Setting the Table for a Successful Speech
March 14, 2024
For professional communicators, the stakes don't get any higher than when you're tasked to help prepare a leader for a live speech.
Adding to the challenge is that what actually transpires when it's game time is largely out of your control. That means you need to be extremely thoughtful in the preparation and rehearsal stages to create the best conditions for success.
Americans saw this challenge play out in real time last week with President Biden’s State of the Union speech and the Republican response from Sen. Katie Britt. Politics aside, there was largely bipartisan consensus on which speech achieved its goal and which landed with a bewildering thud.
While most of us will never be involved in writing State of the Union speeches, there are some lessons that can be extracted from the most recent SOTU that are relevant to all executive communications pros.
Don’t blindly accept every invitation: The goal, of course, is to get a leader’s message out there far and wide. But some formats may not play to a speaker’s strengths or might carry outsized risks. The opposition party response to the State of the Union is a prime example. The format — talking straight into a camera in an empty room on the heels of a rousing speech in front of Congress – offers a no-win scenario. The best that those who have walked that plank can hope for is for their speech to be largely forgotten moments after its delivery. If I was providing communications support for an up-and-coming political figure, I’d let that message inviting them to deliver the opposition response go straight to voicemail.
Focus on your overarching goal: Maya Angelou’s wisdom fits here: “People will forget what you said…but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Clearly, President Biden’s team understood that their primary mission was to present the president as strong, tough, and capable amid the persistent questions about his age and mental acuity. Based on most reviews from across the political spectrum, that was achieved through an effective script that allowed Biden to convey strength and quiet critics.
Stick to the script: A speechwriter’s best friend is a locked-down script and a reliable teleprompter. Even the best ad-libbers run a risk when they venture off script. Biden pretty much stuck to the teleprompter, but one of the few times he strayed cost him. By using the word “illegal” to describe an undocumented immigrant, he marred an otherwise strong performance -- and the story of that slipup still had legs days after he delivered his speech.
Setting matters: Often, a setting for a speech is predetermined. When it’s not, there’s always a temptation to put a speaker in a setting that helps make a point. I suspect the decision to have Sen. Katie Britt sitting in her kitchen was aimed at driving home that her party is in tune with “the kitchen table issues” that Americans care about. Yet that experiment failed on two fronts. First, they missed by not having Britt make the kitchen-table connection until well over a minute into her remarks. Secondly, the setting reinforced some unhelpful gender stereotypes. When in doubt, get a podium and a microphone and call it a day.
Don’t overcoach: Authenticity is always key – but make sure the authenticity you strive to achieve comes off as, well, authentic. Most people come across best when they are themselves. Katie Britt was clearly coached in ways that led to her delivery at times veering from confusing to cringeworthy. She is an accomplished politician who would have surely been better served simply speaking from her heart.
And from anywhere other than her kitchen table.