Day: April 29, 2005

10 Deadly Sins of Boring Speeches


Why wasnt any Malaysian Judge this entertaining?


Hidden as a close to item no. 9 in a speech titled “Boring Speeches – 10 Deadly Sins”, Michael Kirby exposes the modern speaker:

“Welcome to the world in which the new media nurtures new forms of boredom. The speaker who is bereft without his slides. The lecturer who always puts her transparencies upside down. The obdurate laptop that brings every international conference to a grinding halt because it simply refuses to deliver the visuals designed to add dazzle and glitz to a speaker who, left alone, would commit every one of the foregoing sins.” It doesn’t quite reflect the fun of the rest of the speech, but it’s the one I’m most guilty of. I find that I could no longer be interesting without these paraphernalia. Maybe it’s the corporatisation of an entertaining exercise such as a presentation. Whereas presentation in the past imports the entertainment industry (see how “corporatised” that very idea is?) it now conjures up images of an executive in pin-striped suit in a boardroom projecting charts and diagrams from his notebook computer onto some screens. Even pastors in churches do it now. It is proof of how much work went into preparing the message. But does that matter? I don’t care how much work went into any exercise if it isn’t entertaining or fruitful.

“So, I commend the enjoyment of life.” (From the Bible – really. Eccl 8:15)

Be That As It May


“Be that as it may”. Many have heard that phrase before, I’m sure. These 5 words are really the equivalent of that 1 word which I dislike but unfortunately a word which, kids my daughter’s age like to use. “Whatever”, uttered with a shrug of the shoulders but more annoyingly, with a rolling of the eyes (bottom-up). An older generation would probably say, “who cares”. To be fair, BTAIM goes further than WE or WC. BTAIM says yes but or, yes however. WE is really just WC. There are other more rude versions, but we wont go there. BTAIM is a way of saying, “I know that but even so” or “I know that but let’s leave that aside for the moment”. It may mean Augustine Pauline irrelevant, but it need not. I can say “I know Fact A but BTAIM…” without saying Fact A is irrelevant, although it often means I am saying it is. Have you used that phrase today? You must be a lawyer or a politician.