I love Alan Watts. Years ago I listened to his speech “Self-Improvement” and was incredibly interested in his style of speaking. He speaks with such honesty and conviction that I feel compelled to believe what he has to say. I decided right away to use a speech from Watts and after searching for one that was concise and inspiring I found one titled “What if Money Were No Object?”
Alan Watts was a British philosopher, writer, and speaker. Many of his lectures are available for download, he spoke all over the country and in Europe, and if you only type his name into Youtube you can listen to bits and pieces of dozens of his lectures. I think he is an incredible example of a good speaker and there are plenty of lessons to learn.
Lesson 1: Establish Credibility
There is not much of a point of …show more content…
He takes frequent pauses. He pauses after each question he asks, to allow the audience to consider their own feelings or thoughts on what he is asking. Additionally, Watts uses a variety of inflections, tones, and speed in the way he is speaking. This practice keeps the audience interested and ensures that he holds their attention.
Lesson 5: Signal Key Statements
Alan Watts uses short statements or queues in order to grab the attention of his audience before proceeding with more important aspects of his speech.
• [0:23] “So, I always ask the question” this comes before the question “what would you do if money were no object?”. Considering this is the topic of the speech, this question is very important and it makes sense for him to bring attention to it.
• Later [1:38] he uses “and after all,” to signal towards his next statement “if you do really like what you’re doing…you’ll eventually become a master of it”. Watts is attempting to paint this idyllic world where we are able to forget the money and pursue a career path solely based off of desire.
Bonus Lesson 6: Rhetorical
Alan Watts was a British philosopher, writer, and speaker. Many of his lectures are available for download, he spoke all over the country and in Europe, and if you only type his name into Youtube you can listen to bits and pieces of dozens of his lectures. I think he is an incredible example of a good speaker and there are plenty of lessons to learn.
Lesson 1: Establish Credibility
There is not much of a point of …show more content…
He takes frequent pauses. He pauses after each question he asks, to allow the audience to consider their own feelings or thoughts on what he is asking. Additionally, Watts uses a variety of inflections, tones, and speed in the way he is speaking. This practice keeps the audience interested and ensures that he holds their attention.
Lesson 5: Signal Key Statements
Alan Watts uses short statements or queues in order to grab the attention of his audience before proceeding with more important aspects of his speech.
• [0:23] “So, I always ask the question” this comes before the question “what would you do if money were no object?”. Considering this is the topic of the speech, this question is very important and it makes sense for him to bring attention to it.
• Later [1:38] he uses “and after all,” to signal towards his next statement “if you do really like what you’re doing…you’ll eventually become a master of it”. Watts is attempting to paint this idyllic world where we are able to forget the money and pursue a career path solely based off of desire.
Bonus Lesson 6: Rhetorical