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about bad management, favoritism, pettiness, unfair decisions, and who got ahead bysleeping around. The students are often shocked and keenly interested in these kindsof lurid details, and after the fact have many specific questions about how workplacesoperate. What’s often left out of the guest speaker’s perspective is that inter-officepolitics are not the exclusive domain of any one profession. One can find difficult andat times intolerable working conditions in almost any line of work.The Angry Burnout often spends so much time complaining about their work andtheir life that little time is left to teach students anything about their craft.They also are effective at telling stories from the field. Narrative can be a powerfulform by which to deliver information or to illustrate a point. But there must besubstance behind the story. The Angry Burnout often has no bottom-line message, justa collection of favorite anecdotes, designed primarily to entertain and impress andconvince listeners of the authenticity of the teller’s experience, or what Clifford Geertzcalled, evidence of “being there.”The stories may continue, one after another, till students are lost in a long-windedjumble of interesting and personal memories, never made more useful to them by thewar-horse because of the failure to take the story beyond it’s immediate context.The MeteorThe Meteor is the guest speaker who begins with great enthusiasm. In certaininstances, in fact, they have actually contacted the school or professor and asked tocome speak to students. Once in front of the class they are self-assured and brassy.They often look good, are well coifed and sport the latest in professional wardrobe.There are often one or two important messages they have brought along for students tohear. Often among those are; “do an internship—get real-world experience,” or “learnhow to write well while you’re still in school.” Both are messages that are often musicto an instructor’s ears, though the guest speaker may not be aware of the large emphasisalready placed on writing and the fact that many programs require internships.After delivering their one or perhaps two important messages, there is atransformation; the Meteor begins to lose confidence as they realize they have quicklysaid most everything they came to say. After all, professionals are taught to be conciseand to-the-point. As they glance at the clock or their watch and do the mental maththey suddenly realize they have another thirty eight minutes to fill, not an easy task foreven the person with extensive experience with television news chit-chat and cross-talk.The Meteor crashes into the academic atmosphere and burns a radiant orange. Butthe show is short-lived; it burns out quickly, suddenly and violently plummetingtoward the earth. It can be a painful experience for the speaker, the class and theinstructor.The InsiderThe Insider is the wily, experienced professional who lives, eats sleeps and breathestheir job. Their dress is pedestrian, complimented with slightly unkempt hair andscuffed, sensible shoes. They often haven’t been in school in quite some time andmost likely have a hard time remembering what it was like when they were a student.They come prepared with insights and tips and facts and figures but there’s still aproblem. Their vocabulary is so riddled with jargon and inside information, toBEA—Educating tomorrow’s electronic media professionals 71