I Have Something to Say Quotes

“The greatest irony of rehearsing a speech is that the more you prepare, the more natural you will be.”
― John Bowe, I Have Something to Say: Mastering the Art of Public Speaking in an Age of Disconnection

“Your data might be convincing, but if you’re not engaged with it, why not just email a spreadsheet? Tell your audience how you feel and why it matters.”
― John Bowe, I Have Something to Say: Mastering the Art of Public Speaking in an Age of Disconnection

“But every decision you make about your speech must demonstrate that you’re talking for their benefit, not yours. As you proceed through the different parts of your speech, explain at every transition where you are: I’ve told you now about how we eat noodles in Texas. Now I’m going to tell you about how those crazy Luxembourgers eat noodles! If it seems inefficient to waste precious time talking about how you’re talking, instead of using every available second to transmit your message itself, consider the age-old adage, “Tell ’em what you’re gonna tell ’em; tell ’em; then tell ’em that you told ’em.” To return once more to Aristotle, public speaking has less to do with conveying information than it does with demonstrating credibility.”
― John Bowe, I Have Something to Say: Mastering the Art of Public Speaking in an Age of Disconnection

“My visual aids enabled me to make the point with immediacy and directness that wealth inequality was not just in the news, not just something that looks terrible on charts; it was here and now, affecting their lives, threatening their children’s futures. By making my points for me, my visual aids reduced the rhetorical workload that would otherwise have fallen to my voice, my gestures, and the logic of my argument. My visuals made the case better than I could have done.”
― John Bowe, I Have Something to Say: Mastering the Art of Public Speaking in an Age of Disconnection

“Kahan devised a theory he calls “identity-protective cognition,” suggesting that when forced to choose between factual truth and group identity, most people choose the latter. “Individuals,” he concluded, “subconsciously resist factual information that threatens their defining values.” The problem wasn’t that people are dumb, irrational, or even superficial, as I’d formerly assumed. We’ve simply evolved—as a species—in a different way than I’d imagined. “Once group loyalties are engaged,” Haidt says, “you can’t change people’s mind by refuting their arguments.”
― John Bowe, I Have Something to Say: Mastering the Art of Public Speaking in an Age of Disconnection