I’ve just arrived in Greece to meet my wife, who has already been here for three weeks.\u00a0 She’s at a writer’s conference.\u00a0 While I’m here, I plan to visit the Parthenon<\/a> and other temples of democracy (which technically the Parthenon is not).<\/p>\n

The Athenians came up with the idea of presentation skills <\/a>because they realized that if they wanted a democracy, they had to have leaders who were capable of winning the assent of the governed.<\/p>\n

Most societies of the day were ruled by strong men – guys who gathered gangs of men and terrorized the population.\u00a0 In fact, this is probably still true, as we’re seeing across the world.<\/p>\n

The Athenians had a better idea, but they needed a way to judge those who aspired to be leaders, so they could get a sense of their motivation, their character, and their abilities.<\/p>\n

What better way than to have them talk about what they were going to do, or what they had done, or how they would solve a particular problem that was bothering people?<\/p>\n

The Athenians called this rhetoric<\/a><\/em>, the art of moving the souls of men<\/em>.\u00a0 It all started in 467 BC, after a tyrant in Syracuse, Sicily, banished some people from their homes.\u00a0 The homeless families came to Athens looking for help in pleading their case.\u00a0 They had to speak to a jury of their peers, meaning thousands of people in the town square, or in the huge theater built into the side of a hill just outside of town.<\/p>\n

They hired some Athenians to help them construct an argument and deliver it well.\u00a0 Some of the men who helped them wrote books about it, and soon young Athenian men of wealthy families were required to study public speaking<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So, I’ve come back home, to the birthplace of democracy and public speaking<\/a>.\u00a0 And amazingly enough, I’ll be back on July 4th, which is traditionally (although no more, thank God) a day for endless patriotic speeches.<\/p>\n

Three cheers for the red, white and blue.\u00a0 And another cheer for the tyrant of Syracuse, who so pissed people off, that he caused the art of public speaking to be invented.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve just arrived in Greece to meet my wife, who has already been here for three weeks.\u00a0 She’s at a writer’s conference.\u00a0 While I’m here, I plan to visit the Parthenon and other temples of democracy (which technically the Parthenon is not). The Athenians came up with the idea of presentation skills because they realized… Read More »The Origin of Presentation Skills<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","_ti_tpc_template_sync":false,"_ti_tpc_template_id":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[62],"yoast_head":"\n