“A graduation ceremony is an event where the commencement speaker tells thousands of students dressed in identical caps and gowns that ‘individuality’ is the key to success.”
— Robert Orben
“There are two things that are more difficult than making an after-dinner speech: climbing a wall which is leaning toward you and kissing a girl who is leaning away from you.”
— Winston Churchill
Ah Mr. Churchill! He created resonance with the audience, knowing that most find speeches difficult, intrigued them with the mention of two things, and used wonderful “rhetoric” with his phrases that repeated structure and image. What a speaker!
“….. understanding and communicating the essence of things is difficult,
takes a lot of thought, and has a big impact.”
— Carly Fiorina
Fiorina served as chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard
from 1999 to 2005 and previously was an executive at AT&T
Image: "CarlyFiorina49416" by Antônio Milena/AB - Agência Brasil [1]. Licensed under CC-BY-3.0-br via Wikimedia Commons.
All the great speakers were bad speakers at first.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
Does this seem such a truism?
Are great speakers born or made?
Do people think they will be great speakers to begin with?
I’d love to hear your thoughts. Why do you think Ralph Waldo Emerson actually wrote this set of words?
Incidentally they come from this passage from “The Conduct of Life” published in 1860.
Practice is nine tenths. A course of mobs is good practice for orators. All the great speakers were bad speakers at first. Stumping it through England for seven years, made Cobden a consummate debater. Stumping it through New England for twice seven, trained Wendell Phillips. The way to learn German, is, to read the same dozen pages over and over a hundred times, till you know every word and particle in them, and can pronounce and repeat them by heart.
“Imprison it”…? Hmm. My mother used to say to me “Put your words on the palm of your hand and look at them before you speak.” I liked that. Sweet Benjamin needs to guard against speaking without thinking.
If he’s going to be a speaker, he needs to consider his message and his audience before he speaks.
But “imprison” …? What do you think?
It’s such a lovely old-fashioned quote, isn’t it? “Whip with a switch” from the days of horses and horse carriages. And I would think that if you used a switch without leaves it would certainly tingle, though these days we shudder a little at the thought of beating the poor animal.
Nevertheless, writing as he was, in his time, Henry Ward has made a timeless point – waffling does not drive home searching truths.
And there’s another wonderful term “searching truths”. Ah! If all the points I make when I speak cause my audiences to search their beliefs and themselves, I would be very happy!
I wish you (and me) speaking experiences that drive us and our points home … in fine style!
The quote today is from Jonathan Swift …
In oratory the greatest art is to hide art.
And that’s true …
but sometimes it’s fun to share a little dig at the art with an audience!!
“Presenters using visuals conduct meetings in 28% less time, increase audience retention as much as five times, and get proposals approved twice as often”
~ Claire Raines and Linda Williamson