I spend a lot of time in pharma and financial services, where content is king.  Smart people with expertise in narrow areas of vast importance spend weeks preparing presentations for MBAs, Ph.Ds, MDs and Pharm.Ds (to name only a few distinguished members of the alphabet glitterati they speak to.)

It is important to have no misspellings on the slides, no inconsistencies between the data displayed and the data verbalized; important to make tenable claims, and demonstrate the sterling methods by which the data were generated; important to argue logically, rationally, objectively, and demonstrate a clear understanding of the difference between fact and opinion.

My brilliant clients do all this.  They work long hours to make sure the content is thorough, precise, and accurate.  They make no turn without stoning any assertion to test its strength and weakness.

Yet they often disregard themselves and how they come across. By education, training, temperament and culture they dwell on the facts.  They know that expertise is necessary for success, and they often act as if it were also sufficient.

It is not sufficient.  It is necessary, but not sufficient.  Audiences also need the facts shaped into a narrative that holds their attention—one that is clear and meaningful, and flows in a manner that appeals to the mind.

And always, under its breath, the audience is muttering, “Do I trust this guy?  Can she make this happen?  Does he have what it takes?  Would I like to have a drink with her?”

It’s never not also the person.

Sims Wyeth is a speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in presentation skills and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

In this way, you create attention and interest in your topic by linking it to our primordial fascination with puzzles and problem solving.

I have written an article called 5 Ways to Speak Like Obama on Bnet.com about President Obama’s abilities as a public speaker–saying that he is skilled at connecting with audiences, making the complex clear, and using his voice and body language to project confidence and authority.

The article has brought out opposing views.  Some of them seem to be opposed to Obama’s policies rather than his speaking skills, but others make good points.

They accuse him of simply being good at reading scripts on a TelePrompter.  I admire the President’s comfort with the TelePrompter, but some have said that this is no indication of oratorical skill or leadership ability.  Perhaps we could train a chimpanzee to use a TelePrompter, but we couldn’t train one to write Candidate Obama’s speech on race, or deliver it with such restrained passion.

Whatever you think of TelePrompters, they are tools that speakers must learn to use.  The President is not an actor who is given 4 weeks to learn his lines.  He gives dozens of talks a day and must use the tools at his disposal. 

On another front, many of the comments on the article on Bnet make the point that when President Obama goes off script, he says “er” and “uhm” a whole lot, and that does not inspire confidence.  At the same time, one or two commenters mention that his speaking skills are tools of deception, and that I am advocating that business speakers develop their ability to “seem” authentic, or “appear” confident and authoritative.

(Interesting that they fault the President for saying  “er” and “uhm” while at the same time fault him for being slick.)

While I agree that authenticity and genuineness are attractive traits, and that there is a thin line between “polished” and “slippery,”  I also know that nobody follows a weak trumpet. 

In a job that requires non-stop public speaking, a  good man with bad speaking skills will be less effective than a bad man with good speaking skills.

We as Americans want a leader who is ethical, smart enough to figure out how to solve our problems, and tough enough to get the job done.

And by the way, he better be a good speaker, too.