Chapter 13: Give Us 8 Seconds and We’ll Give You … the Business

Think of something you know well or about which you feel strongly; a hobby, your work, your family, government policy, or a movie. Your task is to communicate as much as you can about it in 8 seconds. Take as much time as you would like to prepare, but you have only 8 seconds to tell your story. Why 8 seconds? Because when we heard from a candidate on the evening news during the last presidential campaign that was the length of the average sound bite we heard. Did you have to leave anything out in your 8 second soliloquy? How much complexity could you work into 8 seconds? How much history, or context, or subtlety? Eight seconds, the time a rider has to stay on a bucking horse at the rodeo, and the time a candidate has to stay on message without putting his or her foot in their mouth, or leaving an opening for ruthless editors or political opponents. This is now what passes for presidential eloquence.