The TUC, where 'fings aint wot they used to be'

The Trades Union Congress is meeting this week, but it's unlikely that you'll see as much of it as you would have done 25 years ago, when its proceedings were televised live on two channels (BBC and Channel 4).

Back in 1984, the miners' strike was still in full swing, as too was Arthur Scargill who was given centre stage to rally support from the TUC.

Granada Television were filming Claptrap (which can be seen HERE) and had sent Ann Brennan and me there in preparation for her own speech at the SDP conference the following week.

As you'll see in the following clip, there was a TV camera aimed at us as we sat in the audience and, though not visible, we'd both been fitted up with microphones. The idea was that, as Scargill was speaking, I was to show Ann which rhetorical techniques he was using and anything else she should take note of.

But we had to abandon the plan almost as soon as I'd started to speak, as the people sitting behind us in the audience were Scargill fans with some rather threatening advice along the lines of "If you don't bloody well shut up, we'll knock your f****** head in."

Not particularly pleasant at the time, but one thing I learnt from them was the pressure members of a crowd can exert on each other to toe the official party line. They didn't know what we were doing, and were assuming that I was criticising what Scargill was saying, rather than analsing how he was saying it - and therefore had to be silenced to let their hero rant on without interruption.

So the Granada team had to 'fake' it by making out that Ann and I had gone back stage afterwards for further instruction.

In fact, the second part of this sequence was shot a week later at the SDP conference in Buxton. To make it look convincing, I was told to make a note of what I was wearing at Brighton the previous week - and I've just realised that it's taken me 25 years to notice a continuity error I'd never spotted before - I'd remembered the jacket, trousers, shirt and tie, but, as you'll see when we get back stage, the TUC admission badge has mysteriously disappeared:

Einstein 'chalk & talk' competition results

Thank you to everyone who sent in so many entries that judging the competition has been far more difficult than expected.

As I was unable to separate entries (A) and (B), I've decided to award them equal first prize - so both of them will be receiving a signed copy of Lend Me Your Ears.

Entry (A) came from Oliver Coddington, who impressed me greatly with his display of mathematical bullshit, but Entry B by Chantal Jordan had to be given very high points for brevity and succinctness.

SPECIAL AWARD FOR TIMELY WIT:
Entry (C) from Andrew Tate can't really be judged on the same basis as the joint winners because it was prompted by a mistake in the original announcement of the competition, in which I'd specified a closing date that had had already passed. Once his alertness had made me correct the date, subsequent entrants were in no position to compete with his wit.

I have therefore awarded him a special bonus award in the form of a free copy of Speech-Making and Presentation Made Easy (signed and incorrectly dated by the author).

= 1st Prize (A): Oliver Coddington



= 1st Prize (B): Chantal Jordan



Special award for timely wit: Andrew Tate

If you missed the original announcement of the competition, it can be seen HERE, where there are links to the website where you can write what you like on Einstein's blackboard and to other posts on chalk and talk, PowerPoint and the use of visual aids.

Pre-conference season conference

If you thought the LibDem conference in Bournemouth was the first conference of the season, you'd be wrong - because there's another one taking place the day before they get there.

I know this because I've agreed to speak next week at the first conference of the UK Speechwriters’ Guild at the Arts University College, Bournemouth.

It's an exciting innovation for all of us, because presentation trainers and speechwriters tend to toil away in isolation and don't often get a chance to meet each other.

The theme is ‘Why is there no British Obama?’.

If I'd known what an impressive line-up it was going to be, I might have thought twice about accepting the invitation, but it's far too late to back out now.

The other speakers include Phil Collins, Tony Blair’s former speechwriter, as well as Dr Susan Jones, author of Speechmaking and the team from CreativityWorks in Brighton, who'll be showing their video on the Mehrabian Myth, a much more pithy and entertaining treatment of the subject than my various attempts at debunking it. Dr Johan Siebers who's pioneering a new university course in rhetoric will also be there.

Anyone who's going to be in Bournemouth for the LibDem conference would surely benefit from arriving a day early. And anyone involved in politics and business would find it difficult to get a day of expert insight at such a reasonable price anywhere else.

I understand from the organiser, Brian Jenner, that there are still some tickets available - and you don’t have to be a speechwriter to come along. Call him on 01202 551257.