Sound bite of the week goes to Rep Eric Massa for calling White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel “the son of the devil’s spawn.” Wow! if there is a newspaper or website editor or talk show producer who can pass up a juicy quote like this, I’d love to meet him or her.

TJ Walker #1 USA TODAY Best-Selling public speaking author and presentation trainer to past Miss Universes, Super Bowl Winners, Nobel Peace Prize Winners presents the 1^st annual Snoozy and Snazzy awards to the best and worst speakers at the Academy Awards.
For video analysis from TJ go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUvRcScaAGI

SNAZZY AWARD:  Best speech

Sandra Bullock, Best Actress

“She nailed it last night. This is an actress who can poke fun at herself but she was also emotional, funny and she specifically thanked every single woman in this category.

It was classy, funny, everything you could want in an acceptance speech.”

SNOOZY AWARD: Worst speech

Christoph Waltz, Best Supporting Actor

“He came out and gave a laundry list of 15 names and mentions, too long for a 45 second speech. Not enough humanity or stories. In short there wasn’t anything entertaining in his speech.”

AVAILABLE For Interviews:

TJ Walker will offer his unique take on which winners put the audience to sleep and which speeches were worthy of their own golden statue.

Attention TV producers throughout US and Worldwide: Walker is available for live and recorded TV interviews anywhere in the world from his Manhattan remote broadcast studio (there is no fee or expense for TV stations)
For video analysis from TJ go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUvRcScaAGI

TJ Walker is one of the leading media trainer/crisis communications counselors in the world. For more than 25 years he has coached president s of countries, CEOs, Prime Ministers, Nobel Peace Prize winners, Miss Universes and thousands of corporate executives. He is CEO of Media Training Worldwide www.mediatrainigworldwide.com

Walker Electronic Press Kit http://www.mediatrainingworldwide.com/epresskit.html

TJ on CNN, Fox, Headline News, Comedy Central and other TV networks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18jagMi5cBU

MEDIA CONTACT:

Availability: Walker is available for live and recorded TV interviews anywhere in the world from his Manhattan remote broadcast studio (there is no fee or expense for TV stations) (remote via Skype over a business class 5 Mbps upstream connection. Other streaming options also available, including LiveStream and iChat.)

To Book, contact Ryan McCormick at (516) 901-1103 Ryan@risingsunpr.com, Mark Goldman (516) 639-0988 markgoldman73@gmail.com, Mike Bako at 212-764-4955 or TJ Walker at 917-204-9490 tj@tjwalker.com.

President Obama took questions directly from House Republicans last Friday. It was fascinating theater for all who watched it because it wasn’t scripted, thereby making it unpredictable and because he was in front of a hostile audience, making int inherently more interesting. Obama won big poits for courage and Republicans got more airtime too. All involved won. It continues to be a surprise to me that politicans in the US don’t seek this out more, as they do in England and Europe.

From time to time, I analyze the speaking skills of political and business figures from around the globe. If you have someone you’d like to see me critique, please send a video link to tj@tjwalker.com.

Speaking analysis of Julia Timoshenko, a Ukrainian political figure. Based this video http://www.youtube.com/user/tymoshenkoua?hl=ru#p/u/35/VSnihNPq6d8

Timoshenko is a strong communicator. She radiates passion and conviction. She does an excellent job of maintaining eye contact with her audience and appearing natural, relaxed, comfortable and conversational. Her dress in this video is professional and elegant looking, yet not flashy or distracting, partially because it is a solid color. Her appearance is neat and professional; though her hairstyle is not one that is seen in the West/US (it reminds me of Princess Leah from the 1970s Star Wars Movie).
Timoshenko has natural hand and body movements that make her appear quite confident and relaxed. Overall, she appears to be an excellent communicator, one who can develop rapport with her audience.

Speaking Analysis of Viktor Yanukovich, another Ukrainian political figure, based on this video

Yanukovich is a competent, yet ordinary political speaker. On the positive side, he seems confident, reads without stumbling and had a polished and professional appearance—he’s certainly not an embarrassing speaker (Like US President George W. Bush was).
However, Yanukovich does have several deficiencies:
1. His eye contact in this speech is poor—he’s looking down 80% of the time (he should be looking up at least 80% of the time).
2. His hands are frozen holding onto the lectern. Good speakers move their hands when they speak.
3. His speaking volume, speed and tone are too consistent—this is boring to the audience and does not sound conversational.
4. While professional in appearance, Yanukovich could improve by not wearing a tie that is so bright and by wearing a shirt that is off-white or has a little color. The all-white shirt was too bright. Additionally, his hair is so well-coiffed that is appears to be excessively hair-sprayed and is reminiscent of early 80s American politicians like Ronald Reagan.
Yanukovich is certainly a competent speaker with no major flaws, but he could become much better if he solved some of the above mentioned problems.

US Senator Arlen Specter got into a talk radio fight with Rep Michele Bachmann this week. Apparently both were talking over each other. Finally, Specter said, “I’ll treat you like a lady, now act like one.” Ouch! That’s one way to make the sound bite of the day. Specter grabs attention because his comment was so emotional, attacking, heated and to some, sexist. Both politicians are tough and are no slouches at talking over their opponents, so I don’t think anyone really feels sorry for Bachmann. Specter is all across the map ideologically, so you won’t have the usual hysteria that might occur if a prominent liberal were to make such a comment. Still, it was an interesting clash and a great way of capturing the current level of political frustration coming out of the capital these days.

The headline  on the Drudge Report is about the new Mass. Senator running for President. Premature? Of course, but the euphoria is natural for two reasons. #1, it was a real political coup for any Republican to take control of Ted Kennedy’s Senate Seat. And #2 it is a testament to the communication skills of Brown.

Why is Sen.-elect Brown getting such good marks and why is he being compared favorably to Ronald Reagan?

1. Both Reagan and Brown had the ability to paint a positive portrait of their political philosophy and their version of a happy world.
2. Both Reagan and Brown have the ability to paint their opponents and their opponents’ philosophies as a part of a massive problem that is making the world worse.
3. Both, and this is the important part, are able to communicate the negative messages about their opponents while wearing a smile on their face and not seeming to be nasty or mean.
4. Both mean answer questions about themselves by appearing self-effacing and re-contextualizing the issue in terms of people, and the greater society.
5. Both men (and this may seem superficial and unfair but it must be said in any fair calculation of their media appeal) have perfect heads of hair and are possessed of rugged good looks.
6. Both men understand the importance of symbolic communication. Reagan with his preference for simple meatloaf and Brown with his love for his pickup truck.
7. Both men ignore and laugh off criticism. Whether it was Reagan botching facts or Brown’s own embarrassing semi-nude photo spread for Cosmo, both men realize that it’s never smart communication to waste time defending or apologizing. Instead, both men stuck to their positive messages about themselves and the negative messages about their opponents.

I wouldn’t advise Sen.-elect Brown to start planning on re-decorating the White House just yet, but I do think he is going to have a major national profile in the months and years to come far in excess of the normal freshman minority senator.