In My Favorite Year (MGM, 1982) Peter O'Toole plays Alan Swann. He is a flawed protagonist and it presents an entertaining premise. Essentially, he is an Erol Flynn kind of movie star cast to appear instead in a television skit show. He confides to the story hero that he thinks he can get the scene that night "on the first take." Our hero informs him the show is live, and that there is only one chance. Swann becomes agitated and exclaims "I'm not an actor, I'm a movie star." It is a great line.
Live. That is challenging. Blogging is easy by comparison. I can spend hours poring over the contents here. I have spell checkers, and some AI thing that checks my grammar, usage, and so much more. I have the comfort of time, reflection, and revision.
Live. That "is an entirely different kind of flying altogether." (it's an entirely different kind of flying, as in they repeat it, all together). Or, let's just say that is entirely different.
But, I have given a presentation or two in front of an in-person audience. I have presided over a video hearing or two. I have a few webinars under my belt. How hard could a free-flowing live webinar podcast be? Well, to be blunt, harder than I thought.
In January, we debuted the new workers' compensation podcast unCOMPlex. It has a nice ring to it, but coming up with a name was challenging. This one has meaning, but I have not run into anyone who immediately got the double entendre there. See, the broad point is that workers' compensation does not have to be all that complicated (it's unCOMPlex). The word ties nicely into the fact that it includes "COMP," "so I got that going for me, which is nice."
But the Latin escapes most. Latin is perhaps the root of all pretentious communication, or at least "detached" communication. The folks at PBS say it is only useful if you want to "talk like a supervillain." That is likely going a bit too far. The article also makes the point Latin is "perfect . . . for introverts" as there is no one who speaks it. So, they argue, you would have an excuse not to talk to anyone.
The medical and legal communities use a lot of Latin, and we get (and deserve) a fair bit of criticism for it. Plain speak would be better. By the same token, we should all avoid all those vague and uninformative shortcut acronyms we cling to in Comp. We tell ourselves they are shortcuts, but to the world, they are "detached," distant, and alienating.
But, in this instance, it is poetic perhaps that "lex," as in COMPlex, is Latin for "law." And much of what people wanted to talk about in January was the law. That reference fits nicely in the broad purpose of the podcast. It will be a periodic opportunity for me to convey some updates on what is working and what is changing in workers' compensation, primarily in Florida law.
But, more importantly, it is an opportunity to answer your questions. That is where it got harder than I expected. The chat room is difficult to monitor in real-time. It is doable, but not easy. So, without a producer or similar to catch, interpret, and categorize those questions it may be less fluid than one might hope.
In exchange for that downside, the upside is the podcast will be real, timely, and focused where it should be - on the listener. So, the first episode is "in the can," and available for you:
YouTube (https://youtu.be/JAHMM4K4x_A)iHeartRadio Link: https://iheart.com/podcast/143909915/
Pandora: https://www.pandora.com/podcast/uncomplex/PC:1001083575
Ress.com: https://media.rss.com/flworkercompensation/feed.xml
We have February scheduled (our goal is to be live at lunchtime on the second Wednesday of each month). The link will be posted on the OJCC Announcement Blog but is repeated here.
Log in for February 14, 2024:
Meeting ID: 811 2781 6548; Dial by location 305 224 1968 or 646 931 3860
Or find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kcSHim1a4w
See you in February.
