She took the podium to boost Barack Obama‘s profile, but Sen. Hillary Clinton‘s demeanor drifted from “egocentric” to “authentic,” four top body language experts said.
Long Island communications consultant Maxine Fiel said Clinton’s speech was short on emotion and long on Hillary.
“There were no high notes and there were no low notes. It was sort of like a general telling the troops, ‘Don’t stop,'” Fiel said.
Fiel said Clinton’s hunched shoulders, raised eyebrows and hand gestures were “really quite egocentric.”
“It was all about her, what she has done, what she wanted,” Fiel said. “It was as if she was still campaigning.”
Boston communications consultant Arnold Zenker countered that Clinton conveyed a sense of sincerity with her smile and forceful voice.
“She was more relaxed than she was when ambition was at the forefront. She’s a team player and followed the script,” Zenker said.
“I watched her throughout the campaign and there was always a tension that you could feel,” Zenker said. “I watched the softness of her face, and there wasn’t tension tonight.”
Mary Ellen Drummond, a California speech coach, said Clinton’s finger-pointing and earnest stares into the camera were “persuasive, dynamic and energizing.”
“I have to say that I’ve criticized her in the past, where she would shake her head ‘yes’ and say ‘no.’ She didn’t do that tonight. She came across as authentic,” Drummond said.
Gerard Nierenberg of Manhattan, author of “How to Read a Person Like a Book,” said he “couldn’t find anything negative” about the speech.
“When she puts her hand on her chest … she didn’t have any negative gestures at all,” Nierenberg said. “She was believable in her gestures.”
click here for the article article in PDF format
Skills for a Competitive Edge
in Today's Global Marketplace