Ah yes, bombing.
Many of my clients asked for my two cents regarding Jan Brewer’s cringe inducing performance at the Arizona Governor Debate. The question that came up most; was she under-prepared, or simply panicked? As you probably noticed from the video above, Ms. Brewer stumbled badly at the top, shook her head as if to say “Gee I screwed up”, and then proceeded to piece together an incoherent summation of her turn as Governor. Yikes.
Was she under-prepared? Most likely, yes. It seems as if she hadn’t really rehearsed the speech out loud much. She seemed somewhat disorganized from the outset. It is always important to go over a speech five to six times, ideally in front of other people, and then review bullet points silently a few times before the event, getting in touch with the essence of the speech. Doing progressive relaxation exercises before an event helps a good deal too.
Was she panicked? Yes. What do you do if this happens to you? Breath. STOP SPEAKING. Do not try to TALK your way out of panic; never works. Guess why? The panic will distort your thoughts and words. If you are on a train to Connecticut, but you want to go to New Jersey, do you continue on your journey thinking, “Well, eventually, I will land in New Jersey”? Nope. You get off the train, and get on another train. If you are on the train to panics-ville, get off the train. Stop speaking. Take a sip of water. Breath. DO NOTHING. Clarify your thoughts. Will it be a little awkward? Yes. Will it be better than speaking out of your arse (excuse my French)? Much.
Would you like to know a dirty secret held by most public speaking coaches? Ok here goes…. Everybody bombs. Yep, it’s true. Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Ole Abe Lincoln, and occasionally a public speaking coach (not MOI of course 
), everybody, everybody bombs. Public speaking craft helps us reach a state of public speaking excellence, not public speaking perfection. We are all human, and on occasion, we fail. So what do you do if this happens to you? Get up off your feet, dust yourself off, and then move on. You failed, yes, but you are in good company, and you have faced the worst. You need not fear the podium again.
What do you think? Under-prepared, or panicked?
Jeffrey Davis is the owner of Speak Clear Communications. He is a public speaking coach and accent reduction coach in Manhattan.
Jeff, thanks for the post. Thank God I had a good coach for my speech and didn’t bomb. I don’t think I did, at least. Question: How do you think she handled those impromptu questions post-debate?
Hey Leslie, Thx for commenting! You certainly didn’t bomb at your commencement address! You hit it out of the park!
As for the post-debate questions aimed at Ms. Brewer regarding her statements about beheadings in the desert, of course Ms. Brewer’s non-answer was a disaster. They were appropriate questions to ask. A solid Q and A technique, contrary to customary belief, should be about brief, honest, straightforward answers. Sidestepping questions only leads to trouble. The controversy would have abated a long time ago if she had just fessed up to misspeaking, and apologized.
Hi Jeff,
It was nice meeting you at Sean’s networking event (Fordham GBA), I like your videos on styles of public speaking. I too thought the speech on “broken” at gel 2006 was really effective in the way the speaker interacted with the audience (prop).
The reason I chose to comment on this video in particular (not because I’m a Jan Brewer fan haha) is that I can relate to the moment of pause she was going through and how it can be interpreted by your listener(s)…in my case, not because I was panicked, lying or under-prepared, but more often than not over-analyzing my choice of words – in that pause thinking of the most ideal descriptive word etc. then resuming my pace at a steady level. It’s something I’ve tried to overcome for a while, even though unnoticeable to some.
Anyway, we talked briefly on some of your filmmaking, where did you say I should check that out?
Entertaining and informative blog!
Take care,
Frantz
Hey Frantz,
Thanks for the comment! It was a pleasure meeting you at the networking event last night.
Regarding your comments, pausing is not inherently a bad thing. In fact it’s a very good thing. It’s important to take your time with a speech..and clarifying your thoughts is very important. Sometimes a speaker will get caught up in trying to find the perfect word, or will take too much time trying to find a very eloquent word. This is generally a mistake. Simple language and simple, direct answers are best.
In regard to my film-making, you can see a short film I acted in here, and you can FB me here. I recently wrote a film titled “The Porterhouse” which was awarded fiscal sponsorship from The New York Foundation for the Arts. I often post updates regarding the film on my FB page. I will add you to my mailing list for Speak Clear, and for the production.
Thanks again for commenting!
Take Care,
Jeff