Pointed & Impassioned Blog » Simplification

Bill Clinton hits home with a powerful aphorism

george — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:14:02 +0000

It’s the line everyone’s talking about from Bill Clinton’s speech to the Democratic Convention last night, and a very powerful aphorism it is:

People around the world have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power.

It’s simple, easy to remember, and nicely encapsulates what Clinton wanted to convey. It’s also very elegant. Something to emulate in your own speechwriting.

Bill Clinton shows how to deliver a clear message

george — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:00:40 +0000

Bill Clinton’s speech to the Democratic Convention last night was a good example of “tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you’ve told them.” And with that structure, he clearly set up an agenda for Barak Obama (presumably the agenda Obama wants…). Here’s how it played out:

Our nation is in trouble on two fronts: The American Dream is under siege at home, and America’s leadership in the world has been weakened.

Then Clinton gave a quick summary of points he would cover under these two headings, followed by a restatement of the headings:

Clearly, the job of the next President is to rebuild the American Dream and restore America’s standing in the world.

Next it was time to elaborate on the various points under each heading, by stating them in terms of what Barak Obama will do, always being certain to add additional restatements of the two headings, such as:

Barack Obama is ready to lead America and restore American leadership in the world.

Most important, Barack Obama knows that America cannot be strong abroad unless we are strong at home.

Even his attack on the Republicans was put in terms of the two headings:

Now, in spite of all the evidence, their candidate is promising more of the same: More tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans that will swell the deficit, increase inequality, and weaken the economy. More band-aids for health care that will enrich insurance companies, impoverish families and increase the number of uninsured. More going it alone in the world, instead of building the shared responsibilities and shared opportunities necessary to advance our security and restore our influence.

If you didn’t come away from this speech understanding that Bill Clinton thinks Barak Obama will strengthen America at home and abroad, it was certainly no fault of the speechwriters.

Fighting against attention spam

george — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:35:02 +0000

Saw this great spelling error the other day on a blog: attention spam. I say ‘great’ because it created an expression that captures a concept I’ve been thinking about for a long time: there’s so much information and just plain stimuli bombarding our brains each day that we’re suffering from attention spam.

Whenever I suggest that my clients simplify their message or simplify their visual aids, what I’m really saying is: stop spamming your audience’s brains, because not only is spam annoying, but we have filters to keep it out or, if it gets in, we trash it. Most importantly, spam distracts us from the useful and interesting things trying to get to our ‘mental inbox.’

Say no to attention spam!

UPDATE: Seems I’m behind the times – found ‘attention spam’ in the Urban Dictionary. The closest definition to my concept: “Any material or fodder which tends to destroy the attention span.”