Comments on: More than words

By: Breanna Hite

Breanna Hite — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 05:42:17 +0000

Probably one of the most valuable (personally and eventually professionally) things I did in school was competitive debate and extemporaneous speaking. I think you’re absolutely right about the experience of it. The written word is far more filtered through the reader’s own thoughts and prejudices; oratory has additional avenues by which the speaker can sweep the audience up in his own passion.

By: Clark

Clark — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 00:44:05 +0000

Insightful, Dave. Agreed, it can’t be a trivial sentiment, it has to ring sincere and authentic to the audience.

By: Dave Ferguson

Dave Ferguson — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 00:07:01 +0000

A speech like King’s or Obama’s had the dimension of sight and sound — and for those present in person, a kind of presence that we who experience it secondhand can only grasp dimly. Even if you were twelve blocks from the speaker, you were there with thousands of others, all of you by choice, and most of you in agreement from the outset.

The passion in a learning opportunity needs to be one that the participants can share, and they’ll share what they believe in. My experience says they’ll share what makes sense to them, and that’s not usually “Amalgamated MegaCorp is great!” More like, “thinking smart can improve customer service.”

By: Clark

Clark — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 00:01:36 +0000

Nicole, great! Rob, what a wonderful idea; I’ve tweeted it, we’ll see what people say.

By: Nicole Fougere

Nicole Fougere — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 22:42:22 +0000

Great post – you’ve got me inspired!! Passion is the key to success in everything in life.

By: Rob Moser

Rob Moser — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 22:10:06 +0000

It moved me in a similar way – immediately after watching it we went back and watched videos of W’s first inaugural speech, Kennedy’s, and then FDR’s first. Aside from loving the fact that we can do that so easily now, it was enlightening to compare what was said. Then we took a vote on what we thought would be the “Ask not what your country can do” line from that speech – you know, the one that 20 years from now everyone will claim to remember hearing because its been repeated so often in the meantime. I’d tell you what our guess was, but I don’t want to colour your thinking…