Summary Of On Speaking Well

Public speaking is scary but does not have to be if you read On Speaking Well by: Peggy Noonan. This book is a good read on how to build fundamental skills in writing and public speaking. Reading this book walks you through how to plan, write, rewrite, and give a speech along with the skills to accomplish it. Using this book will help improve your writing and speaking skills so that you will be more confident and comfortable when asked to perform these tasks. You will speak well when using these three important skills of: think logically, make your case, and be yourself, not someone else.
When writing a speech, think logically and put your notes and stories in order. After you compile them, take a break for fifteen minutes to clear your
Creating focused, strong points will make people think and move them more than trying to make them cry or laugh. If you have the opportunity for emotional statements that relate to your case, then use them but do not force them. If you write to make your speech emotional, you will lose the audience on the case you are making. The author states, “The most moving thing in a speech is always the Logic. It’s never flowery words and flourishes, it’s not sentimental exhortations, and it’s never the faux poetry we’re all subjected to.”2 Having a speech flow in a natural tone stating the case will move people easier then forcing the emotions. Trying to manipulate the audience pulls the focus off of the point being made and onto the story being recited. This can make a distraction from the point you are being made. The focus is on the case and not an emotional statement. Having knowledge, natural feelings, and being clear will have a better effect then false emotionalism will ever have. Being confident in the case makes the audience have an easier time understanding the points. This helps the audience trust the speaker and passes along knowledge on what is being spoken