THE CHALLENGE of repeating a successful speaking performance

“How can I match what I did previously?” This is a question public speakers confront regularly. Repeating a successful performance is difficult because the conditions that shape communication shift and speakers must be prepared to adapt.

A former NBA coach, and network broadcast analyst frequently emphasized that the “energy” a person brings to an endeavor is central to success. As a coach, he recognized that the level of energy players exert varies from day to day across an eighty-two-game, six-month season. Like in sports, energy plays a critical role in public speaking.

A successful presentation also depends on a cooperative relationship between the speaker and the audience. In Book I of The Republic, Plato offers an illustration of how communication can either succeed or fail. On the way home from a festival, Socrates is confronted by a group that insists on escorting him to a party. Socrates does not wish to join them. Feeling outnumbered and unable to say no, Socrates asks whether he might persuade the group to allow him to continue on his way. The leader’s reply is blunt: “Can you persuade us if we refuse to listen to you?” The lesson is clear: communication works best when one person speaks, and another is willing to listen. In both ancient times and the present day, attentiveness remains an essential yet often absent element of human interaction.

The challenge of repeating a successful presentation is also influenced by how much of the performance is scripted versus improvised. Written material can be reused with relative ease, but improvised moments are harder to replicate. Speakers may struggle to recall extemporaneous remarks that resonated with an audience. For this reason, it is wise to make notes immediately after a presentation to preserve impactful ideas that might otherwise be lost over time. Remembering a statement is difficult enough; recalling the reasoning that gave rise to it is even more challenging if it is not recorded.

It is also common for speakers to experience doubt when faced with the task of expressing ideas in a meaningful and engaging way. Such doubts can be overwhelming. However, they can be managed by finding meaning in ideas that resonate with one’s own life experience. For example, in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Friedrich Nietzsche writes, “One must have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.” This observation suggests that chaos is an inherent part of the human condition and should not be rejected. When acknowledged and processed thoughtfully, inner chaos can generate the resolve needed to overcome self-doubt and transform uncertainty into creative power.

The English philosopher David Hume argues that conditions conducive to eloquence do not always exist. As history unfolds, extraordinary moments shaped by orators such as Demosthenes in ancient Greece or Cicero in ancient Rome may not recur. Nevertheless, although Hume maintains that not every era produces extraordinary speakers, it does not mean that one cannot consistently craft a presentation that is concise, coherent, and compelling.