Best Public Speakers Series: Adrienne Arsht

We've included Adrienne Arsht in our "Best Public Speakers" list because of her confident presence and eloquence and fluency of ideas.

Adrienne Arsht is a business leader and impact philanthropist. She has taken a leading role promoting artistic, business, and civic growth. Her thirty-million-dollar contribution to Miami’s Performing Arts Center in 2008 secured its financial footing. In her honor, the center was renamed the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County. In 2012, her contribution of ten million dollars to the Lincoln Center was recognized with the dedication of the Adrienne Arsht Stage in Alice Tully Hall.

In 2019 Arsht received Atlantic Council's Distinguished Leadership Awards. This is her acceptance speech.

What are the main communication takeaways?

• Generosity: The first thing Adrienne does is acknowledge where the man who introduced her came from--that they took a trip in the middle of the night from a different state in order to get there. This is a very generous way to start a speech. It signals to the audience that other people are always on her mind. This exemplifies one of her great strengths as a leader

  
  

• Technical proficiency: Her articulation is impeccable and even when she is reading quotes, she is not losing eye contact with her audience. She’ll look down to begin the quote, and then she will look up to finish it, so that her eyes always return to the audience. This is a great technical method to hold attention

  
  

• Good pace: Adrienne is being celebrated, and graciously delivers her message without a sense of rushing through it. This is a way to honor the committee, and to put the audience at ease.

How could she improve?

• More vocal variation: She could use more pitch variety in her voice. As captivating as she is, you will notice that the pitch in her voice does not fluctuate much. This adjustment would help highlight the emotional and intellectual concepts she is offering the audience.

  
  

• Rhythm of her voice: Adrienne does stick to the same methodical rhythm throughout the entire speech. She would benefit from quickly moving through some of the ideas for contrast.

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