Thursday, February 8, 2007

Free Advice for Mr. Jones

It's been a big news day in Dallas. First, Texas native Anna Nicole Smith died. Then, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones introduced the new head coach, and Texas native, Wade Phillips.

If you're a newsmaker like Mr. Jones, please get media coaching or join Toastmasters. Jerry can come up with a soundbite, but his speech is so littered with verbal fillers (a nice way of saying he's got uncontrollable "um's") that he's hard to listen to. Jones probably wouldn't take the time to attend a weekly Toastmasters meeting, but it would quickly help eliminate those pesky distractions that make him sound like an amateur.

The inexpensive Toastmasters meetings help people eliminate unwanted words by having a person honk a horn or ding a bell every time you say, "Uh" or something similar. Where I used to attend, our club record was 27 "um's" for a two-minute speech. If Terrell Schaffer could get rid of that ugly habit, I bet Jerry Jones could, too.

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