TJ, why do you recommend that people never say “no comment”…there are plenty of times when we need to say that we decline to comment on something (pending litigation is a good example).
TJ Response:
I agree there are times when you can’t comment or that you have to decline to comment. But I do not believe it is wise to ever have the words “no comment” or “I decline to comment” come out of a spokesperson’s mouth. Instead, I think it is much better to say “We will be very happy to comment once our pending litigation is successfully resolved.” The reporter can deduce that you have “no comment,” but the reporter can’t quote you as saying “no comment.” This way the spokesperson doesn’t look negative, guilty, defensive, secretive or depressed.
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.
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.
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.’”
I have housed my blog entries over the years on various web sites. If you would like to see any of my nearly 1000 old columns, videos, or audios that relate to speaking or media training, you can find them here.www.speakingchannel.tv/tjsinsights
As promised, I am going to point out blunders and mistakes I make when giving speeches, in the hopes that you can learn and not have to make the same blunders. Here I am giving a recent speech in the
Middle East. If you go to 1:38 into the video, you will see me walking up on the podium as the host is introducing me. If you look at the video carefully you will spot a big problem. I have hooked my wireless microphone to the back of my pants in such a way that the flap of my suit jacket is pulled up in a ridiculous manner. Here’s the lesson: always have a spotter who will examine you head to toe right before going in front of an audience (and have them check out your backside). There is no way you can do this yourself and it will greatly improve your chances of making a strong first impression (and minimize people laughing at you).
I confess, I underestimated the power of blogs. For years I treated them as just another distribution method, like a fax or an email service. Now I have come to learn (belatedly) that blogs are their own end, in and of themselves.
For years I told people that I blogged. I did, indeed, write a daily column, occasionally about stuff in the news. And this column was posted at either www.tjsights.comwww.speakingchannel.tv. But I wasn’t writing a true blog. I wasn’t connecting to the greater blog community and I wasn’t linking to the rest of the world. I was simply taking an old-media world column and shoe-horning it into a different format. It wasn’t working.
I stand chastened. Today is the first day of my first real blog. Here are a several guiding principles I plan to follow over the coming years:
I will take you into my world of working with high level leaders around the world on their speaking skills.
I’ll take you through the many processes of refining the speaking craft.
I’ll frequently point out my own flaws and mistakes as a speaker and ask that you learn from my blunders.
Political leaders will be a frequent focus of this blog, but I will examine only the speaking skills of leaders. Of course I have views on political ideas themselves, but I have found that there is no way to start a discussion about political values without politics consuming the discussion and driving away the 99% of people who don’t care to enter a political debate. Please don’t presume to know anything about my politics because of how I rate a politic
ian’s speaking skills (you will be wrong).
I will explore all areas of spoken communication in life, not just so-called “formal business presentations” that constitute the bulk of my business running Media Training Worldwide.
I will give honest assessments and ratings of speakers around the world, and I will let you do the same (even if that means giving me a low rating to one of my own speeches).
Everything I share with you will be based on a combination of personal experiences speaking, experiences training people around the globe, plus my attempts to analyze and synthesize everything else I can find that is written about or discussed as it relates to speaking.
This blog is primarily about you. And by you, I mean someone with an interest in speaking, spoken communication, public speaking, and everything else that goes into talking to people. However, I am going to draw upon many personal things that happen to me, as they relate to speaking. No, I won’t tell you about what breakfast cereal I ate or what movies I like (unless a movie has a speaking focus), but I will tell you about personal mistakes and blunders I make while speaking to large audiences or even one-on-one situations.
While I will try to write every day for you, I will try to use the medium that is the most effective way to deal with speaking, i.e. video, even though it is not as convenient as typing.
I want to hear from you. Please send me your questions or suggestions for topics for this blog to tj@tjwalker.com.
