We Need a Speech…

First Ran In 2004
As I listened to the eloquent and elegant words of world leaders in France commemorating the 60th anniversary of D-Day, and to the heart felt eulogies at the passing of President Reagan, I was once again struck by the twilight world that speechwriters live in.

The television pundits waxed poetic on the majesty of the words spoken in tribute – to fallen soldiers and a fallen President. But as is usual, they couldn’t help but make political commentary on how these speeches defined the men or women making them. That’s ok too. But they sometimes talked as if the speakers actually wrote the words themselves. As if they sat down and for hours crafted each turn of phrase, each rhythmic pattern of speech, each uplifting metaphor, and every reference to some time of history past.

Of course that is all stuff and nonsense. Read more…

February 5th, 2008
Comments:No Comment Category: Rants & Raves, The Business of...

Last month I received three very similar e-mails. What they had in common was a disheartened and disheartening plea for advice on how to fix their sagging freelance careers.They were all bright people. They were all more than competent at the services they were offering. Since they had been successful in the past, all had been down the marketing road before and knew the rules. Yet somehow, as their businesses were in a bit of a down period, they were feeling “the fear”. So much so, they were even considering going over to the dark side of corporate employment.

There is not a freelancer alive, yours truly included, who doesn’t go through this from time to time. Every once in a while, a recruiter will approach me, dangling the possibility of a fat paycheck and lifetime benefits, and I am tempted by the siren call of security. Then I think of my stomach. Read more…

February 5th, 2008
Comments:No Comment Category: The Business of...

Pretend for a moment that you were starting over. That you were setting up your writing or consulting business for the very first time. What would you do differently? It’s a brand new world out there. Or is it?If you are slightly fossilized like me, then perhaps when you first hung out your shingle, fax machines were so “de rigueur” that you actually charged your clients for each page you faxed to them. Not for the content, but for the cost of toner! You think I’m joking right? Not so. In the mid-80s I worked for a PR firm that did exactly that. Apparently this was quite common “back in the day” – when email and the Internet were virtually non-existent. And a corporate web site was unheard of, well, because it was unheard of. Read more…

February 5th, 2008
Comments:No Comment Category: Essential Speechwriter, The Business of...

You would think that CEOs would get it by now. That we live in an MTV-CNN’d world, where people get their news in short sound bites or from Larry King. Where rumour is taken for truth, and perception for reality. Think Nixon. Think Clinton. The two Garys – Hart and Condit. This article appeared in the March 2002 issue of the “Speechwriter’s Newsletter. [www.ragan.com] But the lesson from today’s scandals apply equally well. Read more…

February 5th, 2008
Comments:2 Comments Category: Essential Speechwriter

The following is an extract of a speech I worked on with a senior official in a government agency. She was addressing a Board of Trade, explaining the ins and outs of new government legislation.Even though she was a first rate speaker, describing the ins and outs of legislation in an engaging manner can be a challenge. The extract that follows is self-explanatory and shows how the gift of story and anecdote can make even the driest of topics more engaging. It goes thusly:

“I want to close with a story. You may think it is a little personal. But it illustrates an important point about the exchange of information.

Some years ago I was bathing my son. He must have been about four or five at the time and he asked me one of those innocent questions that children ask. The ones that always give parents cause to stop and perhaps think too much about the answer.

He said “Mom, I have a penis.” Read more…

February 5th, 2008
Comments:No Comment Category: Essential Speechwriter

Keep it simple. That’s a motto that applies in spades for speech writing. Remember you are writing for the ear, not the page. The following is a speech I wrote in about an hour. I knew the speaker was terrified of public speaking and she was going to have to stand up and talk at a memorial for her great Aunt.The only information I had was that she liked animals and playing poker. Read more…

February 5th, 2008
Comments:No Comment Category: Essential Speechwriter