Waterbottle gate: a reminder about drinking and speaking from Senator Marco Rubio



Since Senator Marco Rubio, an early favourite for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination according to some newspapers responded to President Obama's State of the Union address a few hours ago, he's attracted a good deal of flack on Twitter for the way he grasped for a bottle of water during his speech (about 23 seconds into the above) - in a sequence that's apparently going viral...

Yet all of us who do any public speaking at all know that a glass (rather than a bottle) of water close at hand (rather than a few feet  away and nearly out of reach) is an essential part of your backup equipment.

The awkward, even shifty, way in which Rubio reached for his water may not have been very elegant or well-timed. But it came nowhere close to the disaster I saw some years ago at a Labour Party annual conference.

The speaker was making a long and boring speech about a long and boring composite motion that he was proposing. A cutaway shot of the audience showed that some were reading newspapers, some  were audibly chatting to each other and very few were paying attention.

So when the speaker paused for a drink of water, the audience must have thought he'd finished and promptly started clapping.

But he hadn't finished and thanked them for the applause - before droning on for several more minutes.

UK Business Communicator of the Year, 2013


Background
The UK Speechwriters’ Guild emerged in 2009 to raise the profile of speechwriters and improve standards of speaking in public life. We now have over 100 members. We have launched a prize to be awarded to an outstanding figure in the business world who speaks well.

This is the fourth year that judges from the UK Speechwriters’ Guild have selected the Business Communicator of the Year. The winner in February 2010 was Sir Martin Broughton, Chairman of British Airways. The winner in February 2011 was Geoff Burch, the motivational business speaker and author. The winner in 2012 was Gillian Tett, the financial journalist.

The Business Communicator of the Year receives a small trophy with an engraved plate. This can be presented at the winner’s convenience but we do encourage the winner to receive the award at one of our conferences (London 16 May, Brussels 20 September 2013).

The UK Speechwriters’ Guild hosts regular conferences to showcase top speakers and share knowledge and ideas. Speakers have included Phil Collins, Tony Blair’s former speechwriter, Edward Mortimer, former speechwriter to Kofi Annan and Fred Metcalf, David Frost’s scriptwriter.


The Winner 2013
Most of the business news we’re hearing is gloomy and dispiriting. The advertising executive, Rory Sutherland, has emerged in recent years with entertaining anecdotes and ideas to give entrepreneurs heart and make business fun.
David Ogilvy once said: “I only make a couple of speeches a year but they’re designed to cause the maximum stir on Madison Avenue.”: Mr Sutherland retains some of that provocative flair.
The UK Speechwriters’ Guild has awarded Rory Sutherland the prize of UK Business Communicator 2013 for three reasons:
The first is that he communicates with style. He uses self-deprecating humour to talk about business. He makes dull concepts, colourful, by drawing observations from familiar experience. And he can craft smart one-liners, like: ‘Saving is consumerism needlessly postponed’.
He has a schtick, but he’s always funny, clear and thought-provoking. You don’t mind hearing many of his stories over and over because he tells them rather beautifully. Politicians and CEOs would be wise to copy his formula.
The second reason he gets the prize is because his talks make him a great ambassador for his company. He has expressed a fear of public speaking, but he has overcome it. As Vice Chairman of the Ogilvy Group, he doesn’t make apologies about not representing the views of his employers. His presentations to the Californian conference TED attract millions of viewers, reaching audiences beyond specialists in advertising.
The third reason is because he uses the ancient art of persuasion. His material can be challenging, but he is likeable. He champions psychology over number crunching. He’s the first British business leader we’ve heard quote Charlie Munger, who we think is one of the best American business speakers.
Mr Sutherland‘s good example illustrates how wasteful it is to try to engage audiences with Excel spreadsheets and complex PowerPoint slides. He spreads optimism with insights like, ‘recession is the mother of invention’ and ‘human understanding is the future of business and Government’. These are the kind of sentiments that entertain audiences. Business leaders like Mr Sutherland, who can inspire audiences to try new things, will ultimately lead the way out of recession.

Brian Jenner
Chairman of the Judges, UK Speechwriters’ Guild
February 2013


Another extended press release disguised as a speech - and does it matter?

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Hardly ten days on from seeing David Cameron reading an extended press release on Europe as if it were 'a speech' to an audience (HERE) and we have Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne. doing much the same thing at the offices of JP Morgan in Bournemouth earlier today.

As with the PM's speech, the absence of any coughing, sneezing or applause left me wondering whether there was an audience there at all and whether this is yet another example of a politician reading out a long-winded press release as if it were a speech.

So what?
My blog on this after Cameron's Europe speech prompted an interesting comment on Twitter from speechwriter Sam Coates (@SamuelCoates):

"re: Cameron speech lacking non-media audience, are you in danger of being too purist? Better a speech than press conf/release?"

To which I admitted that perhaps I was being rather too purist and asked "but are you conceding that it was a press release?"

"No" he tweeted "a well-articulated speech seen live by many not in the room. But admittedly not one that had to worry about claptraps etc!"

Speeches as press releases - and does it matter?
From this, it seems that Mr Coates is rather more relaxed about this trend than I am - which gets me wondering whether my unease about politicians reading out what are, in effect, extended press releases to non-partisan audiences is a further reflection of my advanced years (and the relative youthfulness of Mr Coates).

As I asked in my last blog on the subject, "are we going to have to put up with more and more such non-speeches as the stock-in-trade of contemporary political communication?" - to which I'd add "does it matter?"

I'd be glad to hear what others think...

Is a lecture by Bill Gates (or anyone else) good television?


I don't often repeat blogs verbatim, but watching Bill Gates giving this year's Richard Dimbleby Lecture (HERE) reminded me of a question I asked two years ago that still baffles me and is still awaiting an answer, namely: 

Why does the BBC commemorate Richard Dimbleby with a televised lecture?

My thoughts from two years ago remain pretty much unchanged:

'Last night's Richard Dimbleby Lecture on BBC 1 was delivered by Michael Morpurgo, the latest in a long and distinguished line of famous people to have done so every year (except four) since 1972 (full list HERE).

'But what baffles me about this annual event is how and why the BBC ever decided that the most suitable memorial to a celebrated broadcaster would be something as ill-suited to television as a lecture.

'Wouldn't an annual Dimbleby Documentary, Dimbleby Debate or Dimbleby Interview have been a more fitting way to remember a current affairs journalist? After all, these were not only the kinds of things he was best known for, but would have come across better on television than celebrities, many of whom have little or no experience of lecturing, standing behind a lectern and talking for rather a long time.

'Given the BBC's increasing reluctance to show even very short extracts from political speeches in their news programmes (on which there's more discussion and links HERE and HERE), it strikes me as rather odd that the Dimbleby lecture has been allowed to carry on in its original format.

'So far, I've been unable to find out anything about why the BBC (or who) decided in the first place that a lecture would be the best way to commemorate his life - and would be interested to hear from anyone who knows something about its history.'

Cameron on Europe: a press release thinly disguised as a speech

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Finding out when and where David Cameron's much-trailed speech on Europe was taking place today posed at least as much of a challenge as working out what the point of it all was.

What I eventually discovered was that that both the when and the where of the speech were quite unusual - unless it's suddenly become fashionable for our politicians to deliver major speeches at 8.00 a.m. in the morning on the off chance that the American news agency in central London (where the speech was being given) would be able to drum up an audience at a moment's notice to listen to it - or, to be more precise, to prepare reports on what he said for the rest of the day's news programmes.

Who was there?
From the above, there's very little evidence that anyone was there at all: no coughing or sneezing and not so much as a hint of applause at the end of the speech.

Yet there were, of course plenty of people there, not supporters who might have cheered or clapped, but representatives of the media busily writing notes on what he was saying - while he was saying it (which keen 'listeners' could follow live, as the words came out of his mouth, on the BBC website HERE).

Speech or press release?
So does this really count as a political 'speech' delivered by a leading politician, or was it merely a case of a leading politician taking the trouble to read out a press release - on the grounds that no one would  take any notice of it unless it were disguised, however thinly, as 'a speech'?

And are we going to have to put up with more and more such non-speeches as the stock-in-trade of contemporary political communication?


Should we have the right to bear arms during a speech?


Yesterday's news that someone had interrupted a Bulgarian politician's speech by mounting the stage and pointing a gun at him made me realise how little I know about Bulgarian politics - as well as how unusual (thankfully) it is for audiences to respond to speeches in this particular way.

I also realised that I have no idea as to whether or not the Bulgarian constitution enshrines the right of its citizens "to bear arms", or indeed to beat up anyone whose gun fails to go off at point blank range.

Needless to say, I hope that neither of these rights is enjoyed by Bulgarians, and, more importantly, that such trends do not catch on in the USA...

Lance Armstrong's 'straight' answers to Oprah's Yes/No questions



Having never previously seen any Oprah Winfrey interviews, I've no idea whether her interviewees have to agree beforehand to answer any "Yes/No" questions she might ask with a straight "Yes" or "No".

But that's what disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong did in this sequence from his interview with her.

Whether or not it was not the way she had expected him to confess, as she'd said in her trailers for the show, I do not know. I do know, however, that to my English ears, such apparently straight answers to a series of "Yes/No" questions definitely qualifies it for a place my collection of unusual TV interviews.

Examples of Other Unusual Interviews

  • Politician answers a question: an exception that proves the rule
  • A Labour leader with no interest in spin!
  • A Tory leader's three evasive answers to the same question
  • The day Mrs Thatcher apologised (twice) for what she'd said in an interview
  • A prime minister who openly refused to answer Robin Day's questions
  • 'Here today, gone tomorrow' politician walks out of interview with Robin Day
  • The day Mandelson walked out of an interview rather than answer a question about Gordon Brown
  • Mandelson gives two straight answers to two of Paxman's questions
  • Two more straight answers from Mandelson - about failed coups and the PM's rages
  • Rare video clip of a politician giving 5 straight answers to 5 consecutive questions