The triumph of talking points
If you ever have a client resistant to media or speech coaching, say the name Sarah Palin.
When you ask who won the vice presidential debate last night, on substance, it was clearly Joe Biden. On likeability, it may have just been Palin. And when you get a likeable person talking on point, the audience connects. She did that. (Not screwing up helped too).
Take away the debate format for a minute (99.9% of clients will never be in one). The key to public speaking is comfort. That happens when you master the basic subject matter and are able to recall it with a few key, pre-rehearsed points (preferably written/edited by a great PR pro). If you can do this, you can relax. And when you’re relaxed, the audience relaxes. You let them in and they get engaged.
Palin doesn’t have Biden’s 30 years of legislative experience, but she had the opportunity to be herself last night and talk on point. We saw a warm hockey mom from Wasila. We saw why John McCain picked her as his running mate. For better or worse, we listened to her. And that was the point. She charmed “the base” (or at least didn’t lose ground), got the audience thinking and like the goody-two-shoes in grammar school Democrats will hate her for it.
Personally, I thought the debate was reminiscent of the “Saturday Night Live” send-up of Dukakis-Bush. Dana Carvey as George Bush answers a question in circles “Stay the course. Thousand points of light. Stay the course.” Jon Lovitz as Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis turns to the audience and says “I can’t believe I’m losing to this guy.” Joe Biden might have felt like that at some point last night.
Or, as his dad might have said to him, “Listen Champ, talking points work.”
The triumph of talking points
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Comments
October 3rd, 2008 at 9:26 am
During our media training programs we always mention how Sen. McCain is great at answering questions without really answering. Looks like Gov. Palin attended the same class.
October 3rd, 2008 at 9:57 am
Great post, Dan!!
It was certainly interesting to watch – and I think both sides of the spectrum can agree that last night’s debate wasn’t as predictable as most people thought it would be.
October 3rd, 2008 at 11:20 am
I’d like to know about the coaching Gov. Palin received. She does not have the knowledge of Biden, McCain, or Obama, but she is smart. And I think she’s a quick learner. They really did emphasize her strength/appeal as a warm hockey mom from Wasila. They didn’t run from that.
And your are right Dan, not screwing up did help.
October 3rd, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Dan, great food for thought.
Your’s, those here, and everyone I’ve talked to today, Oct. 3, reveals the saying, “you never get a second chance,” is untrue.
What are other’s thoughts on this new aspect of “you never get a second chance”?
October 3rd, 2008 at 4:36 pm
I’m afraid I have the dissenting opinion here. True, she didn’t throw up on her shoes, but she looked plastic, over-prepped — and someone needed to wipe that condescending Shrub-like smirk from her face. I was half-expecting her to chirp out with a Fargo-like “We need to get this darn economy heated up, by crikey” at any moment. And, by the way, for someone trying to get us to forget the Bush legacy, she didn’t help matters with her NU-CUE-LAR pronunciation. I will give her props for being polished and as knowledgeable as her handlers could have hoped for, considering she’s “only been at this for 5 weeks.” In all seriousness, her job was to not look stupid. Mission accomplished. I’m pretty sure I couldn’t handle another four years of the condescending smirk that we know so well from the current president.
October 4th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Good points, Jim.
Palin demonstrated just how quickly a good coach can make a person capable of a good speaking performance. It’s truly sad that “not screwing up” and reviving journalism and broadcast skills would be taken by anyone as an indicator that she is qualified to lead this country. I’d like to see the VP candidates in a forum that requires them to speak spontaneously and address voter generated questions. Too much is at stake.
Valley PR Blog » Blog Archive » 10 Things we obsessed about in 2008 Says:
January 2nd, 2009 at 10:51 am
[...] –the best gift to late night comedians — Palin and her ability to fire up/roil up everyone from the office water-cooler to [...]