What with Hurricane Sandy and the 2012 elections, it’s been a rough few weeks here in the northeast.
Sandy and the elections have put “ground games” in the news—and, like hurricane responders and presidential candidates—public speakers need a good “ground game,” too.
Here’s why.
The Ground Game of Presidential Politics
In her pre-election article Obama’s Edge: The Ground Game That Could Put Him Over the Top, The Atlantic’s Molly Ball (@mollyesque), wrote about the “field office gap” between Obama (800 offices, staffed by local enthusiasts) and Romney (300 offices controlled by the Republican National Committee).
“Our focus is on having a very decentralized, organized operation as close to the precinct level as possible,” said Obama’s national field director Jeremy Bird.
“These are teams that know their turfs — the barber shops, the beauty salons… These people know their communities.”
In other words, Obama’s field teams knew who they were talking to.
Because of that—because they could speak at a personal level—they were able to apply the extra leverage that helped bring so many Obama supporters to the polls.
The Ground Game in Hurricane Sandy Relief
Within days of the hurricane, Occupy Sandy—a coalition of Occupy Wall Street, 350.org, Recovers.org and Interoccupy.net—had set up a command center, an information clearinghouse, and a volunteer training program.
That first Saturday, operating out of a Brooklyn church basement, they cooked and delivered 6,000 hot meals to survivors around the city.
The next day, it was 10,000 meals; and they lent 50 volunteers to FEMA and the Red Cross.
By now, even the New York Times has noticed their effectiveness, and the National Guard, the NYPD, and the Mayor’s Office have sent reps to attend their briefings.
The Public Speaking Ground Game
What do Obama’s field office operation and Occupy Sandy’s rapid response capabilities have to do with good public speaking?
Here are the lessons I take away:
Lesson #1: Like Obama’s field office staff, you need to know who you’re talking to.
Remember, you’re never “just” talking. You’re always talking to someone, about something that hopefully will interest them.
So when you accept a speaking invitation, find out everything you can about the audience: Their attitudes. Their aspirations. How they feel about you and your topic.
When you know what matters to your audience, you can meet them where they are—and perhaps move them a few steps closer to where you’d like them to be.
Lesson #2: Like the Occupy Sandy organizers, stay alert to the situation you’re in.
Occupy is succeeding because they react in the moment, and meet real needs that exist on the ground (as opposed to fulfilling some home office ideal of what needs to be done).
As a public speaker, you need to do the same.
That way, if conditions change—your time is cut, or the projector doesn’t work, or people react in a way you didn’t expect—you’ll still be able to connect with your audience, and present a speech that interests them (as opposed to getting tangled in your image of how things “should” go).
The job of a public speaker is different than that of a disaster relief team, or a President who’s trying to get re-elected.
But in each of these cases, focus, flexibility, and a real-time ability to grapple with what’s actually happening on the ground will go a long way toward helping you succeed.