Stories and storytelling can be quite a powerful thing when it comes to delivering speeches. Whilst we don’t necessarily have to tell epic stories that go on for many, many days I think that it’s useful for us to be aware of how stories are structured. We also shouldn’t feel obliged to include all of …
Category: Public Speaking
Jan 28
Memory Hack: How to Learn a speech in 24 hours!
How to Learn Your Speech Following on from my last post about memory, I thought I’d share with you a technique I learned last year (2008) for memorising a speech in 24 hours!! If you’re one of my British readers you’re probably thinking “Boll*cks, that’s not possible”. Well, it is because I’ve done it. TWICE. …
Jan 26
To Memorise, or not Memorise
“The man who writes out and memorises his talks is wasting his time and energy and courting disaster” – Dale Carnegie During my development as a public speaker I have often wrestled with whether I should memorise my speeches or not.
Jan 23
Lessons from President Obama’s Inaugural Speech
Here’s the inaugural speech of President Obama. (Note: the full transcript is available below) I don’t really want to say too much about it as a lot of people have given their two pence worth already. But I never want it to be said that the Pro Humorist didn’t chip in on this momentous occasion!
Jan 21
“Could you read this out loud for me?”
There are occasionally times that our speaking in public we will be a reading. This may occur in a situation like a wedding or a funeral. You could be asked to read from anything including, but not limited to, Shakespeare (his plays or sonnets), poetry, prose (novels, short stories, etc), theatre play-scripts and so on. I’ll provide …
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