By now you may have drawn your own conclusions about the Tuesday night's (Sept. 10) debate between former President Donald Trump and current Vice President Kamala Harris. You probably have shared—or at seen—some of the memes capturing the "high points" of the debate including the now-infamous allegations of Haitian immigrants kidnapping and eating pets in Ohio.
As such, this piece will not rehash who won or lost. Instead, let’s examine the strategy and tactics deployed by the candidates to achieve their debate goals and offer some PR takeaways on improving yours and your clients' presentations.
Communicators know that success in any communications activity depends on having a sound strategy to start. You need clear goals and objectives, tactics to support them, the flexibility to adapt in the moment and a vision of what represents success at the end. Preparing for an “… oral exam for the hardest job on the planet” as CNN's David Axelrod described the presidential debate, is no different.
Let’s begin by examining each candidate’s pre-debate goals, based on news reports as the debate approached, and then discuss how well they executed their plan.
Setting Goals
In a front page story on Tuesday, Sept. 10, The Wall Street Journal suggested that for Vice President Harris, the debate was “...an opportunity...to make the case for her economic agenda, introduce herself to voters...and reassure the electorate she is ready to serve as commander in chief.” Other suggestions included “...avoid debating Trump on his own terms,” and “...connect with voters, particularly the undecideds...” to show she is sensitive to the daily challenges they face.
As for former President Trump, the same piece suggested his goal for Tuesday night was “...to keep the debate focused on high inflation during Biden’s presidency and anxieties over the U.S.-Mexico border, [thereby] pinning Harris to the current president’s policies.” The piece also claimed Trump needed to “...keep this focused on policy and not personality.”
Executing Tactics
Harris added another key tactic to her plan—purposely baiting Trump by mentioning hot topics such as the 2020 election; January 6 insurrection and, yes, crowd size at his signature rallies. This served to sidetrack him, taking valuable airtime and energy from pressing her about immigration, the economy and her responsibility for Biden administration policy and outcomes as a representative of that administration. As such, he did not accomplish the pre-debate goals by going off track.
More Presentation and Public Speaking Learnings
Based on my experience media training leaders in government and business, there are some other key takeaways about presentations and public speaking worth noting here.
They include:
- The importance of visual communications—including eye contact with the audience; facial expressions and body language—all on display in various stages from both candidates during the debate.
- Moderating your voice—using tone, pauses and emphasis to underline key points and connect with the audience—both candidates used this to varying degrees.
- Managing Q&A—maintaining control and deflecting or redirecting questions as needed—we also saw much of this from both sides.
- Closing strong and making sure to emphasize your key messages as the event concludes—it's important to reiterate your most important messages for the audience to remember.
We can see from this high-profile example that having a sound strategy—and executing it well—will benefit any leader seeking to change minds and influence public opinion. As for the candidates, time will tell whose communications strategy is the most effective.
Larry Parnell is a Fellow in PR and Communications at the College of Professional Studies of the George Washington University and operates Parnell Communications, an executive coaching and leadership training firm. He can be reached at [email protected].