The first best sign of a good speech: a good title
I try to draw lessons from the Cicero Speechwriting Awards, and one one thing I saw this year was a high correlation between good speech titles and good speeches. (And, …
WATCH: Four presidential speechwriters, four fine speechwriting yarns
The best of the best stories told at the Speechwriters and Executive Communicators Conference by speechwriters to Presidents Reagan, Bush, Clinton and Bush.
WATCH: Weirdos go to Washington
What was on the strange minds of the odd folks who gathered for the Speechwriters and Executive Communicators Conference, Mar. 7-9?
2011 Cicero Speechwriting Awards winners singular power of oral communication
“Speeches are back,” says Peggy Noonan; and the winners of the Cicero Speechwriting Awards show why speeches never left.
“We don’t study speech to change our lives, but our lives are changed nonetheless”
Speaker compares studying rhetoric to walking in the sun.
“America is not broke”
“The country is awash in wealth and cash. It’s just that it’s not in your hands!”
Enough with the “willy-waving,” already! Looking for a few great women
After my talk on speechwriting last month at the United Nations, an attendee came up and said that she and a number of women who were sitting around her were …
Speech openings: When to start slowly, when to start fast
If you know the audience, jump right in. If you need to introduce yourself, go for the “slow open.”
How to showcase your skills via “crowdsourced” video
Consultant David Meerman Scott acquired videos of his speech taken by a number of audience members from various angles and compiled this fine “crowdsourced” highlight reel.
“I refused to wait for the images of slaughter and mass graves before taking action”
President Obama explains and defends the military action in Libya.