A guy at the Bothell Library board meeting told me my 4 minute public comment sounded like a press release, so I rewrote how I talk to the council

Gavin Kelly · 2026-09-23T01:30:04.26295+00:00

I go to the Bothell Community Board meetings at the library on 101st Ave NE pretty much every month, and back in January I stood up to talk about the crosswalk on Bothell Way near the Safeway. I had written out my 4 minutes like a formal letter, lots of long sentences, and afterward this older guy named Ray came up and told me straight up that I sounded like a press release and nobody on the board would remember a word of it. That stung but he was right, so for the March meeting I cut my notes down to one page, opened with the actual number of near misses I counted over 3 weeks (6 of them), and just talked like a normal person. Two board members came up to me after and actually asked follow up questions, which never happened before. Now I do it that way every time and it works way better. Has anyone else gotten honest feedback at these meetings that changed how you show up?

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A guy at the Bothell Library board meeting told me my 4 minute public comment sounded like a press release, so I rewrote how I talk to the council | Bothell Community Board - SMM Buzz