Cinderella Man
On a phone call Thursday morning, I tried to impress a former White House speechwriter by mentioning casually that I would be attending the insider-famous Gridiron Dinner Saturday night—invited by …
Why Vital Speeches Won’t Print President Trump’s UNGA Speech
The President of the United States gave a major address last week at the United Nations General Assembly, and we’re not printing it in Vital Speeches of the Day magazine. Though our …
Dept. of Peculiarities of American Leadership Rhetoric
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President,” said President Biden in his farewell speech. Of course he did. That’s now what everyone says …
No, Kids, Life Is Not a ‘Journey’
Earlier this month, we pulled together the annual commencement speech issue of Vital Speeches of the Day. Though I don’t love commencement speeches as much as the best commencement speech writer of …
Chinese speeches: Like a wet blanket, on a long-suffering yak
A lot of people around the world are worried about competition from China. And I suppose a lot of us ought to be. Not speechwriters, boy. Have you seen the …
Tempted to work over the holidays? Do something for you.
Tell you what you do: You build a nice big fire in the fireplace. You take and get you big tall glass of something good. You open up your laptop …
Et tu, Harvard Business Review?
“The formal speech is dying,” was one typical anguished speechwriter’s response to the Speechwriters’ Census 2021, released last month by the Professional Speechwriters Association. “The verbatim speech is on its way …
A speech, for the speechwriters
Dear Corporate Speechwriter: I find myself thinking of coach Herb Brooks’ pregame speech to the 1980 U.S. hockey team, as portrayed in the movie, Miracle, by Kurt Russell. “This,” Brooks shouts …
A party foul, to say the least
There’s an unwritten tradition that the previous president doesn’t criticize the sitting president. There’s an unnecessary tradition that the previous president’s speechwriters don’t critique the sitting president’s scribes. Unnecessary, because it always …
Meet “the anti-speechwriter,” profiled in Forbes
A Tuesday ForbesWomen profile opened with some classic straw-man rhetoric, whether or not its subject knows that rhetorical term by its name. “There are a lot of speechwriters out there, and they will …