While this isn't a presentation in the conventional sense, it's among the most inspiring 1 minute talks you'll ever hear. It is a motivational speech that resonates with anyone who has experience of competing and coming up just short at anything be it sports like football or rugby or even cake baking.
Ray Lewis is a living legend in the game of American Football. He's the kind of man for whom the term 'lead by example' was coined. He's one of those guys that's respected and admired by fans no matter what their allegiance.
The speech in question was delivered to his teammates after they had just missed out on a place at the Superbowl at the final hurdle. Nick Morgan, Communications contributor with Forbes magazine says that inspirational speeches must be:
- The stakes must be high
- What's at stake must be clear
- It must be short
- It must be emotional
Lewis ticked all of the above boxes and delivered the speech in an inspirational and commanding manner to his audience of disappointed team-mates and coaches. It's well known by anyone who's played sport at any level that the immediate aftermath of a defeat is a difficult time. Yet, here Lewis managed to grab the attention of his audience to reassure them that they had done all they could in the past year and at the same time managed to encourage them to continue. He managed to put the defeat into perspective by comparing their defeat as privileged sports stars to the hardships experienced by those fans and regular joe soaps like us out in the real world. A calming and reassuring voice of reason to help his teammates through their disappointment. Ray Lewis has a way with words that even in the most difficult of circumstances he manages to inspire and reassure those he speaks to. I could have chosen any one of a dozen 'Inspirational Ray Lewis' clips to use here, but I felt this was concise, to the point and truly inspirational.
Reference List
Forbes (9/2/2011) How do you inspire people with a speech? (online) USA: Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/nickmorgan/2011/09/02/how-do-you-inspire-people-with-a-speech/ [Accessed on 27 November 2012]
Wikipedia (n.d) Ray Lewis (online): Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Lewis [Accessed on 27 November 2012]
Image
Cosby Sweaters (2012) Ray Lewis [online] [Accessed 27 November 2012]. Available at: http://cosbysweaters.com/2012/11/18/ray-lewis-scares-cleamons-football-team-straight-video/
