Nobody is bornan Orator.

Speaking is a trained skill. It always was.
Fifteen minutes a day, starting today.

Free — unsubscribe any time.Taught by a trial lawyer.

Keep reading

“a mediocre speech supported by all the power of delivery will be more impressive than the best speech unaccompanied by such power.”

Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 11.3.5 · p. 245

“I’m not a good speaker.”

People say it like they’re left-handed. Decided at birth, worked around for life.

Nobody is asking you to perform. Only to stand up in a room — a meeting, a hearing, a wedding — and be believed.

But you simply didn’t have any training. For two thousand years this was a subject. Cicero learned it. So did Lincoln and Churchill. Then it stopped being taught, and nothing took its place.

We’re putting it back.

The first week

One thing a day. Seven days.

Day 1Yourself, on filmNinety seconds, one question, no notes. Then watch it back with the sound off.

Day 2The mouthThe exercise Quintilian set for Roman children. Two minutes, and you hear the difference the same day.

Day 3The voiceOne passage, four rhythms. The words don’t change and the room does.

Day 4The breathWhere sentences run out — and the number that tells you it’s improving.

Day 5The handsWhat they’re doing while you talk, and where the movement should have gone.

Day 6A good man, skilled in speakingQuintilian’s whole definition of an orator, in five words. Man or woman, what it asks of you goes well past technique.

Day 7The same ninety secondsFilm it again. Put the two side by side.

Day one and day seven are the same ninety seconds. That comparison is the whole point.

After that, one letter a week. One story, one thing to practise. It keeps coming as long as you want it.

“it is by speaking that men as a rule become speakers. But that other adage is just as true, — that by speaking badly men very easily succeed in becoming bad speakers.”

Cicero, De Oratore, Book 1.150 · p. 103

Who’s teaching it

Tom Plan, Esq.

I’m a trial lawyer in Penn Yan, New York. I advocate before juries and judges for a living. Being right is the smallest part of it.

Words matter. Delivery matters.Your voice can change outcomes.

Start today.

Ninety seconds, and the first email arrives as soon as you confirm.

Free — unsubscribe any time.Taught by a trial lawyer.