Preparing for rude questions

Scott Berkun offers a guide on how to prepare for questions from a difficult audience.

Today’s links

Steve Rubel: The Future of PR is Participation, Not Pitching
Business Week: The Perfect (Elevator) Pitch. Substitute the word “business” with “issue.”
Guy Kawasaki: Speaking as a Performing Art.

Using beautiful design to explain

If you haven’t read Edward Tufte, you should. He is a pioneer in the visual presentation of information. Tufte been called the “Minister of Information” and the “Da Vinci of data.” See his web site here.

But note this:

He also stopped consulting, frustrated because managers forced to listen to his suggestions rarely followed them.

Why would managers ignore his suggestions? Because they don’t agree? Because they don’t understand? Because they can’t? My guess – unsupported by any evidence – is that managers don’t follow his suggestions because it’s risky. And risk is “managed” in the corporate world, not encouraged.

You should have a blog

That’s what Seth Godin says anyway.

But what if there’s just one thing you need to say, but you can say it clearly and well and in a way that hasn’t been said before? What if you’ve got one great blog post inside of you, and, even better, you’re willing to update that post as you learn more and gain more insight?

So here’s introducing mine. It’s called “The Essential Communicator.” Let’s see where it goes.