Last modified on August 7, 2013 by Brad Phillips

Viral Video: Sorry, I Can’t Name A Point In My Six-Point Plan

Jaymes Diaz is a Liberal Party candidate running for Australia’s Greenway parliament seat.

He recently released his six-point plan to handle immigration. But when a reporter asked him to describe that plan, he froze.

That’s when he had what some people are referring to as his “Rick Perry moment.”

He actually started okay, and even used one of the suggestions in my post, “Five Ways to Recover From a Brain Freeze.” Here are four things he could have done differently:

1. Open The Plan

It appeared that he was holding the plan in his hands. He could have flipped to the page and systematically gone through the six points for the reporter. Interviews aren’t quiz shows—if he had the answers in his hand, he could have referred to them. That’s not the preferred method of doing things, of course, but as long as he did so with confidence, he would have been fine. By doing so, he would have avoided his amateurish deer-in-headlights look.

2. Walk Away

When there was a long, awkward pause in the conversation, Diaz had an easy opportunity to say, “Thank you very much” and walk away. Again, as long as he did that with confidence, it wouldn’t have looked bad; instead, he let several awkward moments pass before his aide whisked him to safety. Generally, walking out of an interview looks bad on camera—but in this case, there were moments where doing so would have come across naturally.

3. Adjust His Body Language

Mr. Diaz clutched his plan in front of him. Clutching an object in front of oneself is a sign of insecurity or unease—our human response to threats propels us to cover our vulnerable torsos. Although it could be argued that he was facing the plan to the cameras to show it off, the words would have been too small to read on most television screens anyway. He also constantly licked his lips, another sign of stress that might make this more of a “Marco Rubio” moment.

4. Know The Plan

Of course, there’s number four: know what’s in your own plan. There’s simply no substitute for a well-informed candidate who can discuss his own policy proposals with ease.

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