Thinking About The Speech
I was sitting in the club at Chicago bound for home, a six-hour trip ahead of me.
In the thirty-six talks there was one good speech one that listeners would like - one in thirty-six - less than 3 per cent.
That is not a good average. In those talks there was good material, plenty of it. Some presenters were working with material that could have made excellent speeches.
The notebook that I leafed through as I sat proved this fact. And I was surprised, too, at the notes I had taken, for I had never been much of a note taker. But in this case I had written notes and comments on each speech - what was wrong with it, what was right.
Before the meeting all the speakers had done a lot of work in preparing their presentations. And it was a shame to see all of their work wasted.
Each person meant for his presentation to be good, of course. With the amount of work, each should have been good.
Some of the men read their talks. It so happened that not one of them knew how to read a speech.
Others talked with charts or other exhibits in a way that left much to be desired. Others just talked.
But it so happened that out of thirty-six talks only one was good. Now why was that? Well, my conclusion as I analyzed my notes was this: These speakers didn\'t know how to write good speeches.
Continued...From \"How to Write a Speech\"
By: EDWARD J. HEGARTY
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