In November 1863 the star speaker talked for two hours and the president for two minutes. Only one of them had decided where he would land.
The whole pathway · The Teachers Who Learned to Wait →
Ten items. Say your answer out loud before you reveal it.
Read the sentence, guess the meaning of the word in bold, then reveal.
Three terms: cut to the chase · trail off · the bottom line. Say the right one, then reveal.
One missing word fits every phrase in the group. Say it, then reveal.
Read each part. After it, answer the quick check from memory, then discuss one question.
In the first days of July 1863, two armies fought for three days around a small Pennsylvania town called Gettysburg. By the end, the number of dead, wounded and missing was in the tens of thousands. Many of the Union dead were buried quickly, in shallow graves, in the fields where they had fallen.
The state decided to create a proper cemetery and to hold a ceremony to dedicate it. The organisers wanted the finest speaker in America to give the main address: Edward Everett, a former senator, Secretary of State and president of Harvard, known for speaking for hours without notes. He said he needed time to prepare, so the date was moved to 19 November.
Only then, in early November, did the organisers think to invite the president. Abraham Lincoln was asked to follow the main speaker with "a few appropriate remarks". It was an afterthought, and it sounded like one.
1. Who was chosen as the main speaker, and what was he known for?
2. Why was the date of the ceremony moved?
3. What was Lincoln asked to do — and when?
1. Edward Everett — a former senator, Secretary of State and president of Harvard, famous for long speeches given from memory.
2. Everett said he needed more time to prepare.
3. To make "a few appropriate remarks" after the main speaker; the invitation came in early November, only a couple of weeks before the ceremony.
On 19 November, Everett stood up and spoke for about two hours. His speech ran to roughly thirteen thousand words. It described the battle day by day, compared the dead to the heroes of ancient Greece and explained the causes of the war. Many people who were there considered it a magnificent performance.
Then Lincoln rose. His text had about 272 words and took around two minutes to deliver. It did not describe the battle at all. It said that the nation had been "conceived in liberty" and "dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal", that the living must finish the work the dead had begun, and that government "of the people, by the people, for the people" should not disappear from the earth.
Lincoln had worked on those words for days beforehand, and there are several handwritten copies in which he changed small details. Reactions at the time were mixed: some newspapers praised the remarks, while others, divided by politics, hardly mentioned them or dismissed them.
1. Roughly how long, and how many words, was Everett's speech?
2. What did Lincoln's speech leave out — and what did it say instead?
3. What is the evidence that Lincoln prepared carefully?
1. About two hours and roughly thirteen thousand words.
2. It left out the details of the battle. Instead it said what the nation stood for and what the living now had to do.
3. He worked on the text for days, and several handwritten copies survive in which he changed small details.
Go further The speaker who cannot leave things out has a name for it: The Curse of Knowledge — why the more you know, the harder you are to follow.
The next morning, 20 November, Everett wrote to Lincoln. He congratulated him and added one sentence that has been quoted ever since: he would be glad if he could flatter himself that he had come as near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours as Lincoln had in two minutes.
Lincoln replied the same day. He said that neither of them could have been excused from his part, Everett from making a long address or himself from making a short one, and that he was pleased to learn the little he had said was not entirely a failure.
Was Everett simply wrong to speak for two hours? Not necessarily. The crowd had come expecting a long oration, and the full story of the battle was worth telling. But the man who gave the longer speech was the one who admitted which of the two had reached the point. Today your listeners rarely have two hours. The question is whether you know your central idea — and whether you say it first.
1. When did Everett write to Lincoln, and what did he say?
2. How did Lincoln reply?
3. Why is it unfair to say that Everett was simply wrong?
1. The next day, 20 November. He said he would be glad to have come as near to the central idea in two hours as Lincoln had in two minutes.
2. He said that neither man could have been excused from his own part, and that he was pleased the little he said was not entirely a failure.
3. The crowd expected a long oration and the full account of the battle had value. The occasion allowed for it — most of our conversations do not.
Go further Lincoln's address is one of the speeches discussed in High-Stakes Public Speaking.
The oldest advice about speaking is to know your ending before you begin. Stephen Covey made it the second of his seven habits in 1989: begin with the end in mind. Barbara Minto, who worked at McKinsey, taught consultants to open with the answer and then support it — her Pyramid Principle. The tool below turns that idea into three moves you can make in one breath: a point, one reason, and a stop.
Go further The same shape in writing: Writing Executive Summaries. The same shape in an interview: The Two-Minute Headline. The same shape when you have to build a case around the point: Argument Structure.
These are sentences from rambling answers. What job does each one do in a landing plan? Choose, then check.
1. Cut it — it announces that you will speak but says nothing; delete it.
2. Point — it is the answer itself, in the first sentence.
3. Reason — one concrete reason that supports the point.
4. Cut it — it is a detour; keep it for later if anyone asks.
5. Stop — it closes the answer and says exactly what you need next.
6. Point — a direct answer to a direct question.
7. Reason — a fact that supports the point, short enough to say in one breath.
Delicate news. A blunt opening can sound cold. Keep the order but soften the delivery: I'm afraid the short answer is no. More on saying no: Saying No to Your Boss. How directness travels between cultures: When “Yes” Doesn’t Mean Yes.
You don't have a view yet. A forced point is worse than an honest one. Land on that instead: I don't have an answer yet. What I can tell you is… A longer course in answering without notes: Impromptu Speaking.
Occasions and stories. Everett's audience had come for a long oration, and some stories need their journey. The plan is for answers, not for ceremonies. When a story is the answer: Strategic Storytelling.
Go further Adapting how much you say to who is listening: Reading the Room and Reading the Room (storytelling).
Point-first speaking depends on a small set of openers that commit you to an answer in the first few words. Learn them as chunks: they are what you reach for when your mind is still planning the rest.
Write the verb in brackets in the correct form.
1. I recommend that the committee (postpone) the decision until the figures arrive.
2. She insisted that every new employee (be) given a written plan.
3. We suggest that he (send) the revised budget before Thursday.
4. I'd propose that the two teams (meet) once a week from now on.
1. postpone
2. be
3. send
4. meet
Use each word from the box once: recommend · upshot · short · bottom · need.
1. The answer is no — the building will not be ready in time.
2. What I from you is a clear decision by the end of the day.
3. The line is that we are spending more than we earn.
4. I that we start again with a smaller team.
5. The of all this is that the project will cost twice as much.
1. short
2. need
3. bottom
4. recommend
5. upshot
Now say one answer to a question you were asked this week — using one opener from this page as your first words.
Go further Once the point has landed, five expressions for building the case around it: Argument Structure.
Plan the landing, then speak. Choose a task, start the timer, and talk.
Pick one question: Should people finish what they start, even when it is no longer worth it? Is a meeting ever better than an email? Which matters more in a leader — being decisive or being right? Plan for ten seconds: your point, one reason, how you will stop. Then answer in thirty.
Think of a time you gave a long, unfocused answer. Tell me the question and then give the answer you wish you had given: point, one reason, stop.
Go further For interviews, the long version of this skill is The Two-Minute Headline.
Tell the story of Everett and Lincoln, but start with the point: what does it show about speaking? Then add one fact as the reason, and stop.
One page of questions for using the Landing Plan again and again. Pick a question, take ten seconds to decide your point and one reason, then answer in thirty seconds or less. Say your point in the first sentence. Give one reason. Stop.
Someone wants the position quickly.
Go further Putting an update in writing: Writing Executive Summaries.
The answer comes first. Reasons come second.
They are busy and they want the point.
Go further A whole lesson on talking about clients and money: Seven Figures and a Handshake.
Short, clear answers sound confident.
Go further Five lessons on senior interviews: the Senior Interview Toolkit.
The question comes from the audience, and you have no notes.
Go further A role play on staying composed in the Q&A: The Presentation.
Take a side. A balanced answer can come later.
Low stakes, so you can practise the shape.
The reason has to carry more weight.
Go further On the last question, why experts are so often hard to follow: The Curse of Knowledge.
Six examples of the shape. Try the question first, then open the answer.
Point: Because the price includes support after the project, which most of them charge for separately.
Reason: Our clients tell us that a problem in month three costs them more than the difference.
Stop: That is the difference.
Point: My recommendation is to launch now.
Reason: Our main competitor has announced for January, and we want to be in the market first.
Stop: That's my view.
Point: I am a logistics manager who likes solving problems that other people avoid.
Reason: In my last job I cut delivery times by a fifth by changing how we plan each week.
Stop: That is what I would bring here.
Point: For most tasks, yes.
Reason: I can concentrate for three hours without interruption, which I cannot do in an open office.
Stop: The exception is the first month in a new job.
Point: We are ten per cent over.
Reason: The extra cost is the longer testing phase, and it is already finished.
Stop: I do not expect any more.
Point: Yes, during lessons.
Reason: A phone on the desk pulls attention away from the lesson, even when it is silent.
Stop: At break time, it is the students' choice.