The Lost Art of the Great Speech: How to Write One--How to Deliver It

By Richard Dowis

Splashy slides, confident body language, and a lot of eye contact are fine and well. But if a speech is rambling, illogical, or just plain boring, the impact will be lost. Now everyone can learn to give powerful, on-target speeches that capture an audience's attention and drive home a message. The key is not just in the delivery techniques, but in tapping into the power of language. Prepared by an award-winning writer, this authoritative speech-writing guide covers every essential element of a great speech, including outlining and organizing, beginning with a bang, making use of action verbs and vivid nouns, and handling questions from the audience. Plus, the book includes excerpts from some of history's most memorable speeches--eloquent words to contemplate and emulate.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AMACOM
• Release date: Oct 5, 1999
• ISBN: 9780814424896

Richard Dowis

Richard Dowis (Waleska, GA) recently retired from his position as senior vice president at the PR firm of Manning, Selvage Lee. He now leads several popular business-writing seminars and is the president of the Society for the Preservation of English Language and Literature. He has also won PRSA Phoenix Awards for speech and annual report writing. His books include How to Make Your Writing Reader-Friendly and (as coauthor) The Write Way.

Reviews for The Lost Art of the Great Speech

[ubiquitousuk-784690 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

By my reckoning, around 60% of this book is dispensable. Much of the advice concerns such common sense matters as how to make sure the venue is equipped for your needs, or the dangers of using profanity or lewd remarks in your speech.

Additionally, much of the book felt like it was aimed at people preparing to give a speech in a commercial setting, rather than an educational or political occasion—although most of the advice transfers across contexts fairly well. It was a bit frustrating that each chapter ends with one of history's truly great speeches (although, with a bias towards US presidential addresses), and yet the points in each chapter's interior are usually supported with more pedestrian examples from executive addresses.

But strip these things away and there is a kernel of useful advice, especially around the use of rhetorical techniques and body language in speaking. This advice is presented in a format that looks more like a textbook than a self-help book. That's a good thing! If you are serious about improving your public speaking then you should approach it like a serious learning task than an ailment to be cured by the self-help industry's snake oil. I also appreciated some clever tips about formatting printed notes for a speech.

So, by all means give this book a look. But be ready to skim over those parts of least interest.

[jontseng · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Too much "how to", too little meaty example.