NATIONS DIVIDED BY A COMMON LANGUAGE

There are many wonderful things about America - which I've just been reminded about during my speaking mission to Kansas City in Missouri. Amongst them is an enthusiasm to meet customers' needs supremely well in shops (though this doesn't spill over to the hugely less impressive world of US Airways where, strangely, the concept of customer service has yet to be discovered). American shop assistants will routinely try everything to come up with exactly what you want. And if they don't have it, they will go to great lengths to tell you how to get to the right shop that does stock it. Americans I met on the streets happily pulled out their i-phones to show me maps, give detailed directions and even look up bus timetables. But one has to recognise that Americans have a different way of deploying the English language. Early in my visit - before I tuned into the latest quirks of America-speak - this was a routine conversation I had in the excellent the Kansas City Intercontinental Hotel at The Plaza. "Could I have milk with my tea please?" "Yessir. Would you like 2 per cent milk?" "Well actually I take a bit more milk than that. I reckon I have about 6 or 7 per cent milk?" "Sorry sir, we only have 2 per cent milk." "Well can you please bring the milk in a jug and I'll pour it myself so that I get exactly the right amount." What I eventually came to discover - with the help of some American interpreters - is that "2 per cent milk" is the standard US term for what is known elsewhere as "semi skimmed milk".  2% milk The moral of the story is that communication is often more difficult than people think. One of the constant requirements is to get inside the head of your specific audience so that you can see the pictures they have in their minds and adopt their language to relate to them. But the constant references to "2 per cent milk" raise another, more troubling question. If they're only giving you 2 per cent milk, what on earth is the other 98 per cent made up of? THE TITANIC - IN KANSAS CITY Being a landlocked metropolis, you might think that Kansas City would be the last place to have an interest in the one-hundredth anniversary of the sinking of The Titanic. But some of the passengers on the ill-fated journey were heading for a new life in the Midwest. Interest is consequently so strong in Kansas City that there's a massive exhibition of recovered Titanic artifacts in the magnificently restored Union Station - the second largest train station in America with a highly decorated 95-foot high ceiling from which hangs three 3,500-pound chandeliers (Americans don't like metric). Alas, given the US obsession with the car, the station now only sees around four trains passing through each day. However this means there's plenty of room left for other things, so a large part of the station is now turned over to Titanic photos, early movie footage of its construction in Belfast and the personal belongings of those who did and didn't make it across the Atlantic. When you enter the exhibition you get a ticket in the name of a particular passenger. As Americans clearly recognise true breeding, mine was an Upper Class ticket for the wealthy Macy's department store partner, Isidor Straus, who - with his wife, Ida - was returning to New York in 1912 after a European holiday. At the end of the exhibition you get to find out what happened to your original ticket holder. Sadly, Isidor Straus didn't make it. And neither did Ida. As a woman, Ida was entitled to get into a lifeboat and nearly did. But she refused to climb aboard when her husband - a mere male - was not allowed. So after declaring to her husband "Where you go, I go", Ida and Isidor sank together to the bottom of the Atlantic. Fortunately, a hundred years on, a slightly lighter side is emerging to the tragedy of the Titanic. This is because the Union Station is also home to the Irish Museum and Culture Centre. And mindful of the damage the Titanic's sinking might do to the reputation for Irish ship-building, they've made up T-shirts with the iconic four funnels going under. The caption reads: "She was fine when she left Ireland". And indeed she was...with the statement fitting neatly into the Michael Dodd communications credo: "Only tell exact truths". Here below, a perfectly formed world-class male model poses in the T-shirt before a backdrop of the Titanic's grand staircase.   Kansas City's Salute to Sydney Apart from the train station, the other architectural point of note in Kansas City is a tribute to my home town, Sydney - the Kauffman Centre for the Performing Arts. Some correspondents on Trip Advisor and elsewhere confuse it with the Sydney Opera House because of its gracious sails. Locally they'll tell you it's known as "The Sydney Building" - and some will try to tell you that the designers of the Sydney Opera House actually copied it. Unfortunately for them, my glamorous assistant Ms Google has discovered that the Kansas City version was only completed in 2011. The Sydney Opera House was officially opened by a certain Mrs Windsor back in 1973. But the Kansas City hosts of our speaking delegation were sufficiently proud of the building to take all the conference participants for a giant dinner at their performing arts centre - and the food and ambience were indeed impressive. Here below a passing Sydney celebrity - who happened to be wearing an Australian Broadcasting Corporation 2BL "T"-Shirt - was prepared to wave to the massed cameras for the benefit of readers of this ezine.   THE POWER OF STORIES - YOUR OPPORTUNITY TO SHINE Kansas City witnessed the debut performance of my new conference keynote "The Power of the Stories". It tells how people who really changed the world - from the Buddha to Jesus Christ, from Martin Luther King to Barrack Obama, from Steve Jobs to Bill Gates - had one particular thing in common...they made things happen, in part at least, by telling stories. The keynote also shows how the human brain is programmed at an early age to tune into stories - otherwise known as fairytales - including beautiful princesses who kiss ugly frogs...such as this particularly obnoxious Australian cane toad.   The frogs of course then turn into handsome princes - or, even better, into handsome democratically-elected statesmen. They then live happily ever after of course. If you're interested in changing the world through stories - or in taking your presentations to a new level - you can book now for the open presentation skills master class on Monday 30 July in Central London. Details of the "Speaking with Confidence, Impact and Pizzazz" are atwww.michaeldoddmedia.com/presentation_training.php For those attending, any anxieties you have about presenting should die happily ever after. ONLY IN AMERICA - DRIVE THROUGH FOR ANYTHING Amongst the things Missouri is famous for is its claim to have the world's first drive through fast-food restaurant. The concept was supposedly invented by a guy called Sheldon "Red" Chaney who opened "Red's Giant Hamburg" for those driving the famous Route 66. The odd name "Hamburg" has been attributed to a measuring error made while making the sign - as it was cut too short to fit the more obvious name "Hamburger". But Missouri has now gone way beyond mere drive through food. All over the state are drive through banks - where you can withdraw your money without having to get outside your car...something Americans love. And on a journey out to the city of Independence - home of President Harry Truman - I discovered something even more extraordinary...drive-through religion. As seen below, you can drive through to get information about the Baha'i faith. This has made me think that perhaps I should be offering my communications master classes in a drive-through form. I'm sure this won't take off in Britain, Belgium or Australia. But in America, it could be the next big thing. Keep smiling, Michael