Thought Garage

Yet another impressive and very well resonating speech on Father's day by Obama. I loved the way he attempted some of the most sensitive topics and rejected the 'common wisdom' : what it takes to be a father, setting high expectations for ourselves and for kids, the craze about graduation of everything and doing our own job to get where you want to go and the mantra of obama, where change should start.

One of the Best Speeches I have ever heard. Read the transcript here.

“I am the first Toastmaster from Asia to win as well as the first person whose second language is English, My hope is that my winning will encourage people who are shy or have an accent to realize that they can do it, too.” - Vikas Jhingran 2007 World Champion of Public Speaking (Toast Masters International). “There’s really no rocket science involved. It’s all about being true to yourself, tapping into your strengths and working hard,” says Jhingran, 34, a native of Morabadad (a suburb of Calcutta), India. His award- winning speech, “The Swami’s Question,” combined humor with a personal tale of being a not-so- motivated student in India. A Toastmaster since October 2002, Jhingran completed his first 10 speeches within eight months, and entered speech contests soon after joining. Jhingran grew up in a country where public speaking is not encouraged in the educational system. Soon after coming to the United State...

I always observed a huge contrast between the way Bill Gates and Steve Jobs present. While I enjoyed and watched Steve Job's presentation in full and many times more than once, I have never completed a Bill Gate's presentation so far. I had difficulty understanding Bill Gates. I found his thoughts to be too abstract and his speech very monotonous. Steve Jobs however speaks in a very engaging fashion and in very simple words and great visuals.  I found a blog post that compares the contrasting styles that Steve Jobs and Bill Gates uses in thier presentations, that might explain the reasons for my bias. Gates and Jobs: lessons in contrasts Take a look at some of the typical visuals used by Steve Jobs and those used by Bill Gates. As you look at them and compare them, try doing so while being mindful of the key concepts behind the traditional Zen aesthetic. Above. Does it get more "Zen" than this? "Visual-Zen Master," Steve Jobs, allows the screen to ...