A while back I had the pleasure of interviewing Mark Sanborn on the topic of public speaking.  The interview was a pleasure and yielded many a pearl of wisdom.  I uploaded it to our site at the time.  Here is a link to the page and the interview so that members of Mark’s Facebook group, and new readers of our blog, get a chance to listen to the interview.  Click here or go to:  http://www.occasionalwords.com/ow/interview-with-mark-sanborn-on-public-speaking.html

Great presenters may not always follow all the rules taught in traditional public speaking courses but can nevertheless hold an audience in the palm of their hand.  That is often the case because their passion about the subject matter turns them into  great story tellers.  Here is an example of a speech delivered at the Ted Conference.

Aubrey de Grey: Why we age and how we can avoid it

Last night’s address to Congress by President Obama was another example of a well written speech delivered skillfully.  Give it a listen.

I found out a couple of weeks ago that one of the the finest public speakers and motivators I’ve ever listened to passed away. About a year and a half ago he was kind enough to let me interview him for our site. Here is reprise of my blog post at the time and a link to the interview.

Blog post from October 24th, 2007
A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of interviewing the legendary motivational speaker Charlie ‘Tremendous’ Jones about the importance of developing effective public speaking skills. Charlie, as always, was gracious, passionate, and provided unique insights. If you want to develop public speaking skills, or improve your existing ones, before giving your next speech be sure to listen to it by clicking here. For those of you who don’t know Charlie, he is a pioneer in the leadership training and personal development industries. He entered the insurance business at age 22, with MONY. At age 23, he was awarded his agency’s Most Valuable Associate Award. Ten years later, he received his company’s highest management award for recruiting, manpower and development, and business management. In 1965, he founded Life Management Services to share his experience through seminars and consulting services. Thousands of audiences around the world have experienced non-stop laughter as his ideas about life’s most challenging situations in business and at home. Two of his speeches, "The Price of Leadership" and "Where Does Leadership Begin?" have been enjoyed by millions. He is the author and editor of nine books, including Life is Tremendous with more than 2,000,000 copies in print in 12 languages. He is featured in numerous books and has received more awards then I can possibly recount in this blog. Click here to listen to the interview.