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Prediction: The Better Speaker Will be President–That Means President Obama.

John McCain can be a great speaker, especially when he is a little bit angry and speaking without notes. The problem is that he consistently (at least 50% of the time) is boring, mundane and flat, due to poor reading of a speech. Barack Obama is occasionally flat and has too many “uhs” and “ums” (especially during a media interview), but Obama is consistently (over 80% of the time) a great speaker. He’s smooth, fluid, emotional, and compelling.

My prediction: This spells doom for McCain. Since the modern TV era (1952), the general election candidate who is the better speaker has always won the presidency. (I grant you 2000 and 2004 can be debated due to the poor speaking skills of Bush versus the irritating speaking styles of Gore and Kerry).

But 2008 is a very clear-cut contest between someone who is a great speaker most of the time (Obama) and someone who is a poor-to-middling speaker most of the time (McCain). I’m predicting a clear-cut Obama based purely on his oratorical talents.

READER QUESTION:

What advice do you have for those unfortunately moments when your mind is tired and you just plain go blank - I always bring notes as a backup but I hate to look at them. Recently I have found myself reading more and more because of nervousness and a tired mind that can't remember what I was supposed to say next.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Trish

RESPONSE:

Trish,
Great Question. We are big advocates of notes, but not in the way you probably think.
Many people write pages and pages of text. Others put together many note cards. Both of these will send a signal to your audience that you're not paying full attention to them. That means they can tune you out, check the blackberry, day dream. Not exactly what you're going for.

Here's what you want to do:

-Write out a bullet pointed list of the order and outline you'd like to follow.
-Make sure it is on just one sheet if you can.
-Get the bullet points down to the shortest amount of words. You want to be able to glance at it,
and know what you want to say and where you want to go with it.
-Print it in a large font so you can see it from many feet away.
-Feel free to hide an extra copy in another location so you can be moving around the room, and checking your notes without anyone noticing.

As for nervousness, we find the more you focus on the audience and their needs, the less you focus inwardly. Think about what it's like to be an audience member. You're just thinking "please don't bore me" or "If you were going to read, you could have sent this to me as an email and saved us all an hour."

As for having a tired mind, more sleep could be in order. If you are like me, that rarely happens. As long as the audience doesn't KNOW you feel tired or unfocused, you're ok. Talk about the details on your bullet pointed list. People will appreciate that more than staring at words on a PowerPoint, or you reading to them.

One last tip, take the bullet points and practice the speech out loud at least once.
The way we see it, when you first write the bullet points, this is your first draft.
If you practice the speech, that is essentially your second draft. There will be a lot that pops into your mind about what you'd like to say or change. (Helpful so you don't seem like you have a tired mind later.)
When you fix up your bullet pointed notes, that is your third draft.
Not doing this, in my opinion, is like showing your whole organization a document that you couldn't bother to spell check. The benefit to you, is that it will GREATLY reduce nervousness, and make you seem like you're not "tired."

Please report back and let me know how this works.

-Jess Todtfeld
Speaking Channel Managing Editor

These questions will also be posted on www.SpeakingInsider.com