Dahle Communication

Will Obama use storytelling again with Elena Kagan?

Picture from Kathleen Dooher-AP, Washinton Post

 This morning I awoke to the news that President Obama is going to nominate Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. The biggest news from this announcement is that it will mark the first time in United States history that there will be three female justices serving on the bench at the same time.

However, what I am interested in is how he is going to use communication to get the confimation though. Using an effective communication strategy (better known as Public Relations) is key to winning the public vote, even if he doesn't get the Republican's vote.

Last year I noted that he was using a great story to paint Justice Sonia Sotomayor as the all-American tale of rising up from hard times to become a justice. It was a great story. Here is just a small part of the New York Times article that I quoted then:

Her up-by-the-bootstraps tale, an only-in-America story that in many ways mirrors Mr. Obama’s own, is one reason for her selection, and it is the animating characteristic of her approach to both life and the law.

It was well done and obviously successful since she was nominated. The question I have now is, will Obama learn from those hearings and once again focus on Kagen's story to gain public support? If he is smart he will. The story-telling that the Obama administration used last year was very effective.

As always, I have no idea if this person is qualified or not - I need to do some research before making that decision. However, I will be interested to see how the Obama administration appraches this issue, especially with the toxic environment that politics seems to be in since the health care debate and an upcoming election in November.

I'll try to keep a watch of the proceedings as they unfold and will continue to see how effective (or ineffective) their communication methods will be. However, in the opening article I am already starting to see a trend: serve das Dean of Harvard Law School and would make history by joining two other females on the court. However, the article was mostly focused on other issues that are not that condusive to telling a good story. Only time will tell if that is going to change.

One Year Down - A review of my favorites

 One year ago today I published my first post on communication here at Dahle Communication. I wasn't quite sure how much I was going to be able to spend posting articles or what I would talk about all of those times. After one year though, I have realized that there is a great deal to talk about and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon!

With that said, here are my top 10 posts from the past year. They are not the top ten in views or comments, but what I feel are the 10 bests posts. Best can mean a variety of things, but to me it represents a post that was thought provoking, got some good feedback and has continued to attract interest not only from everyone out there, but me as well.

10. Presentations to watch: xBlog: Did You Know 4.0 - I put this post in the top ten because of how good the video from xBlog is. Its a great presentation that has given me some inspiration and has also gotten me to think about the world.

9. Prezi - A Revolution in Presentations or Just Another Program? - Prezi is a presentation application that has made me re-think the way presentation CAN be done. However, much like anything new, its novelty has worn off some for me. However, I think it is still a great presentation tool that can be added to any successful presenters repertoire.

 8. A Good Story Helps Propel Supreme Court Nominee Sotomayor - Justice Sotomayor's profile has decreased quite a bit since she was nominated and confirmed as the most recent Supreme Court justice. Her rise to fame however allowed the Obama administration to show all of us how to use a story to get your audience on your side.

7. Watch the context of your language - why MSNBC should learn slang - The reason I put this up on the top 10 list is that I am a political junkie. I follow politics a lot and like to follow how candidates and activists use communication - either to their advantage or disadvantage. Sadly, a lot of people apparently need to learn slang, because this issue is still around. Besides, this has quite possibly the funniest clip from The Daily Show ever!

6. Macworld 2009 Keynote - Minus Steve Jobs - All of us know how good of a public speaker Steve Jobs is. So when he didn't present at the Keynote address of Macworld people were concerned - about Steve and the status of Apple. Apple is so tied to Jobs and his ability to present eloquently that unless his successor can follow in his footsteps as a confident speaker, Apple might be in trouble.

 5. Pearl Jam Ten Redux CD - Addition by Subtraction - I put this post up simply for the fact that music is a big part of my life and I have used music on several occasions to prove a point. Other posts include one talking about Allison Krauss & Robert Plant, The Watchmen Trailer, Alice In Chains, Chris Isaak and Muse. Music can teach us a lot about communication.

4. Destroying a Brand the Tiger way - This has turned out to be a huge story. What's more amazing is that is it still unfolding in front of our eyes. By the end of 2010, we might know everything - but I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't.

 3. Are things like Twitter, Texting, Facebook and Blogging hurting communication? - This was one of many posts regarding communication and how it is being affected by on-line media. A lot of people have simply forgotten how important effective communication is.

2. Twitter vs Facebook - Why Simplicity Matters - I have posted several times about Twitter because of its impact on our world as communicators and on society as a whole. 

 1. Mantras versus Mission Statements? How about a Passion Statement - This post got a lot of responses from people about the idea of a passion statement. While reading Guy Kawasaki's book Reality Check, I liked his idea of a mantra instead of a mission statement. However, I like the idea of a passion statement even more - which is why you will find one of our pages on our website titled "About Our Passion"

These were just 10 of the 88 posts I had over the past year. I can't wait for the next year and what communication will have in store for us.

A Good Story Helps Propel Supreme Court Nominee Sotomayor

There are many people in the communication field that have talked about the importance of telling a compelling story when giving a speech. Duarte Design, Bert Decker, Garr Reynolds, Guy Kawasaki, and Dr. Simon Raybould of Presentation Skills have all talked about the importance of telling a good story when giving a presentation or a speech.

Beyond that, if you had any doubts as to the importance of having a good story, then all of us were given a great example with President Barack Obama's nomination of Justice Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. Right away there were various newspaper accounts discussing her story and not her judicial record. A New York Times article summed it up well by starting a major article on Sotomayor with the following:

She was “a child with dreams,” as she once said, the little girl who learned at 8 that she had diabetes, who lost her father when she was 9, who devoured Nancy Drew books and spent Saturday nights playing bingo, marking the cards with chickpeas, in the squat red brick housing projects of the East Bronx. She was the history major and Puerto Rican student activist at Princeton who spent her first year at that bastion of the Ivy League “too intimidated to ask questions.” She was the tough-minded New York City prosecutor, and later the corporate lawyer with the dazzling international clients. She was the federal judge who “saved baseball” by siding with the players’ union during a strike. Now Sonia Sotomayor — a self-described “Nuyorican” whose mother, a nurse, and father, a factory worker, left Puerto Rico during World War II — is President Obama’s choice for the Supreme Court, with a chance to make history as only the third woman and first Hispanic to sit on the highest court in the land. Her up-by-the-bootstraps tale, an only-in-America story that in many ways mirrors Mr. Obama’s own, is one reason for her selection, and it is the animating characteristic of her approach to both life and the law.

Notice how there wasn't anything that dealt with her decisions on certain cases or her stance on certain issues. This was not a coincidence. The Obama administration is using a good story to help them ensure that their candidate gets through the senate confirmation hearings and placed on the Supreme Court.

Don't get me wrong - I am not claiming that Sonia Sotomayor is not qualified for the position or that the Obama administration is trying to fool anyone. I have not researched her qualifications nor have I delved into the debate about if she should be appointed to the Supreme Court or not. My point is simply this: the Obama administration is doing what all great speakers and presenters do. They are using a compelling story to get people on their side. 

In the same way, this can help your speeches and presentations. Knowing how to tell a good story gets people interested in what you have to say. Regardless if you agree with Obama's choice or disagree with it - you should recognize how effective their story is.

Travis