Learning through Observation
Welcome back to Public Speaking for Geeks: Communication for Technical Presenters!
Eleanor Roosevelt once suggested, "Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself."
We can also learn from others’ excellence-when they get it right.
Did you catch any of the Democratic National Convention? Political conventions are great opportunities to observe a number of speakers with dramatically different approaches and styles.
Like his politics or not, Barack Obama is a talented and charismatic speaker. For educational purposes, I recommend you take a peek at Obama’s recent DNC speech. The link is below. Not only was it extemely well written, but his delivery was exceptional. It was an oratorical knockout-absolutely on-target.
In particular, pay attention to
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how he uses pacing and his voice to take the listener to
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many levels within his speech
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variation of intensity
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the use of stories
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shifting from "me" focus to "you"
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memorable themes
View the speech at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZCrIeRkMhA
What did you learn from viewing Obama’s speech? Email me at Hilari@highimpactcommunication.com
Also, I encourage you to watch the upcoming Republican Convention to observe and learn what engages you and what doesn’t in the various speeches delivered.
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September 8th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Hilari makes a good point: once every four years we get a great opportunity to see / learn from folks for whom speaking is a major part of their job. I had a chance to watch parts of both conventions. What struck me as odd, was how many of the OTHER speakers (not the candidates) did such a poor job!
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I’m not quite sure where they went wrong – their style wasn’t to blame. Instead, I think that it was a poorly written speech coupled with a low energy delivery. The takeaway from all of this is to remember that you must strongly believe in what you are talking about otherwise it’ll show in your presentations!
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- Dr. Jim Anderson
Blue Elephant Consulting – The Accidental Communicator Blog
http://www.theaccidentalcommunicator.com/
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Great Post and I agree about how we learn through observation. Take a look at my upcoming Motivational Speakers Training Course where I personally tweak your keynote speech to make you a top speaker.