Fidel Castro’s example of powerful speaking
During the month of August, the following orators were born:
Napoleon Bonaparte (15 August 1769), Frederick Douglass (11 August 1841) Fidel Castro (13 August 1927) Bill Clinton (19 August 1946) and Barack Obama (4 August 1961).
On 28 August 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his ‘I have a dream’ speech.
The definition of orator is:
This month’s theme is, orators and oratory.
To warm you up for the month:
Here is a quotation from the On the Ideal Orator, (91 BCE) by Marcus Tullius Cicero.
“He must practice an economy of movement, with no extraneous effort – the carriage of his body straight and lofty; his pacing measured and kept within bounds; lunging only to the point, and rarely; without effeminacy in turning his head,
no little stage business with his hands; no ‘conducting himself’ to a beat; but governing himself in the expression of his whole body, with a manly torsion from the waist; using powerful gestures when moved, and none at all when calm.” (love the ‘manly torsion’).
A 44 second video clip from Fidel Castro’s speech to the United Nations. Note the energy transmitted through his body projection and movement, gestures, voice and feeling tone. (it’s the second clip at the bottom of the article).
The voices that impress luminary speaker and former Premier of New South Wales, Bob Carr.
Own the Conversation
Over the next seven days, tune your eyes, ears and feelings to people who speak well. Consider how you might adapt and inject, an aspect of their oratory technique, into your speaking.
p.s. Check out this post on Good questions to ask when hiring sale people.
# You might want to trial my Confident Personal Communication video learning programme because it will give you practical techniques to ‘Own the Conversation’.
