Media News: a decision is not going to be made

Our local newspaper, The Wells Journal, occasionally comes up with such breath-taking headlines or stories that they cry out to be shared with a wider audience, as when it told us that a council official was about to walk along path that doesn't exist, or when one of its pre-Christmas headlines warned of a 'Busy time for postal workers' (HERE).

This week's Journal excels itself with the lead headline and opening lines of its front page story about something that's not going to happen and a meeting that's not going to take place - pushing news of a local murder trial (very rare around here, thankfully) on to an inside page:

City kept waiting for news about store
A decision on which site in Wells will be used for a new supermarket will not be made this week. Mendip District Council has decided to postpone a debate and decision on a new supermarket after a last minute application by the Morrisons chain...

READ MORE and/or keep up with the latest from the Wells Journal (?) HERE.

Using 'clap on the name' to introduce or commend someone

This is a sequel to yesterday's post on How NOT to introduce a speaker, and shows some more examples of the 'clap on the name technique' in action.

In the first one, Michael Parkinson is introducing the next guest on his chat show.

(1) Identify or hint at the person's identity:
".. her latest film, 'In the Cut', is dark and erotic."

(2) Say a few words about him/her:
"She’s a writer who becomes involved with a detective investigating a serial killer. Ladies and Gentlemen"

(3) Name him/her:
"Meg Ryan" [Applause/cheers].


The second example shows how the 'clap on the name' technique doesn't just work for introductions, but is also just as effective when you're congratulating or commending someone.

In this clip, Barack Obama is commending John Kerry at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

(1) Identify or hint at the person's identity:
"Our party has chosen a man to lead us"

(2) Say a few words about him/her:
"who embodies the best this country has to offer, and that man is"

(3) Name him/her:
"John Kerry" [Applause/cheers].

How NOT to introduce a speaker

About 20 seconds into this clip from the Liberal Democrats' Spring conference at the weekend, you'll see a fine example of how not to do an introduction.

Clap on the name
As far as the structure of the sequence is concerned, it's a reasonable example of how to use the 'clap on the name' technique to elicit applause (for more on which, see my books):

(1) Identify or hint at the identity of who's being introduced
(2) Say a few words about him/her
(3) Name him/her [Audience applauds]

Be positive and confident about who it is
But it really isn't a very good idea to spend stages (1) and (2) raising questions or doubts about the person you're introducing, or to sound less than 100% sure who it is.

Normally, the 'clap on the name' technique works so that the audience is able to come in before you get to the end of saying the person's name - which has the added advantage of making it sound as though they're all so pleased to see him/her that they can't wait until you've finished to start clapping.

But, in this case there's a delay of a whole second before the applause gets under way - which was almost certainly prompted by the hesitancy shown in leading up to the announcement of his name (and/or possibly even because the audience was still mulling over the controversial implications of the first sentence):

CHAIR: "I'd like to introduce you conference to probably one of the very few MPs in British politics at the moment who is genuinely trusted by the British public (What? - 1: Is he only 'probably' one of them, 2: Are there only 'very few' of them, and 3: Where does that leave all the other LibDem MPs?).

"Its - the - shadow - Treasury - uh - shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer rather (What?Doesn't she know who their most famous MP is or what his job title is?), Vince Cable."


Clips showing Michael Parkinson and Barack Obama using the same technique rather more effectively than this can be seen HERE.