Tuesday night’s debate was interesting in many respects, but the closing statements offered one important lesson for everyone in today’s non-reading world (people listen and watch –but they don’t read)! In the closing statements, most of the candidates understood that their key audience was the viewers, the audience at home. That meant directing their final comments to those people through the camera – not at the camera. Surprisingly, Carly Fiorina and Jeb Bush looked around at the studio audience, giving the impression to the home audience of shiftiness and unsteadiness. Donald Trump closed with a sustained focus on the at home audience but his bouncing eyes at the beginning of his delivery was enough to earn him a failing grade. While it’s hard to maintain contact with the audience through the camera – as opposed to at the camera – all the candidates should know how to do this by this point in the campaign. Whether you’re making a major statement about national security or asking your employees to look at the website to learn about open enrollment for your company’s health plan, you need to learn how to talk to your audience through the camera.
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