Summary  1. “The art of war,” said Napoleon, “is a science in which nothing succeeds which has not been calculated and thought out.”  That is as true of speaking as of shooting. A talk is a voyage. It must be charted.  The speaker who starts nowhere, usually gets there.  2. No infallible, ironclad rules can be given for the arrangement of ideas and the construction of all talks.  Eachaddress presents it own particular problems.  3. The speaker should cover a point thoroughly while he is on it, and then not refer to it again.  As an illustration, see the prize-winning address on Philadelphia.  There should be no darting from one thing to another and then back again as aimlessly as a bat in the twilight. 4. The late Dr. Conweil built many of his talks on this plan:  a. State your facts.  b. Argue from them.  c. Appeal for action.  5. You will probably find this plan very helpful:  a. Show something that is wrong.  b. Sh...

CHAPTER TWO  Self-Confidence Through Preparation.   I t has been the author’s professional duty as well as his pleasure to listen to and criticize approximately six thousand speeches a year each season since 1912. These were made, not by college students, but by mature business and professional men. If that experience has engraved on his mind any one thing more deeply than another, surely it is this: the urgent necessity of preparing a talk before one starts to make it and of having something clear and definite to say, something that has impressed one, something that won’t stay unsaid. Aren’t you unconsciously drawn to the speaker who, you feel, has a real message in his head and heart that he zealously desires to communicate to your head and heart? That is half the secret of speaking. When a speaker is in that kind of mental and emotional  state he will discover a significant fact: namely, that his talk will almost make itself. Its yoke will be easy, its burden will be l...

1. Developing Courage and Self-Confidence 1 2. Self-Confidence Through Preparation 17 3. How Famous Speakers Prepared Their Addresses 37 4. The Improvement of Memory 57 5. Essential Elements in Successful Speaking 79 6. The Secret of Good Delivery 91 7. Platform Presence and Personality 109 8. How to Open a Talk 12 9. How to Close a Talk 14 10. How to Make Your Meaning Clear 165 11. How to Interest Your Audience 183 12. Improving Your Diction 199 Appendix/ Speech Building with Exercises 221 VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV Developing Courage and Self-Confidence  More than five hundred thousand men andwomen, since 1912, have been members of public speaking courses using my methods. Many of them have written statements telling why they enrolled for this training andwhat they hoped to obtain from it. Naturally, the phraseology varied; but the central desire in these letters, the basic want in the vast majority, remained surprisingly the same:“When I am called upon to stand up and...

“A Shortcut To Distinction” by Lowell Thomas  This biographical information about Dale Carnegie was written as an introduction to the original edition of How to Win Friends and Influence People. It is reprinted in this edition to give the readers additional background on Dale Carnegie. It was a cold January night in 1935, but the weather couldn’t keep them away. Two thousand five hundred men and women thronged into the grand ballroom of the Hotel Pennsylvania in New York. Every available seat was filled by half-past seven. At eight o’clock, the eager crowd was still pouring in. The spacious balcony was soon jammed. Presently even standing space was at a premium, and hundreds of people, tired after navigating a day in business, stood up for an hour and a half that night to witness—what? A fashion show? A six-day bicycle race or a personal appearance by Clark Gable? No. These people had been lured there by a newspaper ad. Two evenings previously, they had seen this full-page announce...