Monthly Archive for January, 2009

On Saturdays, we survey the best public speaking articles from throughout the public speaking blogosphere.

This week’s review features topics including:

  • marketing yourself as a speaker;
  • presentation lessons from storyboarding;
  • editing your presentation;
  • involving your audience;
  • challenging yourself;
  • the expectation of preparation; and
  • techniques to memorize your speech.

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Maybe you are (or want to be) a professional speaker seeking to make more money by finding new clients?

Maybe you are a professional who would like to leverage your speaking skills to grow your business?

In either case, this book is for you.

This is a book review of Ford Harding’s book —  Rain Making: Attract New Clients No Matter What Your Field — which offers abundant advice for marketing your skills through speaking, writing, and other pursuits.

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On Saturdays, we survey the best public speaking articles from throughout the public speaking blogosphere.

This week’s review features topics including:

  • Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream”;
  • Barack Obama’s Inauguration Speech;
  • importance of simplicity and brevity;
  • personalizing your message for each crowd; and
  • careers as a speechwriter or ghostwriter.

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Yesterday morning, I ran five miles on the treadmill. I greeted my waking wife and daughter with a hug. I enjoyed a delicious inauguration breakfast omelette. I checked email. And then I glued myself to the living room chair to watch what I believed would be the greatest speech of my life.

I wasn’t alone. All around the world, people were doing the same (well, except for the 5 mile run).

Many were expecting, hoping, and praying for the greatest speech of all time.

And was it? That is a question that is answered in the heart of each individual. It is the subject for endless water-cooler discussions. It is the topic for debate among thousands of journalists and public speaking experts.

Yesterday, I wrote about 5 speechwriting lessons we can all learn from President Obama’s speech (including the speech video and text).

Today, just as on election night and for the Republican and Democratic conventions, I’ve compiled a very small sample of the speech critiques, analysis, and opinions of Barack Obama’s Inaugural Speech. May the debate continue.

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Some will argue that Barack Obama’s Inauguration speech was not his most electric speech, or that it failed to deliver on unreasonably high expectations.

Nonetheless, studying the speech provides five key speechwriting lessons that can help us all be better communicators.

This article is the latest in a series of video speech critiques which help you analyze and learn from excellent speeches.

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“I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King Jr. is one of the most memorable speeches of all time.

It is worthy of lengthy study as we can all learn speechwriting skills from King’s historic masterpiece.

This article is the latest in a series of video speech critiques which help you analyze and learn from excellent speeches.

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On Saturdays, we survey the best public speaking articles from throughout the public speaking blogosphere.

This week’s review features topics including:

  • a plethora of PowerPoint opinions;
  • 10 Commandments of Storytelling;
  • Will joining Toastmasters make you a better speaker?
  • Obama’s inaugural address preview; and
  • Caroline Kennedy’s speaking prowess.

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An open letter to the PowerPoint programming team with public speaking inspired ideas for future PowerPoint features…

Dear PowerPoint Programmers:

Thank you for creating such a wonderful presentation aid. PowerPoint is like a Swiss Army knife in a presenter’s visual aid toolbox. It is a tool with tremendous power.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of people cannot control this power. Hour after hour, dreaded presentation after dreaded presentation, I continue to be amazed at the horrible presentations that speakers are able to create with PowerPoint at the core.

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On Saturdays, we survey the best public speaking articles from throughout the public speaking blogosphere.

This week’s review features topics including:

  • the best communicator of 2008;
  • public speaking resolutions for 2009;
  • basics of sketching (at a whiteboard or flipchart);
  • brevity in humor; and
  • new public speaking books for January.

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