Sometimes students in my speech classes spoke longer, sometimes much longer, than the time allotted. Sometimes I had to cut them off to save time for the other students.
Here's what I told my classes: if your speech is much too long or much too short, this means that you didn't practice. If you practice the speech, even once, then you will know how long it is.
In Wilbur Ross' case, he spoke for more than twice the time limit and was still going. It was entirely appropriate for the organizers to cut him off. Yes, they showed him disrespect. But he showed them disrespect as well. It goes both ways.
A clock is a speaker's friend. Clocks are good. Good speakers keep a clock, watch, or digital timer on the desk while they are speaking.
Simple lesson: if you are going to give a speech, practice it first. Use a timepiece. Know how long your speech will be. If you need to make cuts, make cuts. Cuts are good. Most speeches can be improved by cuts. Don't speak longer than you are supposed to speak. And you will thereby avoid Mr. Ross' fate.
 |
| Water Clock, NIST image |
No comments:
Post a Comment