As you can tell from watching the RNC and the DNC, political speeches aren’t easy to deliver, and, most of the time, they’re not easy to listen to either. Most speakers rely quite heavily on the teleprompter, and, as we know from TED Commandment #9, reading a speech is no way to resonate with audiences.
Former President Bill Clinton is different. Not only did he memorize his entire DNC 2012 speech, but he also sprinkled impromptu moments throughout the prepared script. First, pull up a copy of that script. Then it’s essential that you watch his speech to compare what he said with what was written. Man, oh man, can we learn public speaking lessons from Mr. Clinton.
Click here to read the script. Watch the speech below.
Many articles have been written about Clinton’s speech. One of my favorites is Ethos3′s “Bill Clinton’s Badass Speech at the DNC.”
What did you think of Clinton’s speech at the 2012 DNC?
Artful weaving around a script is what it’s all about – when I present I tend towards over-weaving and it just sounds complex, interesting perhaps from time to time, but hard to digest. But Clinton gets the balance right. Thanks, I can learn from this!
Hey Simon, Thanks so much for your comment! I definitely have to work on simplifying my message, too.
How did you feel about the length of Clinton’s speech? I found myself hanging on his every word the entire time… for nearly 50 minutes. What did you think?
Absolutely agree it’s worth comparing the spoken and the written versions – it’s amazing the difference you make if you go off script and respond to the live performance – not easy though! More here if you’re interested: http://wp.me/p2k3hy-wX
Thank you for your recommended article, Claire! I plan to check it out this afternoon. Alex