From reading this book, I hope that you’ve gleaned some insight on how to live more mindfully, or cope with the death of a loved one, or better cherish love and relationships.  I hope this collection helped you float above the fray—even if just for a little while—to draw lessons from extraordinary tales by ordinary young men and women.  And maybe you too will remember that, sometimes, the greatest stories are in front of your eyes.  Or even inside you.

It was indeed a difficult endeavor to select 80 speeches out of thousands to feature in this book. The quality of so many of them was top-notch. Each core value speech had a nugget of wisdom, a lesson to be learned, a personal story that needed to be told. I wish I could have published many more of them.

When I reached out to the students whose speeches were selected to seek their permission to publish their work, almost all of them enthusiastically agreed. And I sensed it was not for the prestige of having one’s words included in a published work, but for the opportunity of their words to inspire others. “If my story can help someone else, I’m more willing to do it”, was the common refrain. This is the kind of spirit that we formed in our public speaking courses. An environment where we learned from each other, laughed, cried and grew together. Many students from years ago still contact me to reminisce about these fond memories, or to share a testimonial of how not just the learnings, but the experience of the class and community has led to a major breakthrough or powerful insight at work, or in personal life.

At the end of each course, I ask students to give me honest feedback, and write a reflection piece on their progress as a speaker. I always take this feedback seriously. I particularly examined the critical pieces, taking them to heart in a good way, and, and aspiring to improve in each successive semester. With this effort over time, I was delighted to see that, for the majority of the class, the overall experience was cathartic, liberating and empowering. It surprised me to see how quickly such a community and experience can be created. Very rarely had my graduate students, or even senior executive participants, had the chance to spend time to search deeply within themselves; to think about and articulate the core values that really make them who they are. Many class participants said that the Arts of Communication experience was surreal, unforgettable. And the experience can be just as cathartic and liberating, for the listener as much as the speaker. To witness a person just like yourself gather the courage to pour their heart out on stage is empowering, even magical. I started out teaching a class, we ended up building a community.

This book gives you a taste of the bit of magic my students managed to create and experience each semester, through words. You have hopefully read and enjoyed the jokes, the heartbreaking memories, the words of inspiration, and the sound bites that came after perspiration. And even if you haven't been able to be appreciate this project to your satisfaction, I am still grateful that you took the time to flip through the pages and speeches, and do believe that at least a couple of these stories will stick with you and enhance your life long after you put the book down. If you have come away refreshed and inspired, remember that these speeches are meant to be heard as well as read. The magic truly happens when you are in the midst of the experience, on stage or in front of a smaller audience. I would encourage you to find and watch several corresponding videos to these speeches that are or will be available on or through our website.

So how do you create your own minutes of magic? I will leave you with six key public speaking tips that have been helpful for my students through the years. These have also come out in various parts of the book, and are summarized here. These are also not substitutes for the lessons, which in turn are no substitute for the actual experience and reps of being on stage. But hopefully this short checklist that can find a small but permanent place in your mind.

Prepare Hard, then Relax. There are no short-cuts. For a four-minute speech, I recommend that you devote at least ten hours of preparation, to craft a speech that will make you, your children and your grandchildren proud. If you are making a speech to a group, it’s likely an important occasion, personal or professional, and I rarely see regret for too much time spent, and often on too little. Practice in front of actual individuals as much as you can, and push for feedback without taking it personally. In the last day before your speech, set aside your worries about doing it right. Remember, the audience doesn’t bring an intensity, and try simply to enjoy the moments.

Work with Time. The speed of speech is between two and a half to three words per second, assuming no dramatic pauses or interruptions for questions. The average number of words used by speakers for their four-minute speeches in this book is indeed close to 600. But most people don’t have a good sense of this, and so they ramble too long or end sooner than expected. Be realistic and a bit prepared about how much can fit in a planned amount of time. Try recording yourself to track how long your speech actually is.

Balance Logos, Ethos and Pathos. These three modes of rhetorical appeal by Aristotle are fancy ways of saying logic, credibility and emotion. What worked for the ancient Greeks still holds true today. If you focus too much on logic but do not offer personal, heartfelt examples, you may come across as stiff. Similarly, too little logical appeal could make you seem hollow and unprepared. If you are already a recognized expert in your field, then you have some ethos, or credibility. Most of us, have to establish our credibility within our speech, and even the experts need to bolster it craftily. If you focus too much on proving your expertise, you may come across as self-centered. Try to find a nice balance between the 3C’s of communication: content, credibility and connect.

Use Sound Bites. Audiences don’t remember as much detail as you think they do, especially if a speech is long or there are many speakers in the event lineup. So, find ways to summarize your key ideas in simple, memorable phrases that will stick. Sound bites “wake up” your listeners to the key headlines of your speech, denoting the main points or impactful moments. Sound bites are not buzz words or slogans, but rather phrases or sentences that capture the essence of what you meant to say in the preceding section, or even for the entire speech. Knowing when they are coming allows you to also deliver them in a special manner, via volume, intonation or expression.

Make Early Eye Contact. When you walk on stage, quietly take a few moments to look at the audience before speaking. This creates an early presence and allows you to dissipate initial nervousness, which is generally at its peak then. It also allows you to find and connect with friendly faces and remember they are not the enemy. You may fear an epic fail, but most of the time the audience is empathizing with you, not judging you. I’ve seen students who freeze on stage and need to get a hold of their nerves before beginning their speech, and I am amazed by how forgiving the audience is. In fact, most listeners are just happy to have someone make any sense at all on stage. Related to eye contact is body language. Make sure to maximize your space on stage, and if you are comfortable with it, feel free to move with deliberation to make your point. Try to watch out for repetitive movements of parts or all of your body, and try to avoid this patterned pacing.

Recover from Mistakes. Fumbling a line isn’t the end of the world. There is real power in vulnerability. It breeds authenticity, which can actually endear you to your audience, as long as you pick yourself up and keep going. Which brings us back to the key theme that defines my teaching. Once your preparation is behind you, focus on enjoying the process and performance. My favorite line to my students is: “If you’re not having fun, you’re likely still not doing it right.”

You can use these tips the next time you have to deliver a speech in front of hundreds, in a conference room with your co-workers, or at the dinner table debating your spouse. I’d also recommend the following books on verbal communication that have been an inspiration to this book, to me personally, and to many of my students: Don’t Think Of an Elephant by George Lakoff (on Framing), Resonate by Nancy Duarte, This I Believe by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman, and Chicken Soup for the Soul by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Amy Newmark.

If you are feeling motivated and ambitious, I encourage you to organize your own “Minutes of Magic” public speaking event, similar to the “Faces of Community” events I organized at schools that I taught at. You could host one at your job, your school of university, or even at your local church or community center. It doesn’t take that much. Get a group together, commit to preparing four-minute presentations about your core values, and rent out an auditorium if you can find one, or even just a conference room for a couple of hours. Consider splitting the speakers into pairs or threes, so that they can practice with their teammates in the coming weeks. Then, on the day of the event, have some snacks and drinks to pass around (I liked to hand out Kind Bars). Consider leaving time in between speeches, or at the halves, for the audience to let the speakers’ words wash over them, Time to internalize it all. Time to share their reactions and thoughts should they choose to do so. Time to grow together.

Afterwords, I hope you’ll look back on the experience and think: Wow, I started out hosting a speaking event, but we ended up building a community. That is where the magic happens.