Sharing some soundbites and rough thoughts about making nonprofit messaging more clear, relevant and practical, from CalNonprofits annual policy conference.
"'Democracy is at risk.' What does that even mean?" State Senator Anna Caballero
"Misinformation is free; digging into policy is behind a paywall." Jodi Hicks, Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California
"Don't obey in advance." Anand Giridharadas, journalist and author
The conference was sobering and exhilarating at the same time.
I attended in order to gather intel on how upcoming policy changes will affect my nonprofit training clients, and what support they might need in the next year to continue #SpeakingUpForChange.
How might Californians be affected by the new administration and how will the nonprofit sector adjust and take action?
I wasn't surprised to hear the following takeaways regarding both messaging of candidates and of nonprofits in helping their communities understand the election process and outcomes (from my perspective as a communication professional):
🔴We need better messaging that meets people where they are (climate change impacts everything from insurance rates to energy bills - people don't know this)
🟣We need to speak their language (not give high-level policy reports or make existential claims like "save democracy")
🟡We need to actually ask people what it means for them personally
⚫There is huge disconnect between policy and people's actual lived experience
🔵People do have an appetite to be better informed: We need to make accurate information more accessible - not hide it behind paywalls
🟠We need to teach people how elections work, to help combat apathy and overwhelm, and get voters out for midterms and off-year elections (remember Schoolhouse Rock?) Check out America the Possible, a new site that promotes civic engagement and understanding how our country works "one simple, tiny MicroByte at a time."
🟤Communities need to invest in nonprofit and local media because people don't trust national outlets
🟢Nonprofits and media need to show people doing good work in their communities to illuminate a pathway for those who don't know what to do and how to help
⚪Organizations need to improve their communications overall - talk to their communities in a way that they can hear, learn and retain
🔴Collaboration and communication are essential to fill in gaps of information and services
Where do we go from here? Now that the problems have been acknowledged, will we take action?
Several of my nonprofit clients use "ambassadors," volunteers who are the clients of the organization, for community outreach and legislative advocacy. More need to be doing this!
P.S. The quote "punk rock time" is from Henry Rollins. "This is not a time to be dismayed, this is punk rock time. This is what Joe Strummer trained you for." ~ Henry Rollins
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Rachel Maddow gave an impassioned speech after the election last week. This is what I needed to hear and what many of use need to hear, internalize and act on. Let's go, pirate energy!
"If you are an American citizen who does not want to ash can the American system of government, who doesn't want a
strongman, authoritarian system where the whole government is one guy and
everything else just exists to serve him—if that is not the kind of country
that you want—then yesterday's election means you have more to do for your
country than you have ever done before.
Because now is when the rubber really
hits the road, right? We don’t just flip a switch, and the American system of government
is gone. Democracy is gone. It doesn’t work like that. I mean, not to be boring
here for a second, but just getting very real.
We are now just another one in the list of countries that
has decided to, you know, hey, what the heck, let’s try the strongman thing.
Let’s let democracy go. Let’s put in an all-powerful guy instead and see how it
goes. There are many more countries in the world governed by that kind of a
system than there are governed by ours.
We are the only 248-year-old,
multiracial, pluralistic democracy in the world. And shall we keep it? A lot of
our fellow Americans say we shouldn’t. Now we know. Now we know for sure. But a
lot of Americans, tens of millions of Americans, say we should keep that
system—which means it’s time to fight for it.
And yes, Americans did fight for it by working on this
election, by trying to get the candidate elected who was both the Democrat and
the small-d democrat. She didn’t win. The strongman candidate won instead. But
now history doesn’t end. Time doesn’t stop. Now, we have the benefit of
knowing, you know, how this has gone in every other country that has been
through a democracy-to-authoritarian transition. And sadly, there are a lot of
them. We have the benefit of seeing what’s happened in those other countries
though. And what we know is that the more ground the authoritarian takes, the
harder it is to ever get that ground back.
And so the first order of business is to stop them from
taking any uncontested ground, right from the outset when it comes to what our
system of government is and what our democracy is, right? We know from other
countries' experiences that, quickly—I mean, now, in the next few weeks, if not
the next few days—they are going to start pushing to see how far the country is
going to let them go without pushback, without protest. And part of this is
because it’s just psychologically advantageous for them to do this now, right?
They’re counting on the half of the country that voted
against them, the half of the country that doesn’t want to give up our system
of government. They’re counting on all those tens of millions of Americans to
be despondent, to feel powerless, to check out—which, of course, would mean
letting them do what they want, letting them run the table.
What they really
don’t want is for the half of the country that voted against them, the half of
the country that wants to keep our democracy. What they really don’t want is
for those tens of millions of Americans to wake up tomorrow feeling scrappy as
hell.
Feeling sure, regretful about the election outcome, but
also, frankly, freed up from having to spend all of our time working on the
election. So now we can work full time on being frickin’ pirates, on being a
thorn in the side of anyone who now intends to try to turn this country into
some tin-pot tyranny. What they want least of all is to realize that half the
country went to bed sad tonight but then woke up tomorrow fired up with a new
sense of purpose, knowing that apparently this is what we’re on this earth to
do as American citizens in this generation.
Because history did not just end.
Time did not just stop. We just got marching orders from the universe and the
Electoral College that, as of today, American citizens who do want to hold on
to democracy, we know exactly what we’re going to be spending the next days and
weeks, and likely years, of our lives working on.
And the strategic first moves come into focus quickly when
you think about what other countries have shown us about how hard it is to
regain democratic ground once an authoritarian leader has taken that ground.
And the work has to be done now. The work that has to be done now—it has to
happen in sort of every aspect, every corner of our society.
The U.S. military
needs to give the American people binding assurances that they will not deploy
U.S. military force against the civilian population in this country. They can
give those assurances, and now they should.
The free press needs to give the
people of this country assurances that they will not become state TV, that they
will stand and fight together. They will put aside rivalries and petty professional
differences. They will stand and fight together as the free press, as the
fourth estate, as an institution that is a pillar of our democracy as these
guys on the other side inevitably start picking off individual journalists,
individual publishers, individual news organizations to try ultimately to turn
us all into some American-accented version of RT.
If the Democratic Party takes
the House, expect Article I of the Constitution to come under attack—by which I
mean, expect efforts to hollow out the power of Congress, to make Congress a
just-for-show institution, right? There’s a reason actions of the Russian Duma
never make news, right?
Expect efforts to attack Article I, to make it a
just-for-show institution that has had its real powers taken over by the
executive, by the dear leader. We are going to need a plan and some steel spine
inserts among elected officials in Washington to head that off. We’re going to
need the whole country to recognize that risk in advance, to call it what it is
when they try it, and to actively resist it.
Depending on whether the courts can provide a check on this
administration, expect Article III of the Constitution to come under attack as
well. It is already a fetish and a laugh line on the right to brag about how
court orders really mean nothing and physical force and violence is what
ultimately really decides what’s allowed. Well, we have to decide if that laugh
line from them is going to become our reality or whether we’re going to resist
that.
We need a plan and some steel spine inserts among members of
the judiciary to head that off. We’re going to need the whole country to
recognize that risk in advance. We’re going to need every lawyer in the country
to recognize it as their calling to fight it. We’re going to need to call it
what it is when it inevitably happens. And we’re going to have to actively
resist it.
And then there’s civil society. Is there a more boring term
in the world that doesn’t include the word "committee" or
"budget"? No, there isn’t. Civil society, though, is kind of where
the rest of us are at, right? Civil society is one of the things that I think
of as soft food for authoritarians. They often don’t even have to bite that
hard to crush it. All the organizations, membership groups, advocacy groups,
professional associations, every voluntary group of every kind in the country,
everything in organized American life and culture that is not business and not
the government either—that is civil society.
And authoritarians need to crush that because it’s not about
them. Strongman leaders have a tendency to become not just leaders of the
government, not just dictators, but totalitarians because they can’t have
anything going on in the country that isn’t about them or for them. And a
strong civil society, therefore, must be crushed, right? If you have a strong
civil society, that gives people breathing room to think for themselves, to
organize in their own interest, to speak with the power of more than just one
person.
We need assurances from civil society leaders today that they’re not
going anywhere and that they will fight for our democracy too.
And frankly, it’s not just the leaders. We all need to
participate in more civil society things than we have before to make sure that
we are taking up space that otherwise they’re going to try to take for the
government and the dear leader. And what I mean by this in short is: join
something. It doesn’t really matter what it is. But you want right now to be
connected to other Americans and not isolated on your own.
So, deep breaths, hydrate, maybe time to get back in shape.
Do you have any burned bridges in your past? Un-burn them. Reconnect with
people, whether it’s your family or the people on your block or in your town,
your old friends from school, that book club, that Indivisible group maybe.
Reconnect or connect for the first time.
Join something, join something.
If
this election was about one candidate who stood for the American form of
government and another who stood for getting rid of that because America is a
garbage can and "I alone can fix it, just give me all the power, and I’ll
do it all." If that was the choice in this election, then the aftermath of
the American people making the choice they did in this election is not just the
end, right? It’s not just, oh, it’s over. It means we’re now entering into a
contest.
It will now be an effort on his side to put that into
practice, right? To put strongman, authoritarian government into practice. And
it will be an effort on the other side, an ongoing, continuing, and now newly
urgent effort on the other side to let him know that it’s not going to be easy.
These next few days and weeks, if they really are going to try to dismantle the
American form of government, including firing all federal employees, right,
including rounding up their enemies, including opening internment camps to hold
millions of people, threatening military force against their perceived enemies—if they really are going to try to undermine the American
system of government, which is what they’ve made this campaign about, then in
the next days and weeks, they are going to be testing to see what they can get
away with without pushback.
They are going to do the things they can do easily, and they
will have to put off the things that turn out to be hard. So, what’s going to
be hard for them? That’s where the American people come in. We do not only work
for our country and for our democracy in elections; we work for our country and
for our democracy against anyone, anywhere, anytime who seeks to do it harm.
And so there’s, there’s a lot to do.
Time doesn’t stop. History doesn’t stop. We have stuff to
do. Millions of Americans woke up today to the realization that, although you
worked as hard as you could to try to bring about the election outcome you
wanted, you did not get the election outcome you wanted. And so now what that
means is that there is a whole new raft of stuff to do.
Hope you are feeling scrappy. Hope you are tapping into your
inner pirate energy because it is one thing to be a defender of the realm. It
is another thing to be in opposition. And opposition can be a lot of things. It
can be dangerous. It can also be fun. It would have been nice to win the
election. Didn’t. OK. Time to save the country."
Watch the video here:
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With primary season upon us, it's important to be reminded that our voices—via our votes—really do make a difference. I know... sometimes it doesn't feel that way. Sometimes we feel small, we feel powerless, and we feel disheartened.
But those aren't good enough reasons not to vote!
Now, how about your actual voice? What are you dying to express? What do you have to say that will make a difference in the world if only enough people hear you?
Do you have a cause that you fiercely believe in, that you're passionate about, that needs more visibility and attention?
Does your business do transformational work and you're looking for the right words to express what you do?
Are you tired of playing it safe, holding yourself back, retreating from the limelight, instead of advancing the conversation about your cause and forging ahead?
I have so many colleagues and friends who long to be real, to share their passions and to speak up about their core beliefs and convictions.
But they're afraid.
They're afraid that being real and speaking out about injustice, oppression and discrimination (for example) will hurt their businesses. They fear alienating potential clients and customers. They don't want to hurt their friends and families' feelings with their opinions.
Maybe this sounds like you. Well, hear this: Your voice matters.
There are people who need to hear you. There are people who will be influenced by your ideas, people whose attitudes or behaviors will not change until they hear YOU.
I know it sounds crazy to think that there are people out there who are waiting just for what you have to say, but it's true. How do I know this? Because every single person who chooses to be heard and seen, believed and trusted, has influenced someone. Just look around you.
Who's influenced you? Someone in your personal or professional circle? Someone you admire from afar? Someone you follow on Instagram (she doesn't even have to be an "influencer")?
You've got the secret sauce, so what's it going to take to break down the barriers that you've created for yourself? Because you're the only one standing in the way of YOU.
Yep, sometimes you feel small, you feel powerless, and you feel disheartened.
Those aren't good enough reasons to keep your mouth shut.
Share your story. Write your manifesto. Submit that speaking proposal. Upload that article. Get your thoughts and opinions out there. Yes, on social media, too. (And don't forget to vote!)
Now is the time.
Your audience is waiting.
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What I enjoyed most about the presentation are his authentic, conversational style and his storytelling. He makes the majority of his points through stories and examples (I like how he refers to Congress as two NFL teams or two private clubs). He allows you to come to your own conclusions based on the persuasive examples he uses which, by the way, are bipartisan and include plenty of self-deprecating humor about how full of himself he was as a politician.
Whatever your political leanings, I hope you'll take the hour and watch this presentation. Some of the best conversation is in the Q&A, although I seem to be missing the discussion about bipartisan political change organizations like No Labels (of which Mickey is a co-founder) -- they might have trimmed the video to make it fit into an hour.
I've transcribed a couple of his shorter stories below, in case you don't have time to watch the whole video.
Summary: Former Republican Congressman from Oklahoma Mickey Edwards argues that American government has become dysfunctional because we've created a political system that rewards intransigence and incivility and punishes cooperation and compromise. We've allowed political parties to manipulate our elections and even our governing systems for their own partisan advantage. He says to fix the problem and get government working again, we have to change the political system itself.
"Is there something that the first four presidents agreed on? Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Madison agreed on one thing that I've been able to find. One thing.
They didn't even really like each other that much. They disagreed about tariffs, or they disagreed about how much westward expansion and how soon, or whether they were pro-British or pro-French. What was the one thing that all four of our first four presidents agreed on? That they talked about, they gave speeches about, they wrote about?
Do not create political parties. They said it over and over. Do not create political parties.
And what they meant was the kind of political party we have today. Where it's not just getting together on two or three things, but where every day, on every issue, it's your team against the other team on everything."
"One day I'm a Republican candidate running on the Republican ticket, and I get elected. I step across - I thought - a magic line, and now I'm not a Republican candidate, I'm a member of Congress, with all the obligations that entails.
I took an oath of office - I swore to uphold and defend the Constitution which, by the way, is the only pledge anybody should ever take. To uphold and defend the Constitution...
And we were there together, Republican and Democrat standing side by side. The people who were in that freshman class with me and became my friends - Al Gore and Dan Quayle and Dick Gephart, we were all there together. And that was 'Kum ba yah' - and that lasted 30 seconds.
Because immediately after that, we voted on who would be speaker, and all the Democrats voted one way and all the Republicans voted the other way. And then we decided how many people would be on each committee, how many Republicans and how many Democrats; the Democrats voted one way and the Republicans the next way.
It was that way every single day of the 16 years I served in Congress. Every day.
It's like you're permanently divided into two camps. Not Americans, but Republicans and Democrats.
So let me give you an example. I have a chapter called 'Rearranging the Furniture.'
There's something about this room, right? Even though I can't go and do this (I wouldn't know how to stand at a lectern) but here you are, and there's A lectern. And if you have a speaker here (except for me), they stand at the lectern. And wherever you are, whatever meeting you go to, your civic club or any other club you go to, there's a place for the speaker, there's a lectern.
Not in the US House of Representatives. There are two lecterns! There's a Republican lectern and a Democrat lectern.
If you're a Democrat, you stand at the lectern facing the Democrats. And if you're a Republican you face over here at a lectern facing the Republicans.
And I am so full of myself, and I'm so, 'God I just know I can persuade anybody of anything,' and so I... my very first speech on the House floor, I said, 'I think most of the Republicans are going to agree with me; I'm going to get the Democrats.'
And I stood at the Democrat lectern and I talked to the Democrats. And there was this gasp.
And people, both Republicans and Democrats, came up, 'No no, you can't do that. You have to stand over here.' Like I'm going to get cooties if I touch the wrong lectern."
"You can't have coffee or eat a sandwich on the House floor. You can't talk loudly about football on the House floor. You can't make phone calls on the House floor. It's unseemly. So what do you do? You go to the cloakroom.
But there's not a cloakroom. There's a Republican cloakroom, way over here, and there's a Democrat cloakroom way over here, and the people who are our members of Congress don't even have soup together. And because they're in Washington working three days a week, they don't even know each other."
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It's time again for Bert Decker's annual top ten lists of best and worst communicators. Barack Obama is at the top of the list of best communicators, while George Bush tops the list of the worst.
The comments are as fascinating as the post itself, as readers make their cases for and against Bert's choices. Fellow speaker Andrew Dlugan has posted his disagreements on his Six Minutes blog.
I applaud Bert's effort to narrow down his lists to only ten best and worst (some show up on both lists), when there are so many speakers and communicators to choose from, well known or obscure.
Read the post, watch the videos and see what you think.
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According to this article, a survey on voter influences in the recent U.S. election found that "public speaking skills are back in fashion."
Hold the phone. Let me get this straight. Public speaking was once in fashion. Then it went out of fashion? And now it's back?
I'm not sure how this survey reveals that public speaking is back in fashion, when there's no information on how voters were influenced in the past by candidates' public speaking skills vs. campaign rallies, radio and TV advertising.
Current survey results notwithstanding, public speaking skills are always in fashion, whether we are conscious of it or not.
People have always been influenced by "silver-tongued orators," even before Aristotle described ethos, logos and pathos as the keys to a persuasive argument.
Different styles of speaking may go in and out of fashion; depending on the decade or the century, we may prefer folksy conversation over preachy cadences or "straight talk" over rhetoric, and then we go back around the other way again.
But persuasive and effective speakers, whether entertainers, politicians, preachers, educators, CEOs, marketers or philosophers, have always influenced us and will continue to do so.
Stay tuned; I'll see what I can find out from the people who did the survey.
In the meantime, do you think public speaking is back in fashion? Do you think it went out of fashion?
____________________________________________________ On The Everything Page you'll find everything you need to build visibility, credibility and influence through engaging presentations that move your participants into action: freebies, low-cost products and courses, and 1:1 coaching!
Yesterday, Barack Obama was a senator from Illinois. Today, he's our president-elect. A historic moment for our country, capped off by a historic speech.
Throughout his campaign, Obama's presidential demeanor was impressive. Sometimes I wished he could have let a little more humor and lightheartedness shine through in his appearances, but at the same time I understand the pressure he must have felt as an African-American candidate to appear more presidential and more serious than the other candidates. It's hard to be perfect and human at the same time.
Last night, Obama gave a powerful and presidential speech that had many of the elements we look for in a successful and engaging presentation.
He opened strong, saving his thank yous for later and not wasting any time getting to his core message:
"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer."
He made it about the audience:
"But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. It belongs to you." And later, "This is your victory."
He told stories of his own experiences and those of Ann Nixon Cooper, a 106-year-old woman who turned 18 the year women were given the right to vote:
"She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons -- because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.
And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America -- the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can...
... And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.
Yes we can."
He used Cooper's story as a vehicle to repeat his mantra and rallying cry "Yes we can!" and this was where his speech really took off and found its emotional core.
He even used a little humor in referring to the new puppy his daughters will take to the White House.
His positive and uplifting words were memorable and quotable:
"To those -- to those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope."
And he gave a call to action:
"But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it's been done in America for 221 years -- block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand...
...It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.
So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other."
This is the kind of speech that will be memorized in classrooms: powerful, positive, honest, direct, persuasive and emotionally engaging.
And a brief note about John McCain's concession speech. It was gracious, it was heartfelt, it was sincere. He came across as natural, comfortable and authentic. This moving speech, sadly for McCain, was possibly his best of the campaign. More of this style of communication might have helped him.
____________________________________________________ On The Everything Page you'll find everything you need to build visibility, credibility and influence through engaging presentations that move your participants into action: freebies, low-cost products and courses, and 1:1 coaching!
My drivers license picture is terrible. I look like a thug who might run you over if you cross the street too slowly.
My friend asked me why I didn't smile in the picture, and I told her I was going for "neutral." She said, "Neutral means you have a little bit of a smile."
Oh. So instead I have a picture where my eyes and mouth turn down at the corners and I look like one mean mama.
If you ever watch Rachael Ray, you'll notice that, when she's not talking, she has a goofy grin on her face. The reason? When she's not smiling, she looks like she's frowning.
Are you aware of what your face looks like when you're not smiling? More important, are you aware of what your face is doing when you're being criticized or hearing something you don't like?
The candidates' body language during the debates has been interesting to watch. Because they're all hidden behind lecterns, you don't see much of their bodies. But their faces are magnified on the TV screen, and in the case of the VP debate, we were actually given a split screen on which to watch one's expression while the other was talking.
It's difficult to keep a neutral or positive expression when you're being challenged or attacked, and some of the candidates have done better than others in this situation.
The ones who don't handle it well smirk, smile with tight lips, shake their heads, and look down at the lectern instead of maintaining eye contact with the other person.
The ones who do handle it well continue to look at the other candidate attentively with a neutral expression, sometimes even nodding their heads slightly.
When you're in this position with an audience, being asked a difficult question or facing a heckler, don't telegraph your discomfort to them.
Keep your cool, and that means watch your facial expression. If you look at the other person contemptuously, or roll your eyes, or shake your head, or cross your arms, or huff and puff, or do anything to deride them, the audience will pick up on it.
And where the audience might have been on your side before you started grimacing, they might begin to see you as immature, unprofessional and unable to handle pressure.
You will be uncomfortable at times in front of an audience. Don't make it worse by letting the audience witness your discomfort. Suck it up, stay calm, keep your body language neutral or positive and keep your answers brief, factual and to the point.
The other person may be trying to rile you up, to make you falter, to break you down. Don't fall into their trap. You're better than that. What does your face look like when you're not smiling?
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Lecterns are already a bad idea most of the time, and they don't make anyone look good as a speaker. But here's one more reason I dislike them: Unless you're using an adjustable lectern, a short person is at a greater disadvantage than a person of average or above-average height.
An example: The presidential debate on Friday night. Did you see how high John McCain had to raise his arms for his gestures to be seen over the top of his lectern? He seemed uncomfortable having to use exaggerated arm movements (which were reenacted in the SNL skit the following night). While Barack Obama, several inches taller than McCain, looked relaxed and comfortable in his movements, because the lectern was at waist level for him. See photo here.
I doubt McCain would have been interested in standing on a step stool, so he was stuck trying to be seen over a too-tall lectern.
I would love to see the candidates wear wireless mics and have the freedom to take a few steps away from the lecterns. How much more natural might they look and feel without the big box in front of them? How much more of a connection might they make with their audience?
Then again, like many speakers, they might feel safer hiding behind the box...
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GIBSON: Tell me one thing you've said in those debates that you wish you hadn't said. And it's your chance to take...
(LAUGHTER)
GIBSON: ... and it's your chance to take it back.
CLINTON: You know, I feel like they've been good exchanges among us. You know, there have been one or two moments that I would have taken back.
But what's really most important about these debates is that the Democratic Party stands in such contrast to the Republicans. . .
. . .And, beyond that, I will leave it to the pundits to decide what I might or might not have said at any one of the debates.
--------------------- OBAMA: Well, I -- you know, there have been all kinds of aspects to my debate performance that I'd love to correct or sharpen.
But, overall, actually, here's an area where I agree with Hillary: that there has been a stark contrast, generally, between the four of us and those who aren't debating with us now but were previously. . .
. . . And I think the opportunity to bring the American people together and to push back those special interests, to actually deliver on meaningful differences in their lives, that's something -- that's a prospect that I think all Democrats should be excited about.
------------- Both Governor Richardson and Senator Edwards used the moment for some self-deprecating humor. Clinton and Obama chose to avoid the question.
Media consultants like TJ Walker would say to stick to your main points, repeat them over and over, and don't get off track - and that's what Clinton and Obama did.
Here's my question: Would you rather have heard them address the question and be human for a moment? I would.
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. . . and life goes on. The earth keeps spinning. The sun keeps shining.
Did anyone see his interview on CNN last night during election coverage? Did anyone count the number of times he said "uh?" Me neither.
My point is that many inexperienced speakers put a disproportionate amount of energy, not to mention anxiety, into "the fear of um." When a speaker is confident, engaging, and passionate, with a clear and concise message, an occasional "um" here or an "uh" there is not going to distract the audience. It's not going to take away from your story. Believe me.
I'm not saying that a speaker should just throw around filler words all crazy-like. But I am saying that there are much more critical issues in delivering an effective presentation, and I'd hate to see a speaker expend so much energy on eradicating fillers that the spontaneous, authentic, interesting person is buried under a rigid set of rules.
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