One Speech coach's answer: WHAT MAKES A GREAT SPEECH Installment 1 of 15

1.    Don't waste time with, "Hello, I'm really honored to be here." Nobody cares, right? You might as well not waste everyone’s time unless you have a compelling answer to the following: “So what? Who cares? What’s in it for me?” Your first and last 30 seconds must be memorable. Start with a bang. Give a startling quote or story. Don't meander when you hit the ground - run!

Lincoln’s Wit/Wisdom 167

'Southern men declare that their slaves are better off than hired laborers amongst us. How little they know whereof they speak! There is no permanent class of hired laborers amongst us ... Free labor has the inspiration of hope; pure slavery has no hope.'
- Abraham Lincoln

What Makes a Great Speech

You've got something to say that we need to hear. And if you know the subtleties of how humans are wired YOU MAKE THE CONNECTION and we have a match made in heaven - just the right sparks fly in just the right directions/proportions, and magic HAPPENS.
Well, sometimes. After all, there's a world of difference between Doctor King's "I Have a Dream" speech and some guy balancing out a lack of quality with an abundance of quantity.
So, what makes for a really great speech? Here are 15 suggestions in the following 15 installments. Stay tuned…

Lincoln’s Wit/Wisdom 166

Lincoln could be, and often was, the very picture of contradiction[s]. ‘He dressed like a farmer but read books on geometry and poetry.  He told witty stories and yet could successfully prosecute a dry or boringly technical case… Jonathan Birch, a fellow lawyer, witnessed Lincoln holding forth in the court clerk’s office, surrounded by other lawyers and telling some story. “His eyes would sparkle with fun,” Birch remembered, “and when he had reached the point in his narrative which invariably evoked the laughter of the crowd, nobody’s enjoyment was greater than his.” An hour later, however, Birch would see Lincoln seated on a chair with the back leaned against the wall, “his hat tipped slightly forward as if to shield his face, his eyes no longer sparkling with fun or merriment, but sad and downcast and his hands clasped around his knees.” Birch thought him “the very picture of dejection and gloom. Thus absorbed have I seen him sit for hours at a time defying the interruption of even his closest friends… It was a strange picture.”’
- Brian Dirck

Lincoln’s Wit/Wisdom 165

'… that is the issue that will continue in this country when these poor tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent. It is the eternal struggle between these two principles - right and wrong - throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right of kings.'
- Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln’s Wit/Wisdom 164

'Welcome or unwelcome, agreeable or disagreeable, whether this shall be an entire slave nation is the issue before us.'
- Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln’s Wit/Wisdom 163

'Well, for those who like that sort of thing I should think it is just about the sort of thing they would like.'
- Abraham Lincoln