Observed

We tend to make major, lasting impressions based on the smallest, seemingly insignificant details.

This morning’s New York Times has an excellent article by Matt Bai offering a political angle to this truism.  While the hook was President Obama’s handling of the Gulf oil spill, the piece mentioned how other presidents have suffered from (or dodged) negative public perceptions…or, how well they’ve projected a sense of control over the chaos of events around them.

Bai’s piece reminded me of Jimmy Carter and how a potentially obscure wildlife encounter helped further tip things in favor of Ronald Reagan in the 1980 presidential election.  While the Attack Rabbit Incident might have appeared otherwise innocent or silly, it fanned doubts about Carter’s  strength as much or more than the Iranian hostage crisis, economic woes and the like. (more…)

Once upon a time, I used to know something about client events.  Actually, I used to get some very good advice from someone who knew something about orchestrating events, especially when there was a bar in the vicinity.  (Yep, she worked for President Reagan.)

One of the pieces of advice I remember best about such events was to have servers pass trays of drinks to arriving guests.  Giving a guest a drink (alcoholic or otherwise) to hold immediately helped put them at ease.

In other words, it got the new guest engaged. (more…)