Nick Morgan, founder of Public Words, Inc., is a former Fellow of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and one of America’s top communication and speech coaches. He’s penned a new manifesto with for keys for turning any public speaking engagement into an opportunity to change the world. (After all, isn’t that the point?)

Morgan thinks most speeches are awful because:

  • Speeches are awful because speakers make it about them instead of the audience
  • Speakers don’t take their audience on a journey
  • Speakers don’t rehearse
  • Speakers think about their content but not their body language
He then offers simple, practical advice that I wish everyone would read, take to heart, and put to use before they stand before us and subject us to “Death by Powerpoint.”