Edna Rostow

They say that Bill Clinton has a reputation for being long winded. He speaks for a long time. I heard him speak once in Columbia, but he only spoke for about 30 minutes. I understand he has been known to go longer than an hour. Audiences get a little tired after a while. They told us seminary students never to preach longer than 20 minutes. The listeners tend to nod off after that. Some before. It depends on the delivery. Of course, if you are a great orator, it is possible to keep your audience riveted, no matter how long you go. In my speech history, I think I haven't gone longer than 25 minutes. The secret to giving a speech is: you open with a joke or some catchy item to get their attention; then you have three points, each one building on the last; and then you conclude with something that summarizes your speech. You even thank your audience for hanging with you. Thanks to Mr. Vivian and Anderson College (University), I learned how to make a speech. Preachers use the same technique. You want to have some logic in your speech so that your audience will stay with you. If you just get up there and talk, without any path, people will let their minds wander. Which brings me to Edna Rostow. She was invited by Presbyterian College to come and speak during convocation. She was a feminist. The husband to a State Department advisor to Presidents. A psychology major. A smart woman. And the most boring speaker you could imagine. Thankfully, she has passed on, so I won't be sued. Whether she was a bad speaker, or she had a tough audience, one will never really know. But, after 30 minutes passed, she was still speaking. Then came an hour, and she was still speaking. It would have been rude to just get up and leave. We had classes to go to. We had lunch to eat. And still she spoke. We began to figure out ways to get her to stop. Some guys started rolling candy down the aisles, thinking that the noise would get her to stop. I guess she was somewhat deaf too, because she continued on. Then, the coughing began. I guess she thought that some people had colds, because she continued. After 90 minutes, I don't know who was listening. Maybe that one brainless girl who thought it was cool being kept out of class. And then, she said something that everyone heard, "Well, I guess I have talked long enough". She got cheered and a standing ovation. I kind of felt bad for Edna at that point. There is a picture of her in our college yearbook of her looking out over the crowd, during the ovation, and she has a surprised and smiling look on her face. I don't think she had a clue why we were cheering. The speech was finally over. Don't ask me what she actually talked about. Maybe ask the brainless girl who probably heard everything. The moral of the story is make your speech short and sweet. People will like you much more.