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She writes that she established a strict code for herself “to only say what I absolutely believed and what I absolutely felt.” Over time, she began to feel urgency about not wasting the precious opportunity she’d been given - so she made the most of it, with lasting resonance. That brought a consistency to her communication style - whether she was speaking to college graduates, the homeless, hip-hop stars or massive, prime time audiences. The deeper Obama got into the experience of being First Lady, the more she felt comfortable just being herself. You’ll see ways to improve, just like Obama did. Enlist a friend to rehearse with, or record yourself on your smartphone. Put aside those excuses and commit to putting in the time until you feel confident about your delivery. But the single biggest mistake speakers make is to skip it or wait until the last minute. The truth is, rehearsing for a speaking event can be uncomfortable, even stressful. She pushed her scheduler and advance teams to make sure her public appearances ran smoothly and on time. She had a teleprompter set up in a corner of her office in the East Wing of the White House - and used it. Obama makes it clear that even in childhood she was hyper-organized and prepared - an asset when it comes to public speaking.įor her 17-minute speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2008, she “rehearsed and re-rehearsed until I could pace the commas in my sleep…” No matter what your experience level, there’s always room to improve. Join a local chapter of Toastmasters or the National Speakers Association. Like Obama, you don’t have to go it alone.
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In time, that helped her feel “a new ease, a new ownership of my voice.” Afterwards, Obama insisted on getting support in the form of a communication specialist to help sharpen her message and delivery. That way she was able to focus on some less than flattering facial expressions that she would need to control. That led to an surprise intervention with advisors Valerie Jarrett and David Axelrod, who sat her down and showed her videos of some of her public appearances with the volume turned down. She describes her anguish when a line she tossed out while campaigning in Wisconsin - “…let me tell you something, for the first time in my adult lifetime, I’m really proud of my country” - became fodder for conservative radio and television talk shows. “I was given no script, no talking points, no advice.”Īfter her husband’s victory in Iowa, the crowds got bigger and the stakes got higher.
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“What they didn’t tell me was what my message in Iowa was supposed to be,” she writes. She spoke in living rooms, bookstores, union halls, and retirement homes, “energizing volunteers, and trying to win over leaders in the community.”īut she never got any guidance. In the early days of her husband’s presidential campaign, for the first time in her life, Obama was expected to do a fair amount of public speaking. One theme she returns to again and again is her desire to speak powerfully in public and express herself honestly.Īnd who among us doesn’t want to do that? Fortunately, Obama’s memoir gives us plenty of lessons to learn from.
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The memoir details Obama’s remarkable journey from a cautious, self-conscious girl from a working class neighborhood in Chicago to one of the most admired women in the world. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned in life,” she writes, “it’s the power of using your voice.” What motivates you to use your voice? What issues do you care enough about to champion in public? But I see another story that will endure now that those headlines have faded: a woman who struggled and succeeded at finding her voice. Obama’s memoir quickly made headlines for revelations about her infertility treatments and unfiltered comments about Donald Trump. Do you want to speak powerfully in public and express yourself honestly? Read on for some advice from the former First Lady.
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Michelle Obama’s memoir "Becoming"is not only a candid look at her journey from a cramped South Side apartment in Chicago to her position on the world stage today - it’s also full of lessons that any woman can learn from. This post was originally published on WomenofInfluence.ca