Why Ed?
by Graham Davies
Just as in the art of Stand-Up Comedy, the secret of success when you are running for the leadership of a political party is a combination of bravery and timing.
David Milliband is not the Labour Leader at this moment because he simply did not have the nerve to run at the right time. A crucial number of party voters remembered that he was the only potential challenger who could have saved Labour from Gordon Brown. But he just didn't have the balls.
And now Labour has a new leader who has massive presentational problems to overcome. The more he says that he is not beholden to the Unions, the more we all sneer. He may not like being called Red Ed, but it is a presentational label that he will have to work hard to scrub off.
No matter which Milliband we ended up with the Labour Leadership Election was the final link in a very disturbing trend. The leaders of all 3 major parties are all youngish guys who look good in suits but have never had a proper job outside Westminster.
They could all make the Micro-Statement, "I may not have any experience of the real world, but at least Daddy was rich enough to make sure that I never had to."
What a triumph of democracy.
Sunday, 26 September 2010
Monday, 20 September 2010
Nick Sticks with Us????
by Graham Davies
"Stick with us. Please. Because we're not all that crap really. And I'm sure that I won't have to to dreadful Tory-type things forever. And I have got 'Deputy PM' on my CV which will be great for when it's time for me to cash in properly with my memoirs."
Sadly, Nick Clegg not to say all but the first 3 words of the preceding paragraph in his conference speech. It would have been a more compelling performance if he had put them in.
This was not a speech. It was an apology...from an elected Prefect who is rather embarassed at having unexpectedly joined the teaching staff. And he knew that the apology was just not going to be good enough.
I was wrong in my blog of yesterday about him moving about the stage. He stood behind a lectern, like an old-style politician, even though he wasn't using it for notes or a script. Essentially, he was using it as a barrier between himself and an audience that he was afraid would turn on him.
And he seemed surprised when they didn't applaud when he wanted them to. Surprised and also a little spoiled. I was cringing when he pressed the emotion button and only a rigidly faked tone came out.
But the most striking thing was his hesitant delivery. Long, uncomfortable pauses. Possibly because he wanted his prefect's lecture to sink in, but possibly because he was just couldn't remember his words quickly enough. He really needs to learn how to use an auto-cue.
If Nick Clegg sticks with this sort of speaking, he will carry neither the country nor his party.
by Graham Davies
"Stick with us. Please. Because we're not all that crap really. And I'm sure that I won't have to to dreadful Tory-type things forever. And I have got 'Deputy PM' on my CV which will be great for when it's time for me to cash in properly with my memoirs."
Sadly, Nick Clegg not to say all but the first 3 words of the preceding paragraph in his conference speech. It would have been a more compelling performance if he had put them in.
This was not a speech. It was an apology...from an elected Prefect who is rather embarassed at having unexpectedly joined the teaching staff. And he knew that the apology was just not going to be good enough.
I was wrong in my blog of yesterday about him moving about the stage. He stood behind a lectern, like an old-style politician, even though he wasn't using it for notes or a script. Essentially, he was using it as a barrier between himself and an audience that he was afraid would turn on him.
And he seemed surprised when they didn't applaud when he wanted them to. Surprised and also a little spoiled. I was cringing when he pressed the emotion button and only a rigidly faked tone came out.
But the most striking thing was his hesitant delivery. Long, uncomfortable pauses. Possibly because he wanted his prefect's lecture to sink in, but possibly because he was just couldn't remember his words quickly enough. He really needs to learn how to use an auto-cue.
If Nick Clegg sticks with this sort of speaking, he will carry neither the country nor his party.
Sunday, 19 September 2010
What can Nick really say?
by Graham Davies
The three crucial ingredients of a speech are: who is speaking, what they say and how they say it. The speech to be delivered by the Leader of the Liberal Democrats tomorrow will be very different in each of these elements from its equivalent last year.
Nick Clegg's 2009 speech was a noteless political cabaret, a 55-minute exhibition of faulty policies delivered with a faultless memory. This was a Party Leader uninhibited by even the remotest thought that he would ever be able to put his ideas into practice. There was no hint of "Go back to your constituencies and prepare for government".
He will undoubtedly try the memory trick again, and wander around without a lectern, to show that Nick the Deputy PM, is still One of Them.
I look forward to hearing his Core Micro-Statement....the legacy at the heart of the speech that will be remembered above all else. The most accurate one I can suggest for him is: "Terribly sorry to have sold out on so many of our fundamental principles, but you should feel the leather in the back of our Ministerial cars!"
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADD A COMMENT OR DISCUSS THE ABOVE ARTICLE WITH FELLOW READERS, PLEASE CLICK ON THE COMMENTS LINK BELOW.
by Graham Davies
The three crucial ingredients of a speech are: who is speaking, what they say and how they say it. The speech to be delivered by the Leader of the Liberal Democrats tomorrow will be very different in each of these elements from its equivalent last year.
Nick Clegg's 2009 speech was a noteless political cabaret, a 55-minute exhibition of faulty policies delivered with a faultless memory. This was a Party Leader uninhibited by even the remotest thought that he would ever be able to put his ideas into practice. There was no hint of "Go back to your constituencies and prepare for government".
He will undoubtedly try the memory trick again, and wander around without a lectern, to show that Nick the Deputy PM, is still One of Them.
I look forward to hearing his Core Micro-Statement....the legacy at the heart of the speech that will be remembered above all else. The most accurate one I can suggest for him is: "Terribly sorry to have sold out on so many of our fundamental principles, but you should feel the leather in the back of our Ministerial cars!"
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADD A COMMENT OR DISCUSS THE ABOVE ARTICLE WITH FELLOW READERS, PLEASE CLICK ON THE COMMENTS LINK BELOW.
Saturday, 11 September 2010
Obama's Continuing Weakness
by Graham Davies
President Obama is one of the finest AutoCue Athletes that the world has ever seen. But the Q&A session about the economy that he did yesterday shows that he still has a long way to go before he is a great Presentational All-Rounder.
When he presents a carefully calculated and rehearsed text using AutoCue, he looks, sounds....and probably feels...utterly in control. But when he is answering a question in front of a live audience, you can see the certainty leave his eyes instantly, especially when there is a hint of aggression behind the question.
He then tends to speak.....with......pauses.....that are slightly.....too long........that come in.....strange places.........in his sentences. When a politician needs this much thinking time in the middle of a 60 second answer, he looks like a struggler, not a leader.
He needs more coaching. He certainly needs to read the Q&A chapter in The Presentation Coach (published by Capstone on 24 September). There he will see that Q&A can involve techniques which give you even more authority than rehearded delivery of a pre-prepared script.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADD A COMMENT OR DISCUSS THE ABOVE ARTICLE WITH FELLOW READERS, PLEASE CLICK ON THE COMMENTS LINK BELOW.
by Graham Davies
President Obama is one of the finest AutoCue Athletes that the world has ever seen. But the Q&A session about the economy that he did yesterday shows that he still has a long way to go before he is a great Presentational All-Rounder.
When he presents a carefully calculated and rehearsed text using AutoCue, he looks, sounds....and probably feels...utterly in control. But when he is answering a question in front of a live audience, you can see the certainty leave his eyes instantly, especially when there is a hint of aggression behind the question.
He then tends to speak.....with......pauses.....that are slightly.....too long........that come in.....strange places.........in his sentences. When a politician needs this much thinking time in the middle of a 60 second answer, he looks like a struggler, not a leader.
He needs more coaching. He certainly needs to read the Q&A chapter in The Presentation Coach (published by Capstone on 24 September). There he will see that Q&A can involve techniques which give you even more authority than rehearded delivery of a pre-prepared script.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADD A COMMENT OR DISCUSS THE ABOVE ARTICLE WITH FELLOW READERS, PLEASE CLICK ON THE COMMENTS LINK BELOW.
Tuesday, 7 September 2010
Blair's Brand
by Graham Davies
Tony Blair has spent the last few days devaluing his Personal Presentational Brand. I say this even though his autobiography may boost his professional speaking fees to beyond the merely stratospheric.
Of course, the thing that the punters in Waterstones want to see is one politician making bitter personal attacks on other politicians, preferably long-term friends and allies. Tony has been happy to oblige. This tells you more about him than the people he has targeted.
He has launched an assault on Brown et al, not because he wants to put the record straight for the good of the country, but because he wants to sell a few more books.
He may be the most expensive speaker on the planet, but he is looking cheaper by the day.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADD A COMMENT OR DISCUSS THE ABOVE ARTICLE WITH FELLOW READERS, PLEASE CLICK ON THE COMMENTS LINK BELOW.
by Graham Davies
Tony Blair has spent the last few days devaluing his Personal Presentational Brand. I say this even though his autobiography may boost his professional speaking fees to beyond the merely stratospheric.
Of course, the thing that the punters in Waterstones want to see is one politician making bitter personal attacks on other politicians, preferably long-term friends and allies. Tony has been happy to oblige. This tells you more about him than the people he has targeted.
He has launched an assault on Brown et al, not because he wants to put the record straight for the good of the country, but because he wants to sell a few more books.
He may be the most expensive speaker on the planet, but he is looking cheaper by the day.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADD A COMMENT OR DISCUSS THE ABOVE ARTICLE WITH FELLOW READERS, PLEASE CLICK ON THE COMMENTS LINK BELOW.
Sunday, 5 September 2010
Another Cop Thug
by Graham Davies
If there had abeen no CCTV footage available, how likely do you think it is that Sergeant Marc Andrews of the Wiltshire Police would have been prosecuted for assaulting a 57 year old woman?
I will tell you: there would have been no chance at all.
Never fall asleep in your car in Wiltshire.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADD A COMMENT OR DISCUSS THE ABOVE ARTICLE WITH FELLOW READERS, PLEASE CLICK ON THE COMMENTS LINK BELOW.
by Graham Davies
If there had abeen no CCTV footage available, how likely do you think it is that Sergeant Marc Andrews of the Wiltshire Police would have been prosecuted for assaulting a 57 year old woman?
I will tell you: there would have been no chance at all.
Never fall asleep in your car in Wiltshire.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADD A COMMENT OR DISCUSS THE ABOVE ARTICLE WITH FELLOW READERS, PLEASE CLICK ON THE COMMENTS LINK BELOW.
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