John McCain can be a great speaker, especially when he is a little bit angry and speaking without notes. The problem is that he consistently (at least 50% of the time) is boring, mundane and flat, due to poor reading of a speech. Barack Obama is occasionally flat and has too many “uhs” and “ums” (especially during a media interview), but Obama is consistently (over 80% of the time) a great speaker. He’s smooth, fluid, emotional, and compelling.

My prediction: This spells doom for McCain. Since the modern TV era (1952), the general election candidate who is the better speaker has always won the presidency. (I grant you 2000 and 2004 can be debated due to the poor speaking skills of Bush versus the irritating speaking styles of Gore and Kerry).

But 2008 is a very clear-cut contest between someone who is a great speaker most of the time (Obama) and someone who is a poor-to-middling speaker most of the time (McCain). I’m predicting a clear-cut Obama based purely on his oratorical talents.

“Dark Genius” is a new book out about the life and times of Roger Ailes, the longtime GOP political operative and Fox News Channel founder. The book isn’t great, but Ailes life is so fascinating, it almost doesn’t matter. If you are interested in media, politics, and communication, you really can’t go wrong learning more about Roger Ailes. The book earned its place at the pool this summer.

Barack Obama and his wife are great communicators and wonderful speakers. I like them both. But for the love of hanging chads, could somebody, PLEASE, tell them that “I” can not be the object of a preposition? Last night on CNN Michelle Obama said “for I” and then this morning on the Today Show Barack Obama said “for I.” What they said after that I couldn’t tell you because my teeth were still hurting so much. Come on, you are both Harvard Law grads. It is “for me, for me, for me!” It can never be “for Michelle and I” or “for Barack and I.” Now, me glad me got that off my chest.

Does anyone know of an expert in starting ad networks? I am looking to start an ad network focusing on web sites that deal with the following topics: speaking, public speaking, presentations, powerpoint and media training. If you know of anyone, please have them contact me at tj@tjwalker.com.

While I was at a cocktail party last night on 14th street in Manhattan, a publicist told me the following: “I don’t want to be on TV ever! I want to be behind the scenes. I’d hate to be a celebrity. They have awful lives. Nothing in their life can be kept secret. Please don’t ask me to ever be interviewed or to give speeches.”

Now, this attitude is an affront to my very being; and it’s a very rare attitude to hear from someone working in Manhattan in media circles. But, this publicist’s perspective is a completely normal attitude held by the vast major of Americans and other psychologically healthy people around the globe.

Two quick thoughts came to mind when I heard the publicist make this comment:

1. There is nothing wrong with valuing privacy rights above fame and fortune , and

2. It’s insanely hard to actually become famous. You don’t become famous with one interview or speech or even with 1000.

Personally, I’ve been interviewed thousands of times and/or interviewed people thousands of times. Yet I am hardly a celebrity. The only way I could get in People Magazine now is if I were to kidnap Britney Spears children.

In a fragmented media world of thousands of reality shows, and a gazillions of web sites, it’s actually harder to become a celebrity these days—not easier. And part of the process is sitting through numerous profile interviews.

One of the central elements of the celebrity manufacturing machine is the full profile interview. In a full profile interview, you often sit with a reporter for several hours; sometimes over several days or even weeks. This type of an interview is much more revealing and personal than, say, a quick interview regarding a new product launch. Unlike an interview where you are a spokesperson for a product or a company, in a profile interview, you are acting as a spokesperson for your own life. The pressure is greater in interviews like this. There is also more time for self-doubts to set in like, “Oh my god, the reporter is asking me what music is on my iPod—I’ll look like a fool if I confess I have nothing more recent on my iPod than Led Zeppelin.”

The rules of how to handle yourself in a media interview still apply during a profile interview, but it requires greater discipline due to their often lengthy nature. There are more opportunities to get too cozy with the reporter and start saying foolish, quotable things. You must still have a focused message and deliver compelling sound bites. But you’ve also got to be really interesting as a person, or the whole interview could get spiked.

So how would I let myself be profiled? See for yourself. I recently sat for several hours over a couple of days with a feature writer in Charlotte, NC.

http://www.mediatrainingworldwide.com/press-charlotte2.pdf

According to the New York Times today, “Nokia, based in Finland, said it surveyed 9,000 consumers last year and concluded that by 2012 one out of every four consumers will create, edit or share entertainment with friends, instead of getting it from traditional media outlets like television or movie studios.”

The significance? It means the ability to speak–on camera–is going to go from being seen as a luxury skill to a basic, essential skill. 35 years ago, an executive graduating from a top law or business school who knew how to type was viewed as having a special, obscure talent. These days, anyone graduating from any school who can’t type is considered an unemployable fool.

Will the ability to speak clearly and confidently in front of a video capture device some day be considered as basic a skill as today’s typing?

Absolutely! So you better get used to it.

Sometimes a reporter will call under deadline and your goal is to get as many quotes in the article, while at the same time, eating up the clock to make it unnecessary and undesirable for the reporter to call your competitors for a quote. Below is a link to a story where I was interviewed for a story by Forbes.

http://www.forbes.com/leadership/2008/04/21/ceo-corporate-image-lead-manage-cx_mk_0421tv.html

In this particular case, the reporter told me that he was posting the story in just a few hours. I therefore deduced that he didn’t have lots of time to call every media trainer around. I didn’t have a message I cared about getting into the story, but I wanted to get lots of real estate in the story–and make sure my competitors didn’t. So in this case, I broke the normal procedure by taking the call and doing the interview immediately. I went into full sound bite mode in an attempt to overwhelm the reporter with great choices for column filler.

Below are my actual quotes that made it into the story along with an analysis of the sound bite elements that made them quotable for the reporter:

“It’s not like when Lee Iacocca (#1 pop culture reference) could buy (#2 action oriented) an ad on three networks (#3 specific example) and hit (#4 action-oriented) the whole world (#5 absolute) in 1979 when everyone (#6 absolute) would see it,” Walker said, adding that this is the one task a CEO can’t simply assign.

“A CEO can delegate (#7 action-oriented) sales, accounting (#7 action-oriented), marketing (#8 action-oriented), but the one thing (#9 absolute) that the CEO cannot delegate is speaking (#10 action-oriented) on behalf of a whole organization (#11 absolute) to the entire world (#12 absolute).”
 

One dozen sound bite elements–in under 5 minutes. That’s how you don’t end up on the cutting room floor.

I need someone who can make “The wisdom of Your Audience” come alive with pictures. Please send me suggestions tj@tjwalker.com

The following comes from TJ Walker’s upcoming book “The Wisdom of Your Audience”. Consistently, the worst advice speakers and presenters get, comes from everyone who is NOT your audience. The following gives examples of some of the WORST advice people are often given. It is followed by the advice of your audience. Listen to them. They are your true judge and jury.

Should I tell jokes at the beginning of the speech to loosen up the audience?

Your Speech Writer: “Yes, this will be a great way to get the audience on your side.”

Your lawyer: “What? Are you crazy? Do you want to get us sued?” Don’t ever use humor at anytime in your speech.”

You: “Yes, I’d like to start off with a good joke—this will relax me and make me more comfortable for my speech.”

***

Your Audience: “Who are you, Henny Youngman? There’s nothing worse than someone trying too hard. That’s the problem with starting your speech with a joke—it’s too obvious. We know it’s coming and so do you. Sure, you might get a chuckle form us begrudgingly, but so will bad puns. You’d be a lot better off saying something funny in the middle or the end of your speech. We aren’t expecting it then—that’s why we’d be even more pleasantly surprised.”

The following comes from TJ Walker’s upcoming book “The Wisdom of Your Audience”. Consistently, the worst advice speakers and presenters get, comes from everyone who is NOT your audience. The following gives examples of some of the WORST advice people are often given. It is followed by the advice of your audience. Listen to them. They are your true judge and jury.
Should I read my speech in order to not make any mistakes?

Your Marketing Director: “Yes, this way you won’t get off message and we will be guaranteed that our message will be transmitted.”

Your Corporate Lawyer: “Yes, this will be the best way to mitigate risk.”

You: “I know I probably shouldn’t read, but I didn’t really have time to rehearse or memorize my speech and I want to gt it just right. The stakes are too high for me to make a mistake. OK, just this once, I will read my speech word-for-word.”

*** 

Your Audience: “What did we ever do to you to deserve this torture? Why are you picking on us? We weren’t the ones who through you in the dumpster behind the lunch room in Middle School. If you are going to read a speech to us then you might as well come out on stage wearing a sandwich board that reads ‘I HATE MY AUDIENCE AND I WANT TO BORE THEM TO DEATH…PREPARE FOR PAIN!’”