Words Worth a Standing Ovation - Lessons From a Motivational Speaker

👏👏👏👏

Some of the best speech writing I have ever heard.

Words worth a standing ovation.

A little context:

NY Governor Mario Cuomo was asked to deliver the speech at the 1984 Democratic Convention. Even though no one would say it, they knew their Presidential candidate Walter Mondale wasn’t going to win. This 40-minute speech didn’t change the outcome of the election but it re-galvanised a dispirited stadium into a powerful force.

It is a masterclass in oration.

It is a masterclass in speech construction.

It is a masterclass in word selection.

Here’s a whiff of what you can expect.

“And to succeed, we must answer our opponent's polished and appealing rhetoric with a more telling reasonableness and rationality.

We must win this case on the merits. We must get the American public to look past the glitter, beyond the showmanship to the reality, the hard substance of things. And we'll do it not so much with speeches that sound good as with speeches that are good and sound; not so much with speeches that will bring people to their feet as with speeches that will bring people to their senses.”

👏👏👏👏

Why does this matter to us 40 years later in 2024?

The ability to tell a story is fast becoming a must-have skillset for everyone from the coalface to the C-suite.

AI has made knowledge a commodity. Now it’s up to us to tell a convincing story why our knowledge is better.

#change  #motivationalspeaker #speechwriting #persuasion