Margaret Heilbrun

The Experts on How to Speak
August 19, 2008

The campaign speechifying of this election year is about to hit its crest with the Democratic and Republican national conventions.  

McGraw-Hill is seeking to ride that crest by rushing through production a book to hit stores in early October, teaching readers how to Say It Like Obama: The Power of Speaking with Purpose and Vision, by Shel Leanne, who runs a leadership development firm and was formerly on the faculty of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.   

Leanne starts her book with the text of Obama's 2004 Democratic convention keynote address, which she interpolates with indications of pauses, emphasis, applause, etc., extracting lessons in persuasion from it and then from some subsequent Obama speeches. The book's final chapter is not in the uncorrected proofs. It will be Obama's nomination acceptance speech that he delivers next week. 

Maybe you want help with the public or business presentation of yourself — or with generally conveying more confidence in how you speak — but would just as soon not learn it from Obama. While waiting for the book that teaches John McCain's system, you could try Richard Zeoli's book, The 7 Principles of Public Speaking: Proven Methods from a PR Professional, which Skyhorse will publish the day after the Obama title. 

It didn't start out as a book. The promotional line for its 2007 incarnation was "Put down that dry public speaking book and turn on this engaging audio training program."  We assume Zeoli's work here will neither be dry nor all wet. 

Maybe, when all is said and done, so to, er, speak, it is FDR's famous advice that we'll appreciate best. "Be sincere. Be brief. Be seated."

Posted by Margaret Heilbrun on August 19, 2008 | Comments (1)