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Yesterday I had the pleasure of speaking at the annual Communitech conference in the Kitchener-Waterloo area on the subject of public relations and social media. I thought it was an exceptionally orchestrated event, with some terrific keynotes and panel discussions throughout the day.
Chris Anderson, editor of Wired Magazine and author of The Long Tail, was there to kick things off. Chris started right in showing his famous Long Tail graph and discussing the Pareto 80:20 rule. He was great, of course, but as soon as there is math involved before 11 a.m. my head hurts. I left after 20 minutes cuz I had to set up for my breakout session anywas.
And speaking of my session, I had an enthusiastic, standing-room-only crowd who listened attentively as I discussed the onslaught of social media tools shaping our traditional PR world. For those who wanted my PowerPoint presentation, please email me to request a copy cuz I can’t remember who wanted it from all the business cards I collected yesterday.
I stayed for lunch (the chocolate tart at the end was delish!) and sat with a patent lawyer who works in the Waterloo region and an old acquaintance of mine, Eric from DECODE. The lunchtime keynote was Chris Sacca, a former bigwig at Google who headed up Special Initiatives for the company. He’s now a VC investing in very early stage companies in the consumer web, mobile, and wireless space. I had no idea who he was so I asked Mr. Patent Lawyer what Chris invests in. To which he replied: “Oh, he was an early stage investor in Twister.” Huh? The ‘60s contortionist game? I quickly surmised he meant Twitter and corrected the dear man. (at least I found someone in the joint who knew less than I did about Twitter!)
I listened intently as Mr. Sacca took the stage. I had no idea what to expect from this guy and well, he blew me away. I was so impressed with him: his humility, his intellect and his mild-mannered approach to public speaking. He had a kick-ass presentation (the word kick-ass was used so much yesterday, I wanted to shout out to the audience that we use that word liberally in our mission statement!).
Chris did an awesome impression of a southern Baptist Republican senator, and got a rousing applause when he told his story of confronting the Bush administration and winning key decisions for Google. But perhaps what I liked most about Chris’ address was the endearing way he spoke of his old bosses at Google, Larry and Sergey, and the culture they built at the Google Campus. His fondness for the company he used to work for came through loud and clear. It was so refreshing to see such ambassadorship of a brand from a former employee (yes, I know, he made a gazillion dollars out of Google, but still …). Without a doubt, the mythology of the Google brand certainly lives up to the tales of great free food from 18 cafes, pet insurance and open mic sessions for all 17,500 employees every Friday afternoon complete with pizza, beer and snacks. And that’s just scratching the surface.
Chris Sacca certainly has a great talent for storytelling. As for that Twitter thingie of his, I still don’t know ….
Well, I was there last night. Me and about 200 Bay Street guys and gals all suited up at the Toronto Board of Trade to meet the richest guy in the world (okay, he’s #2 after Bill Gates).
Warren Buffett came into town yesterday, courtesy of his new company purchase, Business Wire, which is now set up in Canada to do business. Another wire service for us PR folks to choose from…goody.
The evening was spectacular and I was pleased as punch to get on the select invite list. Only a few months before when he was in town speaking at some gala event, the going price for a coveted table was $25,000 … and there I was with a free ticket to hear him speak for 90 minutes, with some free drinks and munchies to boot!
I had no idea just how charismatic and funny Mr. Buffet is. He is full of “quotable quotes” and wonderful anecdotes. The program for the evening was exceptionally well done. Mr. Buffett set the stage for the evening – an open Q&A session allowing the audience to participate in the conversation. He said he is open to discussing anything and would answer any question because, as he put it, “I’m not that discreet.”
Well, the evening got off to a quick start with a number of hands shooting up instantly to get some mic time. They came fast and furious: questions on the recession, inflation rates, the mortgage crisis, the state of the U.S. dollar, the U.S. election blah, his investment habits blah, blah… okay, they are all important questions, especially for one of the richest guys. But I can read that by grabbing a copy of his book The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America. Or by reading the paper.
But I went last night wanting to know something about the real Warren Buffett. Like if he works out, his favorite leisure activity, whether he ever made a decision based on gut instinct, how he spends his weekends, his favorite travel destination. As one of only a handful of publicists in the room, I wanted to know the human side of this extraordinary individual.
I was relieved when someone finally asked him a question about his philanthropic views, his charity-giving, and why a lot of his fortune is going to Bill and Melinda’s foundation. “I can only sleep on one mattress and watch one T.V. at a time,” he answered. Poignant and moving, much like all of his answers were (but I bet he owns some mother of a flat-screen television!).
Mr. Buffet can teach all of us a thing or two about public speaking. Although he addressed complex topics, all of his answers were colorful and easy to understand. He didn’t use jargon, he wasn’t convoluted. He answered like your next door neighbor might speak if you asked him why his rosebushes always look so healthy and yours never even bloom: he used simple language, threw in a few compelling anecdotes, and gave a big hearty smile. I was so impressed.
At the end of the evening, I finally got up to approach Mr. Buffett. As the scrum around him started to dissipate, I mustered enough courage to stand in the queue to say hello and ask him my very profound questions. He looked at me with a warm smile and, as he shook my hand, all I could utter was an excitable schoolgirl squeal and the words, “Mr. Buffett I can’t believe I’m shaking your hand!” To which my new American idol so graciously replied, “And I can’t believe I’m shaking yours!” Everyone around us roared, while I blushed. Don’t ask me what I asked him – it was all a blur after that.
I love watching great speakers. In my opinion, one of the best and most charismatic speakers of our time is presidential hopeful Barack Obama. What a pleasure is to watch him. He embodies every quality I can think of that’s needed in a talented public speaker. Beyond his good looks (sorry, I know that sounds sexist, but it helps when the camera likes your face!), Obama is a reflection of our times and delivers a fresh and truly genuine quality of public speaking.
It doesn’t matter what your political views are – just watch and learn. He is skillful at delivering key messages, uses humor eloquently (this is a long video ... but the first minute and a half of this footage is hilarious) and he has an uncanny ability to draw the audience in. He connects almost instantly with his audience. Once he starts to speak, he’s like the Starship Enterprise tractor beam … you get sucked right in. The combination of superb speechwriting and delivery is what makes him outstanding.
Obama is highly intellectual, yet he doesn’t pontificate on the podium or bore us with hyperbole. And every single one of his speeches contains the three most essential ingredients a speaker should try to deliver at the podium: entertainment, information, and moving you to action. If you can’t accomplish any of that through your speech, please sit down and shut up.
For anyone teaching media training or presentation skill training, be sure you get loads of YouTube footage on Obama to study because he’s pure genius.
I realize that this talent alone won’t get him to the White House … but he sure beats what’s in there now!
Yesterday I had the pleasure of speaking at the annual Communitech conference in the Kitchener-Waterloo area on the subject of public relations and social media. I thought it was an exceptionally orchestrated event, with some terrific keynotes and panel discussions throughout the day.