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“It’s not exactly Rocket Surgery”

Aug 12, 2006

Never Apologize for Your Chicken

I got some good advice in one of my lectures today from the co-founder of my film school (Stephen Kopels gets the nod on this clever colloquilism). The worst thing you can do is preface a presentation with an apology. That works with everything in life. The key is to do your best and then present it confidently as being your best. If your presenting something (be it powerpoint, painting, film, code, project, or absolutely anything) do you want the audience to walk in with a negative mood or a positive mood? The example Stephen used was cooking someone dinner. If you goto someone’s house for dinner and the cook starts the meal with apologizing for overcooking the chicken, you are going to look for flaws in the food instead of enjoy the dinner. So don’t apologize for your chicken, whatever your chicken may be.

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    I migrated this post from my original blog and lost the comments. The following comment was posted by Wayne Willis, my father, on August 28th 2006 at 630am:



    Super point. I remember, during one "media training" session I went through, the same point got made: "Never start a speech with an apology." The chicken story makes the same point more vividly ... and therefore, better. I remember finding this "rule" counterintuitive at first, but absolutely correct in practice.

    It's a subset of "always be positive" -- or make your points positively, not negative. Use AND not BUT when you can in an argument.

    Another point, during the same training session, was "don't thank the audience for letting you speak to them. They should appreciate that you did." That also seemed contrary to good manners to me, but, again, it's absolutely correct. You don't need to be arrogant, but thanking THEM undercuts their invitation of you as someone they want to hear from.

    I'm always surprised by how most guests on talk shows (e.g., promoting a book or simply providing expert commentary on a subject) respond to hosts who end the interview with "thank you." The guests invariably respond with "[no], thank YOU" instead of the more correct, and obvious "you're welcome." It seems to me that the latter response is correct on a number of levels.
 

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About Me:

My Name is Tyler Willis. I am 21. I have worked for 4 startups and started 1 company which failed. I have a full beard. I graduated from Film School and now I live in Russian Hill, SF, CA. I love working for Involver. I throw some events. I explain myself on my webpage, but don't really blog much anymore since I got a Tumblr.


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