.
This is one of the first things they teach you in stand-up comedy actually… to build your bits around strong opinions. To even exaggerate your strong opinions when you can.
Why?
Strong opinions shock, and therefore elicit response.
When the subject is benign, that sh*t is funny.
For example, my beautiful friend, Rennay and I just made a video that ended up going viral because of this phenomenon, with Tom and Dave, two awesome sports to play the roles they did too. This particular spoof showcases a deliberately strong opinion when it comes to walking through the packing area, tripping over lines, and wrecking your homey’s half-done pack job. We joke teach the skydiving masses how we all can band together to solve this sport-wide problem. The obvious answer, of course being to, “Watch where the f*ck you’re going.”
It’s obviously meant to be funny, and it totally is.
Two of my key core values of comedy and contribution underpin this particular opinion, so despite it’s harsh delivery, like a well-flown parachute, it lands.
It landed alright. Nearly 15,000 views, 400+ shares and climbing. Makes me so happy to know how many laughs we might have brought to the community, and how many half-done pack jobs we might have saved all from our decision to look stupid standing with a strong opinion.
SO… the next time you’re wishing you had impact…