[rhetoric] hints on effective speaking

This document was prepared for the people I work with. As it stole the posting time this morning, I thought you might like to see it anyway:

Hints on giving good speeches

A speech is not a delivered report from notes nor data learned and regurgitated. It is a varied composition, a ‘song of substance’. What elements combine to make a good speech?

Preparation: This is one of the keys to a successful speech and it is not common practice. No one has the time for it but you must try to prepare thoroughly or else your speech will fail. Preparing cue cards will at least lay the ground work for an effective speech.

Knowledge and experience: A real working knowledge of the material by someone who’s been there and done that, someone with a rich life experience goes a long way. When I was in New York, I saw …

Genuineness: Nothing turns an audience off more than someone who is ‘doing the speech’ rather than ‘feeling it’ and it’s impossible to fool an audience. If you’re just filling in a few minutes with a cynical mist of words, you are wasting the audience’s time and time is valuable.

This last point comes down to your character. Like a shopkeeper who always shortchanges the customer, who always gives less quality, so a speaker who isn’t interested in his topic is cheating the audience and that’s not what they came for.

Great speakers have sincere convictions. You can't convince others about something in which you yourself don't believe.

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