I just finished watching An Incovenient Truth with Al Gore. And I have to say, if A.G. was a student in one of my classes, I’d have to give him an A+ (I actually don’t give grades, I just nag students to write, write, write and then write some more but I would give him an A+ if I did).
Point is, and despite whatever your politics may be, Gore communicates an incredibly complex issue simply, economically, and powerfully, using reason, not emotion, to compell the listener/viewer.
Furthermore, he makes his appeal humane by weaving in relevant stories from his personal life, and he makes it more than political, by pointing out the significance of the story to every person on planet earth.
The viewer cannot help but feel compelled to take action based on the sheer force of reasonable and deliberate calm conveyed by Gore in this remarkably poetic film (when you consider that it’s actually the story of a man and his slideshow!).
So, what I am trying to communicate, perhaps not nearly as poetically (because it is late and I have go change the remainder of my lightbulbs that I’ve been too lazy to switch up until now) is that all professional communicators could learn a thing or two by watching this film.
As a professional communicator myself, I feel inspired to clean up my own act thanks to An Inconvenint Truth. And I don’t just mean my carbon emissions. I mean
Because, in a way, this is not just about a message, it’s about how to master any medium. It’s an persuasive example of the power of multiple drafts. If Gore has given the slideshow 1,000 times, then we all possess the capacity for such clarity, no matter how complicated the topic, as long as we stay in our process.
Perhaps, all we need are the connections of a former vice president, a heavy dose of insider information, and about 999 drafts, and we too could uncover powerful truths in our own lives that are not only universal but also extremely timely. 
An Inconvenient Truth is available on DVD. You don’t want to miss it. I’d love to hear what you think.
(I felt the need to comment here for real, as you were so kind as to erase my misplaced comment from another post.) Anyway… we just finished watching it. I think it is monumental. As a communicator, yes, Gore used humor, visuals, stories, experts, science and heartstrings to make his point. Although I got so sucked into his message, I can barely think in a critical or removed way. We already do a lot of what he recommends, but the film made me want to do more. I keep thinking that it is a message so critical it is like a fable of one man seeing the end of the world approaching, and figuring out how to get people to believe him and help stop it. (Only, of course, it’s not a fable, it’s real.) And I don’t know if he could’ve gotten this message out from the White House (as much as I wanted him there!). It actually made me think the election travesty happened for a higher purpose. It made me think about timing and circumstances for getting a message out, too — people will listen to him now, at this moment, like they would not have at any other. He seized the timing and circumstance to get his message out. As writers, this is a lesson for us, too. Still reeling, need to sit and think on it more, but so, so glad he made this film.