Xenophon Strategies

Knowing Your Lines

Jay Silverberg

Two men who know a little something about sound-bites shared a microphone, talking baseball, during a Commonwealth Club gathering in San Francisco two weeks ago. Roy Eisenhardt, former president of the Oakland Athletics during the team’s championship years in the late 80s, and Bruce Bochy, manager of the defending World Champion San Francisco Giants, were taking questions from the audience, along with Brian Sabean, the Giants’ general manager.

During the Q&A, Bochy responded to a question beyond his usual, day-of-game, managerial tone and ended with an unexpected quip about the season that elicited a good bit of laughter from the audience. That gave Eisenhardt the opening to offer, “You know your laugh lines by now, I think.” After 30-plus years in baseball, the last 16 of which as a Major League manager, it’s no surprise that Bochy knows how to craft an answer to make a point, no matter who may be asking the question.

Think about it. Beginning this week – the start of Spring Training – his daily regiment will soon be a ménage of interviews with reporters wanting to know about the Giants’ chances of repeating as champions, who are the best looking rookies, and on and on before the season begins. From the day of the first game to what he hopes will be the season’s final game with the Giants walking off as champions again; Bochy will spend at least an hour each day, or more, in front of the media.  

As I thought about the exchange between Eisenhardt and Bochy, I was reminded of what we tell our media training participants:

• Knowing what you’re going to say is as important as how you say it. Bochy knows how to talk with the media about the Giants and avoid saying, “We stink” or “We can’t be too overconfident.”  It’s not always enough to have a well-crafted message point if you can’t articulate it in a manner that reporters will understand and as important, want to use.
• Know your “laugh lines.” Bochy knew, especially for diehard Giants’ fans, that adding a detail about one his star players would get a positive reaction. A usable quote from an interview generally has some spice to it.

One news story that especially had my interest among the many regarding the situation in Egypt was about Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, speaking last week at Twitter’s headquarters in the Bay Area. A couple of her comments that appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle [and heard via an international Internet link], I think, help to illustrate the point about going beyond a basic message point. About the use of social media, she said:

• "I think it's an extraordinary moment in the power of this technology, the power of social networking to channel and champion public sentiment."
• “It gives those of us who are diplomats and communicators many more avenues to get the message out. And it gives us many more avenues from which to receive input and insight from people around the world.”
• "We are much more cognizant of and sensitive to not just what we hear from government and officials but what we hear from civil society and (nongovernmental organizations) and bloggers, and people on the street."

In the first quote, put a period after “technology” and the quote lacks a concluding point about public sentiment; in the second, eliminate the second sentence and it lacks the “action” that she references in her first sentence; in the third, note how she builds that specific point.

Consider her audience and the points she’s trying to convey. I think she knew her “laugh lines.”

Tweet this link

« return to blog | Feb 15, 2011