By now you’ll have drawn your personal conclusions concerning the Tuesday night time’s (Sept. 10) debate between former President Donald Trump and present Vice President Kamala Harris. You in all probability have shared—or at seen—a few of the memes capturing the “excessive factors” of the controversy together with the now-infamous allegations of Haitian immigrants kidnapping and consuming pets in Ohio.
As such, this piece won’t rehash who received or misplaced. As an alternative, let’s look at the technique and ways deployed by the candidates to attain their debate targets and supply some PR takeaways on enhancing yours and your purchasers’ shows.
Communicators know that success in any communications exercise is dependent upon having a sound technique to begin. You want clear targets and aims, ways to help them, the pliability to adapt within the second and a imaginative and prescient of what represents success on the finish. Getting ready for an “… oral examination for the toughest job on the planet” as CNN’s David Axelrod described the presidential debate, is not any totally different.
Let’s start by analyzing every candidate’s pre-debate targets, based mostly on information experiences as the controversy approached, after which talk about how properly they executed their plan.
Setting Objectives
In a entrance web page story on Tuesday, Sept. 10, The Wall Road Journal advised that for Vice President Harris, the controversy was “…a chance…to make the case for her financial agenda, introduce herself to voters…and reassure the voters she is able to function commander in chief.” Different options included “…keep away from debating Trump on his personal phrases,” and “…join with voters, significantly the undecideds…” to point out she is delicate to the day by day challenges they face.
As for former President Trump, the identical piece advised his purpose for Tuesday night time was “…to maintain the controversy centered on excessive inflation throughout Biden’s presidency and anxieties over the U.S.-Mexico border, [thereby] pinning Harris to the present president’s insurance policies.” The piece additionally claimed Trump wanted to “…hold this centered on coverage and never character.”
Executing Techniques
Harris added one other key tactic to her plan—purposely baiting Trump by mentioning sizzling matters such because the 2020 election; January 6 rebellion and, sure, crowd dimension at his signature rallies. This served to sidetrack him, taking priceless airtime and power from urgent her about immigration, the financial system and her accountability for Biden administration coverage and outcomes as a consultant of that administration. As such, he didn’t accomplish the pre-debate targets by going off monitor.
Extra Presentation and Public Talking Learnings
Based mostly on my expertise media coaching leaders in authorities and enterprise, there are another key takeaways about shows and public talking value noting right here.
They embrace:
- The significance of visible communications—together with eye contact with the viewers; facial expressions and physique language—all on show in numerous levels from each candidates throughout the debate.
- Moderating your voice—utilizing tone, pauses and emphasis to underline key factors and join with the viewers—each candidates used this to various levels.
- Managing Q&A—sustaining management and deflecting or redirecting questions as wanted—we additionally noticed a lot of this from either side.
- Closing robust and ensuring to emphasise your key messages because the occasion concludes—it is vital to reiterate your most vital messages for the viewers to recollect.
We are able to see from this high-profile instance that having a sound technique—and executing it properly—will profit any chief in search of to alter minds and affect public opinion. As for the candidates, time will inform whose communications technique is the best.
Larry Parnell is a Fellow in PR and Communications on the School of Skilled Research of the George Washington College and operates Parnell Communications, an govt teaching and management coaching agency. He will be reached at [email protected].
