Media Relations: Presenting yourself to an audience

Koh Hui Fhen 0109537

Introduction
According to Business Dictionary(n.d), communication skills refers to the ability to transmit the
information from a person to another effectively and efficiently. Communication skills included
elements such as effective speaking and personal gestures, which are translated to be verbal and
non verbal communication. Good communication skills are key to success inlife, work and
relationships. Without effective communication, a message can turn into error, misunderstanding,
frustration, or even disaster by being misinterpreted or poorly delivered. (Hereford, n.d) Thus, this
assignment will be analyzing two interviews communication skills, each from Richard Branson and
Barack Obama, in order to reveal the communication skills that they possessed which makes them
to be a good communicator.

Richard Bransons Communication Skills

Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Atlantic as well as Virgin Group, is a English businessman
who sees his life as a adventurous journey that is full of pleasant challenges. According to
Forbes(n.d), Branson is the seventh richest businessman in United Kingdom. (Gallo et al., 2015)
Branson has also nominated as the top 10 best communicators by Deckers. In a world that judges
quickly, he has that smile that immediately engages his audience right in.(Deckers & Deckers,
2014) His outstanding communication skills successfully makes his audience excited to listen to his
speech, regardless of the topics and contents. The source is from Sir Richard Branson on The
One Show dated 15 September 2014.

During the interview, Branson shared his key secrets to success, including talking about the
importance of targeting the right audiences, right attitude at work as well as answering some

Media Relations: Presenting yourself to an audience

Koh Hui Fhen 0109537

questions from audiences. Branson demonstrated a well-interacted and humorous discussion,

which makes the interview lively and attractive. This portion of assignment will elaborate and
analyze on the strengths of this interview.

Firstly, to communicate effectively, ones appearance plays a mental role in audiences mind. Ones
appearance referred to the way that a person dressed up in order to face the audiences. Clothing
communicates and creates an impression for the audience.(Smith, 2014) According to D.Phil, there
is a case study that proved clothing influences impression towards one. For example, a proper
attire will makes a person looks decent, credible and is able to create a positive impression for the
audience. In the interview, Branson demonstrated a good example of having a proper attire for the
interview. For example, Branson wore a suit for the interview but purposely missed out the tie as
he do not want to make the interview too formal and restrictive. Branson showed his respects
towards the interview and at the same time, trying to makes the ambiance more lively and relaxed
so that the audiences will not feel stress when they were interacting with him.

Communication covered both verbal and nonverbal aspect and nonverbal communication are part
of the important factors in communication. Non verbal communication consists of five category,
which are emblems, illustrators, affect displays ,regulators and adaptors. (Skillsyouneed.com, n.d)
Eye contacts, facial expression as well as gestures provide emotional and psychological
information in audiences subconscious without knowing. Eye contacts represent attention and
involvement with the audience during communication.(Eye Contact and Facial Expression, 2015)
In addition, eye contacts and certain appropriate gesture also give a sense of sincerity for
audiences. Richard Branson presented a well eye contact and gestures during interview. For
2

Media Relations: Presenting yourself to an audience

Koh Hui Fhen 0109537

example, while listening to the 10 years old audiences question, Branson maintained eye contacts
with the boy, to express his attention and focuses on the questions asked. By maintaining eye
contacts and lean forward slightly, these minor gestures shows that Branson was paying attention
and showing respect to the boy while the audience was talking to him . At the same time, Branson
performed some regulators gestures such as nodding his head while listen to the audiences,
transmitting a non verbal signal which tells the audience that he is listening to them. This results in
a successful engagement of a conversation between the audience and Richard Branson.

The ways of conveying message to the audience are especially essential in communication as it
will decides the effectiveness of a communication. For example, including the humor element in
communication will be a wise choice if it is properly used. From the positive psychology theory,
humor will lead to an effective communication and results in a formation of a positive connection
with the audience.(Recce, 2014) These statements proved that humor will effectively capture
audiences attention and leaves a deep impression in audience minds. Besides that, speaking
clearly and using an appropriate vocal tone are also the important communication skills in the
interview, as people will easily misunderstood if the speakers do not pronounce it clearly or talking
too fast. An appropriate short break between sentence will assist the audience to have a better
understanding of the content.(Waldman and Newberg, 2012) In the interview, these skills were well
performed by Richard Branson. He spoke in a moderate speed and clearly pronounced every
single words, at the same time, he included some decent jokes when he speaks. Branson also
included some humor when he was interacting with his audience, this will make the audiences not
to feel nervous. His outstanding communication skills made the atmosphere lively and audiences
seems to be entertained by his jokes.
3

Media Relations: Presenting yourself to an audience

Koh Hui Fhen 0109537

Throughout the entire interview, Richard Branson embraced all the interview questions calmly. He
was able to organize his words well and it is observable that Branson possesses a good skill in
communication. For example, he keep his answer short and simple when he was answering the
audiences questions, at the same time, he gave some encouragement to the audience who owned
a little business. A simple skill like that will be able to make audiences to adore and respect him
more. However, Branson has certain weakness in his communication as well.

Bransons biggest weakness shown when he speaks, which he will tend to add ahh, urm and
eer in his sentences when he tries to organize the sentences. This makes him sounds hesitate or
do not sounds confident when he speaks. According to Andrew Dlugan, speakers should do their
best to eliminate the use of filter words as the filter words contribute nothing but an ineffective
communication.(Dlugan, 2012) Filter words indicating verbal static that audiences need to filter out
the words by themselves when they are decoding the message. This can be one of a barrier during
communication. In addition, excessive use of filter words will decrease the credibility of the
speakers, as it is indicating lack of preparation, knowledge or passion. (Dlugan, 2012) Thus, as a
good speaker, Branson should try to improve by reducing the usage of filter words.

As a conclusion for Bransons interview, non verbal communication skills playing an important role
in interview as these are the little signals that transmitted to the audience without knowing. The
engagement between the audience and speakers are essential as it indicated a successful
communication.

Media Relations: Presenting yourself to an audience

Koh Hui Fhen 0109537

Barack Obamas Communication Skills

Barack Obama, the 44th and current president of United States America, is the first African
president of U.S.A. He was a lawyer and teacher before involving himself in politics industry.
Barack Obama shocked the country by announcing his candidacy in Democratic Presidential
Nomination, which held in 2008 as the country never had an African president before, in their
history. However, Barack Obama defeated his competitor, John McCain and won in the election.
(Biography.com, n.d)

As the first African president in the history of USA, Barack Obama is definitely possess with a good
communication skills that is strong enough persuade the citizens to put the racism issue aside and
vote for him. In fact, a large number of citizens and even other countries nation speak highly of
Obamas communication skills. According to Shel Leanne(2008), the author of Say It Like Obama: the
Power of Speaking with Purpose and Vision , Obama possessed a high skills of communication, as he manage to
use the communication skills to tear down the barriers and build up the connection with the people. This enabled
him to gain support from the citizens. Besides that, Obama has the ability to motivate people to action and leave
people a long lasting, strong impression towards him. He build his positive reputations by communicating his
vision precisely and excellently.

In the interview, Obama stayed on his message and delivered the points accurately based on the questions asked
by the reporters. He kept his answer terse and made his sentences easily to understand by the audiences. Obama
stopped his speech as soon as he felt the question has been answered so that his answer will be only focusing on
the question and not to be twisted. Moreover, Obama demonstrated a great example of being interview, regardless
of non verbal or verbal communication skills. For example, in terms of verbal communication skills, Obama kept

Media Relations: Presenting yourself to an audience

Koh Hui Fhen 0109537

his tone politely, used appropriate words and also kept his talking speed in a moderate tempo so that the reporters
will be able to catch up his words. While for the non verbal communication, Obama presented in the conference
by dressing up formally, to show his respect towards the press conference. In addition, Obama kept his eye contact
with the reporters and demonstrated some appropriate body languages including nodding his head while listening
to the reporter, to indicate that he is listening to the reporter.

Throughout the interview, Obama was asked by the reporters regarding the fierce competitions among the other
candidates. Some of the candidates criticize Obama about his experience as a community organizer, which
indicating that Obama do not have much qualified to be a president. Instead of fire back to his competitors, he
chose to restate his past experience of being a lawyer and a law teacher to reassure the citizens that he is qualified
to be a president. At the same time, Obama related his previous job with his vision if he become the president by
emphasizing that people are the reason that he fights and he is more concerned on how to fight for people. Thus,
his answer makes him looks not as scheming as his competitor, as he do not speak bad about them but only
reassured that his qualification and experience would be a good steppingstone for him if he win the election. In
addition, Obamas answer will makes audience to think that Obama will be spending more time on solving the
problems or issues occurred in USA than talking nicely about the issues but not taking any actions on it. Clearly,
Obama was well-aware of how people think about politicians, what people need is those politicians who do the
things right but not those with lip service only.

Marc The Mind Control Guy (n.d) indicated that repetition is a technique that is able to influence ones
subconscious mind effectively by highlighting the same words or sentence that carries the same meaning few
times. In the interview, Obama performed this technique by repeating to tell the audience that he wanted the
Americans to live better, or to have a better life as American deserves better than the politics chaos. Through the
6

Media Relations: Presenting yourself to an audience

Koh Hui Fhen 0109537

repetition, Obamas statement will influence the audiences thought by thinking that Obama is truly care for the
Americans, and the audiences will most probably being persuaded that Obama will be the appropriate candidates
for the President.

Barack Obama performed an outstanding communication skills by inserting certain messages while delivering his
statement to audience. Obama placed the communication skills in his message content instead of speaking fancy
words to win the audiences heart. These might be the reason of why Barack Obama won the election and
overturned Americans mind regarding racism issue.

Conclusion

Richard Branson and Barack Obama are both good speakers, however Obama performed a better skills in
communicating as Obama put the emphasis on both verbal and non verbal technique during the interview
compared to Branson who only demonstrated non verbal expression in his interview. This proves that the
combination of both verbal and non verbal technique will be a powerful tools to communicate the message
towards the audience effectively.

(2048 words)

Media Relations: Presenting yourself to an audience

Koh Hui Fhen 0109537

References
1st Impression Consulting Inc.,. (2010). STOP communicating INEFFECTIVELY. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2upjBWRrfU

Media Relations: Presenting yourself to an audience

Koh Hui Fhen 0109537

BBC NEWS,. (2014). Profile: Richard Branson. Retrieved from

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3693588.stm
Biography.com,. Barack Obama Biography. Retrieved 29 June 2015, from
http://www.biography.com/people/barack-obama-12782369
Communication skills. BusinessDictionary.com. Retrieved June 29, 2015, from
BusinessDictionary.com website:
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/communication-skills.html
Decker, B., & Decker, K. (2014). Top 10 Best and Worst Communicators - Decker
Communications.Decker Communications. Retrieved 28 June 2015, from
https://decker.com/blog/category/top-10-best-and-worst-communicators/
Dlugan, A. (2012). How to Stop Saying Um, Uh, and Other Filler Words. Six Minutes. Retrieved 29
June 2015, from http://sixminutes.dlugan.com/stop-um-uh-filler-words/
Eye Contact and Facial Expression. (2015). Boundless. Retrieved from
https://www.boundless.com/communications/textbooks/boundless-communicationstextbook/delivering-the-speech-12/effective-visual-delivery-65/eye-contact-and-facialexpression-260-4169/
Gallo, C., Gallo, C., Vilner, Y., Hochman, D., Hochman, D., & Levick, R. et al. (2015). Richard
Branson. Forbes. Retrieved 28 June 2015, from http://www.forbes.com/profile/richardbranson/

Media Relations: Presenting yourself to an audience

Koh Hui Fhen 0109537

Harvey, I. (2014). Richard Branson doesnt mind being a crazy one. The Globe and Mail.
Retrieved 28 June 2015, from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/innovatorsat-work/richard-branson-doesnt-mind-being-a-crazy-one/article20172565/
Hereford, Z. Good Communication Skills Key to Any Success. Essentiallifeskills.net. Retrieved 29
June 2015, from http://www.essentiallifeskills.net/goodcommunicationskills.html
Leanne, S. (2008). The Communicative Power of Barack Obama: How He Became PresidentElect.Fast Company. Retrieved 29 June 2015, from
http://www.fastcompany.com/1070311/communicative-power-barack-obama-how-he-becamepresident-elect
Mind Control,. (2015). Subconscious Mind - Using Repetition to Influence It. Retrieved 29 June
2015, from http://www.mindcontrolblog.com/1481/subconscious-mind-using-repetition-toinfluence-it/
Oxon, B. (2014). What Your Clothes Might Be Saying About You. Psychology Today.
doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13612021311305128
Reece, B. (2014). Putting the Ha! In Aha!: Humor as a Tool for Effective Communication (Master).
University of Pennsylvania.
Skillsyouneed.com,. Non-Verbal Communication | SkillsYouNeed. Retrieved 28 June 2015, from
http://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/nonverbal-communication.html
Smith, J. (2014). Heres How Your Clothing Affects Your Success - Business Insider. Business
Insider. Retrieved 28 June 2015, from http://www.businessinsider.my/how-your-clothingimpacts-your-success-2014-8/#IvftJ4PWYVlHwDWR.97
10

Media Relations: Presenting yourself to an audience

Koh Hui Fhen 0109537

The One Show,. (2014). Sir Richard Branson on The One Show 15/09/2014. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcOKsQ79KFc
TPMTV,. (2008). Barack Obama Press Conference. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NBv88rG608&feature=related
Waldman, M., & Newberg, A. (2012). The 8 Key Elements of Highly Effective Speech. Psychology
Today. Retrieved 28 June 2015, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/words-canchange-your-brain/201207/the-8-key-elements-highly-effective-speech

11