The Successful Candidate: 
Using Speeches to Gain Voters' Trust

Every voter looks for a candidate in whom he or she can believe. And candidates can win voters’ trust in many ways, some of which have more to do with whom the voter is than the candidate.

One principle always hold true, however: every constituent must be convinced that he or she is seeing a real person on the podium, in television interviews, or in campaign ads. You may make the ballot through extraordinary political insider skills, but the average voter cares little or nothing about that. What they want is someone who shares their values and is trustworthy enough to elect.

This article outlines three simple rules for building such trust with voters through speeches. These rules should be easy to follow, because they involve doing something any good pol already does well: responding to people’s needs through conversation. A good speech essentially is a conversation in which every member of the audience thinks you’re talking directly to them.

1. Establish a bond with listeners

In a typical speech, a person transmits 55 percent of the message through body language and other visual clues, 38 percent from vocal quality, and a mere 7 percent from content.

So, 93 percent of what’s getting through to the voter has everything to do with how the speaker looks and sounds. It even works on camera, as I proved in one of my debate prep sessions with state Rep. Martha Fuller Clark (D–NH) in a race for New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District. Clark’s closing statement just wasn’t catching fire. I advised bringing some physical gestures to her remarks at the point where she promises repeatedly to “always work for [her constituents] in Washington.” She repeated the speech, this time pointing with her index finger every time she said, “I will always... ” The effect was dramatic — and it was obvious that this part of her closing statement was now going to nail viewers’ attention.

2. Reveal who you are

This advice may sound topsy–turvy in terms of traditional political wisdom. But think about the people you really trust in life. Do any of them seem to be hiding their true motives? Wearing a mask? Pretending to be someone they’re not? Constituents will believe in a candidate more — in fact, they’ll only believe — if they think they’re seeing the real thing on the stump or in front of the camera.

You may dream about sounding like your personal political hero. But it is to your great advantage that you don’t look or sound like John F. Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, Martin Luther King, Jr., or Scott Brown. They’ve been done before. You have not.

Today, voters want to discover the candidate as he or she speaks, as much as we want to hear about the issues. You already possess the ideal vehicle for delivering this side of yourself to voters: the sound of your voice. When you commit fully to the truth of what you’re saying, listeners will hear it immediately. Now you’ll be convincing voters, not making a speech.

3. Connect your voice to your emotions

No advice is more valuable to a political speaker than this. The best way to tell your story is to let your voice reflect your feelings about the things that are important to you and your constituents. Allowing your vocal style to reflect your emotions should be one of your strongest attributes as a candidate.

One of my clients, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R–Alaska), introduced a bill on the Senate floor seeking a fair trade balance for America’s salmon fishery. The legislation would make an enormous difference to the people of her home state, and Murkowski clearly felt strongly about its passage. Yet the bill couldn’t sound like “mere” policy — it had to reflect the senator’s deep personal commitment to the people who would benefit from the legislation. And that’s what we worked on in her delivery of this important speech.

So how do you achieve the level of vocal expressiveness discussed in this article: the “vocal dynamics” that will make you a successful political speaker? Begin by listening to yourself on a tape recorder. Is your voice expressive or do you speak in a monotone? Does your speech include the essential “peaks and valleys” of pitch inflection that accompany changes of idea and mood, keeping listeners tuned in to what you’re saying?

The longer your speech or Q & A session, the more important such vocal variety becomes. Otherwise audiences tune out. What good is it to speak on issues you really care about if your vocal style is turning voters in another direction?

Anecdotes and stories are ideal vehicles for achieving such vocal variety. But they must have a different flavor from the policy issues in the same speech. That’s the strategy I used with U.S. Rep. Mike Capuano (D–Mass.), who tells a wonderful story about a sailing trip in which the Coast Guard offered unanticipated but very welcome assistance.

To build trust with constituents, then, reveal yourself and your passion through your voice. Politicians have sought votes using this formula for ages. As an effective tool of elections, it’s never changed. As always, it comes down to showing people that they are the reason you’re running for office.

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GARY GENARD is an internationally known speech coach and corporate trainer. A former professional actor, he is the founder of Boston-based Public Speaking International, one of the world's premiere presentation skills and media training companies. PSI offers communication skills improvement including public speaking training, executive speech coaching, speech improvement, presentation skills and using PowerPoint, sales presentation training, and media appearance training. Public Speaking International can be found online at http://PublicSpeakingInternational.com. 
Call (781) 643-2095 or email gary@pubspeak.com.

Copyright 2010 by Gary Genard, Ph.D.