Lunch Keynote - Mark Walsh
The Lunch Keynote does not mean lunch.
Mark Walsh wants to talk about "Lessons from Politics". Given that he was the CEO of Air America - he has a radio voice. Washington really IS the hot spot; it keeps coming up.
He brings up Oppenheimer, one of my favorite historical characters. Getting on the bus to the detonation - the mathmatician wasn't on the bus. Oppie: "What up?" Mathie: "If I got the math wrong, none of you is coming back." Point being: "We got the math wrong on everything in the last few months."
His story: In March 2005, he's at a dinner party for Obama, newly elected Sen from Illinois, who wants to hear what they're most concerned about. Walsh: "I'm afraid of two things - Democrats never bring a knife to a knife fight; we're not prepared to push back when the going gets tough. Second, you're the newly installed freshman senator from Illinois, and YOU'RE the savior of the party?"
He leaps to some assumptions: we have trouble assimilating information, hence sound bites. He brings up Al Gore's "I invented the internet" problem, and talks about "Microscripts" - one-word scripts that have intense meaning. "Lipstick". "Change". "Maverick".
How does this affect business people? "We must learn to find shorter and shorter ways to express core product features." And that works in reverse, too - you need to have them for your competition as well. Not an elevator speech; a bumper sticker.
He states that Facebook, Twitter, SMS texting all are personal Micro-Scripts. Marketers have to mimic these. And he feels that the current generation 25 and younger have a generational Micro-Script: "Whatever".
Obama is going to "reboot" the country: "He will be a force-feeder of more thoughtful ways to approach things....He is Human Ritalin." This means that transparency, accountability, forethought will resurge. Except most people won't "get it".
Walsh's Micro-Script? "Shift happens".
Question: Well, I didn't hear the question, but the answer is, "There's no one to tuck us into bed, and that fear will cause a searching and a hunger. Politicians will be asked not to pander - fear is so deep it cannot be assuaged by micro-scripts. Fear is a magnificent sales point."
Question: "Who does Micro-Scripting well?" "Apple, Wrangler (Real. American. Jeans.). IBM." But some sectors have failed micro-scripting: autos, except Volvo (Drive. Safely.)."
What I offer:
