For some reason unknown to me I am occasionally asked to speak to groups of people. Sometimes it has been for personal causes (valedictorian) and religious/spiritual reasons (churches, etc), but mostly it has been about entrepreneurship and silverorange.
Two of my favourite speeches:
- 1997 - Charlottetown Rural Valedictorian nomination speech – The vice principle was red as a tomato he was so angry. Even after a standing ovation I lost by a suspicious two votes to the student council president whose speech consisted of crying and thanking the rugby team. (read the speech) - (read my advice on valedictorian speeches)
- 1999 – Technology conference presentation (at the ill fated Softworld) in Vancouver – I had seven minutes to pitch silverorange to a room of people. The day had been full of companies with names like blankware, somethingtech, strangenamemedia all trying to stand out from each other even though they were using the same powerpoint template. This is what I came up with. I shamelessly pulled out the Homeward Bound card and made grown men cry. (read the speech)
My favorite non-speech: At Softworld 2000 in Halifax we again had seven minutes to make an impression to a room full of people. We decided to sleep-in instead and let this presentation do the talking. (see the presentation)
Comments
Adam Kalsey - April 16, 2003 1:28 pm
The real question is, were the silverorange speech and presentation effective? Did they get you any business?
Dan James - April 16, 2003 1:38 pm
This was all during the dot-com-crazy-go-nuts era so it's hard to tell what was effective and what was not. We didn't get any direct business that I can remember but it did link us up with some like minded people who have helped us tremendously over the years.
Alan - April 16, 2003 1:56 pm
You also got to watch 1/3 of a room of chas chumleys laugh, 1/3 not get it and look around confused and, most oddly 1/3, get angry and storm out.
Ryan Hillier - April 16, 2003 4:01 pm
The Charlottetown Rural speech is one of the best speeches I've read in weeks! I've already printed it out and put it on my wall.
Go Dan James!
ps. you should totally get some neat CEOBlues t-shirts. rock on!
Dave - April 16, 2003 4:06 pm
The Softworld 2000 speech must have went over well in a room full of .com's...
Dan James - April 16, 2003 4:40 pm
As Alan mentioned some people liked it, some people didn't get it, other had hated that we "wasted" their time. These people also seemed like the dads and moms that yell angrily at their children during sporting events.
Charlie - April 17, 2003 10:15 am
I like that for Ryan "The Charlottetown Rural speech is one of the best speeches I've read in weeks!"....how many speeches do you read in a week Ryan? ;)
Peter Rukavina - April 19, 2003 4:18 pm
<P>
I've often been amazed how much the simple fact of being "A Speaker" confers automatic respect. Once your name is printed in the programme, and you're introduced with a little mini-biography, and you're standing in front of the crowd at the podium, you're already 1/2 way towards having anything you might possibly dream of saying taken seriously.
What few speakers seem to realize is that public speaking, done well, is a theatrical performance, not a brain dump, or delivery of evidence. If you succeed, in your theatricality, in getting one small point across, you have done your job.
~bc - April 26, 2003 6:18 pm
Personally, the dog story was a great let down after reading the valedictorian speech. The V. speech let the listener in on what kind of person you are. The dog speech reminds me of what can be drastically wrong with advertising spiel. I hate commercials that try to tug at your heart strings as a distraction while they lift your wallet. Disgusting. There's perhaps nothing more tasteless. Of course, only reading the speech doesn't speak to how it was delivered, which with this speech could have been delivered in a very humorous way which would have made it a satire. That would have been effective, and in line with the valedictorian speech. I'd juxtapose the third presentation, but I don't have WiMP nor the bandwidth to listen to it with. If you ever put up a transcript, I'd read it.
Dan James - April 28, 2003 10:34 am
It wasn't delivered in a satirical way - so yeah, it was a shameless play on emotions (check out my puppy -> buy my product). I tend to agree with you that people using heart, or any other strings, to sell you something is manipulative. E.g. I will buy your microwave dinner because I think it will make me feel sexy (you'll laugh as soon as you see this one on TV). My only defense is that I was young and foolish.
Erin - May 12, 2003 10:56 pm
I've just kinda stumbled upon this blog through reinvented.net. You may or may not remember me, Dan.
(Quietest person of graduating class, although I've compensated for that and then some since).
If people enjoyed reading that valedictory nomination speech in text form, then they would have loved to hear it "live", watching that very same VP go red in the face. I would call that speech a classic. I voted for you, for what it's worth, and was quite disappointed with the valedictory I got because it was, to put it very nicely, predictable and unrepresentative of the actual graduating class. But it was symbolic, in a sense, of the way I generally perceived high school at the time, and since.
Dan James - May 13, 2003 1:14 am
I do remember you. And yes, you were the quietest person in the class :-). If my memory serves me correctly you also were in Stonepark, right? Thanks so much for your response and your vote so long ago.
E - May 13, 2003 11:20 am
Yeah, I was at Stonepark. Wow, it is a very long time ago (6 years now, ouch), but again stumbling on here and rereading it made me remember and laugh about it. I just finally completed my work at UPEI on my BA and graduated this past weekend -- and after sitting through what may have been the <i>worst</i> valedictory speech I can imagine, this was good to read.
Randy McDonald - May 15, 2003 12:19 am
Hi! (Also graduated from the Rural in '97. If anything, even quieter than Erin.) I like your speech; humility and humour work wonderfully. :-)
Kevin - May 27, 2003 10:54 am
Dan, what a speech! The only difference I can think of (and it's major) between you then and my own decline through high school is the tools. If only I had had the confidence to just test my tools. Six of us were invited to speak to the grade twelve group. I gave the worst public performance anyone could have managed. It was everything your speech was but without any honesty. It's painful to recall and I'd die if a copy of it was to ever turn up. I "bought the plum" I guess you could say. My head was talking like you but my mouth was bleating a neasuating tune.
God bless him, Doug Carmody (Dr. Douglas to those who visit their Summerside Internist) had something special that day and did a memorable job by kissing all the fancy ass in the room but then ripping into a performance piece that we knew well from having seen him pick off, in the coolest possible way, a SNL character and confuse everyone above the legal drinking age into thinking we'd gone completely mad. We drank it up by the bucket and all I could think was, "Whoah bless my soul! I'm happy I'm watching this from here!"
Dan, you're a one-in-not-every-generation kind of guy. I hope you light that rocket soon because life is just not interesting enough. Just keep this in mind.. if you bump your head the press will eat you for dinner, but the rest of us will know that it's just part of the act.
jessica - May 17, 2004 3:45 am
i have to write a nomination speech for valedictorian by thursday. i have been trying to write one but i really cant think of the approach i want. valedictorian is a really important title that i would like. actually i want it more than anything. the problem is that there are 10 people running against me but i am fourth up so that will be good because i will still have the attention of most the the group. anywho i dont know what to do i really need some ideas. please help.
jess
?? - May 15, 2005 10:22 pm
who is dan james?