Thank you Mr Speaker.

I love listening to Aussie politicians giving speeches.

Yes, you read that correctly. 

Australian politicians on the whole give excellent presentations and speak naturally, honestly, from the heart, often with great humour and have the ability to captivate and engage audiences young and old.

I need to make one small clarification. I refer only to Australian politicians once they have left politics. Former Premiers, retired Prime Ministers…....…ex-politicians.

Many conferences include an address from a Minister, usually the local member or the Minister who oversees the portfolio covered by the conference subject matter. Yet, in my experience of attending countless conferences for the past 20 years - while they are in politics, the vast majority of politicians say very little during their conference presentations. While they might be experienced and polished public speakers, and even eloquent in some cases, they tend to speak longer than their allocated time slot and even those who give short speeches, invariably fail to engage their audience or give any of their real personality away.

They simply go through the motions. They stick to their script (usually written by someone else) and the audiences cynically play the game of applauding the pro-industry comments made from the lectern, but generally are left underwhelmed and thinking “OK, now that the Minister’s boring address is done, let’s get on with the conference”.

Yet something wonderful occurs when the same politician leaves politics.

Freed of the shackles of sticking to a party line and less concerned about their comments being picked up by the media or misconstrued, they start to express what they really think. 

What’s more, they start to insert “themselves” into the presentation, showing previously hidden parts of their personality….or actually in many cases, showing they have a personality. We finally see their authentic selves, a key part of any great presentation. We see what they really stand for and who they really are.

Politics aside, I never warmed to Peter Costello while he was Treasurer. But at a conference a few years back, he bounded on stage, made various insightful off the cuff remarks about the conference and proceeded to charm the pants off a very cynical conference audience. Not a sign of smugness, not a snide smirk in sight. He spoke about his relationship with his children, told some great political war stories, some stories of life at home during politics, he spoke of some regrets and his “real” views on Australia and the world today. And he was hilarious. Yep, Peter Costello was LOL funny.

I had the honour of interviewing former PM Julia Gillard at a Dymocks Book-Sellers Conference in Canberra last year and once again, whether you agreed with her politics or not, a more charming, quick, witty, self-deprecating and dare I say it “real” presenter, you are unlikely to meet. 

I'm a cynic from way back and meet many politicians at conferences (many of them very "guarded"), but Julia (as she asked to be called) had me at 'Hello". Actually, as you'll see in the video snippet below, she had me with her disarming opening comment which picked up beautifully on a light-hearted compliment I had paid the audience at the start of the evening, commenting on how much effort they'd gone to getting dressed up for the gala occasion. We actually spent much of our first few minutes bantering. It was not what I'd expected, nor what the audience expected. 

Again, it was shame that wasn't a side of her we saw all that often when she spoke as a Minister or as the PM.

Again, politics aside, Cheryl Kernot at a conference a few months back. Warm and self-deprecating, she told some genuinely heartfelt stories and had the audience in tears.

Regardless of what you thought of former PM John Howard, while PM, he was never known for being an eloquent, dynamic public speaker. But for those who haven’t had the privilege of hearing him speak post-politics, I assure you, he is one. He speaks for an hour with authority and insight on industry specific topics, a different presentation every time – and no notes in sight. Again, often with great humour, honesty and warmth.

Alexander Downer, Jeff Kennett, Anna Bligh. I could go on.

Such a pity that in this overly media managed, sound bite driven, ‘stay on message and concede nothing' world, we, the electorate, only get to see the real side to our politicians once they leave politics. 

* This article first appeared in last week's June edition of Business Events News.

Andrew is a Presentation Skills speaker/trainer/writer and Professional MC and has come close to dozing off many times listening to politicians doing Welcome Addresses at the start of conferences.

www.andrewklein.com.au