Neal Katyal posted this virtual TED Talk on persuasion and it’s good. Really good.
Too often, people on the left try to browbeat others into submission with what they are convinced is their superior command of the facts. Then they wonder why it doesn’t work. Katyal relates how he learned something about making a human connection to persuade others in presenting a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.
He prepared. He rehearsed before law professors. But his argument seemed to land flat.
Desperate, Katyal spoke with an acting coach who insisted he look him in the eye to deliver it, to focus on his audience and use that human connection to bring his argument to life. Everything changed.
He won, BTW.
Our Netroots family lost such a speaking coach to cancer a couple of years ago. Joel Silberman was a Broadway-trained actor who could be found backstage at many progressive events, stage managing and preparing speakers to tell their stories in way that would make them authentic and “present” to the audience. He was the media trainer for the Congressional Progressive Caucus. He trained Elizabeth Warren.
Joel was a gift and we miss him mightily.
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