Advice to President Obama

A week ago I asked:

If you had the opportunity to advise President Obama on one thing he needs to achieve in his 2013 inaugural address, what would it be?

Watching this event unfold I was envious of the hundreds of thousands who gathered for this historic moment, was mesmerized by the melodic inflection of Obama’s voice and taken-in by the cheer of all who had gathered.

However, if I were to give our 44th President some presentation advice there are three points I would ask him to consider.

• Smile!  Not a silly smile or an arrogant smile but a smile that invites us in and builds a bridge, allowing him to connect on a human level and show that he believes we are all truly equal.

• Obama invoked the refrain “We, the people” to speak of shared responsibility – “We, the people, understand that our country . . . “,  “We, the people, still believe . . .” However, when he used the word “We” — his arms were simply hanging by his side. What a great opportunity to promote equality by opening and extending his arms as to gather and unite the nation as one.

• Although skillful, Obama could improve in one area when using the teleprompter and that is his eye contact.  The good news is that he moves his head from side-to-side to read the prompter (a good technique) allowing him to have direct eye contact with listeners to his right and left.  However, he rarely pauses and looks out to talk with the thousands that are straight in front of him.

Those are my thoughts, what are yours?