Oratory & Obama

Marianne Gobeil of Leading Communicators did a great job in her newsletter last week pointing out that US President Obama is not a great orator, but he is a great communicator. She explains that the difference is that an orator uses big fancy phrases and words, whereas a great communicator understands their audience and directs their message to the concerns of that audience. She observes that this skill gave President Obama a great advantage over his rivals in the election process. I suggest you read her newsletter and check out her unique SpeakCheck® service if you want your leadership communication to improve.

So how do we extend these ideas to the world where we are not the top leader of a nation or a company, but we have a presentation that is important to us and the people in the audience? I suggest you focus on Marianne’s observation about great communicators being audience focused. One of the steps I always cover when talking about the structure of your presentation is doing a full audience analysis. Only after you understand their situation can you decide what you need to say. Secondly, prepare your visuals so they have context for your audience, meaning that the audience will understand them because the visual is familiar.

Remember that the presentation is about the audience, not about the presenter.