Using the Superstar Communicator Philosophy for the Election

And the next election campaign starts now! And this is the perfect time to focus on the communication skills of the main campaigners. After all, politicians are like any senior executive or leader: persuading investors and stakeholders to finance specific projects, as well as encouraging teams to work more efficiently!

Politicians want our votes so they can remain in power and not lose their jobs! So they need to have great communication skills; of which speaking is key, during the election campaigns. This is the ideal time to focus on what is required to be a great communicator. Using the Superstar Communicator philosophy, I have identified the main areas of communication skills. During the #electionsuperstars I will be marking some key politicians in the areas described below:

• Performance This relates to the charisma and presence of a speaker; the impact they make when they speak – on the TV, face to face with voters, radio interviews, debates, and their actual performance. Of course we all hope there will be some gaffes – in fact this is inevitable and will bring humour into the election.
• Audience Engaging your audience; knowing your audience and what will resonate with them, and also modifying your message for different audiences. With respect, an audience in Dudley is going to be different from snobby Surrey.
• Preparation Any senior politician will have speech writers, but there still needs to be preparation before any appearance. Their advisors will prepare them for any appearance with the message to say; the type of audience as well as keeping them up to date with what is going on elsewhere. After all the media are out to catch politicians out with a question and soundbite. Each of the parties will have their own policies and “Communications”, so politicians need to be au fait with these.
• Voice This is everything from the tone and pitch of the voice; accents and volume of the voice and making your voice interesting to listen to: speaking techniques. The media has a field day with monotonous voices and extreme voices! This should be fun!
• Content The words; what they are going to say, the structure and style of their speeches. Are they going to use stories and gags? Will humour be a positive addition to a speech, or a potential gaffe?

Throughout the election I will be reviewing key speeches, debates and media appearances of some candidates; I will also score them using the Superstar Communicator key areas. So watch out!

If you want more information on the Superstar Communicator training, go here.