The Art of Public Speaking

Table of Contents Page THINGS TO THINK OF FIRST—A FOREWORD IX CHAPTER I—ACQUIRING CONFIDENCE BEFORE AN AUDIENCE 1 CHAPTER II—THE SIN OF MONOTONY 10 CHAPTER III—EFFICIENCY THROUGH EMPHASIS AND SUBORDINATION 16 CHAPTER IV—EFFICIENCY THROUGH CHANGE OF PITCH 27 CHAPTER V—EFFICIENCY THROUGH CHANGE OF PACE 39 CHAPTER VI—PAUSE AND POWER 55 CHAPTER VII—EFFICIENCY THROUGH INFLECTION 69 CHAPTER VIII—CONCENTRATION IN DELIVERY 80 CHAPTER IX—FORCE 87 CHAPTER X—FEELING AND ENTHUSIASM 101 CHAPTER XI—FLUENCY THROUGH PREPARATION 115 CHAPTER XII—THE VOICE 125 CHAPTER XIII—VOICE CHARM 134 CHAPTER XIV—DISTINCTNESS AND PRECISION OF UTTERANCE 146 CHAPTER XV—THE TRUTH ABOUT GESTURE 156 CHAPTER XVI—METHODS OF DELIVERY 171 CHAPTER XVII—THOUGHT AND RESERVE POWER 184 CHAPTER XVIII—SUBJECT AND PREPARATION 199 CHAPTER XIX—INFLUENCING BY EXPOSITION 218 CHAPTER XX—INFLUENCING BY DESCRIPTION 231 CHAPTER XXI—INFLUENCING BY NARRATION 249 CHAPTER XXII—INFLUENCING BY SUGGESTION 262 CHAPTER XXIII—INFLUENCING BY ARGUMENT 280 CHAPTER XXIV—INFLUENCING BY PERSUASION 295 CHAPTER XXV—INFLUENCING THE CROWD 308 CHAPTER XXVI—RIDING THE WINGED HORSE 321 CHAPTER XXVII—GROWING A VOCABULARY 334 CHAPTER XXVIII—MEMORY TRAINING 343 CHAPTER XXIX—RIGHT THINKING AND PERSONALITY 355 CHAPTER XXX—AFTER-DINNER AND OTHER OCCASIONAL SPEAKING 362 CHAPTER XXXI—MAKING CONVERSATION EFFECTIVE 372

The efficiency of a book is like that of a man, in one important respect: its attitude toward its subject is the first source of its power. A book may be full of good ideas well expressed, but if its writer views his subject from the wrong angle even his excellent advice may prove to be ineffective.

This book stands or falls by its authors' attitude toward its subject. If the best way to teach oneself or others to speak effectively in public is to fill the mind with rules, and to set up fixed standards for the interpretation of thought, the utterance of language, the making of gestures, and all the rest, then this book will be limited in value to such stray ideas throughout its pages as may prove helpful to the reader—as an effort to enforce a group of principles it must be reckoned a failure, because it is then untrue.