Dear speech-fans and -friends,
End of September, I was invited to speak at
the Professional Speechwriters Association World Conference on ‘Speeches and Speechwriting in Europe in
2016’. To prepare this talk, I looked for trends that would both refer to
Europe and be relevant for an international audience. I soon identified one
leading trend, only emerging yet obvious, and already the strongest. I spoke
about this new word capturing this new phenomenon : the ‘post-truth’ - or ‘post-fact’ - era of speeches and democracy.
From hardly used before, it is suddenly
everywhere now, from titles to articles to conferences.
Little did I know then that the Oxford
Dictionary would select it as the 2016 International Word of the Year.
It’s a real concern for our democracies,
and an additional challenge for speakers and speechwriters. All the more reason
to have a look at the speeches that matter on the European stage today.
You’ll find the latest selection of quotes
and speeches on http://www.logospathosethos.eu
Isabelle
Commemorating :
the great potential of epideictic speeches
We all know that we are living in a historic time, and
that our actions will have effects for generations to come. But we can't know
exactly what effect we will have. All we can do is to trust in our values, and
have the courage to act on them.
Read
the full speech here: Margrethe Vestager, Luther and the modern
world, 14 November 2016
Reacting
to the US Presidential elections :
Being
here (in Harvard) today is also a big responsibility, because I am the first representative of the European Institutions to
visit the US since last week's elections.
So,
on behalf of the European Commission, let me say I am confident that the US
will continue to be a strong and reliable partner for us (…).
As a citizen, I have to confess I was surprised
(that is an understatement) at last week's result, as were many Europeans and no doubt many of you. But we need to turn this
painful awakening into a political wake-up call.
Read
the full speech here: Pierre Moscovivi, 2016 Summit on the Future
of Europe, Harvard University, Boston, 14 November 2016
(English
below): Deutschland und Amerika sind durch Werte
verbunden: Demokratie, Freiheit, Respekt vor dem Recht und der Würde des
Menschen, unabhängig von Herkunft, Hautfarbe, Religion, Geschlecht, sexueller
Orientierung oder politischer Einstellung. Auf der Basis dieser Werte biete ich
dem künftigen Präsidenten der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika, Donald Trump,
eine enge Zusammenarbeit an.
Read
the full speech here: Angela Merkel, on the outcome of the US elections, 9
November 2016
Germany and America are bound by values
– democracy, freedom, as well as respect for the rule of law and the dignity of
the individual, regardless of their origin, skin colour, creed, gender, sexual
orientation, or political views. On the basis of these values, I offer close
cooperation to the future president of the United States of America, Donald
Trump.
Read
the full speech here: Angela Merkel, on the outcome of the US elections, 9
November 2016
Mr. President
(Barack Obama), we urge you from here, from Athens, with its eternal, simple
Parthenon -- the Parthenon of democracy and civilization -- to continue to
serve the same ideals after the end of your term. Your appeal will
continue into the future. In this future and very promising journey, we would
like you to take Greece along. At this point, I’d like to remember the
words of the poet Odysseas Elytis: Please do not forget our country.
Read
the full speech here:
Greece President Prokopis Pavlopoulos, State dinner
with President Obama, 15 November 2016
Finding
the words after …
2016
campaign and election
I want to wish
you a very happy Thanksgiving. Like so many of you, we'll spend the day
with friends and family, turkey and touchdowns. We'll give thanks for
each other, and for all that God has given us. And we'll reflect on what
truly binds us as Americans.
That's never
been more important. As a country, we've just emerged from a noisy,
passionate, and sometimes divisive campaign season. After all, elections are
often where we emphasize what sets us apart. We face off in a contest of
"us" versus "them." We focus on the candidate we
support instead of some of the ideals we share (…).
But a few
short weeks later, Thanksgiving reminds us that no matter our differences, we
are still one people, part of something bigger than ourselves.
Read the full speech here: Barack Obama, Coming together on Thanksgiving, 24 November 2016
Terrorist
attack
Sting, opening the first concert back in
the music hall attacked last year by terrorists in Paris
(English
below)
Bonsoir Mesdames Messieurs,
Alors, ce soir, nous avons deux tâches,
deux tâches importantes à concilier : d’abord, se souvenir et honorer ceux
qui ont perdu la vie dans l’attaque il y a un an ; ensuite, célébrer la
vie, la musique, comme représente cette salle de spectacles historique. Avant
de commencer, j’aimerais que nous observions une minute de silence. Nous ne les
oublions pas. (silence). Nous ne les oublions pas.
Watch
the opening words here:
Ladies and Gentlemen, good evening,
So, tonight, we have two tasks, two
important tasks to reconcile : first, remember and honour those who lost
their lives in the attack last year ; then, celebrate life, music,
represented by this historic music hall. Before we start, I would like that we
observe a minute’s silence. We do not forget them. (silence). We do not forget
them.
Watch
the opening words here:
Surprise your audience
I want to start with a
small 'study'. Now everyone loves studies! As a scientist I know that our
'study' is rather an experiment, but nevertheless let me share it with you.
(…) As I said, I am not
claiming it is a real study, though I am sure I could dump it on the social
media and claim that 'last study shows (…).
Read the full speech here: Vytenis Andriukaitis, European Antibiotics
Day Awareness Day: The Future is now, 18 November 2016
Three weeks ago, an (…)attack
took down Dyn, a central name service provider, disabling access to Twitter,
SoundCloud, Spotify, Reddit and a number of other popular services for hours at
a time. The attack managed to reach unprecedented size by harnessing the
collective firepower of so-called Internet of Things devices — often poorly secured
printers, security cameras, digital video recorders or other tools that are
connected to the internet for remote access and control by their users (…). I
was surprised to discover that pretty much anyone – including me – could have
perpetrated this attack. The malware that was used to create the botnet is
available for free online. Or – instead of building my own botnet – I could
have simply rented a ready-made botnet by the hour at very affordable rates and
specified my target in the easy-to-use interface. In fact, rented botnets were
used in the attack. But let me assure you – it wasn't me.
Now why am I telling you this story? It illustrates some of the key
weaknesses of our system.
Read
the full speech here:
Julian King, 4th Annual European Cyber Security
Conference, 17 November 2016
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