Another post without photos: you were warned

An American guy came to my office yesterday to present a seminar on WRITING TO WIN.  He was a little guy but had a big voice, striped socks, and a lot of confidence even though he didn't have too terribly much to say.  Interestingly, as I type I am breaking all of his rules but I don't think I'm worried about it.  He says you really use his rules in the editing process anyway and that doesn't count here because in case you had not already noticed I do not edit this here blog.  I barely write anything in the first place and editing takes me longer than the original writing as I am a very fast typist and an even faster thinker.  If I edited, I would have to cut back on television and I barely get enough of that as it is.  Anyway, this guy's first rule (which must be the most important if you adhere to his other rules, one of which is make your best point your first point and don't expect your reader to absorb any more than the first point, especially if your reader is American) is to skip commas and instead use dashes.

And this made the English solicitors go cross-eyed.

I love it when a big group of adults talk about the rules of grammar.  I mean, I understand that one ought to know them and I am painfully aware that I likely do not follow them as well as I ought to BUT there is a point at which it all becomes a tiny bit silly and my friends, I had about two hours of silly yesterday.

But the best part is when he discussed how one must present to American audiences.  He suggested two things that struck me as absurd:  one, that because Americans are used to listening to preachers that you make it sort of sermon-like, and two, that you always always always end with a positive message.

And I should've raised my hand, I should have, but this was after he said that speaking to a group of Americans is roughly equivalent to speaking to a group of fifteen-year-old boys and so I was already sort of confused.

Because while I can understand the usefulness of stereotypes at some times, I don't think that making sweeping statements about an entire country is useful for a group of people who obviously have corporate clients.  Who might not be interested in religion and sunshine when they have a problem and want your view on it?

My lord.  I would so so so love to know how much that guy was paid.