77. The Art and Science of Oprah Winfrey: The Secrets of Oprah Winfrey’s Appeal

Oprah Winfrey shares a unique distinction with Lucille Ball, the 1950s television comedienne, and Mary Pickford, the 1920s movie actress: All three attained extraordinary popularity in front of the camera, and all three became powerhouses behind the camera as heads of their own production studios. But Ms. Winfrey differs from the other two women, in that her stardom is based on her own personality rather than on the assumed role of a character in a comedy or drama.

Ms. Ball played Lucy, a scatterbrained housewife, in her television series, and Ms. Pickford, known as “America’s Sweetheart,” portrayed ingenue leads in her films. Ms. Winfrey, on the other hand, from the very start of her career in television news and through every progressive step along her way to her own enormously successful The Oprah Winfrey Show, has always been herself—just Oprah. Her uncanny ability to be natural in all settings has enabled her to create, as her own web site states, “an unparalleled connection with people around the world.”

Very few people can attain Oprah’s level of success, but you can learn to make unparalleled connections with your own audiences by analyzing and adopting the elements of her style. Her talent to connect is both an art and a science; the science is the foundation, and the art is the expression.

The science is empathy, the universal human dynamic that has recently been gaining attention in the media and scientific communities. Empathy, evolved from the Greek word for emotion or affection, refers to shared or vicarious feelings, as distinct from sympathy, which is more about pity and implies separate feelings. In presentations, empathy is a sharing of feelings between presenters and audiences.

On Oprah’s show, the empathy that resonates between her and her guests—whether they are celebrities or men and women from ordinary walks of life—fairly jumps off the video screen. Oprah clearly understands the pain and pleasure—the entire gamut of her guests’ emotions—that she shares with her audiences. That sharing produces a cycle of emotions that generates further empathy in her audiences.

To see how she communicates the empathy, the art that leverages the science, let’s compare her style with that of other prominent talk show hosts. We’ll focus on seven key presentation factors. Although each of these hosts is quite successful in his own right, none has nearly the emotional impact on his audiences that Oprah does on hers.

1. Roles. Because of her grounding in news, Oprah conducts her interviews by immersing herself in her subjects’ stories. David Letterman, Jay Leno, and their contemporaries Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Craig Ferguson, and Bill Maher, as well as the illustrious predecessor of them all, Johnny Carson, began their careers as comedians and so, during their interviews, function as performers. Oprah assumes the role of a congenial conversationalist with her guests. Other talk show hosts strive to match or outdo their guests’ stories. Only Larry King, with his origins as a newscaster, gave his guests their full due during his 25 years on the air.
2. Interaction. Oprah listens carefully to her guests and responds warmly to their stories. The TV listings called Larry King “avuncular,” which described his affability but set him apart from his guests. The comedians who go for the laughs widen that gap.
3. Eye contact. Oprah spends most of her air time engaged directly with her guests, making eye contact. Her counterparts, because of their performance orientation, play to their studio audience or to the camera and, therefore, to the vast unseen universe of viewers, appearing glib but impersonal. Larry King was the one exception among the others; he spent most of his air time in eye contact with his guests. Eye contact creates sincerity; sincerity generates empathy.
4. Setting. Oprah sits on a comfortable upholstered chair facing her guests, with nothing but air between them. Most other talk show hosts, including Larry King, sit behind a desk, the perennial standard of talk show decor. A desk on a talk show is the equivalent of a lectern in a speech: a barrier that diminishes empathy.
5. Posture. Oprah sits relaxed and open in her chair. The desks force the other talk show hosts to either sit up ramrod straight or slouch on the desktop.
6. Gestures. Oprah rarely uses props, leaving her hands free to gesture expressively and expansively. Other talk show hosts handle coffee cups, pencils, pens, index cards, and photographs, which often lead to distracting mannerisms.
7. Smiles. Many of Oprah’s guests are the recipients of her generosity or the generosity of her sponsors. These “makeover” episodes produce smiles from the guests and Oprah smiles along empathically, radiating warmth both ways. Most of the other talk show hosts, observing the venerable show business rule of never laughing at one’s own jokes, play deadpan (except for Jon Stewart, who, as an actor and a comedian, is a man of many funny faces).

To paraphrase Stephen Covey, Oprah demonstrates seven habits of a highly effective person—and a television superstar. To apply Oprah’s seven habits to your presentations:

1. Be conversational. Follow the advice you’ve read several times throughout this book: Treat every presentation as a series of person-to-person conversations.
2. Interact. Read your audience as your presentation progresses, and be prepared to pause and adjust your content to keep them engaged. If you see disengagement or doubt, explain what you are saying or ask whether there is a question.
3. Make eye contact. As you proceed with your person-to-person conversations, look at each person until you see him or her look back at you.
4. Present seated. As you read in Chapter 52, “Presentation Advice from Titian,” present at eye level whenever you can, depending on the size of the audience and the sight lines. Being at eye level creates empathy and re-creates the conversational setting. A general rule of thumb for presenting seated or standing is ten people: You can usually see every person in a seated group of nine; more than that requires you to stand to be able to make eye contact with everyone.
5. Posture. Whether you present seated or standing, be sure that your posture is straight. One way to check is to try to make your shoulder blades touch several times during your presentation. This simple technique will elevate your head and chin and make you appear poised. Try it and feel it.
6. Gesture. Use gestures to illustrate your words, but don’t choreograph them. Do what comes naturally.
7. Smile. “When You’re Smiling, the Whole World Smiles with You” is an old song (F77.1) recorded first by Louis Armstrong in 1929 and since then by countless other singers. The lyrics are just as applicable today because they identify empathy, the science behind Ms. Winfrey’s art. Empathy is the sharing of feelings between presenters and audiences. If audiences see tentative or nervous behavior, they become dubious of the presenter; if they see confident or assertive behavior, they become trusting. Smiling produces a positive perception.

Practice these seven habits to become a highly effective presenter.