BUSINESS MEN AS SPEAKERS

Patea Mail, Volume XLVIII, 25 May 1925, Page 2

BUSINESS MEN AS SPEAKERS

SOME USBPUL HINTS An interesting book, with the engaging title, ‘‘Public Speaking for Business Men, ’ ’ has been written by Sidney P. Wicks. It contains a number of useful hints, some of which are as follows:

Drive into the heart of your subject as soon as may be. Have nothing to do with cough lozenges or jujubes, or anything offered'you to suck. The habit softens the vocal chords. Don’t fuss with a watch-chain or a button. The mind will quickly become dependent on that habit. Don’t saw the air with your right arm. It will hypnotise your audience, and they will not hear a word of your speech. Start low; speak slow. Interrupters niust be dealt with boldly; they must be tackled at once, and overwhelmed and squelched. The crowd delights in that. It is as good as a football match to ; them.

More important than all these golden rules is an applied study of the Bible and of Shakespeare. Mr Wicks knows their value to the spccchmaker, and has some thoughtful things to . say about them. ‘‘A man who has the vocabulary, the force and the simplicity of the Authorised Version of the Bible, ’ ’ he says, ‘ ‘ can hardly fail to grip an audience.” And Mark Antony’s speech over the body of Caesar, Hamlet’s advice to the players, will •give him the best lessons in the application of that vocabulary.