These days there are so many public speakers out there from political speakers to celebrities figures and so many more. Its hard to pin point one speaker who has influenced me but one that stands out in my head is one of the MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) speakers who I saw when I was in high school. What makes her so memorable was her emotional credibility to audience. She herself had lost a child do to a drunk driver and just the emotion and conviction in her voice as she spoke really touched not just me but the audience as a whole. By the end of her speech we where all in tears, she held such a power in her voice as she spoke and it was not because of the very sad fact that she lost a child but the fact that she still stood up there and was telling her story to help save someone else’s life. That is a speech that I will always hold close to me.
Now on the other hand one of the worst speakers I have ever heard was my high school principle during our high school graduation. He was such a disappointment. I believe that the main reason was because he never grabbed the personal attention to the students on a daily basis as it was but during his speech you could tell he was really unprepared, unorganized and there was know thought put into the speech. It was as though he threw it together the night before (he actually admitted he did). For something like a high school graduation I believe you need someone that shows care and power over their audience especially since we where all moving on to adulthood and could use a few words of encouragement. He literally just read us a Dr. Seuss book, now does that say thought, to me not really. For me his message was that he really did not care for his students.
I believe any MADD speaker has the ability to grab our hearts. Especially those who have lost their loved ones (which, of course, is almost all members). After reading your post I remembered a speech that was given at my high school about drunk drivers. I do not recall whether the speaker was either male or female but I remember the effect that the discussion had on the audience. After the speech the many members of the audience were recalling close call moments or even loved ones whom they had lost due to drunk drivers. Speeches that reach into the audience through emotions, I believe, tend to be the ones we remember and are effected by the most.
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