Customer Reviews

How to Give a Damn Good Speech

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If you must speak to a crowd greater than one - then you need this book. This book has it all. The author has done extensive research and has read thousands of speeches in preparation for this book. If you want to be the best you can be at public speaking, at selling yourself and your ideas, this book will be your best friend.

As explained by the author here are some of the basics of a good speech:

1. Identify your topic and goal

2. Write your opening line

3. Identify a few key points

4. Support your key points

5. Wrap it up with a summarizing conclusion

Go beyond a basic outline as explained by the author:

1. Acknowledge your audience

2. Take a moment to define your terms

3. Clarify your qualifications

4. Address audience biases

5. Tell them what you are going to talk about

6. Tell the audience why they should care

7. Back up your points with stories

8. Back up your points with facts

9. Back up your points with history

10. Build strong transitions

11. Wrap it up

12. Include a call to action

13. Conclude with the beginning

The book gives the reader 100 fantastic openings for the reader to choose from in preparing his/her own speech. In addition, the book provides the reader with a list of 250 great quotations to choose from in writing a speech. Also, the book provides the reader with an almanac which provides happenings on each date of the year which the speech writer can include when the date the speech is to be given is known.

I bought this book to help me give my first corporate speech. Not only did I give a damn good speech, but every aspect of my communicating life has been improved. I use Theibert's methods for giving speeches, writing, phone calls, and daily conversations. Now I feel more comfortable communicating, whatever the situation.

I have many books about speaking, presenting, etc.; most of which are singularly unhelpful. This book gives great, practical advice ~ and, if you follow it, you will give a damn good speech. Buy it. Use it.

The outline in this book is better than many others I have seen. I was able to put my speech together much quicker and in a more organized fashion with this book. Great Reference to have in your personal library.

You'll get a lot of useful advice from HOW TO GIVE A DAMN GOOD
SPEECH by Philip R. Theibert, a professional speech writer . . . and regardless of your level of experience in this field, you'll find something that will be of value here.

There's excellent material on how to organize and write a speech, followed by 100 important things you need to know about giving an effective speech . . . I also liked the author's collection of "best" quotations, along with his compilation of 365 ideas relating to historical dates and events that can be weaved into your speech . . . best of all: he shows you how!

Here's just some of the material that caught my attention:
A baseball legend's rules for a long life
Satchel Paige, a famous baseball pitcher of indeterminate age, once offered his rules for a long life:
* Avoid fried meats, which angry up the blood.
* If your stomach disputes you, lie down and pacify it with cool thoughts.
* Keep the juices flowing by jangling around gently as you move.
* Go very light on the vices, such as carrying on in society. The social rumble ain't restful.
* Avoid running at all times.
* Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you.
I'd like to add another rule onto that list. And that one is: Avoid speaking to a group for more than 10 minutes. A long talk might anger up the audience's blood. So today, let me--very briefly--talk about . . .

Use Elvis . . . he always gets a laugh
Well, I know you have to be very cautious about making predictions. Especially when you predict where things are going to be five years from now. For example, in 1973, there were 457 Elvis impersonators in America. In 1993, there were 2,736 Elvis impersonators in America. If this trend continues, by the year 2000 one out of four Americans will be an Elvis impersonator.

Tip O'Neill, US Congressman and former speaker of the House of
Representatives, enjoyed telling the story of the only election he ever lost. As a very young man, he ran for the city council in his hometown of Cambridge, Massachusetts. After his defeat, the elderly lady who lived next door said she had voted for him even though he had never bothered to ask for her vote. O'Neill was surprised. He pointed out that he had shoveled her snow every winter. Cut her grass every summer. Couldn't he just assume that he had her vote? But the woman just looked at him and said: "Tip, people like to be asked."

I picked this up as part of my public speaking class required reading. The book is well organized, has some great tips on how to prepare and write your speech but never actually discusses how to GIVE a good speech. It could have used a chapter or two on how to deal with nerves, body language, tips for presentation etc.

Overall, not a bad book, but there are much better titles on the market that encompass a broader spectrum of how to prepare and present.