I agree -- artificially injecting enthusiasm into a speech draws more attention on the speaker and turns it into some sort of performance, and can detract from

I agree -- artificially injecting enthusiasm into a speech draws more attention on the speaker and turns it into some sort of performance, and can detract from the message. Another person there commented to me afterwards, "yeah that was a great speech, but I just wish it had more energy, if it did it could have gone viral!" But this person was from California... I think different regions are calibrated to different communication styles, and to someone calibrated to a reserved European temperament (wherein "enthusiasm" often is auto-encoded as "insincere" or "silly") the delivery was perfect :)