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.

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.

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 play it safe by avoiding humor?

Speech Writer: “It’s good to open a speech with a joke. This will loosen you and your audience up.”

Chief Legal Counsel: “Humor? Are you crazy? Do you want to get us sued?”

You: “What do I look like Jerry Seinfeld? Joan Rivers? I think I will play it safe and avoid humor all together.”

***

Your Audience: “Nothing is worse than a speaker who is trying too hard to be funny by telling stale or canned jokes. On the other hand, nothing is better than receiving that unexpected surprise of laughter. A speaker who can have fun and make fun, especially of himself or herself, will always have a special place in our hearts. Here is the one thing as a speaker that you should know about us audience members: if we are laughing, we aren’t sleeping, daydreaming or checking our Blackberries. Enough said.”

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.

Is it OK to read from my PowerPoint slides?

Your Marketing Director: “Try to read 20% or less of the time.”

Your Speech coach: “Try to read 10% or less of the time.”

You: “In an ideal world, I won’t read at all, but I don’t have time to rehearse and I want to get each word just right, so I will read 50% of the time.”

***

Your audience: “How insulting that you would read to us! What? You think we are too stupid to read on our own? You must think we are illiterate! For the love of Pete, just talk to us and tell us what you know. If we want to read stuff later, we will.”

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 give a PowerPoint presentation?

Your Corporate Communications Department: “Yes, use the PowerPoint so that we can maintain a consistency of message. This way everyone will be seeing the same thing and we can maintain control.”

You: “Yes, I should use a PowerPoint. This will make it really easy for me to give the speech. This way, I don’t have to remember anything or practice, because all my points will be in front of me.”

***

Your Audience: “If you are going to give a Powerpoint the way most people do, i.e., do a boring data dump of bullet points, then please, for the love of God, please, please spare us! But if you are going to use interesting visuals, pictures, or graphs that are genuinely interesting and relevant, then, by all means, use a PowerPoint.”

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 make this a formal or informal presentation?

Your boss: “These are important client prospects–this had better be your best formal presentation!”

Your marketing department: “We’ve already written and approved the PowerPoint slides, and they’ve gone through legal. So make this a formal presentation.”

You: “Wow, this is scary. I don’t know half of the people in this audience. I better make this a formal presentation so that I can give myself some cover in case anything goes wrong.”

***

Your Audience: “Formal? Informal? We don’t care! As audience members, we are only aware of two kinds of speeches, good and bad. We don’t car if you are sitting in jeans or standing in a tuxedo–just make sure that what you have to say is interesting and relevant to us. You can be formal or informal, but if you wast our time or bore us, we will tune you out in 3 seconds flat and start reading email on our Blackberrys.” 

From TJ Walker’s upcoming book “The Wisdom of Your Audience”

How many Points should I cover in my speech?

Your Marketing Department: “Between all of our major accomplishments last quarter, plus our general corporate message, I’d say no more than 35 key messages.”

Your Speech Writer: “Limit yourself to ten key points.”

You: “I had better cover my a*&. If I list every accomplishment of the last year, every product innovation for the next year, and then cover our company’s entire history, then no one can criticize me for leaving anything out. About 95 points should it.”

*********

Your Audience “Unless you are our teacher and have the ability to flunk us, you are smoking crack if you think we are going to remember more than 5 key messages. We don’t remember a single message from most speakers we hear because they just do boring data dumps. Occasionally we remember 2-3 messages from speakers who use interesting stories and examples. On very rare occasions we can remember a handful of key points because the speaker took the time to paint pictures with words and to tell relevant stories and case studies.”

Should I tell my audience how happy I am to be speaking here in front of them today?The following comes from TJ Walker’s upcoming book “The Wisdom of Your Audience” Your Speechwriter: “This is a classy way to begin a speech. It shows a proper level of respect for your audience.”Your Director of Business Development: “You must tell your audience how happy you are to be there. We don’t want to offend anyone.”You: “I would feel rude if I didn’t tell everyone how happy I am to be there today. Plus, this will give me time to calm down and figure out what I want to say before I really get going into the speech.”Your Audience: “We don’t give a d*%n if you are happy to be here at this stage of the relationship (we just met you a few seconds ago). Why don’t you forget talking about yourself for a few minutes and tell us something that is interesting to us. And if you do talk about yourself, make sure it is actually interesting and is not a boring, mundane, trite cliché like “I’m happy to be here this morning.’”

The following comes from TJ Walker’s upcoming book “The Wisdom of Your Audience”

How will I know what my audience will remember?

Your Marketing Officer: “Just give them as much information as possible. That way if they don’t remember anything in particular, they are at least likely to leave with the impression that you are smart and competent.”

Your College Speech Coach: “They will remember anything, as long as you tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told them.”

You: “It just depends on luck and the whims of the audience that day. This is completely beyond my control!”

Your Audience: “We audiences are pretty predictable. We remember interesting and relevant stories, examples and anecdotes. If you can make your points with an occasional surprise, unpredictability or humor, then we will be retelling your message to others for the next 5 years. The one thing we can absolutely guarantee you is that we will not remember a straightforward data dump.”

From TJ Walker’s upcoming book, “The Wisdom of your Audience.”

Should I tell my audience that I am very happy to be speaking to them today?

Your Speech Writer: “It is important to set the mood of you being gracious, so tell people you are happy to be there.”

You: “I want to be sincere and real, so I want to tell people that I am genuinely happy to have the honor of speaking to them today.”

***

Your Audience: “Boring! We don’t care if you are happy. Why don’t you spend your time making us happy by actually telling us something interesting? We are especially unimpressed when you read from a script with your head down and tell us that you are happy to be speaking to us in a wooden tone of voice. First tings first–tell us interesting stuff, create a shared experience for all of us, then we can all be happy together.”