Carnegie Public Speaking Training

Author: Dale Carnegie (USA) / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: Do you blush when meeting strangers? Do your legs tremble when giving a speech? Do you often fail to reach an agreement or even resort to conflict when dealing with others due to incompatible words? Carnegie says: Anyone who first comes into contact with others will encounter such pitiful situations, just like our hands trembling when we first learn to write. However, all of this can be changed through training. As long as you are determined, follow the various easy-to-use methods described in this book, and learn to apply them anytime, anywhere. Thousands of ordinary people have become successful speakers, effective negotiators, and beloved socialites by learning from this book. So can you, as long as you are willing! Remember, learning from this book is not just about reading—it is more important to practice! In 1913, an adult education movement swept across the United States, and among the most prominent figures was Dale Carnegie. He listened to and evaluated countless adult speeches more than anyone else. He had evaluated 150,000 speeches. If this enormous number does not leave a deep impression on you, let’s calculate: this figure is equivalent to giving a speech almost every day since Columbus discovered the New World. Alternatively, let’s put it another way: if every person who spoke in front of Carnegie spoke for only three minutes and appeared one after another before him, it would take Carnegie a whole year to listen to all these speeches! And day and night! Carnegie’s speech techniques still have the greatest influence today because no one has listened to and studied as many different speeches as he has. Once, I attended a banquet at the Rotary Club in New York. During the meal, an important government official gave a speech. Naturally, his distinguished status gave him a certain authority, and we were all willing to listen to him. He agreed to talk about the work of his agency for us, something every New York businessman would like to know. Of course, he was very clear about his topic, and he could not possibly reveal everything he knew during his speech; however, he had not planned his speech. He had not selected his material or arranged it in any order. Relying on sheer courage, he started speaking without a plan, not knowing where he would go next, just wandering aimlessly. His mind was a jumble of thoughts, so the feast of knowledge he offered us was also a hodgepodge. It was like giving us a scoop of ice cream first, then a bowl of soup, followed by fish and fruit. He was like giving us a mix of soup, ice cream, and smoked fish. I have never seen such a clumsy speaker anywhere or at any time. He had intended to deliver a colorful speech during the banquet, but now he was desperate. He took out a speech manuscript from his pocket. Although no one asked about it, he first admitted that his secretary had written it. The speech manuscript was also a jumble of disorganized thoughts, so he flipped through it aimlessly, reading one page and then another, trying to find a way out in this wilderness. As he did so, he also tried to speak, but he could not. So he had to apologize to everyone, asked for a glass of water to save himself, but his hands trembled as he raised the glass to drink a sip of water, and his words became even more disorganized. He then repeatedly flipped through his speech manuscript. As time passed minute by minute, he seemed more desperate, more difficult, more confused, and more embarrassed. He broke into a sweat on his forehead, trembled as he took out a handkerchief to wipe it, and his persistence overcame his intelligence. He did not stop his speech, still gesturing while flipping through his manuscript, apologizing and drinking water. Every listener could see that this would turn into a complete disaster. In the end, he gave up struggling and sat down, and we all breathed a sigh of relief. I have never been such an uneasy audience, nor have I ever seen such a self-conscious speaker. His speech was like the anxiety Rousseau described when writing love letters. He did not know what to say, yet he rashly started speaking, and after finishing, he still did not know what he had said. The moral of this story is: "When a person’s thoughts are disorganized, the more thoughts they have, the more chaotic they become." This is a famous quote by Herbert Spencer. Building a house without a plan is not something a rational person would do. How could one start a speech without even a rough outline or procedure? A speech is like a journey with a purpose—it requires a navigation chart. I hope that the famous quote by Napoleon—"War is an art, and unless carefully planned, it will never succeed"—can be made into a neon sign and placed at the entrance of every public speaking training class around the world. Public speaking is like shooting, but do the speakers understand this? Even if they do, can they all follow through? I dare say they cannot. Many conversations are no better than a "scattered Irish plan." What is the best and most effective way to arrange a series of ideas? P026-027