Real Communication An Introduction

On September 3, 1939, Britain’s King George VI took to radio

waves to inform an anxious Great Britain that the nation was, for the second

time in a generation, at war. “In this grave hour,” the king began, “perhaps the

most fateful in history, I send to every household of my peoples, both at home

and overseas, this message, spoken with the same depth of feeling for each one of

you as if I were able to cross your threshold and speak to you myself.”

Given the opportunity, it’s quite possible that he would have preferred to

address each of his subjects in that very personal manner rather than via a live

radio broadcast. George VI—born Albert Frederick Arthur George, and known

to those closest to him as Albert—had suffered since childhood from a crippling

nervous stammer (more commonly called a stutter on this side of the Atlantic).

Second in line for the throne, he only became king after his elder brother, the

dashing Edward, famously abdicated the British throne in order to marry an

American divorcée in 1936. Thus Albert was thrust into a position of leadership

that he didn’t want but was bound by duty and honor to fulfill. And less than

three years into his unexpected reign, the reluctant king was called upon to ad-

dress the nation as it plunged once again into war.

Albert managed to address the nation with surprising grace. He was not per-

fect, but he managed to get through the speech and deliver his message to a fright-

ened and uncertain public. One listener was David Seidler, a young British boy who

had evacuated to the United States before the Blitz and who, like the king, suffered

from what he describes as a “profound” stutter. “I heard these wonderful, moving

speeches, and had heard that he had been a terrible stutterer,” Seidler recalls. “If

he could cure himself, it gave me hope” (Horn, 2010). Seidler grew up to become

a screenwriter and penned the Academy Award–winning film The King’s Speech.

Seidler, who overcame his stutter as a teenager, accepted his Oscar “on behalf of all

the stutterers in the world. We have a voice. We have been heard” (Seidler, 2011).

chapter

Delivering

Presentations

Understanding and

Addressing Anxiety

Methods of Delivery

Guidelines for

Effective Delivery

Effective

Presentation Aids

Practicing Your

Speech

IN THIS CHAPTER

403

14