"Can You Get Away With Calling Her a Fembot?"

I suffered through a Friday conference presentation by Al Ries and his alleged branding expert daughter Laura, who has replaced Jack Trout, with whom the elder Ries achieved fame. You can characterize the duo as the "American Gothic" of branding.

It was clear right away the presentation was heading south. Five minutes in, the Twitter chatter in the room, some of it from yours truly, reflected how far south it had gotten. Laura's presentation style was being mocked across both the broad Twitter stream and in tweeters' private messages. Many of the tweets were hilarious, especially in direct messages with my tweeting partner.

After being called out onsite for not sharing our DM tweets more broadly, I promised to publish the DM stream here tonight. Having thought about it over the weekend though, it's not running. The reason? You had to be there. While some of it might be funny if you hadn't seen the presentation, most of it would require way too much explanation.

Then I found this video, which will at least give you a sense of it: a grating voice, too much skin, and a talk-down to the audience tone.

Go ahead and take a look. And then make up your own jokes. But here are two to start:

• Price Is Right Model + Killer Calves + Mktg 101 Class + Stories from 1980s + Patronizing Demeanor + Nepotism = Today's Speaker
  
• The two of them remind me of the Fondas in "On Golden Pond" - Jane looked like she'd been sanded down to a smooth finish & Henry was about to collapse.

I guess I couldn't resist...sorry! =8 )> The Funny Eye