On Tuesday, March 19th, Democratic presidential candidate, Beto O’Rourke, visited the University Park Campus to advocate for his presidential campaign. He addressed an audience of over 500-hundred people at Heritage Hall over topics in gun control, immigration policy, and healthcare. Unfortunately, due to the size and scope of the event, I wasn’t able to get myself in the best seat or position to watch. However, I was able to find a little riser in a corner to stand on and tried to listen and observe to as much of his speaking as I could. I wanted to use this opportunity to see what qualities make an effective public speaker and captivating public figure.
During his address, I took the time to try to identify some of Beto’s quirks or strategies that make him such a compelling public speaker and popular democratic candidate. One of the most obvious things that stood out to me was his sporting of a Nittany Lion baseball cap. As someone who is both an advocate and candidate for public office, I now recognize that it is important to be able to establish immediate amicability and rapport with your audience. It’s probably also important to adjust the method of building rapport so that it is appropriate for your audience. I think that Beto and his campaign team took the time to identify and recognize the power of school spirit and the young student body here at Penn State and capitalized on that fact through wearing the baseball cap.
Additionally, something else that Beto and his campaign made sure to do was establish a good public relations base. He made sure that he had only the best and friendliest relationship with Penn State students. Each mini interaction he had with students, whether it was a handshake or a high-five, continuously added to his credibility. The effect of this was a rage of social media posting and blurbing that, through the power of the internet, spread at a commensurate rate.
Finally, I want to write a bit about his style of speaking and rhetorical skills that makes him such a captivating person. Whenever Beto speaks, he strategically analyzes his sentences and knows exactly what topics and words get people excited. Therefore, he recognizes when to purposefully accent certain words and slow his speech so that the most emotionally powerful phrases are the clearest. This video is an excellent example of that!
As a political science major and an aspirant for a field in government and politics, I think that this experience really taught me a lot about presenting yourself as a public figure and running for public office. In RCL this year, we spent a lot of time learning how to best present ourselves to a public audience so that we may interest them and get them to think. However, I know believe that when it comes to public speaking and advocacy, there is no replacement for pure experience. I hope that in my future years here at Penn State, I will be able to better present my ideas and arguments in any given situation.