The Art of Public Speaking
BY
J. BERG ESENWEIN AUTHOR OF
"HOW TO ATTRACT AND HOLD AN AUDIENCE," "WRITING THE SHORT-STORY,"
"WRITING THE PHOTOPLAY," ETC., ETC., AND
DALE CARNAGEY
PROFESSOR OF PUBLIC SPEAKING, BALTIMORE SCHOOL OF COMMERCE AND FINANCE; INSTRUCTOR IN PUBLIC SPEAKING, Y.M.C.A. SCHOOLS, NEW
YORK, BROOKLYN, BALTIMORE, AND PHILADELPHIA, AND THE NEW YORK CITY CHAPTER, AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF BANKING
THE WRITER'S LIBRARY EDITED BY J. BERG ESENWEIN
THE HOME CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL SPRINGFIELD, MASS.
PUBLISHERS
Copyright 1915
THE HOME CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
TO
F. ARTHUR METCALF
FELLOW-WORKER AND FRIEND
Table of Contents
THINGS TO THINK OF FIRST--A FOREWORD
CHAPTER I--ACQUIRING CONFIDENCE BEFORE AN AUDIENCE CHAPTER II--THE SIN OF MONOTONY
CHAPTER III--EFFICIENCY THROUGH EMPHASIS AND SUBORDINATION CHAPTER IV--EFFICIENCY THROUGH CHANGE OF PITCH
CHAPTER V--EFFICIENCY THROUGH CHANGE OF PACE
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CHAPTER VI--PAUSE AND POWER
CHAPTER VII--EFFICIENCY THROUGH INFLECTION CHAPTER VIII--CONCENTRATION IN DELIVERY CHAPTER IX--FORCE
CHAPTER X--FEELING AND ENTHUSIASM CHAPTER XI--FLUENCY THROUGH PREPARATION CHAPTER XII--THE VOICE
CHAPTER XIII--VOICE CHARM
CHAPTER XIV--DISTINCTNESS AND PRECISION OF UTTERANCE CHAPTER XV--THE TRUTH ABOUT GESTURE
CHAPTER XVI--METHODS OF DELIVERY
CHAPTER XVII--THOUGHT AND RESERVE POWER CHAPTER XVIII--SUBJECT AND PREPARATION CHAPTER XIX--INFLUENCING BY EXPOSITION CHAPTER XX--INFLUENCING BY DESCRIPTION CHAPTER XXI--INFLUENCING BY NARRATION CHAPTER XXII--INFLUENCING BY SUGGESTION CHAPTER XXIII--INFLUENCING BY ARGUMENT CHAPTER XXIV--INFLUENCING BY PERSUASION CHAPTER XXV--INFLUENCING THE CROWD CHAPTER XXVI--RIDING THE WINGED HORSE CHAPTER XXVII--GROWING A VOCABULARY CHAPTER XXVIII--MEMORY TRAINING
CHAPTER XXIX--RIGHT THINKING AND PERSONALITY
CHAPTER XXX--AFTER-DINNER AND OTHER OCCASIONAL SPEAKING CHAPTER XXXI--MAKING CONVERSATION EFFECTIVE
APPENDIX A--FIFTY QUESTIONS FOR DEBATE
APPENDIX B--THIRTY THEMES FOR SPEECHES, WITH SOURCE-REFERENCES APPENDIX C--SUGGESTIVE SUBJECTS FOR SPEECHES; HINTS FOR TREATMENT APPENDIX D--SPEECHES FOR STUDY AND PRACTISE
GENERAL INDEX
THINGS TO THINK OF FIRST A FOREWORD
The efficiency of a book is like that of a man, in one important respect: its attitude toward its subject is the first source of its power.
A book may be full of good ideas well expressed, but if its writer views his subject from the wrong angle even his excellent advice may prove to be ineffective.
This book stands or falls by its authors' attitude toward its subject. If the best way to teach oneself or others to speak effectively in public is to fill the mind with rules, and to set up fixed standards for the interpretation of thought, the utterance of language, the making of gestures, and all the rest, then this book will be limited in value to such stray ideas throughout its pages as may prove helpful to the reader--as an effort to enforce a group of principles it must be reckoned a failure, because it is then untrue.
It is of some importance, therefore, to those who take up this volume with open mind that they should see clearly at the outstart what is the thought that at once underlies and is builded through this structure. In plain words it is this:
Training in public speaking is not a matter of externals--primarily; it is not a matter of imitation--fundamentally; it is not a matter of conformity to standards--at all. Public speaking is public utterance, public issuance, of the man himself; therefore the first thing both in time and in importance is that the man should be and think and feel things that are worthy of being given forth. Unless there be something of value within, no tricks of training can ever make of the talker anything more than a machine--albeit a highly perfected machine--for the delivery of other men's goods. So self-development is fundamental in our plan.
The second principle lies close to the first: The man must enthrone his will to rule over his thought, his feelings, and all his physical powers, so that the outer self may give perfect, unhampered expression to the inner. It is futile, we assert, to lay down systems of rules for voice culture, intonation, gesture, and what not, unless these two principles of having something to say and making the will sovereign have at least begun to make themselves felt in the life.
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The third principle will, we surmise, arouse no dispute: No one can learn how to speak who does not first speak as best he can. That may seem like a vicious circle in statement, but it will bear examination.
Many teachers have begun with the how. Vain effort! It is an ancient truism that we learn to do by doing. The first thing for the beginner in public speaking is to speak--not to study voice and gesture and the rest. Once he has spoken he can improve himself by self-observation or according to the criticisms of those who hear.
But how shall he be able to criticise himself ? Simply by finding out three things: What are the qualities which by common consent go to make up an effective speaker; by what means at least some of these qualities may be acquired; and what wrong habits of speech in himself work against his acquiring and using the qualities which he finds to be good.
Experience, then, is not only the best teacher, but the first and the last. But experience must be a dual thing--the experience of oth-ers must be used to supplement, correct and justify our own experience; in this way we shall become our own best critics only after we have trained ourselves in self-knowledge, the knowledge of what other minds think, and in the ability to judge ourselves by the standards we have come to believe are right. "If I ought," said Kant, "I can."
An examination of the contents of this volume will show how consistently these articles of faith have been declared, expounded, and illustrated. The student is urged to begin to speak at once of what he knows. Then he is given simple suggestions for self-control, with gradually increasing emphasis upon the power of the inner man over the outer. Next, the way to the rich storehouses of material is pointed out. And finally, all the while he is urged to speak, speak, SPEAK as he is applying to his own methods, in his own personal way, the principles he has gathered from his own experience and observation and the recorded experiences of others.
So now at the very first let it be as clear as light that methods are secondary matters; that the full mind, the warm heart, the dominant will are primary--and not only primary but paramount; for unless it be a full being that uses the methods it will be like dressing a wooden image in the clothes of a man.
J. BERG ESENWEIN. NARBERTH, PA.,
JANUARY 1, 1915.
THE ART OF PUBLIC SPEAKING
Sense never fails to give them that have it, Words enough to make them understood. It too often happens in some conversations, as in Apothecary Shops, that those Pots that are Empty, or have Things of small Value in them, are as gaudily Dress'd as those that are full of precious Drugs.
They that soar too high, often fall hard, making a low and level Dwelling preferable. The tallest Trees are most in the Power of the Winds, and Ambitious Men of the Blasts of Fortune. Buildings have need of a good Foundation, that lie so much exposed to the Weather.
--William Penn.
CHAPTER I
ACQUIRING CONFIDENCE BEFORE AN AUDIENCE
There is a strange sensation often experienced in the presence of an audience. It may proceed from the gaze of the many eyes that turn upon the speaker, especially if he permits