The best speeches sound off the cuff.  The truth is quite the opposite.  They are crafted, rehearsed, revised, revised, revised and finally strategically delivered.

There are many history-making speeches in modern times that spring to mind.  JFK’s ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’, Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a Dream’, Churchill’s ‘We shall never surrender!’ and more recently Malala Yousafzai’s ‘I am not a lone voice’.  Each of these speeches has played its part in cementing the speaker in history. In private papers released last week, we gained insight into one such speech.  At the 1981 Conservative party conference, Margaret Thatcher stood on a political precipice.  It looked likely that she would not survive as leader for much longer.  Then came one of the biggest moments of her tenure, one that would go down in speech-writing history and help to solidify her position for a further decade. From the podium she delivered a message that would define her character, good or bad, depending on your viewpoint.

You turn if you want to.

She paused while the room filled with rapturous applause and fierce heckling.

The lady’s not for turning.

Each word was delivered with complete conviction.  Yet what wasn’t well known until last week was that the night before Thatcher and her speech-writer Ronnie Miller engaged in a shouting match over the content.  The tension was only diffused when husband Denis commented from the sofa:

Honestly love, we’re not trying to write the Old Testament.

Two things to take away here:

The best speeches are memorable.  To be that, a speech must be given with complete conviction.

Keep it simple, not biblical.

Clarity, Brevity and Impact® Whether you are speaking to a room full of delegates or just your MD in the corridor, wouldn’t you like your words to be this memorable? Develop your speaking skills with Think On Your Feet®.  It’s a terrific 2-day workshop that will give you dynamic structures to strategically position your message giving you the spit and polish your delivery deserves. [traininglist slug=”think-on-your-feet-2-days”]]]>