Below the surface: Zuckerberg has devoted significant time over the last several years to improving as a public speaker. That includes a weekly question and answer session with Facebook employees that Recode reported in January is aimed, in part, at boosting Zuckerberg’s confidence in front of a crowd.
Experienced political operatives say that Zuckerberg’s sessions around the country could follow a similar pattern:
Tim Miller, who served as communications director for for Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign, said that “whether you’re an executive or politician and you’re put in these awkward staged situations where you have to have a discussion with regular people — if you don’t have a lot of practice doing that, the result is awkward.”
It’s not just executives who need the practice. Miller said that Bush got more comfortable on the trail over time with these types of interactions. And a former Democratic campaign staffer said that if “you were around for the first town hall meeting or diner visit for 85 percent of the candidates who run for president of the United States who are lifelong politicians it would be unbearably awkward.”
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