Speechwriter, make it official
Use a quiet hour in the office to give yourself two gifts this year: First, gather up your best speeches from last year and enter them into the 2014 Cicero …
The hot-blooded “Apostle of Cold Water”
When he published his Autobiography and Personal Recollections in 1870, John B. Gough claimed “twenty-six years' experience as a public speaker” – the vast majority of it earned through almost …
‘I Have a Dream’ … about the European Union?
When I was in Brussels and Copenhagen this fall, the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech was on every speechwriter's lips. It's fair to …
CEO caught in act of common communication hypocrisy
The most sublime moment of most weeks is lying under the paper blanket of the Sunday New York Times, a football game on the TV and a yellow screwdriver in …
2014 Cicero Speechwriting Awards announce call for entries
You write speeches that garner applause for your clients—and occasionally from your clients too. But only by entering the Cicero Speechwriting Awards can you get cheers from your peers and official …
Dear “Man in the Arena” …
A few years ago I wrote a magazine profile of a monomaniacal suburban mayor, and then had the temerity to attend the next year's "State of the Village Address." In …
Speaking and speechwriting: Kicking it old-school
“When an orator stands before an audience, shall he expect to overwhelm them by his eloquence? Such a result is possible, but not probable; and it can never be safely …
How to win a Cicero: Be interesting
Robert Kennedy dreamed of things that never were and asked why not. I’ve always been better at studying things that used to be and asking, “What happened”? As editor of …
What quotation do you use the most?
A friend sent me a dozen sports quotes with the condescending remark, “You like this stuff.” I scanned the quotes, but none of them rose to the remark from long-ago …
December deadlines
Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way….all the way to these terrific upcoming events. Oh, what fun everyone will have, with or without a one-horse open sleigh! Foremost forums …