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Posts Tagged With: "teleprompter"

Obama Speech More of the Same

Posted by Bert Decker   |   August 31st, 2010   |   15 Comments   |  Tweet This

President Obama gave a speech tonight – second one from the Oval Office in his 19 months in office. It was a yawner. What’s going on here?

First of all I want to confess I’ve not reviewed Obama recently because he basically is the same. In delivery. Think of teleprompter, predictability, cadence, professorial, etc. See here and here for a lot more detail. But tonight I was challenged by Michael Hyatt on Twitter, who said;

@MichaelHyatt: I’d like to hear @BertDecker ’s analysis of the President’s speech. It’s difficult to comment apolitical.

Now Michael is a friend, and a HEAVYWEIGHT (sorry for the caps) in the blogosphere and Twitterland, as well as respected CEO, so I couldn’t refuse. Otherwise I would have passed it by again.

Content

It IS hard to be apolitical, as I try to stay away from the politics of the content in most reviews. But in this 19′ speech anyone could have said “What’s the point.”

  • An apolitical comment would be that he wanted to be front and center, use the Bully Pulpit, and declare the war over and reshift our priorities as a country. Did he? I don’t think so.
  • A political comment (that I heard elsewhere) would be that he wasn’t really as interested in Iraq and America at war as he was about changing the domestic agenda of the country. I’m not sure that’s true, but his manner would probably reflect this view more accurately.

The Obama Experience

Here are the opening few minutes of his speech in good quality. For experiencing the communication of the President, you really only have to look at the first minute. It doesn’t change. (But look here to get the entirety in less quality.)

  • Boring – He has no passion or emotion. Granted he is talking policy and he will be quoted and dissected, but a little passion in voice and face now and then would help his believability and influence immeasurably. And he had no stories or SHARPS that would make his message stick.
  • Cadence – Ever since Fred Armison on Saturday Night Live got his cadence down while playing Obama, I can’t look at the President himself and not think of Armison. It is a rhythm that becomes sing-song, and contrived, and does not lead to a feeling of conviction and authenticity. Which leads us to…
  • Professorial - It’s not just me that see’s our President as more and more professorial (academic, informational and aloof) in both demeanor and presentation, it is becoming widespread. Professorial is fine in the classroom, not so fine on the playing field. That is not the communication of a leader.

I could go on, but this is already too much politics for an ‘objective’ communications blog. But thanks for the prompt Michael – this get’s the juices flowing.

More importantly, what do YOU think?


Categories: Communication Skills, Leadership and Communications, Newsworthy, Political Communications, Public Speaking, SHARPs and Stories, Special Event
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Why Obama Fails As A Communicator

Posted by Bert Decker   |   December 22nd, 2009   |   12 Comments   |  Tweet This

Obama Teleprompter 1Barack Obama came to the Presidency riding the crest of an oratorical tidal wave. Because of that, the media and pundits have said he could do no wrong (communications wise). Well, the emperor has no clothes.

It’s not that President Obama is a BAD communicator, particularly in contrast to the most recent President Bush. It’s just that Obama has failed to live up to his communications promise. He was a great speaker as a candidate but is not so great a communicator now that he is the leader. And he has not expanded his capabilities.

Here’s why:

  • Obama appears aloof and professorial in his many formal speaking situations. He actually holds his head up so his nose is often in the air, lips pursed – not very open and connecting.
  • He puts an enormous emphasis on scripts and the teleprompter. What a burden on his speechwriters, who are actually quite good and very well paid, but overworked. With the frantic and relentless pace and demand of Presidential communications, you very often have to rely on your mind, not your writers. You can’t lead from scripts.
  • And the President is way overexposed. Speaking so often on the less important diminishes the very important, and he could pick his shots much more wisely. Granted that he has put forth so many initiatives he may feel he must push them all, but the “bully pulpit” is best used powerfully, and sparingly.

His popularity ratings have plummeted in recent weeks. Even his controversial Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has a higher favorability rating than the President. It doesn’t have to be that way.

Barack Obama is young, fresh, personable, and has an attractive family. He certainly is bright and has strong opinions. But he is not the Great Communicator. Although that is just one of the reasons his popularity ratings have plummeted, it is a major one. People buy on emotion and justify with fact. At the emotional level, the President just does not connect as well as he could – and should, if he wants another term.


Categories: Communication Skills, Leadership and Communications, Political Communications, Public Speaking, Speakers, Uncategorized
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Obama, Teleprompters and Authenticity

Posted by Bert Decker   |   July 28th, 2009   |   12 Comments   |  Tweet This

Obama Teleprompter still President Obama is no longer the premier communicator – which is remarkable as he was elected largely because of his speaking ability. I even named him as #1 in my Top Ten Communicators of 2006. It's not about the words – he does have very good speech writers – it's about the authenticity.

He has slipped for several reasons.
First of all he is over exposed – speaking somewhere almost daily:

  • 9 health care speeches in 9 days
  • 4 Press Conferences in his first 6 months, more than President Bush did in 8 years
  • more interviews than any recent President in recent times

In this over exposure in the media it is also now apparent that he is too scripted and aloof in formal situations, and halting in the informal situations. Not the great communicator.
See it now
Let me show you what I mean. First, there's the teleprompter. It astonishes me that most people don't consciously know when a person is reading from the teleprompter – but I think they DO know it unconsciously. And authenticity suffers. When someone is using the teleprompter, someone is READING A SPEECH – not coming from the heart (or at least appearing to do so.) I do not understand why Obama does not have good teleprompter coaching so that he properly uses focal points to at least APPEAR to be talking to an audience.

Teleprompter 1
Here is Obama in his teleprompter mode at his Egypt speech. He appears to be observing a ping-pong game – 4 seconds to one side (left teleprompter paddle) and 4 seconds to the other side (right teleprompter paddle.) Throughout the campaign and up until last week he had this rigid habit – 4 seconds left, 4 seconds right – and here recently in a Health Care speech.

Teleprompter 2
It's very interesting that last week, in his press conference on health care (that turned into his ObamaGates speech that spawned the Beer Summit), he used the teleprompter (finally) like a newscaster – looking straight at the camera as he reads his speech on a transparent mirror. You'll see he's better – but still cadenced, stiff and academic.

Teleprompter 3
Now here's a funny but revealing take from the TODAY Show on Obama's reliance on the teleprompter. It's written and talked about, and has become so apparent that there is actually a teleprompter on Twitter that is very funny reading: @BOTeleprompter. (As BO says, no POTUS without TOTUS.) So Obama's use of the teleprompter is unprecedented. No President, nor perhaps any public figure in history, has relied on continuous scripting of what he says as has this President.

Extemporaneously speaking…
The sad fact is President Obama got elected because he was a supposed 'great speaker.' Actually he was, and is, a great orator – but I think the teleprompter is now getting in his way. He has to go to another level. Martin Luther King, JFK, Roosevelt, Clinton and Reagan rarely read from teleprompters – except on formal and State occasions. And their greatest moments were not when they were reading – it was when they were speaking. From the heart. Authentically.

Every leader has to be able to speak well extemporaneously – they are always in the limelight and have to communicate well in all situations. You can't take your speech writers and teleprompters everywhere. Sometimes President Obama is OK in extemporaneous mode, but more often he is halting and pedantic – his speech laced with ums and ahs, as in this press conference with Prime Minister Brown, and here in an informal press response that I posted on earlier.

Why it's important
President Obama is our President. No matter what your political bent you want the country to succeed. It is leadership that makes that happen. And we have a President who is now over exposed and, purely from a communications standpoint, going in the wrong direction .

Reading speeches is not leading – where inspiring is critical. I posted about President Bush losing the Bully Pulpit a while back, and most would agree on that. I don't think most will agree with me that President Obama is about to lose the Bully Pulpit as well, but it's happening.

And that would be a tragedy for a country that is already on a slippery slope.


Categories: Leadership and Communications, Newsworthy, Political Communications, Public Speaking
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Leadership Communications – the Fundamental State

Posted by Bert Decker   |   June 24th, 2009   |   2 Comments   |  Tweet This

Obama teleprompter A leader grows into the “Fundamental State”, according to Robert Quinn, and this is a concept we can apply to President Obama – and any new leader. In Obama’s case, we could compare his effectiveness as a campaigner (Normal State) and his effectiveness as a leader now that he is President (Fundamental State). But maybe it’s too soon in his leadership, but not too soon in his communications. For we can apply the concept to speaking and communicating as well. We know that effective leaders are usually great communicators – the confidence of leadership often self-evident in confident behavior. This is generally true of Obama, with exceptions noted below.

Robert E. Quinn is a University of Michigan professor who introduced the concept of the Fundamental State of Leadership – a heightened perspective, and one that’s inherent in all of us. Quinn’s interesting concept appears in the Harvard Business Review, and it is relevant to business and politics…

“In the normal state people tend to stay within their comfort zones and allow external forces to direct their behaviors and decisions. They lose moral influence and often rely on rational argument and the exercise of authority to bring about change…the result is usually unimaginative and incremental – and largely produces what already exists. To elevate the performance of others, we must elevate ourselves into the fundamental state of leadership.”

We’ve all been there in our personal and professional lives – a time of crisis where we rise to the occasion and overcome the challenge. (For example President Bush leading us during 9/11, but not so much before or after.) If we force ourselves into the Fundamental State, rather than waiting for crisis to knock at our door, we’ll get better and better. And so too is the case with communications. Quinn says that getting there requires a shift along four dimensions:

Leadership_20graphic_small

So, what does this mean for us as communicators?

  1. Don’t stick with what’s comfortable.
    Instead of standing in one place behind a lectern during a presentation, move and create energy. Actively pursue speaking engagements that push your comfort zone, where you can practice the behavioral skills of communication.
  2. Master the Natural Self
    – that special combination of your unique personality, mind, opinions and behaviors. Don’t become someone you’re not. Harnessing the Natural Self while communicating will increase your ability to connect with others, because you’re just being you – confident and relaxed.
  3. Create listener-focused messages. State early and openly the audience’s WIIFM – What’s In It For Me?, action steps and benefits.
  4. Read cues and adjust.
    Practicing is good, but not if you can’t adapt to external cues. Create an experience that’s specific to your audience – whether it’s one person, or one hundred.

Now in President Obama’s case, let’s hope his Normal State of communications (over dependence on the teleprompter, speaking in what I call ‘Obama bursts’, many ‘ums’ and ‘ahs’ in interview settings) will transform into the Fundamental State, where he can communicate more openly and skillfully, even though in unfamiliar territory.


Categories: Communication Skills, Leadership and Communications, Political Communications, Public Speaking
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The Teleprompter Strikes Again – A Tale of Two Leaders

Posted by Bert Decker   |   April 17th, 2009   |   2 Comments   |  Tweet This

Kelly Decker here – guest blogging today.

I'm a relatively new fan of Shel Holtz's blog, arriving there from somewhere the Twittersphere. Shel is a PR guru and writes extensively on communications and technology. Over the past week, he's been blogging on the Dominos debacle that you've probably seen, or, if you're like me, you heard about it and had no interest in actually watching someone stick cheese up their nose (but, if you're in the mood, you can see it here).

Shel's Wednesday post focused on the public apology by Domino's USA President, Patrick Doyle. He comments on the content of the apology specifically, and that it is unfortunately inconsistent with the facts of how Domino's actually handled the situation, and therefore is inauthentic. But even worse, and the reason for this post, is to point out the behavior that makes it inauthentic. And who is to blame?…The teleprompter.

Bert has blogged about the how the TP can kill a communications experience – and most notably for Obama – read about it here and here. And this is hilariously supported by at least 12 different Twitter profiles of Obama's Teleprompter – go ahead and do a Twitter search for "teleprompter" (my fav is @BOTeleprompter).

Back to Doyle…here's the apology:

Two BIG problems here:

1. Lack of eye communication. The whole challenge we have as communicators is to engender trust and believability. Our listeners – one or 353,466 in this case (the number of views as of today) – must believe in us for our message to have impact. Eye communication is the #1 behavioral skill because it either makes or breaks our connection with that listener. Doyle should have been looking directly at the camera – addressing his audience to connect with them. Instead, he was talking to someone over in the corner of the room who was just making sure that he stuck to the script.

2. Corporate speak. It's a two-minute speech on which someone likely spent at least one sleepless night, followed by endless reviews by Legal, PR, Marketing, and others. Domino's customers just needed to hear something real – just talk to them.

Now, let's contrast this to another highly publicized corporate apology – this from David Neeleman, past CEO of JetBlue for major service issues in February of 2007. You'll find an almost polar opposite experience – mostly because he's not reading a thing. (Unfortunately this is clearly evidenced by his terrible ums and uhs – btw, please don't model this – it's the only significant hiccup here.) He looks directly at his audience, tells it like it is, and has a fantastic close asking for your trust and business.

So what? You may be sitting there saying, "Good thing I don't use a teleprompter." But these takeaways are applicable to you. Here's what you can do:

1. Mind your multitasking. We're sidetracked more than ever these days, and too often we're tweeting or emailing, or focusing somewhere else than on someone who is standing in our office or cube trying to discuss an issue. Guess what…you're Patrick Doyle. Put down the Blackberry/iPhone/etc., turn toward them and look them in the eye.

2. Be plain-spoken. The higher stakes a meeting or presentation, the more formal our tone, and we (our personalities) get completely lost in the process. Think conversational, and talk that way. You'll be more authentic, and only then will your message (the content you spent so much time on) be heard.


Categories: Leadership and Communications, Public Speaking
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Dick Cavett on Communicating

Posted by Bert Decker   |   March 30th, 2008   |   Leave a Comment   |  Tweet This

Dick_cavett
Dick Cavett calls out the Presidential candidates, and has most of it right!

Read his article in the New York Times here – it has great insights on speaking and communicating. Written in his own humorous style, as a comedian he rightly emphasizes humor. And he tells stories -  well. If only politicians could do that.

Although I think he misses the mark with Barack Obama (Obama is a great orator but he does NOT use the teleprompter well) Cavett gives a lot of tips and techniques from a pro that are very useful to any communicator.

Ike_at_desk_2
But the most interesting new tidbit is how Dwight D. Eisenhower became likable. Robert Montgomery was his speaking coach, and here’s what Cavett says:

Read the rest of this entry »


Categories: Communication Skills, Political Communications, Short Bits, Speakers
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