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Let Your Message Guide You
Before the invention of the compass, ancient mariners knew to use the sun and the North Star to chart their course across oceans. They were reliable and constant allies. But when storm clouds blanketed...
View ArticleThe Difficulty of Public Speaking
“The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean.” – Robert Louis Stevenson That’s the difficulty of public speaking too. It’s easy, with a bit of practice, to stand up in...
View ArticleBad Public Speaking Books
“If you want to be a successful speaker”, the experts say, “you’ve got to write a book.” As with most questionable advice, this pernicious bit of conventional wisdom is based in the truth. It’s true...
View ArticleFind the Perfect Phrase
“It’s better to burn out than to fade away.” – Neil Young “Burning out are much better than it fades away gradually.” – Japanese T-shirt There are always many different ways to put your thoughts...
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Toss out the baby AND the bathwater
There’s a problem that bedevils every writer that I know and it is particularly true of speech writers. We have a tendency to fall in love with our words. Once we spend the time crafting them and we...
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You Decide
It’s that time of year again and as I get ready for my annual assault on the Toastmasters International Speech Contest, I find myself thinking a lot about last year’s winner. Unfortunately, it wasn’t...
View ArticleThe Hardest Part of Teaching ……… and Speaking
Someone asked me the other day, “What is the hardest part of teaching?” My initial reaction was that it’s managing, grading and recording the students’ assignments and tests. It’s not my strongest...
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Your Message Dictates the Architecture
“The title dictates the architecture of the song.” – Broadway lyricist, Sammy Cahn Drawing by CSondi I talk a lot about the importance of your message. If you don’t know what you want your audience...
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Steve Jobs was no LeBron James
Watching LeBron James play basketball is amazing. His rare combination of height, strength and athleticism has allowed him to dominate the league as no one has since the heyday of Michael Jordan. It’s...
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Making the RIGHT Charts and Graphs
“You f**kin’ people baffle me. Spend all your money on these fancy f**kin’ books, you surround yourselves with ’em, and they’re the wrong f**king books.” – Matt Damon, in “Good Will Hunting” That’s...
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