I’m struck by the very different recent public appearances of Sarah Palin and Judge Sonia Sotomayor, because they illustrate – in two extreme ways – the importance of openness – and clarity of intent – in public speaking. You can see samples of their respective video records here: (Sotomayor) http://tinyurl.com/ksfrov and here: (Palin) http://tinyurl.com/kjnxlb.
Leaving aside political opinions for a minute, both women are effective public speakers who have drawn both praise and opprobrium from opposite sides of the political spectrum. They are both able to communicate effectively with their supporters and people on their side of the divide.
That’s in part because they meet the first test of a public speaker: being open. I say a good deal more about this in my book, Trust Me: Four Steps to Authenticity and Charisma, but here I’ll just encourage you to watch their faces. Both are great nodders, both smile readily, using their eyes and eyebrows to signal openness to their audiences. Openness is largely established with non-verbal facial (and hand) gestures, and both women accomplish this task well.
It’s in clarity of intent that the two differ. Judge Sotomayor makes her intent perfectly clear – to both her supporters and opponents. She intends to be confirmed. She will answer every question as thoroughly as she can according to the bizarre rules established over the years for (successful) Supreme Court nominees – without actually giving anything away. She will radiate judicial calm and restraint. As a result, she reinforces her bond with her supporters and gives her opponents very little to attack her with. She may even win some Republicans over to her side.
Governor Palin, in her resignation speech at a hastily called press conference on the Friday of the Fourth of July weekend, was completely opaque about her intent. As a result, she further alienated her opponents and lost a good many of her supporters. If you’re going to quit a job to which you’ve been elected, like a governorship, you have to have a really good – and clear – reason. Palin’s assortment of suggested causes for stepping down were unconvincing and contradictory. Without clarity of intent, we don’t understand her motives, and when we don’t understand someone’s motives, we can’t sympathize with them.
Openness and clarity of intent need to go together for effective speechmaking.
I absolutely agree the Palin and Sotomayor demonstrate two extremes in communicaiton. What I disagree with is that Palin represents good nonverbal cues. If you carefully watch her July 4th speech, you’ll see her smiling at inappropriate times. You’ll see her nodding too much and her eyes are jumpy as if she’s searching for what she might say next. I do not see a cool, comfortable speaker.
Sotomayor, on the other hand, smiles when she means to smile, nods at appropriate times. Uses her gestures to punctuate her communication. She appears confident because she is.
Are we just comparing the two because they are both women? It would seem if we wanted to compare two speakers, we could compare President Obama and Sotomayor. There you have two confident speakers whose verbal and nonverbal messages are aligned.
I absolutely agree the Palin and Sotomayor demonstrate two extremes in communicaiton. What I disagree with is that Palin represents good nonverbal cues. If you carefully watch her July 4th speech, you’ll see her smiling at inappropriate times. You’ll see her nodding too much and her eyes are jumpy as if she’s searching for what she might say next. I do not see a cool, comfortable speaker.
Sotomayor, on the other hand, smiles when she means to smile, nods at appropriate times. Uses her gestures to punctuate her communication. She appears confident because she is.
Are we just comparing the two because they are both women? It would seem if we wanted to compare two speakers, we could compare President Obama and Sotomayor. There you have two confident speakers whose verbal and nonverbal messages are aligned.
Thanks for your comments. I’ve blogged before on Governor Palin’s smiling; I didn’t say she was “cool, comfortable” but rather “open” which is a first, necessary step — but not the last or sufficient step — in being an effective public speaker.
What her smiling really shows is concealed anger. While you and I might find that off-putting, her most ardent followers share that anger and respond instinctively to it. That’s a big part of why she’s so popular in certain sectors.
What makes her so interesting as a speaker is her enormous success with some of the Republican base. You can’t ignore this just because you personally may not like her style.
I agree that the overall effect of her news conference was hyper and ‘jumpy’ — I didn’t comment on this to avoid the partisan responses I have gotten in the past.
I was comparing the two because they were both widely in the news, created strong reactions, both positive and negative, and had such different levels of clarity of intent. I have blogged on President Obama many times, and he is of course a very accomplished speaker. As your last sentence actually implies, there would not have been the contrast that provides the basis of the blog if I had compared Obama and Sotomayor.
Thanks for your comments. I’ve blogged before on Governor Palin’s smiling; I didn’t say she was “cool, comfortable” but rather “open” which is a first, necessary step — but not the last or sufficient step — in being an effective public speaker.
What her smiling really shows is concealed anger. While you and I might find that off-putting, her most ardent followers share that anger and respond instinctively to it. That’s a big part of why she’s so popular in certain sectors.
What makes her so interesting as a speaker is her enormous success with some of the Republican base. You can’t ignore this just because you personally may not like her style.
I agree that the overall effect of her news conference was hyper and ‘jumpy’ — I didn’t comment on this to avoid the partisan responses I have gotten in the past.
I was comparing the two because they were both widely in the news, created strong reactions, both positive and negative, and had such different levels of clarity of intent. I have blogged on President Obama many times, and he is of course a very accomplished speaker. As your last sentence actually implies, there would not have been the contrast that provides the basis of the blog if I had compared Obama and Sotomayor.