Blogs
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August 16, 2010 by Nichole
Thank you for reading our blogs. Beginning today our blogs will be on hiatus. We are curently redesigning our website, and look forward to posting more blogs upon its launch.
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August 11, 2010 by Pearl
In the article “Best Formula for Selling Yourself,” Frances Cole Jones, author of The Wow Factor: The 33 Things You Must (and Must Not) Do to Guarantee Your Edge in Today’s Business World highlighted three proven techniques to close a sale⎯whether to sell an idea, a product, or yourself as a candidate for a job. The first of three techniques is to incorporate the word “you” in your narrative. As you read in a prior blog, a Yale University study of the most persuasive words in the English language found that the word “you” was on the top of
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August 4, 2010 by Pearl
In a prior blog, you read about the analogy of an elephant to presentations. Now, let’s take a look at another similar example to illustrate the importance of integration in presentations. In a recent Bayer’s commercial for women’s birth control pills, six blind-folded women described a rhino by touch. One woman said it was a pillar, another a wall, another a rope, another a brush, and the last woman called it a pipe. The women each removed their blindfolds to discover a rhino standing in front of them. What they described by touch were only parts, or elements, of
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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 the end of his story. This simple culminating device adds continuity to any story or presentation. The subject matter of both Mr. Rich’s earlier and current articles was racism. In Sunday’s article, he focused on the controversy surrounding Shirley Sherrod’s speech to NAACP, but
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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 going to run his f***ing war, but he didn’t seem very engaged. The Boss was pretty disappointed. The very same week the article was published, his Commander-in-Chief relieved General McChrystal
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July 14, 2010 by Pearl
Last Thursday, Sarah Palin and her political action committee, Sarah PAC, released its first campaign video of the year. According to a Yahoo! News article, the ad includes a vocal track of a speech Palin delivered in Washington in May, touting the rise of “mama grizzlies” and conservative women. Palin’s main message in the ad was to promote conservative female empowerment. But in the short one minute and fifty seconds clip, there were six instances of negativity, such as the use of “no” and “don’t.” References to mama grizzlies fighting and pink elephants stampeding, while promoting empowerment, also have a negative cast. Sarah Palin says, “You don’t want to mess with the mama grizzlies,” but are we ready for another political campaign of mud-slinging? Wasn’t 2008 enough?
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 hearings by subjecting her to Murder Boards, intense practice sessions in which tough questions were fired at her repeatedly and she gave her answers to those questions repeatedly. Apparently, part of the preparation also included not answering some questions. Jon Stewart seized
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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 like my life back,” quote to his stonewalling at a congressional hearing; he only served to make matters worse for his company. The last straw came last weekend when he flew home to the UK to observe his luxurious yacht in a race off
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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 by the senators, particularly those of the opposition. All’s fair in politics and the party out of power wants to do everything it can to make the sitting president—and that president’s choices—look bad. In preparation for the grilling, Ms. Kagan spent long hours in
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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.”
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