Public speaking | Financial Times

Friday, 10 January, 2020

Tuesday, 3 December, 2019

Michael Skapinker

How English speakers can stop confusing everyone else

Do not beat about the bush with idioms when it comes to making your meaning clear

Wednesday, 30 October, 2019

The Art of PersuasionSam Leith

When history is more important than domestic politics

Ronald Reagan’s Berlin Wall speech was one of his finest moments

Friday, 25 October, 2019

Viv Groskop

How you speak still matters more than what you say

No one intends to take their parents into a job interview, but they sneak in anyway

Monday, 9 September, 2019

The Art of PersuasionSam Leith

Mugabe’s independence speech was one of conciliation

The strongman failed to deliver the promises of that 1980 speech

Sunday, 23 June, 2019

Pilita Clark

How to wing it when you need to make a speech

For most people, only practice can make you look spontaneous

Wednesday, 19 June, 2019

The Art of PersuasionSam Leith

Cook’s speech at Stanford remembers Jobs and urges responsibility

The Apple chief drew on the co-founder’s celebrated address to students in 2005

Tuesday, 4 June, 2019

The Art of PersuasionSam Leith

No disrespect in the Queen’s speech for Trump

Comparing the address with rhetoric for the Obamas highlights her scrupulous fairness

Monday, 27 May, 2019

Work & Careers

Pitch perfect: how to speak with authority

Women can change the way they sound for more impact, but authenticity is crucial

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Thursday, 23 May, 2019

The Art of PersuasionSam Leith

Game of Thrones saved its grandest rhetoric for last

Daenerys’s speech lost none of its power for being delivered in two fictional languages

Tuesday, 7 May, 2019

The Art of PersuasionSam Leith

A speech designed for reconciliation

Nelson Mandela’s inauguration address was concise and concentrated in its rhetorical charge

Thursday, 31 January, 2019

The Art of PersuasionSam Leith

Kamala Harris offers a winningly simple sense of vocation

In announcing her presidential candidacy, the senator reclaims the idea of ‘our America’

Thursday, 29 November, 2018

The Art of PersuasionSam Leith

In a divided world, ‘commonplaces’ are distorted

Shared wisdom once united us but culture wars have changed that

Monday, 12 November, 2018

Andrew Hill

Leaders are wise to listen before speaking out

Staff will act on views broadcast from the top, however light-hearted

Wednesday, 31 October, 2018

The Art of PersuasionSam Leith

Frankenstein’s monster makes a logical and emotional appeal

A lesson in public speaking for Halloween

Wednesday, 17 October, 2018

The Art of PersuasionSam Leith

Portman delivers steely speech in age of Time’s Up

The actor’s address to Variety’s Women of Power event borrows from classical techniques

Monday, 1 October, 2018

Andrew Hill

A successful pitch is in the hands of the entrepreneur

New research sheds light on the language and gestures that sway investors

Tuesday, 18 September, 2018

The Art of PersuasionSam Leith

Public speaking is no more than a confidence trick

The Queen’s 1947 Cape Town speech may not have been delivered live. Does it matter?

Wednesday, 5 September, 2018

The Art of PersuasionSam Leith

The problem with the ‘People’s Vote’

The term echoes some of history’s most dishonest sloganeering

Tuesday, 7 August, 2018

The Art of PersuasionSam Leith

Corbyn’s anti-Semitism apology was a dud

The Labour leader’s canned video was a poor substitute for an authentic live speech

Thursday, 26 July, 2018

The Art of PersuasionSam Leith

Mike Pompeo’s rhetoric avoids apocalyptic bluster

US secretary of state’s speech addressed three audiences in one

Tuesday, 10 July, 2018

The Art of Persuasion

Why Frederick Douglass’s speech still resonates

The former slave’s 1852 oration makes a very modern point about ‘tone policing’

Wednesday, 13 June, 2018

The Art of PersuasionSam Leith

What Amal Clooney teaches us about public speaking

The human rights lawyer offers a glimpse behind the public image

Wednesday, 16 May, 2018

The Art of PersuasionSam Leith

Lessons from Tim Cook’s commencement speech

The Apple chief should have dared to ‘think different’ before using a well-worn template

Tuesday, 1 May, 2018

Michael Skapinker

How hard is it to learn English?

Wild swings in meaning between seemingly similar verbs is what trips up learners

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