3. Know who are to be present and who are to speak.
4. Know how much time is allotted you.
5. Strive your utmost to enjoy yourself and let what you say appear as a spontaneous outgrowth of your environment.
6. Avoid using old jokes and hackneyed quotations.
7. Avoid stiff formality. Radiate kindliness and good fellowship toward all.
8. Do not apologize. Let your appreciations and the fact that “some one else could have responded better,” that “you are unprepared,” etc., be taken for granted. Don’t waste time on these follies. Get down to business.
9. Have your speech carefully prepared and stick to it.
10. Remember that this is a time that reveals your true self, so let the best in you shine forth.
Let us discuss more fully some of the more important essentials. One should never begin his speech with an apology. How boresome it is to hear a speaker express surprise at being called upon; regretting he is totally unprepared; telling us that some one else could have spoken on this subject far better than he, etc., etc., etc. This is never in place and it is never necessary. On one occasion many prominent men and women were banqueting together in Chicago. Dr. George Vincent, then a member of the faculty of the University of Chicago, an orator himself of no mean ability, was toastmaster. A program of unusual length had been prepared. Under any ordinary chairman it would have kept the guests there until morning. Dr. Vincent arose, and in a clear, brief and terse introduction called attention to the long program. Then he said, addressing the speakers who sat at his table: “Each of you can give us the heart of your message in three, certainly not more than four minutes. I shall expect you, therefore, to go right to the heart of your subject. We will take it for granted that you are not prepared, that some one else could do better than you, and all the rest of the apologetic introductions. The moment your time is up I shall bring down the gavel as a forceful reminder that you must stop.”