A well-known speech writer and brilliant public speaker in his own right, James C.Humes has combed his extensive speech-making files to bring you nearly 600 of his most colorful and fascinating anecdotes about famous men and women of the past and present. He describes how to use these anecdotes to add zest to your speeches, as a springboard for an introduction, to make an arresting opener to a speech or a dramatic close.
Here are witty, clever, and inspiring stories about opera singers, sports figures, politicians, military men, authors, scientists, and so forth. You will be able to highlight the main points of your speech with these anecdotes about such diverse people as Lincoln, Helen Keller, Lou Gehrig, Christopher Columbus, Albert Einstein, Charlie Chaplin, Enrico Caruso, Dorothy Parker and Bobby Knight.
The index includes proper names as well as subjects to make it easy to locate the most appropriate anecdote. In most instances, the author has supplied comments to introduce the anecdote into the speech as well as bridge lines to smoothly return to the main body of the speech. An opening chapter describes in detail how to use this book for the best advantage and how to deliver these anecdotes for the greatest audience impact.