The John F. Kennedy room was a fitting place for a public speaking coaching I gave today.
Kennedy was of course, with his speechwriter Ted Sorensen, a master of rhetorical devices, in particular, of Contrast (antithesis) and the Power of Three (tricolon).
His inaugural address had plenty. So did his ‘We choose to go to the moon‘-speech (delivered at Rice University in 1962). Read more…
Steve Jobs is known for his big stage speaking. But have you seen the Lost Interview?
He gave this interview in 1995 before he returned to Apple. It’s extraordinary. It shows what a visionary he was. And what a good speaker. And how well the two go together.
More than once in the interview, Jobs tells what you can call an Origin Story. Read more…
Aristotle told us that there are three types of persuasion:
Ethos: Persuasion through character
Logos: Persuasion through argument
and
Pathos: Persuasion through emotion
Every speech and presentation needs all three in always different variations. Read more…
I specialise in 45 minute hi-voltage workshops at conferences.
We practice a skill. 45 minutes later, we’re better at it.
Two examples:
The young Winston Churchill had a mentor: an American speaker and politician by the name of Bourke Cockran, a famous man in his time. Visiting Cockran in New York, Churchill asked him: “Bourke, what is the secret of eloquence?”
Cockran replied: Read more…