2011 Cicero Speechwriting Awards winners singular power of oral communication
Mar 09, 2011
“Speeches are back,” says Peggy Noonan; and the winners of the Cicero Speechwriting Awards show why speeches never left.
WATCH: Behind the scenes at TED
Mar 29, 2011
Two speakers, a veteran and a rookie, prepare to deliver a TED Talk. Each has a daunting task.
Speechwriter “more honored than offended” to be quoted without attribution
May 17, 2011
If you’re going to plagiarize, plagiarize from a speechwriter, because speechwriters like it.
How to write the state-of-the-town speech, in five easy steps
Feb 21, 2012
Open with positive platitudes, bore people with your accomplishments, share “challenges” that only you can handle, draw a bold and impressionistic picture of hope, and ask God for a political favor.
Does your speech stink? Put it to music
Jan 08, 2013
With a little Hollywood music, Phil Davison’s campaign speech for the Stark County, Ohio treasurer—until now widely considered the worst speech in recorded political history—soars!
Confessions upon confessions
Aug 19, 2015
Barton Swaim was speechwriter to South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford from 2007 to 2010. It was a miserable experience, which he converted into a barely fictionalized memoir titled, The Speechwriter: …
In other snooze: State Department scribe stays up 100 straight hours to write speech!
Sep 02, 2015
A State Department speechwriter stayed up for 100 straight hours to write a speech, according to one of the 7,000 emails released by Hillary Clinton. The email in question is …
Forget the beef: Where are the speeches?
Feb 24, 2016
A question for press secretaries and presidential campaign managers of every political persuasion: Where are the speeches? Rather, where are the books of speeches – hundreds of pages of rhetorical …
Rhetorical Recap: A Losing Temperament
Oct 03, 2016
The first wave of audience data about the debate has washed ashore. We know at least 84 million people watched (that doesn’t count online viewers), a record by number if …
“Employee Communication Is Different”
Mar 21, 2010
Vital Speeches editor David Murray speaks for himself, delivering a provocative lecture on why employee communication is as important to a democratic society as public education.