As we know from monitoring the media and from our various pharmaceutical and NHS clients, health continues to be a controversial issue. For anyone interested in the media it’s worth considering the reasons for this newsworthiness. Health concerns everyone, its delivery is often the subject of debate and controversy and there are constant new developments in medical science.
So the comments at the NHS Confederation conference yesterday by outgoing NHS chief executive David Nicholson was bound to create some headlines. The speech itself and this delivery are worth considering from a media training and presentation skills training point of view.
First and foremost any speech, presentation or media interview is about the audience. It’s not about the speaker and it’s not about the medium, whatever that might be. It’s the audience that counts. In this particular situation Nicholson knows his audience well. He’s aware of their hopes, fears and motivations. He knows how they feel and what they want to hear from him. This forms an excellent foundation for a speech.
“One of the things about being a leader in the NHS, and you know this better than I do…” he says at one point. Here he is establishing empathy and acceptance with his audience and he’s also flattering them – always a good thing to do, especially at the start of a speech.
“I’ve been under extraordinary scrutiny as you know, especially if you read the Daily Mail.” There’s not a lot to laugh about when it comes to health at the moment but Nicholson ventures a joke here and elicits some laughter from his audience. Again this works because he has established common ground with them. If you’re going to make a joke, this is particularly important. Here the Daily Mail is a common enemy.
“I became the story,” Nicholson tells his audience. Every speech or presentation, just like every article or press release has to have one message, one big idea. This four word sentence is Nicholson’s. Or is it? Nicholson “became the story,” he says because of criticism over his performance following publication in February of the public inquiry into the scandal at Stafford Hospital. But he also makes some other interesting points during his speech about the health service, in particular about it being subject to the whim of politicians.
“We cannot allow the tyranny of the electoral cycle to stop us making the changes." It’s a nice phrase – strong and emotional. Emotion is an essential part of any good speech. Some business and organization leaders might fight shy of using an emotion but it is what will motivate and inspire your audience. As the writer Maya Angelou puts it: “I've learned that people will forget what you said…but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Emotion is exciting whereas reason alone in a speech is just plain boring.
Back to the “big idea,” though. Let’s assume that Nicholson’s being the story rather than his criticism of politicians is his big idea. Certainly, most of the media coverage focussed on this point. Nicholson puts it across clearly but perhaps he could have used a little bit more drama. He could have led up to it in a way that would have given it more force. Both his script and his delivery could have given this central theme a bit more impact.
Nicholson could also add some more anecdotes and story to his speech. As we remind our health clients and others on our media training courses, the human element is one of the most important parts of any media report or speech. The NHS is one of the largest employers in the world - surely Nicholson could have included an encounter with one of its many thousands of staff? This human interaction, whether it’s funny, sad or inspiring could then be used to make a point in a vivid and engaging way.
Content aside, what about his delivery? Nicholson speaks naturally and at the right pace. He adds emphasis on key words. But he could be a little bit more fluent by identifying and then practising key phrases and lines before making the speech. Nobody likes to see a speaker standing to attention and this stiff stance can also create tension in the body, which has a detrimental effect on the voice and breath. Relaxing the body, using the arms for emphasis and maintaining open body language are all essential. Moving around the stage to a certain extent is good but these movements must be confident and appear to be intentional, rather than the slightly manic jig that Nicholson seems to be engaged in.
Overall this is a good speech, which clearly has a positive effect on the audience. Of course, after he retires next year Nicholson will no doubt join the after-dinner speaking circuit and will have many opportunities to put his speech giving skills into practice even more.