How to give a good speech

There are many ways to give a terrible speech. The chief executive who pulls out a sheaf of densely written text and robotically reads it aloud. The management consultant whose every word competes with a jargon-filled tangle of meaningless diagrams and bullet points.

The best man who manages to embarrass the bride and outrage her mother with his scurrilous tales. The strange thing is that we all know this. We’ve all sat in audiences watching speakers commit these familiar crimes against rhetoric.



We all know that there are much better ways to give a talk. So why do we keep doing it so badly? Already a subscriber? Log in Get exclusive reports and insights with more than 500 subscriber-only articles every month No contract ST app access on 1 mobile device Subscribe now All subscriber-only content on ST app and straitstimes.com Easy access any time via ST app on 1 mobile device E-paper with 2-week archive so you won't miss out on content that matters to you.