Effective Speeches

With Cobb PR

by Paul Richards

Wednesday 8th May 2013

About Paul Richards

• Speech-writer

• International trainer

• Ex-Government adviser

• Parliamentary candidate

Do speeches matter?

Albert Mehrabian’s formula...

...is nonsense

From the very beginning I have tried to give people the correct limitations of my findings. Unfortunately the field of self-styled ‘corporate image consultants’ or ‘leadership consultants’ has numerous practitioners with very little psychological expertise.

(31 October 2002)

Hey everyone,

listen to me!

Friends, Romans, Countrymen,

lend me your ears

• Close of play

• Face time

• Leverage

• Outside the box

• Paradigm shift

• Proactive

• Synergy

It’s not what you say that matters,

it’s what they hear

Types of rhetorical devices

• Groups of three – triads

• Repetition

– Anaphora

– Epistrophe

• Alliteration

• Metaphors

• Images

• Contrasts

• Self-effacement

• Humour

• ‘Us and them’

• Anecdotes

• Rhetorical questions

• Dissonance

• Flattery

Groups of three – triads

Father, Son and Holy Ghost – The Bible

Bread, Peace and Land - Lenin

Of the people, by the people, for the people

– Abraham Lincoln

Veni, vidi, vici – Julius Caesar

Repetition

‘I have a dream’– Martin Luther King

‘We shall fight’– Winston Churchill

‘Yes we can’ – Barack Obama

Alliteration

I have a dream that my four little children will

one day live in a nation where they will not be

judged by the colour of their skin but by the

content of their character.

– Martin Luther King

Metaphors

The table of brotherhood

With this faith we will be able to transform the

jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful

symphony of brotherhood.

– Martin Luther King

An iron curtain – Winston Churchill

Images

Give us the tools and we will finish the job

– Winston Churchill

The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep –Barack Obama

He did not riot – he got on his bike and looked

for work

– Norman Tebbit

Contrasts

• Young/old

• Black/white

• Light/dark

• Small/big

• Then/now

• Today/tomorrow

Self-effacement

I am no orator, as Brutus is;

But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man

- Mark Anthony

It is a more remarkable tribute to Diana than I

can ever hope to offer to her today.

- Earl Spencer

Humour

I want you to know that also I will not make

age an issue of this campaign. I am not going

to exploit, for political purposes, my

opponent's youth and inexperience.

– Ronald Regan

‘Us and them’

…we managed to contrive to stop the ever

present paparazzi from getting a single picture

of her.

- Earl Spencer

An evil empire

- Ronald Regan

Anecdotes

You all did see that on the Lupercal

I thrice presented him a kingly crown,

Which he did thrice refuse… - Mark Antony

The last time I saw Diana was on July 1st, her

birthday, in London when typically she was

not taking time to celebrate her special day with

friends but was guest of honour at a fund-raising

charity evening. – Earl Spencer

Rhetorical questions

Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?– Mark Antony

Here was a Caesar! when comes such another?– Mark Antony

Why am I the first Kinnock in a thousandgenerations to be able to get into university?

- Neil Kinnock

Dissonance

‘...my best friend for the last 16 years

the rock of our family,

the love of my life,

the nation's next first lady

Michelle Obama.’

- Barack Obama

Flattery

You are not wood, you are not stones, but men

– Mark Anthony

I will never forget who this victory truly

belongs to. It belongs to you. It belongs to

you.

- Barack Obama

Speeches are a tool of leadership

Thank you

Paul Richards

07973 834 285

pauladrianrichards@gmail.com