I just got wind that Borders is the place to be if you are (1) a book fanatic or (2) a desperado grabbing last-minute gifts. Check with your friends who are members of Borders whether they have 30% and 40% discount vouchers to spare. Or you can always get them to buy for you (as a christmas gift!) It is definitely more economical than buying one book at a time. Talk about being kiasu! (grins)

There is one book which I would strongly recommend all of you to buy. In fact I plan to buy five to ten of them as gifts for my friends. It is titled “Speak like Churchill, Stand like Lincoln” by James C Hume, who happened to be the speech writer for five US Presidents. This book is filled with 21 simple yet incredibly effective tricks to persuade, inspire and win over any audience. Ever since I bought the book four months ago, I have been diligently applying some of the techniques to my speeches. And they work wonders. One of which is Power Poetry. You know how we usually write our speech like a composition; line after line. However most of the time, it is written for the eye, and not for the ears. As such, the impact is compromised. Try reading this aloud.

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience. (by Henry David Thoreau)

However when you convert the above speech into a poetry (i.e. phrase by phrase), it magically becomes music to the ears. Now try reading the one below aloud.

I went to the woods
because I wished to live deliberately
to front
only the essential facts of life
and see
if I could learn what it had to teach
and not
when I came to die
discover that I had not lived
I did not wish to live what was not life
living is so dear
nor did I wish
to practice resignation
unless it was quite necessary
I wanted to live deep
and suck out all the marrow of life
to live so sturdily
and Spartan-like
as to put to rout all that was not life
to cut a broad swath and shave close
to drive life into a corner
and reduce it to its lowest terms
and, if it proved to be mean
why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it
and publish its meanness to the world
or if it were sublime
to know it by experience

Notice when you read your speech like a poem, it doesn’t feel like you are reading aloud anymore! In fact, the same speech now sounds more alluring and impactful.

And do you remember one of the tips I shared with you about using statistics in your speech: How do you play the number game?. Guess what, it is from the book as well under the section Power Stats.

More good stuff awaits you in the book. Go grab it before it runs out!

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Any burning questions to ask? Send them to eric@ericfeng.com and I will get back to you asap. Meanwhile, enjoy the articles at Public Speaking for All!
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