Harry Smith

His amiable manner on the CBS morning show and on Sunday Morning is pleasant and professional. But when he listens to fellow hosts and/or to guests, Smith has a habit of touching his face and splaying his fingers in front of his mouth – very distracting. It’s a habit that robs him of authority. It makes the viewer stop and wonder what is he hiding? Why is he doing that? Body language accounts for 55% of the message we send [38% is attributed to tone of voice and 7% to the spoken message]. If you speak up in a business meeting and cover your mouth with your hand, the body language reading will very likely be - you’re not sure of yourself. Touching your face, covering your mouth or fiddling of any kind should be
avoided by every speaker. The listener sees it as discomfort, nervousness, or lack of confidence.

Carol Duvall

Appearing on her own craft show on HGTV, Duvall is a master teacher, listener, and communicator. Few on TV have her ability to speak so genuinely and so intimately to the viewer. Click into her program and you’ll feel as if you’ve dropped into her studio just in time to catch a good craft lesson… either one she is teaching, or one that her guest is demonstrating. Ah, how she listens – always with the needs of the audience in mind. If absolutely necessary, she will briefly interrupt her guest to request more detail, if she thinks the viewer needs it. And, adding to the delight of watching this pro, Duvall has the most thorough and attentive camera crew. Never do they miss the close-up of the crafter’s process the audience must see. At the end of her show, Duvall thanks her guests. Here’s where both the viewer and the crafter would appreciate a more clearly stated mention of the guest’s full name … and a visual spelling out the name at the bottom of the screen. The lesson here is, when a speaker wants a main point remembered by the audience, repeat the point to conclude talking about it. Restate the point briefly, like a headline. Finally, project the point on a visual.

Robert Kiyosaki

Robert Kiyosaki has co-written a book with Donald Trump to help all of us attain wealth. He, like Trump is a plain speaking, generous and honest communicator. These two have been making the rounds of TV shows to promote their book. In response to Larry King’s and Donny Deutsch’s questions, Kiyosaki began almost every answer with the useless phrase “I think”. This is one of those meaningless bad habit phrases that dilute the information that follows. “I think” and “I believe” are intended to sound strong, but they’re actually weak. They rob you of conviction. The more powerful approach is to get right to the answer. Avoid the “I thinks’ and the “I believes”…. get to the point.

Jim Cramer

Throughout his TV program, Cramer gives his audience an ongoing gift of information [every speakers’ responsibility]. All the bells, whistles and hoopla that goes along with it are part of his unique style. Few speakers could get away with all the distractions. For example, he does a lot of moving around, it’s more like running around, but for Cramer, it works. He uses flamboyant gestures, arms flinging up, down, out and around, but for Cramer it works. He talks too fast, probably because he so wants to communicate his advice to help us handle our stocks intelligently. He has all kinds of visuals, noisemakers, bulls, bears. horns, but for Cramer it works. Thank heavens he has simple, effective visuals when it comes to the stock he’s focusing on. Cramer’s style is Cramer’s. For the rest of us, take a tip from his use of the clear, easy to read stock visuals, not his style. And, take a tip from his enthusiasm. Bottom line Cramer is fun and compelling to watch and listen to.

Katie Couric

Whether she’s doing the entertainment variety of TV, like the morning show which she did for so long and so well to the evening news gig she’s doing now, Couric is a polished pro. However, we can learn something important from what Couric did when she delivered the Commencement speech at a Midwest university. She had a written script. That’s fine. Thank heavens she didn’t memorize it, But, she read it. Reading to an audience is bad news. It’s every audience’s biggest pet peeve. The ideal way to deliver from a script is to rehearse it, mark it and then refer to it making sure you connect with your audience with more eye contact than eyes down at script level. People want to be looked at. They want to be acknowledged. They want you to talk to them. Not read to them.

Paula Zahn

In her nightly newscasts, which are smartly presented and well-paced, she now has a new set, a very busy set, a set that, like any overdone visual, fights with the spoken word. Another distraction here is how Zahn’s professional delivery is marred by too many gestures. The audience is watching her on a small or large screen. Flying hands tend to distract the eye and simultaneously rob the ear from hearing what is being said. Gestures [above the waist] work well for a speaker in front of an audience, but not on the tube.

Donald Trump

Oh, if only more top executives were as honest and forthcoming as he is. You know when Trump answers a question, whether Larry King or an Apprentice is asking, whether you like it or not …you’re going to get the truth the whole truth. He cares about integrity. Honesty ought to be taught in schools. It is the obligation of every speaker to be straightforward, to stand behind every word in his or her presentation.

Charles Osgood

‘Sunday Morning’ on CBS always ends with a photo essay, a nature treat. Charlie sets the scene by informing the audience what we’re about to see. It’s usually something like the birds of Maui, or the wild flowers of the Grand Canyon or some other nature scene where the camera takes us around and we’re sitting there wondering what we’re looking at. The problem is, we don’t know exactly what we’re looking at. We want to know … what’s the name of that bird, for example. The fact is when any speaker – on TV or at a lectern invites an audience to look at a visual, whether it’s photography or a bar chart, the audience wants detail, an explanation of what they’re looking at to get the most out of the visual.

James Lipton hosts "In the Actor's Studio" on Bravo. He is one of the great interviewers on the tube. Watch the show and you will witness the pleasure of a professional who has done thorough and thoughtful homework to the delight of his celebrity guests, his live audience, [students in the performing arts] and his TV viewing audience. He asks wonderful, insightful questions. He listens quietly, intently, patiently. He allows his celebrity guest, like Tom Hanks, for example, full range, full time to answer. Great interviewers do what great conversationalist do, they ask good questions and they listen with a special sincerity.

John King

In his newscasts, John King interjects the phrase "if you will" much too much. Think about it, the phrase means nothing. Everytime he says it, it stops the flow of information. It's a verbal crutch like "you know" or "like" or "you understand". "If you will" says nothing. . Verbal crutches are not easy to listen to.