Content is king, facilitation is kingmaker!


"How do you plan to compensate me for content creation?", read a statement in an email I received from a good friend who also happens to be a digital marketing consultant by profession. We have been exchanging ideas and opportunities to collaborate and give back to the community. When I started my consulting and coaching firm, I reached out with an offer for her to use the platform to share her expertise through byte-size learning workshops.

The query was valid and I provided a response, in which I clarified that it is pre-mature to put a monetary value to content. I explained with my rationale that real value of content is defined by how well it is received by the target audience. That in-turn will depend on how it gets communicated in a workshop through skilled facilitation. We both understand that facilitation is an interest she wants to pursue. We both are on the same page now!

Since Bill Gates (Founder of Microsoft) quoted "content is king" back in 1996, the last 2 decades saw a revolution in content creation and consumption. Thanks to proliferation of Internet through high speed data connectivity and rapid adoption of smart phones, information is at our finger tips. So much so that we are now inundated with content in text, image and video formats round the clock and throughout the year!

I recently attended a talk by Sridhar Vembu (Founder of Zoho Corp) at a private school in Chennai. In his speech, he compared the disruption by e-learning of the current education system to the invention of printing that ignited the European reformation. As, content is now freely available and easily accessible there is no restriction to consume this content nor there are boundaries to attain knowledge. It is only limited by individual levels of interest and motivation to make a difference.

But, application of attained knowledge will need passion to create and some level of facilitation, which I strongly believe will be the role of educators in the future. So, it is safe to say "Content is king, knowledge gives power, application of that knowledge leads to wisdom." Wisdom cannot be simply acquired through learning; it needs facilitation. The kingmaker!


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