For some of us its really exciting when we get a new car, and the best bit: finding out what all the new toys do. Yes I know if cars aren’t your thing you’ll be thinking he really needs to get out more.
But think back to something you’ve bought recently. Have you immediately been able to get to grips with everything it can do?
Often the instructions are written for people with advanced degrees in mechanical engineering or in language that is just plain confusing. Even the best instruction manuals can struggle where there are several steps involved or a slightly complex process.
Back in April I took delivery of a new car complete with a Bluetooth kit for the phone, a brilliant invention that works like a dream. I was shown how to pair my phone when the car was delivered but as you can imagine my excitement levels were far too high for me to actually pay any attention. The result: by the time I got home and tried to pair my wife’s phone to the car I had completely forgotten what to do.
Instruction manuals are of course only to be consulted in the most dire emergencies as they are a real admission of failure. It might be a sweeping generalisation but all men know this to be an absolute rule.
So back to my wife’s phone. After an hour of trying to do it myself I finally gave in (handy tip don’t ever do this in front of your family it only leads to ridicule) and took out the owners manual. I won’t bore you with the details but after another hour I still hadn’t managed to get the phone to pair. No slight on Audi here my daughter had to translate a Honda manual for her grandfather so that he could change the time on the clock. Some of us simply can’t follow written instructions.
So how did this lead to us doing a video. Well as a last resort I headed for Youtube where a friendly Audi dealership in San Francisco had posted a quick home made video guide to pairing a phone to my car. Five minutes later I was inviting my wife to come out and try her newly paired Blackberry on the car’s Bluetooth system. Sheer genius.
As I was driving to work the next day it struck me! This whole episode highlighted the power of video as a way of communicating. Where an hour of trial and error and another hour with written instructions had failed, a three minute video had shown me everything I needed to know.
A week later we decided to make one of our own. You can watch the video on this page, in awe of the technical expertise of the presenter (the same person who a week earlier had steam coming out of his ears and was ready to throw away both his phone and his car). Its amazing what a quick visit to Youtube can do!!!
