Lothery & Associates

Thursday, October 11th, 2012

VEEPS!

Tonight the number twos to swipe at each other. The quote after the debate that was most appropriate was by Tom Brokaw, “many people were wondering what happened to the President’s playbook for the first debate. The answer is, it was in the Vice President’s office.”  Clearly the performance expected by President Obama was executed by Vice President Biden.

So put your party hats aside, let’s look at the communication dos and don’ts.

Biden Dos:

• Good data
• Well prepared with facts, and knowledge of his opponent’s case
• Strong eye contact at times, with key points
• Good energy at the beginning
• Controlled the agenda by taking the offensive

Ryan Dos:

• Great eye contact while listening and while speaking
• Strong voice, confident posture
• Didn’t take the bait
• Stayed calm under pressure

Biden Don’ts:

• Too many “my friends”
• Too many smiles! It looked very condescending and belittling
• Not enough eye contact when he was listening
• Fact checkers caught two mistakes
• Broke his opponent’s flow to prevent too much momentum building

Ryan Don’ts:

• Contradicted himself, and left himself open on issues where he’s changed position
• He opened with “look” on quite a few questions. This filler can come off short tempered, defensive and aggressive
• Appeared to be reciting talking points often rather than having a command of the information
• Fact checkers caught five mistakes

So where does this leave us? We’ll let you pick the winner, politically.

Key points to remember when meeting an adversary are:

• Always give good eye contact when you’re listening and when speaking. You look confident and strong.
• Know your data inside and out. Know your opponent’s data inside and out. Being informed allows you to control the momentum and keep your opponent off balance if you can get in front of them.
• Argue your strengths with facts not insults against someone else
• Be specific when possible and above all, know the right facts
• Know your own weaknesses and how to address them when asked

Good luck on all of your controversial communications.

 

Tags: Barak Obama, Debate, Joe Biden, Libya, moderator, Paul Ryan, Vice President, winner

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