On Bangs and Bragging Bytes
September 5th, 2008
No matter what you think of Sarah Palin’s politics – you gotta hand it to her – she is a first-rate orator.
Watching her stand there, upright, confident, skillfully engaging the crowd, I was reminded of the public speaking advice Tamar and I got from two of our distinguished mentors, Peggy Klaus and Dr. Lois Frankel.
Peggy had watched our camera interviews and started our conversation with constructive criticism. “Tamar,” she said, “you end many of your sentences with an upward inflection, as if you were asking a question.” (“My name it Tamar?”; “I have three kids?” etc). “This,” Peggy said, “can make you seem unsure of yourself when you should come across as confident.” Now, Tamar is one of the most confident, outgoing people I know. Still when we reviewed Tamar’s TV interview with Peggy’s comments in mind, we saw exactly what she meant. Tamar has since been working on her intonation – even her husband has noticed the difference.
“You Dana,” Peggy continued “need to stand straight with your head upright to make sure every word of yours projects properly.” She also pointed out the distracting little strand of hair that always seems to finds its way right to the front of my face.
Peggy is the author of Brag! For interviews, but also for regular conversations, Peggy advises to develop “bragging bytes,” little anecdotes or stories explaining what one is doing in an accurate, entertaining and flattering way. For example, if asked what Dapple is all about, we should not simply answer with a sentence that can be found on our website. Rather, we should respond with something like this: “You know how much mess our babies create, and how we can’t always get everything clean without using harsh, synthetic cleaners. Well, at Dapple, we set out to change that,” or “remember how baby bottles and sippy cups always used to look a little dirty and smell a little icky, no matter how often you cleaned them. With Dapple, this is no longer the case.” These bragging bytes, Peggy says, cannot be canned but should be crafted ad hoc, naturally, in the context of the conversation.
Dr. Lois Frankel – an amazing resource for new entrepreneurs (more about that in the next blog) – also gave us some speaking advice. She noticed that I use too many words to get my message across and explained the value of a concise, compelling oratory style. I think I got it now, but let’s wait for the next interview to see.
I will try to hold my head a little straighter, project my voice a bit better, and clip the strand of hair away from my forehead. No, it probably won’t turn me into a Palin-esque public speaker but, hopefully, it will help me become a better spokesperson for Dapple.
