Introduction
I was a technical instructor for years and thought I knew a lot about public speaking. However, in 1996, I joined Toastmasters International and really started to learn about speaking in public.
I was a member of clubs at FORE Systems/Marconi and in Cary, NC. I get my public speaking practice now as a lector in church.
Original speeches
In Toastmasters, you have the opportunity to perform speeches written by others. However, speech contests and most of the projects require original speeches.
The ones that are hyperlinked have the text, or the notes. They lose something in reading them, instead of hearing them. I didn't save the text of most of them. But here are the ones I did save.
The following is the record of all the speeches delivered while I worked to the level of ATM-Silver:
Project: Communication and Leadership
- Landscape of Fear — 6/26/97
- Why I Don't Go to Church — 7/24/97
- The Power of Storytelling — 12/18/97
- Speaking of Style — 2/12/98
- Koyanisquatsee: Crazy Life — 6/25/98
- The Grand Canyon — 8/22/98
- What Is Really Important? — 10/8/98
- The Experience of Vision — 3/4/99
- A Question of Values — 5/6/99
- Try! — 6/17/99
Project: Storytelling
- The Buffalo's Wife — 10/21/99
- The Thread of Time — 12/2/99
- The Magic Apple — 3/2/00
- He's Gone — 5/4/00
- The Data No One Believed — 6/15/00
Project: Interpretive Reading
- Mirror on the Wall — 11/16/00
- The Raven — 1/18/01
- Aeschylus' Soliloquy — 2/15/01
- Peter Pan — 6/7/01
- Inaugural Address — 6/21/01
Project: The Entertaining Speaker
- Stay in the Boat — 10/4/01
- Ready or Not — 1/17/02
- Leave 'em Laughing — 3/21/02
- The Power of Words — 1/19/04
- Shepherd Moons — 3/8/04
Project: Humorously Speaking
- Rich Man, Poor Man — 8/9/04
- A Man and His Movies — 10/25/04
- Painting Is Funny; Painters Are Not. — 12/13/04
- Art, Religion, Philosophy—and Everything Else — 3/7/05
- A Year to Remember — 6/27/05
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Favorite speakers
I can learn a lot from listening to good speakers. Here's where I list some of my favorites:
- John F. Kennedy
- Martin Luther King
- Ronald Reagan
- Bill Clinton
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