As a quasi-journalist I was able to attend the RNC.
As a Communication Expert, speeches are my oxygen. It doesn’t even matter if the speech is on something I know or don’t know, such as ions or electrons. I still love to hear speeches, critique them, and applaud for the great ones. The following are 5 perspectives from Cleveland.
1. Its not Red or Blue Just Boring
This RNC had a different schedule of speakers than the traditional convention. The first night was mostly what I refer to as “amateur” speakers. Amateur speakers are people who are professional in their competency but not paid to speak.
Earlier in the day I met one of the soldiers who had protected the Benghazi Embassy. He told me he was speaking that evening. He is very brave, and was very specific in his recounting of the night’s siege. He made a typical mistake of “amateur” speakers: he went on too long. That’s why movies are edited. The best stories in the world still need to be edited. Often it is hard if not impossible for a person to edit their own story. It must be kind of like negotiating your own contract. Easier for someone less involved to do it and to do it well.
2. Queen for a Day
Monday night heard from several parents of adult children who had been murdered. While each parent’s story was compelling, from a communication perspective it was overload. In the 60’s there was a TV show called Queen for a Day. Three women told their sad story to an audience and the audience applause-meter chose the woman who had the saddest story. The winner, the QUEEN, won whatever it was that would make her life better: a refrigerator a washing machine, or a hearing aid. I felt like the parents were vying for a very sad award to the most bereaved parent. Too much sadness or too much happiness, either one can be an overload that leads to indifference. Take your scalpel of clarity and use emotion sparingly.
3. It’s Not About the Story – How It is Told
Most everyone has a great story within them. Especially the people, who are chosen to speak to basically the world, have a great story to tell. Having a great story isn’t enough. Every story has to be told well. Well in the speaking world means concise. The story needs to be connected to a call for action. The story may be nice, but what do you want the audience to do as a result of the telling of this story?
4. My Little Pony
Grammarly is an app that proofreads and checks plagiarism. It is an APP that college students or anyone can download for free. The Internet has many benefits and some disadvantages. No matter how thin you make that pancake it still has two sides. It was probably easier to plagiarize before the Internet. You can’t steal without paying a consequence. Stealing words is like stealing ideas. They are intellectual property. The value in words is how they are put together.
5. Team Means Working Together
One definition of TEAM is a group of individuals working together on a common goal. Police officers from around the country came to Cleveland to help out. Cleveland didn’t have enough of their own so a call went out: A presence was sent from California, Florida, Kansas, Indiana, and D.C. to name a few. Citizens have been observed giving water bottles to police officers as they do their job. Tourists walking around wanting to just be a part of the event seemed to go out of their way to be nice to the police. That’s a team.
Leslie is a contributing blogger for JenningsWire. Read more posts by Leslie Ungar here.
JenningsWire.com is created by Annie Jennings PR, a national PR firm that works with authors, experts and speakers to get them booked on major radio talk shows, TV shows in any city as well as the regional and nationally syndicated radio shows, prestigious online media and in influential print. Our firms also specializes in marketing books and book promotion using the most up to date pitching strategies with a stellar and experienced PR professionals.