Quotes for Public Speakers (No. 170) – Nelson Mandela
“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” Nelson Mandela
Reflections on Lance Armstrong's Confession
Writers spilled a lot of ink over the past few days about Lance Armstrong in the wake of his confession to Oprah Winfrey. And more ink will doubtless continue to flow in the weeks, months and years to come. This past weekend, I watched Lance Armstrong’s confession with interest for two reasons. First, as a […]
Rhetorical Devices: Epistrophe
This post is part of a series on rhetorical devices. For other posts in the series, please click this link. For a comprehensive, step-by-step overview of how to write a speech outline, please see this post. Device: Epistrophe (also known as Epiphora) Origin: From the Greek ἐπιστροφή (epistrofi), meaning “turning about” or “upon turning”. In plain […]
Perfect Public Speaking is an Asymptote
Recently, I wrote a post entitled Basic Speech Geometry. Today we return to the mathematics of points and lines and curves and surfaces. An asymptote is a straight line that a curve approaches but never touches. It comes from the Greek word asymptotos which means “not falling together”. In the diagram below, the horizontal orange […]
Quotes for Public Speakers (No. 70) – Nelson Mandela
“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” Nelson Mandela Photo courtesy of lasanta.com.ec
Speeches from Film: Invictus
Just because a speech in a movie is scripted, it doesn’t mean that we cannot learn from it. In fact, when you think about, some of the most famous speeches in history were rigorously prepared and polished before they were delivered. So today, we start a new series of posts: Speeches from Film. Over the months […]
Tagged EmotionFrancois PienaarInvictusMatt DamonMorgan FreemanNelson MandelarugbySouth AfricaSpringboks