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President Bush shows how to speak in publicby Graham JonesSpeaking at the recent NATO summit in Brussels, President George W. Bush revealed some key secrets of making a successful presentation that disarms your audience and immediately gets them on your side.
Being Personal President Bush threw away the pomp and circumstance of being President and was instantly personal with his audience. He saw the newly elected British Prime Minister Tony Blair and simply said: 'Hello Landslide'. President Bush also did away with the usual business-like approach and spoke to people as individuals. In other words he tried to communicate on a 'people' basis, rather than on a 'status' basis. If the press reports are to be believed, the delegates at the NATO summit found this new approach from a US President refreshing.
Speaking without notes Observers at the NATO summit noticed that President Bush made his presentation without any notes or cueing devices. He spoke eloquently and fluently without the need to refer to any other source of information. Clearly the President will not know all there is to know about NATO or about his European allies. However, what he demonstrated is that you can get your audience on your side if you just have a chat with them, rather than hide behind notes, automatic cueing devices or scripts. His material was clearly pre-written, all he did was remember what he had to say.
Disarming the audience Speaking to the NATO delegates on a personal level, without any notes and with no audio-visual aids was a break from the usual monotony of such meetings. Not only did the Bush approach provide some relief, it also put much of the audience on his side, even though disagreements were rife before the meeting. What President Bush showed clearly was that if you simply chat to people, and rid yourself of so-called presentations 'aids' you are much more likely to get them on your side. That's because you are communicating at the human, personal level, rather than at the business level which is so detached. This detachment makes opposition easy - it is much harder to oppose people you like and get on with.
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Graham Jones is available to the media for comment
Graham Jones is available for comment and quoting in articles and on broadcasts. He is a regular contributor to a variety of media and can talk to you about any aspect of human communication.
Contact him on: 0118 336 9712 |
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