Public speaking is an art form, popularised by the likes of Martin Luther and John F. Kennedy. Before that people assumed it was a form of public torture for the public as well as the speaker.
I was once witness to a mesmerising performance by a speaker on stage. The speaker broke into uncontrollable giggles, with the result that he proceeded to complete the entire speech in a constant state of high rapture. It left the audience completely befuddled as to what was going on and as the speaker tried to control himself, he could only manage to stumble off the stage muttering incoherently.
A much more succesful technique I suppose would be to fix the audience with a glassy stare and to ignore them completely. Then to proceed through the speech with the unrelenting ardour of a army general, proceeding through enemy lines, giving no quarter, no matter what, mowing down resistance.
A third, highly succesful technique, to be used when avoiding questions at question hour in Parliament, is to close your eyes, in effect to signal to the audience to do the same, and then to pause for infinite lengths of time between each syllable until everyone has forgotten what the question was.
In all cases it cannot be denied that speaking in public is like singing in the bathroom, where everybody is glad they don't have to listen to you.
No comments:
Post a Comment