The gift of the gab: how eloquence works

Epigraph

Prologue

Value-added speech

Eloquence everywhere

Knowing how

How long have I got?

Where will I be?

Who am I talking to? (To whom am I talking?)

Who am I talking to

abroad?

What to say?

When do you say it?

How do they do it? The memory game

How do they do it? The rule of three

How do they do it? Weight control

How do they do it? Order, order

How do they do it? Variation

How do they do it? Being natural

Sounding

natural

Rates of exchange

The melody lingers on

Build-ups, beats, and breaks

Paralanguage

Mind your technology

Talking about content ...

Reading it

Nerve ending

Homo eloquens

Appendix 1 Obama's victory speech delivered at Grant Park, Chicago, 4 November 2008

Appendix 2 Martin Luther King's speech delivered at the March on Washington, 28 August 1963

Endnotes

Further reading

Index of personalities

Index of subjects

Illustration credits