Palin: A Powerful Communicator
Another flip-flop. No, not McCain’s or Obama’s. Mine. Because I was going to be vacationing during the Republican convention, I had decided not to blog about either the Democratic or Republican convention. It’s not that I didn’t plan to be watching all the major speeches of both parties, but it’s that I didn’t plan to spend my vacation blogging. So to give equal treatment to all candidates, I had just decided to remain slight on the convention speeches and begin my analyses again with the debates.
But I’m flip-flopping on this historic occasion with a newcomer onto the presidential landscape—the first woman on the ticket of the Republican Party and only the second in the history of the nation.
So here I sit in Belize, beach calling, while I blog about Governor Sarah Palin’s communication style:
Palin’s Structure
First, the structure of her address: She told her personal story (marriage, kids, growing-up years, adult life pre-politics). Then she traced her political accomplishments as governor—specifically highlighting those relevant to the job that she feels needs to be done in Washington (cut corruption, control spending, identify/reduce waste, cut ties to special-interest groups). Finally, she turned to why she was a Republican and considered John McCain the only qualified, tested leader with character and a long record of accomplishments rather than rhetoric.
The structure covered all the bases: Speechmaking 101 begins with analyzing your audience and identifying their primary interests. In Palin’s case, they were asking, “Who are you? What’s your story? Do you share my values? Will you represent me well in Washington? What have you done? Are you qualified to be president if something happens to McCain?”
Structure aside, let’s talk about her style for a moment:
Palin’s Delivery
With the exception of the occasional pointing finger and downcast eyes, her delivery was powerful—but not in the typical sense used to describe great orators or motivational speakers. That is, her voice didn’t crescendo to a fervored pitch and grow louder and louder as an excited cheerleader working a crowd into hysteria. In a word, her delivery was authentic. Not lazy authentic. Not boring authentic. Not laid-back authentic. Not detached authentic. But high-energy authentic. Clearly, crisply, intelligently, determinedly authentic.
Power in the Pausing: Her pausing was highly effective. The pauses created mystery, suspense. They engaged. They drew the audience in for the meaty message that followed.
Power in the Punchlines: As with most speakers who deliver it well, humor works wonders to make people receptive to a more serious message. When talking about corruption in her home-state government, she talked of ridding taxpayers of the expense of a personal chef and the governor’s luxury jet. Her line “put it on eBay” brought down the house. When talking about being a hockey mom and serving as PTA president and mayor, she guessed that was something like being a “community organizer—except with actual responsibilities.” She joked that the difference between being a hockey mom and a pit bull was…lipstick.
Power in the Clever Play on Words: Her delivery, however, was strongest when she looked directly into the camera, jaw square, face resolute, voice strong and confident and she delivered straightforward comparisons between the two candidates. For example, one of her closing lines referred to how one candidate had used “change” to launch a career while the other candidate had use a career to launch change.
After her opening foray onto the presidential platform, it’s clear that Sarah Palin communicates as a contender to be reckoned with.
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