Me - I'm a recent grad of Stanford University with a BS in Product Design & MS in Mechanical Engineering.  Doesn't sound like a public-speaking-intensive major?  You're right.  My speech experience comes from three years of National Forensics League competition (one in Oratorical Interpretation, two in Original Oratory), and various & sundry other thespian experiences scattered throughout my high school years in the great state of Ohio.  I've also co-taught Engineering 103: Public Speaking and Presentation Skills at Stanford, but that's a different story - the material currently here is not based on the materials in that class.  Learn more about me if you're interested by checking out my personal website - click the DG logo at top left to get there. 

What I Know - Most of my experience lies in competitive original oratory.  In the NFL (not football; the National Forensics League!), the largest speech & debate organization in the US, this is a ten-minute pre-written and memorized original speech on anything.  And I mean anything:  humorous, depressing, insightful, everything from political correctness to kickball to elves.  Yes, elves.  These speeches are to be independent of props, delivered within a designated performance area, and supported with quotes & research - though that last part is technically optional - and especially difficult with topics such as elves. 

Other Stuff - Have I missed anything?  Is there some piece of critical speechwriting advice that's conspicuously absent from this place?  I appreciate any kind of feedback - positive, negative, expletive - from all of you out there.  After all, e-mails like that are a lot more fun to get than porn spam from AOL.  So:  mail me, mail me, mail me!