To Schtik or Not to Schtik...

That is the question... at least, that is the question facing me today. When I was in Chicago, my new company presented me with a canned presentation to be used with all customers. The fella who presented it to us was from Georgia or maybe Alabama... and he was a Good Ol' Boy. The presentation worked brilliantly for him - despite the plethora of chiche's and tie downs (the "wouldn't you agree, Mr. Customer?" questions).

Now, the concept is wonderful and the marketing collateral that accompanies it is wonderful... but the script... well, the script is just NOT me. So, I've spent the better part of the day re-tooling the presentation. I found that there was so much used-car-salesman schtik in there that I was hard-pressed to make it sound like something I would EVER say. (eg 'People don't plan to fail, they just fail to plan.' 'Would you agree with me that the person who can assist you when you're older is the younger person you are today?' ' While you may not be able to add more years to your life, by following this plan, you could add more life to your years!')


I had to remain true to the concepts being presented and endeavor to keep it interesting without being hokey. I think I'm there -- at least about 95% of the way there. I kept one cliche' and a few tie downs and (I'd like to think) artfully recrafted some of the segues from concept to concept. I'm being "tested" on this on Wednesday. I wonder if I'll pass the Schtik test?