Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Reagan's Planned Effortlessness

We've had 44 presidents so far. Only one is known as the Great Communicator - Ronald Reagan. Some people think that speakers like Reagan were born with charisma.

Turns out he had a little help, from himself.

Douglas Brinkley, the historian and author of The Reagan Diaries, was on the evening news telling how Reagan would write down stories and even jokes he heard on index cards in long hand. He'd keep them in a shoe box or photo album and pull them out periodically to help him prepare for talks and speeches.

People would then hear him recount the stories or jokes at an occasion and they'd ask the pople around them; "where the heck does he get all this great material?".  Easy: he's been collecting it for the last 30 years!

You can use Reagan's way or you can use a little web camera to record a personal "greatest hits" video album of stories or jokes on your desktop or IPad for easy retrieval on the run.

Like Reagan did using pen to paper technology, you can build a mental library of great material - all ready for prime time.

If you think great communicators just wing it - think again!

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