Bor’-ing, adj.
Presentations are more lively when a speaker speaks from the heart, from memory, or from minimal notes.
But, what if you simply must read an entire speech or a portion of a speech from script? Is there anything you can do to salvage a successful presentation?
Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln came to me as a great Christmas gift — a stocking stuffer which will improve my speaking skills considerably.
I was skeptical at first. I guessed that this was another stuffy book filled with speeches and anecdotes from famous speakers who lived so long ago that their speeches are part of history and their anecdotes are no longer relevant. That’s what I thought as I opened the book.
What I discovered is not really a “book full of speeches and anecdotes” (although there are many, many speech excerpts and anecdotes). Rather, I discovered a practical book of speaking techniques that will bolster the repertoire of any speaker who aims to lead.
It is time again to review the past week here at Six Minutes and throughout the public speaking blogosphere.
As always, there is a wide range of great advice for speakers.
This week also features a series of articles on speech analysis, reflections on Martin Luther King Jr., several opinions on PowerPoint, and the first articles of Toastmasters contest season.
[Before we begin, did you catch last week’s review?]
Many of the techniques described in this series of articles were honed during several years of attending and competing in Toastmasters Evaluation Contests. In both 2006 and 2007, I reached the District 21 finals, taking 2nd place in 2007. [Update: I won the District 21 Evaluation Contest in 2008.]
This article, the fifth in the Speech Analysis Series, inspects Toastmasters evaluation contests from several angles:
Previous articles in this Speech Analysis Series covered how to study and critique a speech, how to approach the task of evaluation, and how to use the modified sandwich technique.
This article provides a speech evaluation form and explains how it supports you in studying and evaluating speeches.
The last article of the Speech Analysis Series discussed the art of delivering evaluations.
This article discusses different ways to structure the content of a speech evaluation. The basis for this method is the sandwich technique for evaluations.
It turns out that your public speaking phobias and fears are unwarranted.
Web comic xkcd has charted the number of deaths from numerous activities, but no public speaking deaths have been reported.
As I write this, Google searches demonstrate that public speaking is a non-life threatening activity. All of these return zero results:
The first article of the Speech Analysis Series explained how to study and critique a speech.
In this second article, we examine how to improve your own speaking skills by teaching others in the form of speech evaluations.
You should regularly provide evaluations for other speakers — not only because it is a nice thing to do, but because the process of evaluating another speaker helps you improve your own speaking skills dramatically.
Of the many fine articles published last week, here are a few that stood out for me.
Studying other speakers is a critical skill, one of the 25 essential skills for a public speaker. The ability to analyze a speech will accelerate the growth of any speaker.
The Speech Analysis Series is a series of articles examining different aspects of presentation analysis. You will learn how to study a speech and how to deliver an effective speech evaluation. Later articles will examine Toastmasters evaluation contests and speech evaluation forms and resources.
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