You can learn to be a better presenter

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Barack Obama is well-known for his speaking skills. But it was not always that way. Here are some comments on Barack Obama from his early days in politics:

From Time magazine:

[Obama's] delivery was stiff and professorial–”more Harvard than Chicago,” said an adviser who had watched Obama put a church audience to sleep.

From Chicago Magazine:

Ted McClelland, who covered Obama’s failed 2000 congressional bid for the Chicago Reader, recalls that back then Obama “was not real comfortable or confident as a stump speaker.” McClelland found him wonkish and aloof. “He was stiff and monotonous, and he spoke like a poli-sci professor-a pedantic lecturer who used lots of deadly boring, neutron bomb language.”

Obama has clearly put in some hard work to achieve his rhetorical brilliance. I strongly believe that any person can become a better speaker. You don’t have to be born with the talent. I’m evidence of that. I was a shy introverted teenager much more interested in horses than anything to do with people. It was through joining Toastmasters in my mid-twenties that I started to develop some skills.  In many areas of endeavour there is a debate on what is most important - innate talent or hard work. Through coaching hundreds of people to become better speakers, I believe that if you have the basic skill of carrying on a conversation with just one other person, you can also become a great speaker. But it does require application and hard work. Obama has come a long way in his speaking ability. And so can you.

Note: I’d love to see some videos of Obama’s early political speeches to see if he really was as bad as these comments make out - I searched for a couple of hours but with no luck.  If you know where to find one, please post the link in the comments!

Go well with your next presentation. If you found this post useful, subscribe to my RSS feed.

Related posts:

1. How to go from good presenter to great presenter
2. How to create authenticity - the inside-out approach
3. The three benefits of gesturing - it’s not what you think
4. How to project your voice
5. Business presentations - don’t take performance too far

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