  Whew. After a five hour session exploring this and dozens of other obscure communications terms, I am thoroughly analyzed out.
This afternoon, the entire campaign staff gathered in our little conference room to learn the art of communicating our message in person--speechmaking, in other words. There's a lot more to it than eye contact and introduction-body-conclusion. We began with making three minute speeches on camera. I was surprised at the strengths and weaknesses of the staff--perhaps the best speech was made by my fellow intern and Garfield student Gen Schaad (go Bulldogs!
) who spoke so candidly and charmingly about her experience as a PTA daughter with a reading disability that even those of us who have heard every argument for the initiative were moved again. On the other hand, some of our most experienced people, with the broadest command of the facts, stumbled and kept apologizing and laughing nervously. When you come down to it, it's all about comfort and confidence. We talked about localization and personalization and body language, but if you try to think about all those things when you're making a speech before 20 or 30 or 100 people, you're toast.
Above all, I was humbled by the experience. I've gotten pretty good at convincing people in print, but the spoken word is a whole different animal. Nonetheless, we're all going to have to tame it pretty soon: the most intense part of the campaign is yet to come. We're now putting together a calendar of meetings with PTAs, unions, chambers of commerce, teachers, professors, bureaucrats, rotaries, churches, every group you can imagine with a stake in education, all over the state.
Some of them are going to need more convincing than others, and I'm pretty sure that I'll make a fool of myself somewhere along the line. But if I manage to convince one person, to me it'll be worth it. 
