I began this message with a story about a man whose ideas and speaking I admired so much that I flew across the country just to listen to him. I did that twice!

A true scholar, always reinventing himself with new ideas and the latest findings, he is one of the few teachers of my past who tempts me to employ superlatives. How thrilling to hear him speak, the very air seemed electric, bristling, with the heavenly offerings of new insight and expanding perspective.

While he was, in my opinion, the most effective public speaker I’d ever encountered, his delivery was not necessarily the most polished; but he presented himself to you with a style, and a message, that dared anyone to ignore him.

Deceptively, he would ease into his topics with humor and common stories of his life. I remember marveling at his mastery of the seamless transition from innocuous introduction to compelling purpose-statement. They were of a piece, and the unwary would easily, painlessly, be swept along and under.

And he would ask questions… his entire lecture would center about the answering of a Universal Question… the kinds of questions that people lie awake at night fretting and wondering about.

I thought for a long time about his teaching style; analyzed it; came to understand how he did it. For decades, public speaking was an integral part of my own life. And for 25 years I practiced, and kept on practicing, his methods. I reached the point where, at national conventions featuring top speakers, though I was not on the speaking roster, those who knew of my abilities told me that I was better than any of these. Finally, at the end of my work with a particular organization, a colleague – a sophisticated man and a very good public speaker - admitted to me that my speaking was the best he had ever heard.

Speaking skills can take you to the top of the public consciousness, bring you fame and notoriety, faster than almost any other route. It is an extremely powerful skill. You can become a Senator, or even President, if you know how to move crowds; indeed, you need not know anything about history, economics, or government to be elected… but if you know how to incite to action the hopes and aspirations of others, you might very well find yourself as their standard-bearer.

We all know that political demagogues employ speaking skills to sway the unthinking, chanting masses. I do not applaud anyone for such knavery – and we’ve seen a lot of it - but I merely acknowledge the power.

Effective writing and effective speaking have much in common. Both are energized by the same principles. We shall be discussing all of this at length.