Mommy, what do you do?

At the inaugural World Conference of the Professional Speechwriters Association, there was an open debate about the very name of the association.

Shouldn’t it be called the “Executive Communicators Association?”

Because the last pure speechwriter probably went out with the last typewriter.

Modern speechwriters handle so many other things. Just look at the speechwriter-wanted ads:

“The position plays a central role in drafting executive communications, including keynote speeches, executive briefing notes and media releases and also drafts the organization’s annual report.”

“Drafting, coordinating and implementing comprehensive key messages for CEO communication.”

“Help leaders communicate with precision and eloquence to advance the institution’s mission and goals.”

That’s more than a speechwriter: It’s more work, more responsibility, and a higher degree of difficulty.

In the end, we kept “speechwriter” in our name because the consensus was that “executive communicator” is a far less evocative term.

And if people inside the profession and outside of it are drawn to “speechwriter,” they can be made to expand their definition of the speechwriter’s role.

A new, free PSA white paper, Speechwriter to Executive Communication Manager in 10 Strategic Steps, is one effort in that direction.

As you read what its author Lucinda Trew says and how she says it, you’ll soon see that Trew expresses the typewriter soul of a speechwriter, but the strategic mind of a modern executive communicator.

Readers of her essay will learn how to become more than a speechwriter, without becoming less than a speechwriter. Download it now. —DM