On Friday, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States.
Amongst all the pomp and circumstance, was his Inauguration speech.
If you haven’t watched it yet…you can watch it right here.
Then go through each of the steps with us below to see how we think he did.
Before we go any further, we want you to know we are not including any political views or opinions in this blog.
We are not writing this to analyze whether he’s a good politician or bad politician, or whether we agree with his policies…
We are analyzing President Trump strictly as a public speaker…
…and how we can use this critique to help YOU become better public speakers.
To analyze President Trump’s speech, we are using 16 techniques from our Signature Presentation Bootcamp Coaching Program to see what he did well, and what he needs to work on.
Start with a killer opener
What we always say at Rule the Room is your opener needs to have a fantastic hook…
You need to tell them why before you tell them what they’re going to get or how they’re going to get it
President Trump started off his address with a very good hook.
“We, the citizens of America, are now joined in a great national effort to rebuild our country and restore its promise for all of our people…”
Regardless of whether you agree with his statement or not, it’s a good hook.
But even before his hook, he thanks a number of people including former presidents and First Ladies.
Normally you don’t want to start a presentation by thanking people…
But in this case, where there’s a transfer of power and it’s a very official inauguration ceremony, thanking people is very appropriate.
While his main hook was very good, he could have come back to it more often throughout his speech.
He talked about lots of ways he plans on rebuilding the country…
“We will build new roads and highways and bridges and airports and tunnels and railways all across our wonderful nation.”
He could have reminded the audience by bringing it back to the main hook by simply saying… “and that’s how we are going to rebuild our country and restore it’s promise.”
Bringing the main hook back into the presentation would have made a more powerful impression.
Command with Your body
One of President Trump’s strengths is how he commands with his body.
He seldom shows fear or nerves when he speaks, and shows a lot of confidence.
Here’s all the different ways he could have shown fear or nerves, and he did NONE of these.
What he could do better is make it more enjoyable – he could use his facial expressions to smile more…
We’ll talk about that more in a minute, but overall he does an excellent job in commanding with his body language.
His biggest struggle however…was with his eye contact.
When speaking in front of a large crowd, like Trump was in his Inauguation Speech, in front of thousands of people…
You want to divide the audience into 9 sections…front-middle-back, and left-middle-right.
Then you want to look at every section for AT LEAST 3 seconds.
What Trump did, was look at one entire side for up to 20 seconds, and then move to another section.
It looked like he was watching one person for much of the time.
What he needed to do was to look at the 9 sections of the audience more often, not just looking to the left and the right.
It can make it look like he was only interested in certain people, and that can make people feel like they aren’t being included.
Convince With Your Voice
What he does well with his voice, is that he does a great job of slowing down when something is important…
But he could improve on getting softer with his volume when he wants to really emphasize a certain point.
Often, when something is important for President Trump, he talks even louder…
That’s what many people do in meetings, and it just doesn’t work as well as one might think…
What you want to do instead is to slow down AND lower your volume when making an important point.
Fillers
In his 17 minute speech, Trump had 42 fillers…
Most were “Ands” and “Buts”
The general “Rule the Room Rule of Thumb” for fillers is to have no more than 1 filler per minute…
…President Trump had more than twice the amount of acceptable fillers.
Below is a list of some examples where Trump used fillers, and how he could have avoided them by using a simple half-second pause.
Trump said, “…Washington flourished, but the people did not share in its wealth.”
What he could have said, “…Washington flourished, (pause) the people did not share in its wealth.”
Trump said, “…That all changes, starting right here, and right now.”
What he could have said, “…That all changes, starting right here, (pause) right now.”
Trump said, “We will build new roads, and highways, and bridges, and airports, and tunnels, and railways all across our wonderful nation.”
What he could have said, “We will build new roads, highways, bridges, airports, tunnels, and railways all across our wonderful nation.”
Trump said, “So to all Americans, in every city near and far, small and large, from mountain to mountain, and from ocean to ocean…”
What he could have said, “To all Americans, in every city near and far, small and large, from mountain to mountain, and from ocean to ocean…”
Trump also used what’s called an “absolute” 5 times.
That word was “Never”.
For example…
“I will fight for you with every breath in my body — and I will never, ever let you down.”
Anytime you use an absolute, like “never” or “always”, your audience will often try to prove you wrong.
Did you catch what I did?
Appear Confident and Credible
One of the biggest ways President Trump showed confidence was his use of the word “will”, as opposed to the phrase “hope to”.
What sounds more confident to you?…
“We hope to bring back our jobs. We hope to bring back our borders. We hope to bring back our wealth. And hope to bring back our dreams.
Or…
“We will bring back our jobs. We will bring back our borders. We will bring back our wealth. And we will bring back our dreams.”
Keep the Audience Captivated/Tailor Your Approach
Another strength for Donald Trump was the way he kept his audience captivated throughout his speech.
He did this by making the speech about THEM, the audience, and he set it up early in the speech.
Instead of saying, “This is my moment, this moment belongs to me.”
He said, “This moment is your moment: it belongs to you.”
He closed his speech, again by making it about them, saying…
“Your voice, your hopes, and your dreams will define our American destiny. And your courage and goodness and love will forever guide us along the way.”
Remember one of the key tenets of Rule the Room Public Speaking is this…
Make it enjoyable
When it comes to his Presentation Personality Style, Donald Trump is a mix of Energizer and Performer…
and like many Energizers and Performers, he does not have a lack of confidence when speaking.
Energizers are known for giving pep talks, which could be felt throughout his speech.
He stayed true to his genuine presentation personality self.
And whether you like him or not, it’s more attractive to be yourself, than it is to try to be fake.
If he had walked up to the podium and tried to be timid and “sweet”, it would not have worked for him.
However, there is room for improvement…
Once in a while, he looked angry during the speech.
If he wanted to make his speech more enjoyable, he can add some humor or include a smile once in awhile, as long as that smile is genuine.
He generated lots of applause after making this statement…
“We will no longer accept politicians who are all talk and no action — constantly complaining but never doing anything about it.”
No matter what your political views are, just about everyone wants action from their politicians, and not just talk or constant complaining, the applause generated by that statement would have been a perfect opportunity to smile and show some enjoyment.
Close to Applause
President Trump ended his speech on a strong note, again by tailoring his approach and making it about them, the audience, by repeatedly using the words “Your” and “We”.
“Your voice, your hopes, and your dreams will define our American destiny. And your courage and goodness and love will forever guide us along the way.”
“Together, We will make America strong again…
We will make wealthy again…
We will make America proud again…
We will make America safe again…
And yes, together, we will make America great again. Thank you. God bless you. And God bless America.”
Final thoughts
Again we are not focusing on what he said, this is not an analysis of his content, but an analysis on the way he said it.
If I had to grade his speech…
I’d give it a 7 out of 10 or a B-/C+.
He was genuine to himself…
he had a good hook and summary…
he kept people engaged…
and he got applause.
On the other hand…
He used too many fillers, such as “and” and “but”…
He spent too much time looking at either the left or right side of the audience…
He didn’t shift his eyes to all nine sections of the audience, and likely made areas of the crowd feel neglected.
He didn’t smile and even at times, looked a little angry.
What are your thoughts on his speech?
Put politics aside and head over to our Facebook Page to let us know what you think of his presentation from a public speaking standpoint.
