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Contributed by Public Relations Officer, RDU Toastmasters – 11/13/2008.
No, I was not asked, but I did one anyway. President Elect Barack Obama visited Raleigh, NC for a rally. North Carolina was a swing state and both presidential candidates made several appearances throughout the state. My wife and I were invited on stage and just a couple feet away from the podium. This was an extraordinary opportunity to attend a political event and participate in the democratic process of this great nation. I am an American first, and a toastmaster second. So, the toastmaster in me decided to do an evaluation of the speech, and I will share it in my 2-3 minute allotment. As a disclaimer, this is solely an evaluation as you would find at a regular toastmaster’s meeting (i.e. no political commentary).
We’ll start with the pros. Mr. Obama has great stage presence and is sincere in all communication. He gave the illusion of making eye contact with almost every one of the 30,000 in attendance. To get into more specifics, his use of simple language, hand gestures and repetition was extremely effective with the crowd. And in my opinion, this cadence is what sets Mr. Obama apart from others. The speech in the cc manual on “how to say it” emphasizes using short sentences with common language. The colloquial style is often lost when reading or memorizing a speech verbatim, and this is one of the most important things one can learn in Toastmasters. You don’t have to be a writer to be a speaker, so leave the big words on paper.
Another thing Mr. Obama did very well is handling interruptions. During his rally, people in the audience fainted. He calmly urged the crowd to give them some room and dispatched medical personnel. He even threw some bottles of water that were reserved underneath the podium. For me personally, I would have stopped my speech until that person was confirmed to be ok. However, Mr. Obama seamlessly transitioned back into the points of his speech while appearing genuine in caring for the audience. Handling distractions is always a challenge and difficult to get practice with.
Now the cons. The first thing toastmasters notice in anything we hear are the use of filler words. In Toastmasters, we try to reduce our use of them so as not to distract the audience. Mr. Obama used “you know”, “uh” and “um” in several occasions, however they were not distracting to his message overall.
I also question the connection to North Carolina. He travels all over the country, and I suspect he has an index card he looks down upon to figure out where he is at times. He mentioned North Carolina a couple times, and made a reference to factory jobs declining in the state. However, i did not feel a strong connection to voters of the state on matters related to the state. It would have been nice to hear concerns about Wachovia going under down the street, or more specific numbers affecting our state to really drive home the message on both a national and swing state level.
In summary, evaluating a professional speaker, as most politicians are, is a challenge. And you may think professional speakers know they’re great, and don’t need to hear they’re doing well. However, as toastmasters we’re always looking to improve our communication ability, and someone running for President of the United States must also subscribe to this ideology. Mr. Obama stormed the national stage with his keynote speech to the Democratic National Convention in 2004 that left many (including myself) in awe; and he has not looked back. This should make us all wonder, “what will your next speech do for you”?
Humorous Speech & Evaluation Contest
