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Look and act professional!
So many groups, so many mistakes! Appearing professional is one of the most important aspects towards credibility of the field.
No statistical studies have been conducted regarding how many paranormal groups pop up daily on the Internet, but I’m willing to guess somebody thinks of forming their own group at the rate of one per minute.
This field has grown exponentially during the past five years. For the most part, that is a positive thing. Increased visibility of the field also requires improved sophistication regarding how we represent what we do.
The paranormal has gained mainstream popularity but is still characterized by clichés and stereotypes. Make sure your group presents itself in a way to avoid reproducing these misconceptions.
First, spiff up your web presence, even if you have only a myspace page:
• Try to avoid the overly clichéd images for your group’s logo, such as skulls, occult items, or stereotypical images of “ghosts.” Of course, you want to make it clear what you are doing, yet you don’t want to frighten or misrepresent your intent to potential clients. If you are truly serious about paranormal investigation, don’t make your sight look like a tribute to a Ron Zombie film.
• Carefully edit your web content to avoid grammatical and/or spelling mistakes. I saw one website with misspelled words in the banner – the first thing people see! Poorly written prose makes your team appear uneducated and less credible.
• Make sure member names are visible on the site. It also helps to post pictures and a short bio. It is reassuring to a client to have familiarity with faces who show up for the investigation. Remember, if someone is letting you into their home or business, they have a right to know who you are (and vice versa).
• Don’t share specifics of any cases, either those upcoming or completed, on your website without having client’s permission. Don’t list a name or location, and certainly no specific address information. It is a wise policy to share nothing about cases until after the reveal.
On this note, get your group situated regarding paperwork. What do you need?
• Mission Statement: this explains who you are what your group wants to accomplish. This should be no more than a few short paragraphs.
• Liability forms: this is an important legal document that protects you and the client from any damage, physically or property wise, during the investigation.
• Confidentiality forms: to be signed by all investigators. This form makes sure your investigators won’t reveal case details and/or smooch cases for other teams.
• Client Evidence Release Form: perhaps the most important form your group needs. This form allows the client to determine how much, if any, collected evidence can by used on the group’s website or in any other educational, promotional publications. The more specific the form, the better. For example, the client may be fine with EVP on your website, but doesn’t want her location revealed. Make sure to cover all grounds on this form.
Finally, new groups often have to find cases on their own until they build up a reputation. When you approach locations for potential investigation, make sure any written correspondence is concise, well stated, and mistake free. No one will ask you to come into his or her property if you misrepresent yourself during the first impression. Ask those with writing talent to draft a basic form letter to be used when soliciting cases.
Of course, make sure all forms are free from spelling and grammatical mistakes.
In a field where one may find insecure, strange personalities, appearing professional demonstrates seriousness and reassures the client that you are reputable and trustworthy.
Deonna Kelli Sayed is a guest blogger at ghosthunterssecrets. She is an investigator with Haunted North Carolina, a proud TAPS family. Her work has appeared in TAPS Paramag. She lectures on the paranormal and has appeared on ParaChallenged Radio. For more information about Deonna, visit www.myspace.com/deonnakellisayed or follow her on twitter @deonnasayed.
Dark Forces by Bill Bean
Another important aspect of paranormal investigators is evidence analysis and interpretation. Too many groups rush through their analysis without doing a thorough job of finding normal explanations for the evidence. And along the same lines, too many groups are willing to present as proof of haunting questionable evidence.
Do your homework, people. There are dozen of websites that, for example, have proven that virtually all orbs are nothing more than dust, moisture or bugs and the small percentage that cannot be explained naturally are so rare that you had better have strong corroborating evidence to back it up, or few investigators will believe you.
The vast majority of the time, cold spots and EMF spikes can be explained. Do thorough research of the site to verify what is naturally there before you jump to the paranormal.
And pictures very often capture shadows and stains that are normal, or details beyond the resolution of the camera that when blown up become too pixilated to prove anything. Treat this discipline like a science and be SKEPTICAL of every bit of evidence until you can’t explain it away.
Howdy. You are so right about all of this. However, this is almost step two (or three) after forming a group. First, learn how to market yourself and protect your group and client legally. Two, learn proper investigative/debunking protocol. Three, learn proper evidence review and analysis.
Getting started and projecting a professional image is extremely important. Groups need to understand how PR affects how people perceive the field. The rise of reality TV shows demands more sophistication in the way we communicate what we do. It also demands better attention to ethical evidence, as more people are doing paranormal investigation.
I agree. Create the professional image first and them live up to that professional image. I was intending to describe the steps 2 and 3, not step 1 that you did so eloquently.
Great post as always. People forget how important your image is. I have been running a business for years and have learned the hard way about how image can ruin your business. Fix that image and people are naturally attracted to do business. The more professional and ‘real’ the better.
Don’t come across as a know it all. Better to come across as a helpful friend.
In the short time I’ve been in the field, I’ve found that those who do not understand professionalism also are the most likely to submit the questionable evidence. The two go hand-in-hand, in my opinion. So if a group has a public face that is cliched, bad spelling/grammar on their website, etc., this indicates a lack of sophistication and no attention to detail. Not the most likely candidates to submit credible evidence.
This field also lends itself to ego, so many groups become established and assume their mere presence in the field is credibility enough. Agh!