Five Helpful Communication Tips from Fed Chairman Powell’s Press Briefing

Approximately eighteen months ago, I analyzed Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s briefing of the December 2022 Federal Reserve meeting. The focus of this article is to provide meaningful lessons learned related to presentation structure, or the fourth bone in the FINESSE fishbone (cause and effect) diagram. I recently evaluated Powell's July 31, 2024, briefing. What can be learned from it about presentation structure?

Jerome Powell’s press conferences as Federal Reserve Chairman are highly scripted and carefully managed. The July 31, 2024, briefing was no different and came at a pivotal time when the Fed was expected to start cutting rates (Powell had to explain that the Fed was not going to do so)

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Prepared Remarks

Powell typically begins his press conferences with prepared remarks that last ten to fifteen minutes. This event was no different. However, despite the Fed’s meeting being a big one, full of complexity and uncertainty, Powell’s prepared remarks were unusually short: just over six minutes and thirty seconds.

"If you want me to give you a two-hour presentation, I am ready today. If you want only a five-minute speech, it will take me two weeks to prepare." Mark Twain

Key point: ?Bigger and more complex topics do not require more formal presentation time. Get to the key messages. Less is more!

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Structured Q&A

Powell’s question-and-answer portion of his briefing is less scripted than his formal remarks but still highly managed. In this case, he glanced at the information book several times as he answered questions but never read from it.

Although the session did not feel structured, Powell took twenty questions plus two follow-ups. The average and median number of words per response were 270 and 261, respectively. The range was between 85 and 422. Looking at the Pareto diagram, 65 percent of Powell’s answers were less than 345 words, and only 5 percent (one answer) exceeded 395 words.

Powell spoke at an average and median rate of 181 and 185 words per minute. He answered two-thirds of the questions in under 2 minutes, and only one took 2.5 minutes. Whether the Q&A was pre-arranged, Powell had a subconscious clock in his head, and each response had good discipline.

Key point: Keep your answers to less than 3 minutes per question.

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Duration

Powell’s briefing took a little over 40 minutes. Of that, 17 percent were for formal remarks and 83 percent were for Q&A.

Key point: Ten minutes is sufficient to effectively present information with high complexity and uncertainty levels. Use most of your time for Q&A.

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No Visuals

No PowerPoint. No Graphs. No Images.

Powell chose instead to make his points narratively and concisely. Avoiding images also avoided transcription or accessibility issues. People with specific interests could look back at the two days of available data and graphs.

Key point: PowerPoints and visuals are unnecessary when presenting information that is highly complex and uncertain, especially since reports are available before and after the presentation.

Stay On Script

Powell can adjust his responses in real-time based on the flow of questions and the need to clarify or emphasize certain points. However, these adjustments are cautiously made to avoid unintended signals to the market. There were no such moments in this briefing.

Key point: Stay on script to maintain clear and consistent communication, which is especially important for big decisions with high complexity and uncertainty.

Five Communication Tips for Jerome Powell’s Briefing

Jerome Powell is a great example of an effective communicator when decisions are big and complexity and uncertainty are high. His structured and disciplined approach, combined with an easy, confident manner, creates clear and consistent messages. The July 31, 2024, briefing is no exception.

These are five lessons learned from this briefing:

1. Bigger and more complex topics do not require more formal presentation time. Get to the key messages.
2. Keep your answers to less than 3 minutes per question.
3. Ten minutes is sufficient to effectively present information with high complexity and uncertainty. Use most of your time for Q&A.
4. PowerPoints and visuals are not necessary.
5. Stay on script to maintain clear and consistent communication.

These key points apply to Structure, the fourth bone in the FINESSE fishbone (cause and effect) diagram. Tips, pointers, and lessons learned are not helpful unless they can be tied into an approach. The FINESSE mental model is a proven approach to effective communication. Are you communicating with FINESSE?

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