Toastmasters is a community of over 345,000 members in 15,900 clubs in over 140 countries. Each year thousands of those members gather for the annual convention, culminating with the final round of an International Speech Contest, to produce the World Champion of Public Speaking. For readers not already familiar with Toastmasters, check out my introduction to the organisation here. In this blog […]
Below is a selection of some of the best quotes about presentations and public speaking that I’ve come across during my research for Communicate You blog articles and content. These interesting and inspiring quotes are in no particular order, and the speakers range from well-known orators to presentation gurus. I’ve gathered a pretty random list of 15 […]
Watching his performances in later years, it’s easy to forget that former US president Bill Clinton was almost booed off the stage early in his speaking career. At the Democratic Convention of 1988 the relatively unknown Clinton was scheduled to speak for 15 minutes, but droned on for over a half-hour. His biggest applause line came at […]
The late Apple CEO Steve Jobs (1955-2011) was well known for his electrifying, inspiring and entertaining presentations. It was Jobs’ unique presentation style — which fans referred to as a “Stevenote” — that helped make his keynotes so impressive. He was equally impressive when he delivered his Stanford commencement speech. The aim of this blog post is to examine […]
TED is a nonprofit organisation devoted to spreading ideas, in the form of short, powerful talks. TED began in 1984, where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics, from science to business to global issues, in more than 100 languages. Meanwhile, independently run TEDx events help share ideas in communities all […]
Continuing with the theme of inspiring speakers, during my research I came upon a great blog by public speaking expert Sarah Lloyd-Hughes. In one of her most popular posts, Sarah analyses the legendary “I Have A Dream” speech, leaving us in no doubt about the great public speaking qualities of Martin Luther King Jr. So why is his speech […]
Before we dive into the detail of how to prepare for a speech or presentation I thought it would be a good idea to first reflect on some of the best, most inspiring speeches of all time. In my mind an inspiring speech has the following characteristics: Style – uses effective, appropriate language and displays masterful construction Substance – contains […]