Sarah is too late
by Graham Davies

The aggressive skills that helped to get Gordon Brown to the top will not necessarily keep him there. He still wins some arguments, but very few friends.

This is where his advisers hope that Sarah Brown just might make a difference. Gordon does not do small talk. He doesn't do medium talk either. He finds it difficult to listen to anyone, including his senior colleagues. Apparently, every meeting with him involves note-taking and point-scoring rather than genuine dialogue.

He does have a sensitive and caring side (remember his speech about Ivan Cameron), but he can't access it automatically. His (shrinking) inner circle hope that her robust charm will help to break down the barriers between the Brownmeister and ordinary mortals. They think that she can be a conversation catalyst.

They are desperately wrong. Every time the public sees Sarah presenting herself in such a charmingly robust, but understated and unselfish way, it only serves to highlight the personal failings of the man she is trying to prop up.

Goodbye Palin?
by Graham Davies

Resignation was the only option. You see, it's just so tedious being in charge of a wilderness, especially when its inhabitants are keen on investigating all the little mistakes you make in office. And you you just can't maintain your profile in the national media when your base is 6 hours flying time from the rest of the country.

Alaska is just too small a place for someone of Palin's talent. She has a God-given duty to make herself more readily accessible to the American people. Look at what she's got going for her:

• An ability to tell old jokes again and again. Her variations on the Pitbull theme have been around longer than the animal itself
• The energy to sell cliches as though Oscar Wilde had just thought of them ("Only dead fish go with the flow")
• An unlimited capacity for believing the publicity she reads on her own web-site

She would be wasted in the role of President. With this sort of presentational armoury, she simply must become a Professional Speaker instead.

Relaxed George
by Graham Davies

George Osborne is facing an investigation into his personal financial conduct. However, he has let it be known that he is "relaxed" about it.

George has always been a relaxed sort of chap, even when he used to spend some of his time drinking at the Bullingdon Club. Many of us would feel less tension if we could rely on family wealth instead of having to make a living. George's relaxation is the type that goes with having a daddy who is very rich indeed.

Mind you, if you decide to got to a party on a Russian yacht with Peter Mandelson, or make a factually inaccurate allegation of misconduct against the Prime Minister, relaxation very quickly becomes ridiculous. Or rather careless.

If you are ever facing a crisis in which your integrity is being called into question, never let the word "relaxed" be the presentational adjective that is used to describe you.

However, George's real problem is not that looks relaxed. A more accurate word would be just plain smug.

Corporate Rudeness

by Graham Davies

Meetings cancelled at the last minute. Unanswered emails. Promised documents not sent. Phone calls interrupted by you being placed on hold. These are typical examples of Corporate Rudeness in 2009. But if you think they should just be ignored, then you are part of the problem.

Every time you ignore this sort of behaviour, you are encouraging the perpetrator to treat you badly again. And again.

I call these things squelches, named after the annoying sound you hear on a computer when it refuses to accede to a reasonable request. Each individual squelch from a business contact may well not amount to much. Nevertheless, always make a note every time you receive one.

This is not merely so that you can nurse a grudge. Each squelch is an indication that you should be careful about how you deal with that person in the future. A high cumulative score on the Squelchometer means that you should simply not trust that person, or go out of your way to help them when your time could be spent on more worthy people.

I have found that a sequence of minor squelches are clear warning signs of a major squelch (cancellation of a contract, breathtaking verbal rudeness, offensively inaccurate criticism of work done).

A serial squelcher is someone that you must decide never to take any shit from again, no matter how big a client they are.

Get rid of them before they dump on you.

The Speaker has no clothes
by Graham Davies

Or at least none like the bloke before him had.

Instead of a velvet waistcoat, winged collar and bands, Jon Bercow has decided to wear a modern business suit. This has horrified many tradtionalists.

Jack Holland, who owns the tailoring company that makes the old-style garb, feels that Bercow has made a dangerous choice....because he has thrown away the visual badges of office that helped to encourage respect for the position. He also points out that the old Speaker's Wig was a very useful device when it came to pretending not to hear comments that were best ignored.

Mr Holland's views are a superb illustration of why it is time to say Goodbye to the pantomime costume. No-one could respect the mumbling incompetence of Michael Martin even if his clothes were made on Krypton.

It is time for the House of Commons to go Cold Turkey from Expenses Addiction, and the new look epitomises the new attitiude. John Bercow's visual Micro-Message is No More Traditional Clothes, No More Traditional Bullshit.

The Speaker Speaks
by Graham Davies

There was an evening a few years ago when John Bercow was taking questions from the floor after a speech he had given to his constituency Conservative Association. The event ran past the expected finish time and eventually someone asked the Chairman, "Do we have time for one more question?"

The Chairman glanced at his watch and said, "Probably. But we certainly don't have time for one of John's answers."

Within his own party, what Bercow lacked in popularity, he always made up for in sheer length. There was even a time when he used to run public speaking courses for Tory candidates. He is a genuine enthusiast of spoken communication.

I am not too bothered whether he is a Traditionalist, a Reformist or a Couldntgiveatossist. I am just delighted that, at long last, the House of Commons has got a Speaker who can actually Speak.

Risky Presenting
by Graham Davies

This is a brief summary of a keynote that I delivered at the AIRMIC Conference in Bournemouth today. It won't make much sense unless you were there....and you were listening!

STEP 1: AUDIENCE RISK ASSESSMENT
There is no excuse for not doing this. Always ask 5 questions:
Who exactly are they?
Why are they there in that room?
What do they expect to hear?
What do they need to hear (often a different answer to the immediately preceding question)?
What must you give them in the presentation that guarantees that you get what you want from having given the presentation?

NB Most people have a shorter attention span than they did 3 years ago. Treat an audience as being full of Director/Driver types, unless you have good reason to suppose otherwise.

STEP 2: DECIDE ON YOUR FINISHING POSITION
This what you want the audience to know, think or feel by the time you have finished speaking.

STEP 3: FORGE A MICRO-MESSAGE
That crystallises what you would say if you only had 10 seconds in which to say it.

STEP 4: BRAINSTORM 3 KEY ELEMENTS FROM THE MICRO-MESSAGE
Only the stuff they must know should make the cut.

STEP 5: SHARPEN A SPIKE FOR BOTH ENDS OF THE SPEAR.

SO......say it, support it.....and SHUT IT.

ANY POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE COMMENTS WOULD BE VERY WELCOME.

IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION, I PROMISE TO ANSWER IT WITHIN 24 HOURS.