Famous speeches from history -
Emulate and Learn

You just heard a great speech. You were just inspired to do something - to be more than you are right now. What is it that made this speech great? One of the reasons could be content. Another is most likely the way in which it was said. And you wonder...if only I had something to say.

Well, here's an exercise for you:

1. Read one of the famous speeches listed below.
2. Understand the context of the speech.
3. Deliver the speech as if it was your own within the specified context.
4. Make a recording of your delivery and listen to it.
5. Ask yourself the question: Does the message of that person come across? What can I do to increase the speech effectiveness (besides the content since that has already proven great)?

Here are those famous speeches from both great and trying times in human history:

• "We shall fight on the beaches..." - Winston Churchill
• "I have a dream!" - Martin Luther King
• "Ask not what your country can do for you" - John F. Kennedy Inaugural Address
• The Gettysburg Address - Abraham Lincoln
• Adoption of the Human Rights Declaration - Eleanor Roosevelt
• Pearl Harbor Address - Franklin D. Roosevelt
• Our Fellow Savages - Mark Twain
• The Ballot or The Bullet - Malcolm X
• On the Development of Electricity - Thomas Edison