How was the vocal performance of the leaders in the TV Debate?

Many apologies for the tardiness of this email report. Vertigo; writing at the computer and using your brain don't go hand in hand!

I don't know about you, but I really enjoyed the first 30 minutes of the debate; I then got bored. There have been plenty of comments on the performance of the three leaders. From a body language perspective, none are better than the excellent Peter Collett who appeared on Sky News. The impact of the debate has affected the polls, with the Lib Dems doing remarkably well at the moment BUT polls are one thing; it is what happens in the voting booths that matter.....

As Peter Collett mentioned, two's company, three's a crowd and this was perfectly illustrated by this debate and the dynamics between the three. Nick Clegg was the one they wanted to be friends with; GB clearly was smoozing with him, whilst deliberately leaving out DC. NC was playing hard to get. DC was the 'piggy in the middle'; left out with 'no mates'. Avoid Threes where possible!

There is no doubt that Nick Clegg had a fantastic result from his performance. THere were notable skills he used:

• Looking straight at the camera to engage viewers.
• Using first names for people who had asked questions.
• Bending the rules when talking to people in the audience.
• Open, confident, professional body language. For readers who have attended Executive Voice's workshops and one to one coaching sessions, he had a classic 'Divo' posture, which was non-threatening, professional, open and enabled his voice to be engaging, clear and interesting to listen to.
• HOWEVER - under stress, he makes his mouth into a 'Mr Sad' :( If you do this now, you will feel that tension develops in the jaw area; throat and back of the tongue. This impacts on his voice by creating a 'strangulated' sound. He needs to relax this area For jaw relaxation exercises go to the Executive Voice website
• He came across as trustworthy, in touch with the public and willing to 'work things out'.
  
• It was a very good performance - although I have little recollection of what he said.

Next David Cameron who, in my opinion, underperformed. I noticed

• He was physically on the back foot.
  
• His weight was actually on his back foot and this impacted on his performance by giving the impression he didn't want to be there.
  
• His energy was being used to prevent him falling over backwards.
  
• It prevented him from projecting his voice and personality.
• He didn't engage with the audience - both in the studio or the TV audience.
• He looked awkward, frightened and weak (in my opinion.)
• His voice was high pitched and strangulated. He was in a lot of discomfort - possibly from being so close physically to Gordon Brown.
• Looking broodily into the distance works for Clint Eastwood in a Spaghetti Opera, but not for a political debate. He looked silly and didn't engage.
• One positive; his stories and examples were very powerful and I do remember some key messages he said.
• For people that have worked with me, he showed classic examples of 'The Mouse' in his posture; no energy or engagement was coming from him, and he didn't invite engagement from his audience.

Finally Gordon Brown. In fairness I was spending a lot of time shouting at the TV saying "But you've had 13 years to sort this out!" Etc... However, here are my comments: I have tried not to be biased.

• Gordon Brown adopted the 'Elder Statesman' persona in the group, with confidence, solid body language.
• Gordon's low pitched voice added gravitas and experience to what he said.
• HOWEVER, because he has a tendency to drop his jaw, the actual voice drops from some of his resonating chambers resulting in a less focused voice which lacks clarity. It becomes more difficult to hear what he's saying.
• He spoke slowly and concisely to create the 'Elder Stateman' persona.
• He was aggressive, physically (he leaned on his lectern a lot) and 'Gave the eye' to David Cameron. I believe he intimidated DC.
• Vocally he was aggressive in a quiet, demanding way.
  
• He didn't play fair - he was for ever talking over DC and butting in, preventing DC from completing sentences and being heard.
• He jumped down from the stage to shake hands with the audience, leaving the other two leaders looking like school boys.
• There was no two way engagement with the audience; it was one way - listen to me, but no eye contact with the camera. He wasn't warm.

I will be very interested to see what happens this Thursday. Adam Boulton has his work cut out managing the debate. I am sure every second has been analysed by the researchers and advisors for each of the leaders and that NC will be the main target of attack this time!

For more information about Executive Voice go to http://www.executivevoice.co.uk