The Charades Parade!
My mother, Dorothy “Dot” Garman, LOVED the game of charades, much to the chagrin of the rest of our family. When Dot brought up playing, you would hear the most creative excuses of other things to do and family members would scatter to the wind! But, now I think Dot might have been onto something!
What does the word charades mean?
According to Wikipedia, the term charade was borrowed into English from French in the second half of the eighteenth century, denoting a "kind of riddle in which each syllable of a word, or a complete word or phrase, is enigmatically described or dramatically represented".
What is the purpose of charades?
The purpose of charades is to elicit a correct answer of a word, phrase, person’s name, movie character or the title of a movie (etc.) without saying anything. A person stands up in front of the class and can only use actions and movement to elicit the answer.
Which brings me to today. In this everchanging world full of cultural and language mashups, it’s not always easy to communicate with each other no matter how much we might want to so you do have to do a little charade parade to get your point across.
One time when I was working in Paris, I needed saline for my contacts so I popped into this eye glass store. I spoke ten French words, not one which was saline and I’m sure the store clerk spoke no English. So, we had to act things out and draw pictures for each other. And, we figured it out! I got my saline and she got her sale so it was a win/win. I’m sure anyone looking through the store windows would have been pretty entertained at how silly we looked, but we didn’t care. We were communicating!
So goes it when you are trying to pitch new ideas to a group or a target market. You must appeal to the three thinking styles … Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic. You must appeal to the visual thinkers with a picture or video of some type, the auditory people need music, noise and words and those kinesthetic folks process best when they have something to touch. They are your pen clickers and they love play doh and fidget toys. Pull all of that together with a prototype of your next toy or game and you’ll get their attention! It’s your own charades parade!
So, who knew Dot was way ahead of her time? Certainly not her daughter… until now! Okay mom, just for you, “Three words, first word sounds like…”
##gert##
TOMY International Announces Julie Gwaltney Appointed Vice President Toys
The Toy Association™ Champions Small Businesses Year-Round
Tracey Matthews: Do it – Change Your Job, Buy the Shoes, Eat the Cake, Go to the Concert, Book that Flight
Storytelling with MESH Helps
TOMY International’s Fat Brain Toys Appoints Executive Vice President
Game Review: Simon
The Toy Foundation™ and the University of Richmond Proudly Honor Richard Gottlieb
Paul Andersen turned his classroom into a video game! Hidden Role Podcast
Book Review: The Gift of Authenticity by Gil Druckman
Rachele Harmuth: Overcoming Obstacles with MESH Helps
Randy Klimpert Shares his Ukulele Collection
Steve Casino Peanut Art
Everyone's Talking about POP!
Princess Etch - a Multi-Talented Etch A Sketch Artist
Joseph Herscher of Joseph' s Machines.
Bob Fuhrer... Is THE Crocodile Dentist!
Tom Dusenberry... Bought Atari, Wizards of the Coast, and Avalon Hill!
Matt Leacock created Pandemic... the game!
Scott Brown and Tim Swindle... are Launching a New Sport!
Daryl Andrews says... "GO TO CONVENTIONS!"
POPDuo: Richard Dickson, Mattel’s President & COO, and Kedar Narayan, Young Inventor Challenge AMB
POPDuo: Will Shortz and Josh Wardle
POP Duo: Elan Lee, Co-Founder, Exploding Kittens.and Jeff Probst, Host and Exec Producer, Survivor
POP Duo: David Fuhrer, MNG Director, Blue Sq Innovations & Shawn Green, past Dodgers & Mets MLB Star
POP Duo: Bob Fuhrer, Founder, Nextoy and Tom Fazio, Golf Course Designer