publicspeaking
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You are viewing stuff tagged with publicspeaking.
Conan O’Brien’s commencement address at Harvard makes a pretty quick read and an excellent examination of fantastic comedy writing. In addition to functioning on the levels of entertainment and humor, the speech goes a step further: it actually inspires. This line between laughter and inspiration is particularly difficult to walk in public speaking, but Conan did so quite successfully here. I’d highly recommend reading the entire speech, but here’s my favorite part, in which Conan speaks about starting up [Late Night with Conan O’Brien] in 1993.
Good and Bad Presentations - Featuring Gates and Jobs. (via Authentic Boredom).
Valedictory Address
Alex Micek
June 8th, 2003
Friends, relatives, distinguished guests, and the class of 2003:
We are gathered here today to honor the passing on of a time in our lives called “high school.” This ceremony marks its final passing from our lives. Now, we all have had vastly different experiences in high school, but one thing we have all been exposed to is CliffsNotes. Yeeup, CliffsNotes, those handy reader guides that summarize the characters, plot, symbolism, and important details of a book or play. I would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to a guide that you haven’t heard of: the CliffsNotes guide to high school. Please remember, that all CliffsNotes take time to say “Opinions expressed in these Notes aren’t rigid dogma meant to discourage intellectual exploration” and the same is true here; take what you want. This is a summary of high school on its own terms.