Most of the humans who come to my company for public speaking have something to sell. Themselves, a product, a cause.

Most people do not like to be sold to. You don’t. I don’t. Yet, most speakers believe the way to sell what they are selling is it directly sell it. To teach the audience something that the audience CAN NOT do without them.

Bad. Not effective. Don’t do it.

Instead, teach the audience something they can do themselves, without you. Educate them, give a REAL take away value and figure out a way to give them a take away so they will remember how they got it.  Honor the persons time.  Make that the goal - not selling.

If you are a consultant, this means maybe giving away some of your secret sauce. Don’t worry, you will make more. Example: What I am doing right now. My company makes money when we use our intellectual property to wow our clients who hire us. The reality is, you don’t HAVE to hire my team for your next speech if you read my book and practice what is in the blog. The reality is once you hit it out of the park with the free stuff you get - you are more likely to want to know what else there is.   If I am taking your time right now in reading this, I’d better GIVE you some value.   Something tangible.

If you are a politician, this means giving away some of your personal history and perspective. Example: Instead of talking about the need for police and funding for police. (all politicians do that) Think about educating the audience in a different way. Think about it for a second. More police on the beat is expensive and one level of context. Another level is this: Let’s think of an average police officer. Do you think when police officer goes to the grocery store when she is OFF work she stops being a police officer? When she is walking the dog? Washing her car? If we really want our streets to be safe, we need to create affordable housing for police and fire. If more police live in our neighborhoods, the neighborhood will be safer. Right now, many of our police officers live in Daly City. (find some statistics on this) Educate in detail rather than talk about high level of context stuff.

If you are a cause, get off your obvious soap box and reach more people.  The environment.   The moment we make someone feel bad about the car they drive we reduce listening.  We create an “us and them” mentality where to them we are THEM.  (god, does that make any sense at all?)   Imagine educating an audience on what they CAN do for their own benefit.. not to save the world.   FOr example:  we are the most innovative country on the planet.  Think about what we have invented:  the telephone, electricity, the internet… we CAN figure out a more efficient, inexpensive, low impact way to get off oil.  Let’s imagine we don’t care about the planet .. it will be the next big boom for our country.   There is money to be had here - this is a US  (U.S.) initiative- not a democratic initiative.

Oh, and when teaching.  Please avoid being obvious.  The worst thing a CEO can do is tell a story about WORKING REALLY HARD to get his team to WORK HARD.   Give them whiplash a little so they don’t know what is coming.

Hope this helps.  Typos and all!

Political advisors are so stuck in the Nixon/Kennedy debates. Things have changed so much in the past .. what .. 50 years? geez…

The debate of the Democratic Presidential candidates yielded some clear results. HRC won hands down on policy. Biden won hands down on personality. Gravel won hands down as the whack job.

If I was on Obama’s team- I’d be working on one thing: Get your policy down. Find specific examples that show you know this stuff. The guy is SO GREAT at rapport - he needs some work on debating with policy.

One way to do this: experiential extrapolation. List the things he has done and make them relevant to the major issues that face our culture.

I worry about his comment about the environment. What have you done in the past 90 days to address the environment? Don’t you have an answer/ if you dont… go watch Al Gore’s movie….

I haven’t been bloggin much.. trying to finish my book.

I am only blogging now to AVOID writing my book….

It is happening again.  It isn’t even close to the election and it is clear.

I love being a liberal.  I wear the badge proudly with the ink on my skin and the color of my hair. 

The issue with the national presidential race is the island of Washington DC.  The campaigns have circled the wagons and do not understand they are wearing Dittos to a 501 concert.

 My political party is two steps behind.  As an entrepreneur, I get that to be successful, I must be at least two centimeters in front of the competition.

There is a new communcation reality : I have talked about it before.  If I hear one more candidate say,

I THINK

I will defenstrate myself.  I think waters down the effectiveness of what the person is saying.  Why do we have this virus:  the I THINK VIRUS.   Tired of it.

Take out a pencil. Now.  Right now.  I will wait.  I will type slow so you will not miss anything.

Great big dogs eat animals

FACE

If you do not know piano you do not know what the heck I was just typing.. very.. slow….

anyway.. ready?

write down   I THINK

now,

put a LINE through it.  Remove this phrase from your vocab. 

Example

I think we should get out of Iraq.

Really??  Do you think?

how about

We MUST get out of Iraq.

Hear it?

I little better.

Sigh

I was lucky enough to hear past President Clinton on Sunday.  I have a great picture of him that I can’t upload.  Anyone reading this who knows how to use wordpress to upload pictures, let me know.

200 folks in a room:  he was talking about Hillary.

He talked about her decision to run for President.  He said one thing that resonated as I think of critical decisions we all need to make in our lives.

If you feel you are the best person for the job:  you HAVE to run.  If you feel someone else is the best person for the job: you can’t run.

Once you realize you are the best person for the job:  you have no choice but to run.

How simple is that thought process.   I am applying that to life right now.

Mark Hopkins.  This morning.  Fifty Democrats.  One speaker.   Ten Thousand goosebumps.

It is the first time I have ever had tears in my eyes listening to Senator Hillary Clinton.  She connected with the audience this time- in such a beautiful way.  After she left there was an overwhelming response from the crowd- they were shocked and very very pleased.

What did she do differently?  She talked about her life.  In particular, her dad.  Her dad, his last days and his neighbors Larry and Dillard.

Well done.  The entire room was filled with policy wonks who the week before, with Obama, expressed their dismissal of the stories and the desire for policy.  Senator Clinton did both.

60 down.. now for the rest of the world.

The world is a much sadder place this week with the loss of Bobby Blanchard, 1957-2007. He was enjoying a weekend with his 3 buddies celebrating his 50th birthday. The landing gear on the small plane they were in failed on landing.

Things would have been okay except this particular airport had a steep ravine on the side that caused them to tumble. Two guys walked away from the crash and the pilot would have except he suffered major burns pulling Bobby out of the wreckage. Bobby suffered a broken neck passed away on the scene.

I am in a group of CEO’s, how I met Bobby. At our event this week we asked that the MC say something about him. Give us a moment of silence. Tell the folks in the audience that what the widow needs is stories from us about Bobby and what he meant to us.

I do not think the MC really wanted to do it. It was clear in the way he did it.

In public speaking, don’t fake it. If you do not want to honor the life of someone who passed away, have someone else who wants to do it DO IT. Similarly, if thanking someone from the lectern, feel thankful about it. What I am trying to say in my very tired morning way is: WORDs mean nothing. Going through the motions is transparent. Audiences hate it. We look dumb doing it.

Match the emotion, the words and the way we say it : presto, a real connection.

One of the best speakers I have ever heard.  He was exhausted, tired and run out.  Still, his ability to speak passionately about our country inspired the crowd.

A man fainted in the audience.  He stopped his Stump Speech and asked for help.  He did not speak again until he was sure the man was okay.  He teased they guy, “You’re young.. you’ll be a-right.”

He talked about Selma Alabama and the recreation of the civil rights walk.  He corrected people who say it is a celebration of Black History.  It is a celebration of American History.  just like the Union organizers.  Just like the Suffragettes (whoops… he didn’t mean it… wrong term, and you get the message.).  Just like the 13 colonies.  American history.

He talked to the band.  He talked to those of us in line.  Very personable.  It seems impossible that we had a meaningful conversation in 45 seconds.  It felt we did.

He talked about his eight year old daughter Malia saying, “Oh, dad is doing that president thing.”
Listening to my tape of the event, the audience erupts in laughter every 5 seconds in the first 5 minutes.  Really. 

He talked about his fear no one would show up when he announced his run for presidency.  17,000 people showed up.

He talked about not having experience.  Dick Cheney had experience.  Donald Rumsfeld had experience.  (audience goes nuts)

It is interesting the way he used “We Know…” to segue between points.  We know we need healthcare for all (spoke for a minute on this)  We Know we are in a war we do not want to be in (spoke for a few minutes on this)   He used this pattern through out his talk - it worked for him.

 He asked the question, can I win the presidency?  The audience cheered yes.  He sort of nodded his head and quipped, “My opponents sure think I can.”  (Audience goes nuts again.)

What I didn’t hear is policy.  Some people were annoyed by that.  A Stump speech is meant to give goosebumps.. it did.   It is easy to see how humans are getting swept away with the enthusiasm of this man. 

I’d coach him on one thing though.  When being introduced- the entire room is watching you Senator Obama.  Look at them.. or at least smile and connect.  Your shoes are nice- just not that interesting for you to look at. 

Yes, y’all, I have an opinion about everything.

On Sunday I had the opportunity to meet Senator John Edwards, Presidential Candidate. I truly enjoyed how BLUNT the man is about politics and the world.

He opened with a great story about being on the Daily News with John Stewart. It seems they put him in a chair and asked a tough question, “Had you became VP, who would you have accidentally shot in the face?”

Edwards quipped, “Dick Chaney.” The only arguable point would be the accident part.

That sort of humor is rare. I watched the folks around Edwards look around the room to see if other people were shocked that he just made a comment about the VP.  Great opening.  It made me like him right away.
I like the guy. He talked about race, religion … all the taboo subjects.

A friend asked him where he stood on gay marriage. He said (this is not a direct quote) “I have had a very long personal journey on this issue and I have come a long way. I am not as far as you want me to be on the issue, and maybe I am not as far as the American people need me to be. I support civil unions. I can tell you the day I take office I will do away with the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy as it is ridiculous….” I appreciated his answer even though I do not agree with him. Very thoughtful and honest.

He has a tough road ahead. His opponent, Obama talks of hope. Edwards states he talked of hope in his first election and realized hope isn’t enough. Overhaul needs to happen.

America is seen as greedy and short sighted. For good reason. Examples he gives: We told the world there was a genocide in Darfur last year. The richest and most powerful nation in the world says there is a genocide going on and has done NOTHING about it. This is why the world mistrusts us.

We have 4% of the population and 25% of the greenhouse gas emissions. How can we tell China what to do with their environment?

His message is powerful- he digs us into a dark scary hole. What he needs to do at the end is give us a rope to climb out of that hole. Audiences will accept the negative facts when we give them a light at the end of the tunnel. (As long as that light isn’t an oncoming train.)

(insert photo here) I am sorry. I am not a real blogger. I didn’t have my camera with me. I do not have a fancy photo for you. I will get on that soon. Promise.

I told him after the speech how much I appreciated how blunt he was.  He seemed uncomfortable.  Didn’t quite know what to say.  He seemed to almost doubt himself for an instant.

I said, Senator Edwards, that is a GREAT thing- it matches your brand and is something you need to do MORE of.  He laughed and in a very grand southern style, winked and said, “Good.  Being blunt is the easy part.”

Easy for him maybe.  Harder for the rest of the world.  I may start walking around with a picket sign reading, “More bluntness.  More bluntness”

Oh, if only that could be a trend.. like mini-skirts, or pants worn below the hips… or the pet rock… BLUNTNESS.

That’s all.

I am undecided. I am leaning toward one candidate yes- though still undecided.

On Friday I had the pleasure of watching Senator Clinton speak to roughly 1000 people. As I was sitting in the second row, I was able to film the entire speech. (Yes, I am always working.)

I will be the first to admit Obama wins in the “inspire-off” contest. Senator Clinton wins hands-down in the knowledge competition. She took questions from the crowd and had statistics and facts galore. She even had some funny things to say to the crowd when answering questions.

We want her to be funny don’t we? The American people like funny.

What she is ? Intellectual. Smart. Direct. Erudite. Each of her answers was backed in fact and explanation.

What I read on the front page of the Chronicle did not at all describe the event I attended. Why does the Media hate Hillary Clinton? They wrote about her ignoring the Code Pink protesters. She did not ignore them. They were BEHIND her and she didn’t see them. When they were on the side and started chanting End the War, she said, “Yes, I agree, we must end the war.” 

Additionally, she made a joke (she is doing that more often now) about her humorous quip about her husband.  An audience member asked her what role her husband would play in the Whitehouse.  She said she would continue the longstanding tradition of using past presidents in roles of diplomacy. 

The Chronicle made it sound like her entire plan was to use her husband in the Whitehouse.  Thank god for YouTube and blogging to set the record straight.

She did a fantastic job taking questions from the crowd.. even the venture capitalist specializing in medical innovation who was worried about universal health care destroying medicine and the economy. Clinton was on point and smart.

Roughly 9% of humans LOVE this style of speaking. LOVE LOVE LOVE it. Policy wonks they call them. I am worried. Senator Clinton may be the best person for the job… She will not get elected if she can not inspire the audience.

91% of audiences make their decisions on the success of a talk.. of a person.. by the level of goosebumps they receive. The problem in politics is most of the people coaching the candidates are in the 9%.. they just do not get it.

I am in the 9%.  I realize though that most of of us want the goosebumps.  Okay, I want the goosebumps too.  I started crying as soon as Forest Gump started running.  Still tear up just thinking about it.

Policy + Personal Connection + Inspiration = Voter Adhesion. 

Do the math.