Why we speak

Public speaking still is relevant. At the Public Speaking Network group on LinkedIn David Murray from the Professional Speechwriters Association posted an excellent three-minute YouTube video (shown above) titled Naked as we are: why do we still give speeches?

If you are the Vice President Marketing (or Public Relations) for a Toastmasters club, then you should watch it to borrow an inspiring quote on why people should consider joining Toastmasters International. Here is a transcript:

David Murray: Despite all the developments in technology and mass communication, I am standing before you today as I might have done 50,000 years ago to give you a speech. Why do we still give speeches, and why do we still go to them?

Jane Stovall (Executive Communications Manager, UPS): Speeches matter because at the end of the day we’re humans.

Mike Long (speechwriter and playwright): Speeches exist for one thing, that is to inspire people to do something, believe something, take action at a particular moment in time.  

Amelie Blanckaert (speechwriter): Speeches are more than important, they are vital. I call it physical dialogue because when you speak to someone, in front of someone without any screen, but just, you know, naked as we are, then the best can come out of us.  

David Murray: Lucinda Holdforth says speeches aren’t for what happens inside of us but for happens between us, between me and you, between you and one another.  

Amelie Blanckaert (speechwriter): We can solve problems, we can exchange strong ideas, we can have a true discussion, and I believe in that  - especially in the world we are into that becomes more and more impersonal, more and more virtual.  

Eric Schnure (Co-author, The Political Speechwriter’s Companion): We wouldn’t be here if there weren’t speeches that actually did make a difference. We’re not just talking because we want to talk, we’re talking to be heard, and we’re talking hopefully because we want something to happen.  

David Murray: So what do speeches do? They allow leaders to offer their ideas through their humanity.

Sarah Gray (speechwriter, National Cancer Institute): Being with your people, live, it shows you’re vulnerable, it show’s you’re open to dissent, and it shows that you deserve them to be following you.    

David Murray: We come together to breathe in tandem, to experience our own responses and feelings alongside each other.

Sarah Gray: When you think about the times in your life that you’ve changed your mind about something really fundamental, I don’t know about you, but for me it’s because someone I trust is telling me an argument that I can understand.  

David Murray (quoting Lucinda Holdforth): We come together like this because to speak freely, and to listen attentively is to be human, to express a core human capacity, and a central democratic freedom.