From: “How Mark Twain Might Write Online”

Mark Twain by Dr. Joe Vitale
www.mrfire.com

“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.”

Most people don't realize that Mark Twain became famous due to his speaking talents. While his skills as a journalist and a humorist made him popular, it was his speaking that shot him into fame. Later, his books made him a household name. But even then, Twain's speaking engagements kept him in the public eye, and helped secure his place in American history.

“Honesty is the best policy – when there is money in it.”

Mark Twain in New Hampshire But Twain wasn't a born speaker. If anything, he was born to navigate boats. As an author and as a speaker, Twain was self taught. He worked hard to perfect his skills as an orator. He learned by watching such greats as Charles Dickens, and by paying attention to how charismatic ministers held the attention of their congregation. Twain also learned from his own mistakes.

Rule 1: Rehearse

Mark Twain once quipped that it took him three weeks to make a good impromptu speech. While Twain's speeches gave the appearance of being done on the fly, they were actually well thought out, even written out, rehearsed, and committed to memory. His goal was to achieve what he called "counterfeit impromptu."

In other words, he was so prepared that he appeared unprepared. It was planned spontaneity. This gave him a lot of power. He knew what he was going to say down to the exact pause, and this allowed him room for improvisation while giving him the security of knowing what he was going to say next.

Twain was like an actor. He wrote out his speech, or script, committed it to memory, and rehearsed it. When he strolled on stage, he moved with an ease that made him appear to be totally relaxed. While the audience thought he was talking to them informally and spontaneously, he was actually delivering a well planned theatrical performance. In fact, it was so perfectly theatrical that virtually no one ever guessed that Twain had planned the event days or weeks in advance.

In short, Twain's first technique was one of preparation. While many speakers today think you should never write out your speech because it makes your talk rigid, it's important to realize Twain didn't read his speech or even repeat it the way he memorized it. He used his planning as a base for his performance. He gave himself permission to ad lib, to stray from his talk, and sometimes to leave it all together. But this initial preparation made him more comfortable, and helped him give a more powerful, humorous, and satisfying talk.

Rule 2: Use a Starter

Mark Twain also used what he called a "starter."

Twain loved to fully engage his audience as soon as he stepped on stage. He wanted to "start" the program on the right foot by capturing the audiences' attention and keeping it nailed on him. He developed several clever ways to accomplish this:

1. His favorite starter was the self introduction. Twain would simply walk on and introduce himself. This usually made the audience warm to him right away, and saved Twain the trouble, he said, of training people to introduce him right.

2. Another popular starter was walking on stage and saying nothing for a full minute. Sixty seconds of silence is a LONG time when you're on stage and an audience is waiting to hear you speak. This trick made people laugh, chuckle, wonder, and guess what Twain was up to. But it certainly held Mark Twain Forum their attention.

3. The last "starter" Twain used was walking on stage with a book and acting like he was going to read from it. He would open it, but then close it and begin to "ad lib." His ad libbing was actually his well planned talk. Because people expected Twain to stop at any moment and return to the book, they paid attention. They felt he must be saying something more important because he was delaying reading. But Twain never returned to the book. He simply used it as a device to make people focus on him.

In later years Twain didn't need a starter at all. His reputation as a speaker was so well known that all he had to do was step on stage and people were smiling and hanging on his every move and word.

"My works are like water. The works of the great masters are like wine. But everyone drinks water."