Rhetoric, the technique of persuasion through the use of the spoken word, has been in the news as the contest between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton heats up.

It’s refreshing for speechwriters and public speakers to see this. Under the current administration there’s little need to ponder issues of rhetoric, any more than bald men need concern themselves with the hairbrush and comb. But now we have two equally passionate and articulate contenders debating, the nuances of public speaking are getting an airing.

There are points being scored on both sides.

Is Hillary hoist by her own petard?

Consider the first lady and her claim that:

“Speeches don’t put food on the table,” she said. “Speeches don’t fill up your tank or fill your prescription . . . That’s the difference between me and my Democratic opponent. My opponent gives speeches, I offer solutions.”

Yes, but both candidates give speeches. That’s their day jobs. These are not pictures of Hillary filling a prescription or pumping gas. Other people engage in these activities.

In offering this observation she is attempting to lay claim to a level of technocratic competence which she thinks Obama lacks. However, the weakness in the argument is how she proposed it…in a speech.

This is a picture of Hillary delivering a speech. She is a fine public speaker. Her husband is a masterful one. It’s best for those who have mastered a craft not to denigrate it.

Does Obama Xerox his speeches?

When Hillary accuses Barack of Xerox’ing change, she is alleging plagiarism in the content of speeches. Obama recently acknowledged that sections of a speech he gave should have been credited to his friend Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts. He also claimed that Senator Clinton had borrowed some phrases he used.

This is just silly.

The English language is a rich source from which to construct original speeches. What probably happens is that the communications professionals, legions of advisor’s and, indeed, speechwriters, encourage the candidate’s to use a limited choice of “hot button” phrases. There’s a whole industry which uses focus groups to test certain phrases over others. Republican strategist Frank Luntz’s book Words that Work advises politicians as well as corporations about the persuasive use of language. Nothing wrong with using words to persuade (the definition of rhetoric) but the effect of this approach when combined with the repetition of the TV ad and the sound-bite is to limit the range of discourse.

Neither candidate should risk repeating speech content used by another. In a pre-Google era it might have escaped notice. Benjamin Franklin is credited with saying “Originality is the art of concealing your sources”. Such concealment just ain’t possible today.

The Code of Professional Ethics of the National Speakers Association states:

Article 4:
The NSA member shall avoid using – either orally or in writing – materials, titles or thematic creations originated by others unless approved in writing by the originator.

It may be time for these candidates to join our Association?

Following the series of four podcasts on Social Media that I did from the National Speakers Association convention in San Francisco in the last week, I’ve been more attuned than usual to mention of the effects of blogs, podcasts and online networks in our world today.

Facility with Social Media is one of the clear differentiators between the campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination, claims Edward Luce in yesterday’s Financial Times.

Luce quotes Peter Leyden, director of the New Politics Institute, who marks a clear difference between the two campaigns’ use of social media and technology:

The Obama website offers almost instant video replays of his speeches, which are also packaged by Obama officials for YouTube. A few mouse clicks from each webcast provides a simple procedure to make online donations. Users can set up blogs, join the Obama Facebook group and even download ring tones featuring recordings of his speeches.

The contrast with Mrs Clinton’s relatively conventional website is instructive. In one of her first webcasts Mrs Clinton offered to “have a conversation with America”. But the questions she received were obviously screened. The fact these “conversations” took place online could not disguise the fact they were controlled.

This is eerily reminiscent of the contrasting ways in which smaller, more entrepreneurial companies approach this technology when compared to the larger organizations of the Fortune 500.

Luce chronicles the flexibility and tactical advantages offered by an aggressive use of web-based tools when compared to a more inflexible establishment approach. This observation isn’t new. Back in 2000, author Christopher Locke predicted the end of business as usual in his prescient book The Cluetrain Manifesto. Locke claimed that thanks to the conversations taking place on the web, citizens have found a voice that undermine the traditional command-and-control hierarchy that organizes most corporate marketing groups and political campaigns.

Is it too late for Hillary to get a clue?

Another in an occasional series of interviews with members of the National Speakers Association, Northern California Pro-Track class of 2008.

Candace Campbell is a speaker with many talents.

A child model and actress since age nine, a stand-up comedienne since ’93 when she jumped off the therapists’ couch and grabbed a mic, Candy’s presentations are both witty and inspirational.

She started her own business, Peripatetic Productions, in 1995 in order to produce her first of two one-woman shows, and is a member of ASCAP (singers and composers union) and AFTRA (television/radio artists union).

She spent 20 years as a Neonatal Intensive Care nurse and has produced an award-winning documentary film on the psychosocial impact of having a micropremature baby, which has been seen in educational venues in most English speaking countries. She is a writer for TV and film. Her latest project, a novel based on her screenplay, Walking Point, was inspired by some of her own experiences caring for veterans suffering with PTSD during the ’70’s. She is also working on two non-fiction books (one for parents, one for siblings) to accompany her documentary on premature babies.

Candy speaks on many topics, but each of her presentations contains a common denominator: keeping personal standards high and intact in a world which tempts us to abandon scruples for the brass ring.

Speech topics include: Management Without Manipulation; Portraits of a Pariah : Navigating Society As A Single Mom; Premature Birth: Facts and Fiction; PTSD:The Gift That Keeps on Giving.

I interviewed Candy about her background and plans for the future. To hear what she has to say, click on the podcast icon below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:47 — 1.6MB)

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A theme of last weekend’s National Speakers Association convention in San Francisco was the emergence of Social Media as a tool for entrepreneurs and freelance professionals.

I ran out of time at the event to meet with two NSA members who taught a well-attended workshop on Hidden Gems of the Internet. As I mentioned in my last podcast, these two Social Media Teachers shared a ton of useful information about the many tools available to build an independent business online.

I caught up with Michael and Sheryl on the phone and asked them to give their reading of the acceptance of these tools, what the opportunity is, and what obstacles there are to wider acceptance of Social Media.

In our conversation they reference a number of resources:

• Zoominfo.com a business information search engine
• Google Alerts – for email updates of the latest search results
• Pewinternet.org reports on the impact of the internet
• Poynter.org for up-to-date online ideas
• Goldencompass.com Michael & Sheryl’s home page
• HiddenBusinessTreasures.com their blog about using the Internet to grow your business
• HiddenSpeakerTreasures.com Internet search tips for speakers.

To hear their insights on Social Media and much more, click on the podcast icon below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 11:36 — 2.7MB)

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One of the most popular break-out sessions at this weekend’s National Speakers Association Conference was a three-hour session presented by Michael Benidt and Sheryl Kay on social media and the “Hidden Treasures the Internet”. A standing room only crowd was treated to a fire-hose of information on everything from advanced Google search tips to ensuring the audience can see the relevant information on a slide by using SnagIt. Not to mention advanced tips on blogging and podcasting, how to use Creative Commons to grow your business and much more.

It was apparent from the questions the audience asked that many NSA’ers are social media novices.

So rather than stick around to ask Michael and Sheryl comment on their class, I caught up with some of the audience and asked what were some of the opportunities and challenges presented by this plethora of social media tools, and what practical steps they planned to take to incorporate them in their existing businesses.

The most successful NSA members have the designation of Certified Speaking Processional (CSP) and CPAE (Speaker Hall of Fame). So I was thrilled when, despite a voice which was not in top form (an occupational hazard for NSA members!) Marjorie Brody, CSP, CPAE, agreed to give me her take on how she plans to incorporate these tools into her very successful speaking business.

To hear what an admitted “social media novice” has to say, click on the podcast icon below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:45 — 643.9KB)

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You never know who you’ll meet at a National Speakers Association conference. I was lucky to run into an amazing entrepreneur, blogger, podcaster and social media superstar: Jeanette Fisher, the social media queen.

Jeanette has a multitude of websites – over 100 in all. These, plus her active participation in social networks such as Twitter and Facebook have raised her visibility such that she is the number one listing when you simply search ‘Jeanette’ on MSN.

She has multiple areas of expertize, including that of being the foremost authority on Interior Design Psychology & Home Staging as America’s “Dream Home” Maker. She’s the author of 21 books.

I took the opportunity to ask Jeanette how she started in the area of social media and what advice she would have for someone who wants to take the first steps.

To hear what she shared with me, click on the podcast icon below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:24 — 795.5KB)

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Shel Holtz is a social media guru – a recognized authority on how people can thrive in the midst of the current information explosion by using a dynamic ‘cloud’ of services to promote themselves and built a reputation online.

He’s the author of How to Do Everything with Podcasting, Blogging for Business, Corporate Conversations and many other books. He gave a workshop on the opening day of the National Speakers Association Winter Workshop in San Francisco today.

Shel’s blog is a model of Web 2.0 convergence in a world of seamless mobility where vehicles for communicating to a social network are converging rapidly. He cross-references his blog postings to Flickr, Digg, Twitter, de.licio.us, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, Skype, Technorati and Utterz. OK? Got that? Well, if you aren’t familiar with all these vehicles take a look at the bottom of the left column on his blog where you’ll see them in a ‘widget’ window – meaning if you like what you see you can even host all of Shel’s feeds on your own blog or web page. The one social media tool I had never heard of before is Utterz. Shel likes it’s flexibility. It allows posts from your mobile phone or online in voice, video, pictures and text, to your blog page.

I took the opportunity to indulge in the recursive thrill of doing a podcast interview with a leading podcaster about podcasting. To hear what Shel has to say, click on the icon below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:24 — 795.5KB)

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Unlike the last two years at this time, I will not be able to attend the Ragan Speechwriters Conference in Washington, DC. This due to a conflict with the National Speakers Association conference here in San Francisco which starts tomorrow.

I was intrigued to read this report that highlights some of the concerns and opinions of attendees this year. Asked why they are involved in speechwriting:

• 4% of speechwriters are in it for the money
• 14% simply want to add speechwriting as another skill set on the résumé
• 27% do speechwriting simply because they’re given the assignment
• 55% are interested in speechwriting because it’s “close to the power in the organization, a chance to make a difference.”

To find a speechwriter: Look everywhere. While “executive communications” is the department in which Speechwriters Conference attenders most commonly reside, 67% of speechwriters come from elsewhere in the organization—internal communication, PR or media relations, corporate communication, or somewhere else.

Finally, an interesting sidebar:

We asked Speechwriters Conference attendees to vote for the major U.S. presidential candidate who gave the best speeches, and Barack Obama won in a landslide, garnering 83% of the vote. Hillary Clinton got 9% and Mike Huckabee got 5%, Mitt Romney picking up 2% and John Edwards getting 1%.

John McCain, not insignificantly, received not a single speechwriter’s vote as the leading rhetorician.

This seems to imply that there might be competition for speechwriting jobs the further to the right of the political spectrum you go; until one reaches the current Office of the President where there seems to be a total absence of writing talent (sorry, cheap shot!). Or is it just the case that this profession, like the media in general, is full of pinko commie sympathizers?

So I wish all attendees at this years Speechwriters Conference good luck and a great conference. I look forward to reading your newsletter updates and blog reports.

At the end of January I spent a day with a remarkable Aussie, Malcolm Cohen. As I wrote at the time, his Rocket Ship workshop helps people get clear about whatever is their life’s true purpose, their quest. Using simple Internet ‘Web 2.0’ technology you can craft a Vision Statement that is, for many of us, a 21st century mirror to the soul. Easy to say, not so easy to do.

Two weeks and countless hours of searching for the right mix of text, music and images later, I have just published my ‘brave statement’ on YouTube. Thanks are due to everyone who helped make this possible: Malcolm and my fellow voyagers on the Rocket Ship at Ft. Mason and the Sandbox Suites; Patricia, Brady and the invisible lovers; James, Richard, Dan and the men in the corner; my Mum & Dad (who paid the photographer in Derby back in 1952 to take the first picture); my Spiritual Master, Adi Da Samraj for the last picture; Emily & Neil who smiled at the camera in Laos and Limerick; Bob Geldof for Thinking Voyager 2 Type Things; and most of all for Sandra, for walking beside me. And you, of course, if you choose to click on the video and spend 2 minutes carrying a vision for me.

Signed, Maverick

This Thursday kicks-off a 4-day SpeakerPalooza in San Francisco – the National Speakers Association’s “Rock n’ Roll” themed Winter Workshop.

There promises to be a wealth of information in this smaller-sized conference – a refreshing alternative to the summer madhouse conferences. I’m especially looking forward to the panel on The Art and Craft of Telling Stories; the workshop on How to be a Rock Star Using Audience Interaction and The Art and Craft of the Written Word with New York Times bestselling author Bob Mayer.

If it’s anything like other NSA Conferences there will also be plenty of intriguing hallway conversations. Plus some happening Backstage Parties.

I’ll bring my digital recorder along and see if I can’t find a few rock stars from the world of professional speaking to cut a podcast with, man.