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Common bridging and flagging phrases
Summary: How do you explain complex ideas? What do you say when reporters ask you to guess about the future? ODOT spokesperson and public affairs manager Dave Thompson will share tips on how to explain a complex topic to reporters and concerned citizens.
Thompson worked as a broadcast news reporter, producer and anchor for 20 years, including anchoring the weekend news at KPTV from 1992 to 2000. He’s been in public relations another 14 years, leading pre-IPO angel-invested startup branding efforts and providing company and government agency perspective to reporters and citizens. And of course, apologizing for Portland’s congestion and warning us about driving in snowstorms.
But Dave didn’t start out in communications: He was a math major! His message: With practice, you can and should speak in public, if you’re prepared and when you’re the subject matter expert. (If he can do it, you can do it!)
Dave will show you how to engage your audience’s imagination to explain the complex, yet stay true to the technical.