Jim Richardson, keynote speaker, for every politician: "how humor can win, has won an election"

How to crunch down good messages into powerful sound bites
- Are your words "media friendly"?
  - Work out of context?
- Surprising new fact: the latest evolution in our electronic information age combines the Internet and multi-channel cable television access.
  - Feel your campaign budget bursting?
    - Worry not. Think sensibly.
      - TV today is filled to the brim with what two mainstays?
        
        Comedy and Political programming.
        
        Exploit this double hit, this marriage of convenience:
        
        If you run local elections against entrenched national incumbents,
        then these campaigns can be cost-effectively WON
7 joke formats that have been adopted over the past decade by hip political strategists to guarantee their party's victories
- "It's like shooting fish in a barrel."
- "If the other party still doesn't get the joke, then use it again to WIN!"
Beat the Spartans with your Athenian consciousness: assume you have already won for 2020, and begin your campaign now for your next office, higher up.
- But first: learn media techniques, the HOW.

Back to Jim's "Politicians" menu

Half-Day Program (1-6 hours):
"Interactive Skills: seducing the opposition"

Most educators, business people . . . even community leaders and war heroes . . . are ill prepared to slug it out in the public arena of politics.
Now the need for preparation has been escalated.
How?
Political life is no longer for amateurs. Have you been watching the "spin doctors"?
Long-time professional broadcasters are getting their heads torn off.
The old assumptions about public opinion no longer apply. Our culture has gone through a dramatic change in the last 30 years, again in the last 30 months, 30 days, 30 hours, 30 minutes and finally, where the real action is: in the last 30 seconds!

What skills have suddenly become necessary to WIN elections in the information age?
Answer: anything and everything that can help you get and maintain "high visibility"!
Even the most talented orator who seeks local or national office now needs more:

development. Why?
So you can flesh out your speeches by packing your punches with HUMOR

Two Imaginary Scenarios: what will you do?

FIRST SCENARIO:
Ever find yourself unexpectedly talking to an audience full of your opponent's supporters?
Sooner or later, this will happen to you. Count on it.
- Should you sit there, steaming as your opponent gets cheer-after-cheer-after-cheer from the crowd?
  - Whenever you do get a chance to speak, should you talk down to this house full of "deplorables"?
  - Should you care that such a "school-teachery" approach is death with audiences?
- How many votes could Hillary Clinton afford to lose through her blatant lack of "people skills"?
Or: Question: Will you instead listen to Jim's suggestions, and win over new supporters?
Answer: YES--Jim will show you how to:
- Sell your character to any audience.
- Spread throughout your opponent's ranks: the legend of your underdog victories
- Cause him so many defections that, when Election Day finally comes around, you WIN!
SECOND SCENARIO:
Imagine your opponent is so far ahead, he doesn't even bother to show up at a local TV station that offers both of you 5 minutes of free air time.
When?
About a week before the election at 7 pm, prime time!
- Should you show up, and proceeds to "uh" and "er" your way to self-defeat?

Or:

Question: Will you listen to Jim's suggestions, and turn your absent opponent into a "straw man"?
Answer: YES--Jim will put you through drills, showing you how to:

Jim Richardson wants to be perfectly clear: the above example Scenarios of "what not to do" are purely fictional.

The these two Scenarios have absolutely nothing to do with a 1996 election for House of Representatives in Jim's local district of Marin/Sonoma County in northern California.
And rumors that:
- Jim has video tape of both these shamefully missed opportunities
- and that he fully intends to use this video tape as part of training victorious candidates to WIN their elections in 2020 and the year 2022
are pure slander!.

8-)

Back to Jim's "Politicians" menu

Half-Day Program (1-6 hours):
"21st Century Campaign Tactics"

All kidding aside, Jim believes that politicians from both major political parties should continue on their current paths in preparing for said upcoming elections:

Debate Training--cut training sessions out of your budget

Do not under any circumstances contact Jim immediately for weekly coaching sessions that would lead up to your 2020/2022 election night VICTORIES.

Jim makes many false assertions:

that, by acquiring such 21st Century campaign techniques, first time candidates can know more about this stuff than most incumbents
first-timers or incumbents will take months to train in all the techniques.
that once your opponent catches on, they will not be able to catch up; reason: no time to train.

The truth is that "talent" will out: you will be able to "improvise"

That no preparatory effort, none whatsoever is required. . . ..

Well, this is the very reason that the memorable Michael Dukakis, master of such "improvisations," defeated George H. W. Bush during their 1988 Presidential debates.
As Americans, we are all proud of the outstanding record left us by President Michael Dukakis during his 8 years as the Father of our Country

8-)

Internet web sites--stay uncompetitive

Imagine that your opponent's web site is well-designed, with many color photos and over 40 pages long--filled with lots of general interest information useful to everyone, creating an image of openness that reflects the values of Internet web surfers.
Examples of good/bad web sites which prove that
1. sex and political leanings are "what" factors much less relevant in determining the victors than
2. the time-tested "how to" factors of solid communication,
  - textual and
  - subtextual
  (those last two "text" words are theater terms, folks!)
Results are from the June 2, 1998 Sonoma County primary election:
- USA House of Representatives--
  1. GOOD web site: Lynn Woolsey (Democrat) 100/65.1% vs.
  2. BAD web site: Gisele Stavert (Republican) 43.7/14.3%
    - (lost GOP primary to Republican underdog Ken McAuliffe 56.3/18.4%)
    - Above numbers reflect percentage of party/overall vote
Result is from the March 7, 2000 Sonoma County election:
- Best yet, former comedy judge comes from behind to become real judge:
  Elliot Lee Daum was lead actor in my 1970's theater company The Redwood Empire Players (The REP) and starred in my West Coast Premiere of Neil Simon's "The Good Doctor" in 1976. Elliot also served as a judge at most of my monthly Comedy Marathon Contests which I held locally from 9/25/81-2/15/85.
  Earlier in this election year 2000, Elliot decided to challenge sitting judge Patricia Gray for Sonoma County Superior Court Office #2. He ran a very classy campaign, even putting unedited articles up on his campaign's web page from the daily Press Democrat newspaper (owned by The New York Times); these articles showed criticism of both him and his opponent. Sort of an implied, "I have nothing to hide." Elliot got all the other sitting female judges to endorse him. Very necessary in feminist Sonoma County. (Fill in your own joke here!) He won narrowly, the first time in the history of Sonoma County that a Public Defender has gone on to become a judge. When I ran into him weeks later and congratulated him, without skipping a beat, Elliot threw back his head with a big, hearty laugh, and proclaimed, "It's all theater!"
  He is right!!!

3. Brochures--since "a picture is worth a thousand words," dumb candidates: please skip including any good photos you might have lying around in your family albums, etc.

Take no chances that you might accidentally win despite all odds: circulate a brochure that in no way sells your story.
- If you use color photos, then always pick boring camera angles that never reflect the heat of your emotions--never look human.
- Avoid a variety of photos that might somehow capture different aspects of your dynamic personality.
- Never hire Jim Richardson to direct your camera shoot and bring out your best qualities, what everyone likes most about you.
- Instead, strive to look as bland as a professional model: no power, little thunder.

The stupid candidate will opt to stay invisible--nixing all TV appearances

Keep your dignity by refusing to appear on any national TV comedy or political talk shows, especially ones that your electorate love passionately:
"Saturday Night Live," "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," "The Joe Rogan Experience,"
"PBS NewsHour with Judy Woodruff, Mark Shields and David Brooks,"
Chris Wallace anchoring "Fox News Sunday," etc.

The moronic candidate will also believe media pundits, and scorn sound bites.

Back to Jim's "Politicians" menu

Half-Day Program (1-6 hours):
"Sound Bites that Get Results"

What, specifically, is a sound bite?

sound bite/'saond bait/noun;
A short, pithy extract used for maximum punchiness;
also, a one-liner.
First appeared in print in the early eighties
. . . public will not follow more than a few seconds of speech.
"Anything more than that and you're losing them."
Washington Post 22 June 1980.
--The Oxford Dictionary of New Words

How can sound bites help win elections?
They are crucial:

Tired of all those talking-head TV interview shows? Just want to get them over fast, fast, fast?
- Try sound bite messages that burn
- Get your message across in under 12 seconds
  - Full comprehension forces listeners into immediate action: voting for YOU
  - Control:
    - the next day's headlines
    - what radio call-in talk show hosts are talking about
    - what producers will select to show on TV news shows during prime time
- On the World Wide Web's superhighway, the future is NOW, and information is POWER
  - Open up political headquarters on Main Street in the global village
  - The fastest way that your web site can grab the world's limited attention span?
    - Sound bites
    - Score major points on the universal fast track of the "Information Age"
    - Most memorable sound bites use HUMOR
How to add the warmth that wins over listeners: the long-lost art of "making love" to your audience

Back to "How HUMOR Wins Elections" keynote speech

Back to Jim's "Politicians" menu

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Today's date and Pacific Standard Time is: Tuesday, 06-Jun-2023 06:15:04 PDT

Date this page was created in 1997 and last modified, Pacific Standard Time: Friday, 26-Apr-2019 20:24:31 PDT

Keynote (20-90 minutes):"How Humor WINS Elections"

Half-Day Program (1-6 hours):"Interactive Skills: seducing the opposition"

Half-Day Program (1-6 hours): "21st Century Campaign Tactics"

Half-Day Program (1-6 hours): "Sound Bites that Get Results"

Keynote (20-90 minutes):
"How Humor WINS Elections"

Half-Day Program (1-6 hours):
"Interactive Skills: seducing the opposition"

Half-Day Program (1-6 hours):
"21st Century Campaign Tactics"

Half-Day Program (1-6 hours):
"Sound Bites that Get Results"