Last week I took Ami, our 3-year old, to a speech pathologist – apparently that’s who you need to stop thumb-sucking. Vince did his assessment and then sat down at the end to explain it all to me.

Trish wasn’t there and so I pulled out my phone and said “Do you mind if I record this conversation so Trish can listen to it later?”

“I’d rather you didn’t.” Vince replied.

“Why?”

Because then you could play it for anyone at any time. But you’re welcome to take notes. And he passed me a notepad and pen. Interesting.

What was Vince actually scared would happen?

It’s a useful scenario to consider, because if it hasn’t already, it will happen to you. And not always with permission. In a presentation I was running in Auckland recently I had someone put his phone next to the projector at the front of the room. He was recording it … didn’t ask if he could, just went ahead.

I was a bit stunned. But I figured that’s the world we live in. And if he went on to share the content with someone else who wasn’t there, or hadn’t paid … great. The more my ideas spread, the better for the world and the better for me.

Vince was scared that if I played our conversation to my friend with a thumb-sucking kid they wouldn’t come and see him. And perhaps his biggest fear was that I would post it online and no-one would need to come and see him. But in both cases the opposite is true. My friend would be more likely to book in. And the best possible scenario for Vince (unlikely as it is) is that I post it online, it goes viral, and suddenly he’s a world-famous thumb sucking whisperer.

So, when someone pulls out their phone to take a photo of your slide, be happy. And if they ask permission to record what you, say yes, and be grateful that they even asked.