Delivering the Speech of My Life
The transformation from a firebrand speaker to a crowd pulling speaker was in focus and intention. At first, my focus was all on me: "I'm going to screw this up so bad." "I have nothing intelligent to say, and this guy will see through me in about three seconds." "I'm Italian. I'm dumb. I can't compete with these smart people." But over time I decided I wanted to win. And to win I was going to have to convince the judge — to move him or her somehow. And then it became fun. Because it was no longer about me. It was about my audience: getting listeners from here to there — changing their mind — actually having them leave the room thinking differently than when they entered. And that's powerful. It's been a blast ever since. Here's some of what I've learned in my years of public speaking. If you have to knock it out of the park, follow these basic rules: Know your goal. When the speech is over, what do you want the audience sa