Bookends II

July 28, 2010 by Jerry 

Last Sunday, Frank Rich, the New York Times political columnist, provided another lesson in writing style for presenters; in fact, two lessons. In a previous blog, you read how Mr. Rich had used bookends, a figure of speech—a quote, a title, an incident, a person— that he referenced at the beginning and then again at [...]

To Slip or Not to Slip

July 21, 2010 by Jerry 

General Stanley A. McChrystal, the leader of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan, shared his feelings about his Commander-in-Chief with an advisor, who was later quoted in a Rolling Stone article:
            Obama clearly didn’t know anything about him,
            who he was. Here’s the guy who’s [...]

Ms Kagan Regrets

July 8, 2010 by Jerry 

Cole Porter’s 1934 song, “Miss Otis Regrets,” a wry blues tale about a society lady indisposed to answer questions, had its modern variation last week during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on President Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court, Elena Kagan.
In the prior post, you read how thoroughly the president’s staff prepared Ms. Kagan for [...]

The Right Image for a Bad Message

July 1, 2010 by Jerry 

It’s no wonder that BP finally replaced its CEO, Tony Hayward as its spokesman. He was the flash point for the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. In business as in sports, the manager gets fired after a big loss and Mr. Hayward made a mess of his job. From his now-infamous “I’d [...]

Murder Boards

June 28, 2010 by Jerry 

The Senate Judiciary Committee begins hearings today on President Obama’s second nominee for the Supreme Court, Elena Kagan. Just as the first nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, and both of President George W. Bush’s nominees, John G. Roberts and Samuel Alito, and all the previous nominees of all the previous presidents, Ms. Kagan will be grilled mercilessly [...]

Obama’s Oil Speech Postmortem

June 23, 2010 by Jerry 

In last week’s post on Obama’s Oval Office speech on the oil spill you read how Mike Allen, the Washington columnist the New York Times dubbed “The Man the White House Wakes Up To,” anticipated the importance of the event. Mr. Allen’s succinct postmortem: “It’s the first Obama speech ever panned by the talking heads.”

Obama and the Oil Spill Speech

June 16, 2010 by Jerry 

Taking Personal Responsibility

In anticipation of  President Obama’s Oval Office speech about the BP oil spill, Mike Allen of Politico, who was dubbed by the New York Times as “The Man the White House Wakes Up To,” wrote: “White House advisers acknowledge that if it doesn’t happen tonight, it probably never will.”
Ever since the April 20th [...]

Politicians and Spin II

June 2, 2010 by Jerry 

In the previous post you read about how Richard Blumenthal, the attorney general of Connecticut, who is running for Christopher Dodd’s Democratic seat in the Senate and Rand Paul, the winner of the Republican Senatorial Primary in Kentucky, both had to walk back on controversial statements they had made. In politics, this is known as [...]

Politicians and Spin

May 26, 2010 by Jerry 

Last week, Richard Blumenthal, the attorney general of Connecticut, who is running for Christopher Dodd’s Democratic seat in the Senate and Rand Paul, the winner of the Republican Senatorial Primary in Kentucky, found themselves having to explain controversial statements they had made in public: Mr. Blumenthal on the subject of whether or not he had [...]

Human Interest Stories II: A Double-edged Sword

May 21, 2010 by Jerry 

In the previous post, you read about how a human interest story can add value to your presentation; either as supporting evidence for a particular point or as a through line for the entire presentation. But this double value can also cut both ways and backfire, particularly in the proof point usage. The culprit is [...]