When I say I'll learn ['Teach' is not in the river vocabulary] a man the river, I mean it. And you can depend on it, I'll learn him or kill him. Life on the Mississippi Mark Twain Utilizing a unique and memorable MARK TWAIN acronym, author Conor Cunneen demonstrates what the Dean of American Humorists learned him bout public speakin ! Message preparation Audience research and knowledge Relate to audience Know your objective Titter and humor wins the audience Wait the power of the Pause Anecdotes connect Involve, Inform, Inspire your audience Narration and stagecraft. Did you know that Mark Twain, long recognized as a wonderful author and humorist was possibly THE most successful professional speaker ever? The great man enthralled audiences from Berlin to Boston, from Montana to Melbourne with storytelling full of humor, pathos and humanity. Many regarded him as a superb impromptu speaker, except he wasn't! Twain worked diligently at his craft, researching, writing, rewriting and memorizing his material. Now, you can learn tips, tricks and techniques Twain used to mesmerize, entertain and inform his audiences.

1. What Mark Twain Learned Me ‘bout Public Speakin’
Image by Mark Anderson for What Mark Twain Learned Me ‘bout Public Speakin’ by Conor Cunneen

2. Lessons from the great humorist via a unique MARK
TWAIN acronym
• “When I say I'll learn ['Teach' is not in the river vocabulary] a man the
river, I mean it. And you can depend on it, I'll learn him or kill him.”
Quote and Image from Life on the Mississippi – Mark Twain

3. What Mark Twain Learned Me ‘bout Public Speakin’
• Message preparation
• Audience
• Relate
• Know your objective
• Titter
• Wait (the Pause)
• Anecdote
• Involve
• Narration and Stagecraft

4. What Mark Twain Learned Me ‘bout Public Speakin’
• Message preparation
• “Early in the evenings, we scattered
out among the towns and made
them indicate the good and poor
things in the new lectures…….. And
so, when we finally stepped on to
the great stage at the Music Hall we
already had the verdict in our
pocket.”
• Mark Twain - A Biography: Albert Bigelow Paine
Available at Amazon What Mark Twain Learned Me ‘bout Public Speakin’

5. What Mark Twain Learned Me ‘bout Public Speakin’
• Audience
• “The country audience is the
difficult audience; a passage which it
will approve with a ripple will bring
a crash in the city. A fair success in
the country means a triumph in the
city.”
• Mark Twain - A Biography: Albert Bigelow Paine
What Mark Twain Learned Me ‘bout Public Speakin’ Available at Amazon

6. What Mark Twain Learned Me ‘bout Public Speakin’
• Relate
• It seems as if I must have been
insane when I wrote that speech
and saw no harm in it, no
disrespect toward those men whom
I reverenced so much. And what
shame I brought upon you, after
what you said introducing me! It
burns me like fire to think of it. The
whole matter is a dreadful subject—
let me drop it here—at least on
paper.
• Letter to William Dean Howells
Available at Amazon What Mark Twain Learned Me ‘bout Public Speakin’

7. What Mark Twain Learned Me ‘bout Public Speakin’
• Know your Objective
• “I am demeaning myself. I am
allowing myself to be a mere
buffoon. It's ghastly. I can't endure it
any longer."
• Mark Twain - A Biography: Albert Bigelow Paine
What Mark Twain Learned Me ‘bout Public Speakin’ is available at Amazon

8. What Mark Twain Learned Me ‘bout Public Speakin’
• Message preparation
• Audience
• Relate
• Know your objective
• Titter
• Wait (the Pause)
• Anecdote
• Involve
• Narration and Stagecraft
Available at Amazon

9. What Mark Twain Learned Me ‘bout Public Speakin’
• Titter
• “Against the assault of laughter,
nothing can stand."
• Mark Twain: The Chronicle of Young Satan
What Mark Twain Learned Me ‘bout Public Speakin’ Available at Amazon

10. What Mark Twain Learned Me ‘bout Public Speakin’
• Wait (the Pause)
• “The right word may be effective
but no word was ever as effective as
a rightly timed pause.”
• Mark Twain
Available at Amazon What Mark Twain Learned Me ‘bout Public Speakin’

11. What Mark Twain Learned Me ‘bout Public Speakin’
• Anecdote
• “The characters were no creations of
my own. I simply sketched them
from life. I knew both those boys
(Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer) so well
that it was easy to write what they
did and said.”
• Mark Twain
What Mark Twain Learned Me ‘bout Public Speakin’ Available at Amazon

12. What Mark Twain Learned Me ‘bout Public Speakin’
• Involve
• I am but human, and when you,
give me a reception like that I am
obliged to wait a little while I get
my voice. When you appeal to my
head, I don't feel it; but when you
appeal to my heart, I do feel it.”
• Mark Twain
Available at Amazon What Mark Twain Learned Me ‘bout Public Speakin’

13. What Mark Twain Learned Me ‘bout Public Speakin’
• Narration and Stagecraft
• “Mark Twain was the most
consummate public performer I ever
saw, and it was an incomparable
pleasure to hear him.”
• William Dean Howells
What Mark Twain Learned Me ‘bout Public Speakin’ Available at Amazon