Speak for Yourself
Claire Duffy's blog about public speaking and communication (in real life). Speak well, do well!
A tribute to Helen
A little over two years ago my friend Helen Pedersen asked for help preparing a speech. The title was ‘Not dead yet. What are you going to do?’ She … Continue reading
Tear time in Parliament
Emotional outbursts by public figures are always good for a headline, and so it was this week when Julia Gillard wept as she introduced the disability insurance scheme. Tearful politicians are … Continue reading
Sort yourself out: five keys to resolving conflict
What do you do when somebody bugs you? It’s common enough to feel hurt or put-off by something someone said. It’s far less common to know how to come back … Continue reading
The rhetorical triangle updated
About 2300 years ago, Aristotle wrote down the secrets to being a powerful speaker. Aristotle said the three keys are ethos, pathos, and logos. We know these now as ‘the rhetorical … Continue reading
Speak now or forever hold your peace: five reasons to make a speech today.
Whatever kind of speaker you are, chances are from time to time you’re going to run out of occasions to speak. School’s out, so high school debaters will rust up. … Continue reading
How to write an ANZAC day speech
I love the Parliamentary Library. It is a goldmine of briefings, information, summaries and analysis of all sorts of public policy issues, freely available online. It is a quiet testament … Continue reading
The um-ah trap and how to dodge it
But ah look, I – I still think that um, ah, it’s not at the level that Labor strategists wanted which was more like 38 per cent of two party … Continue reading
Analogies, the wonder tool for making sense.
Delivering a speech or making a presentation is asking your audience to go somewhere with you. Maybe it’s to agree with you, hire you, vote for you, support your cause….We’ve … Continue reading
Lovely Voices: Billy Collins, the power of understatement.
When you describe Billy Collins you have to use words that don’t normally go together: contemporary best-selling poet. He gets (it’s rumoured) huge advances for his books and his readings … Continue reading
Full Body Chairing. How to stay in charge of your panel.
A while back, I offered you this post about how to manage a panel event, and this one on handling hecklers and interrupters. These are common challenges, but the commonest … Continue reading
Special Occasion Speaking
First time speakers are often squaring up to taking the mike at a special occasion. Maybe it’s your mate’s 21st or wedding, someone has a birthday with a zero in … Continue reading
Catching the waves of feminism
Shortly before PM Julia Gillard’s Misogyny Speech went viral, feminist author and journalist Anne Summers made her ‘Newcastle Speech’, arguing that the extreme sexist and discriminatory abuse Gillard was subject to breached federal … Continue reading
‘Nuclear Weapons are Morally Indefensible’.
A question is asked, at length, and an answer demanded. “And I’m going to give it to you!” retorts New Zealand Prime Minister David Lange, ”If you hold your breath … Continue reading
Lovely Voices: Edward Tufte, the Chart Master
“Good information design is clear thinking made visible” said Edward Tufte, who wrote (and self-published) The Visual Display of Quantitiative Information back in 1982. Tufte has been a statistician and professor emeritus of political science, statistics, and computer science at Yale … Continue reading
