WATCH: Mario Cuomo says, “There’s no way to teach good speeches”
Mar 25, 2013
“If there were a way, you would hear more good speakers than you’re hearing,” he says. “If you want to be a great speech maker, you have to learn writing.”
The “Art of Sitting Down”
Sep 16, 2013
By Neil Hrab, rhetoric editor, Vital Speeches of the Day In his 1876 book The Arts of Writing, Reading, and Speaking, British lawyer Edward William Cox provides advice on four …
Speaking out for the Silent Professsion
Oct 14, 2013
When I was the speechwriter at a large federal agency, I felt as if I had a large “S” branded on my forehead. People would see me as speechwriter and …
Letter from a sadder and wiser freelance speechwriter
Oct 21, 2013
Originally posted on Cynthia Starks’ website on Sept. 17, 2013, reproduced here with her permission—but “no update, unfortunately.” Dear Colleagues, I’m writing to you today about a client who has …
Speechwriter, how would you treat your clients if they weren’t paying you?
Nov 18, 2013
For obvious if misguided reasons, friends and family members occasionally come to me for help in giving speeches or toasts. They usually leave disappointed. Like Chris, my videographer friend who …
Simple, my eye
Nov 22, 2013
As I listened to news reports and commentary this week about the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, I heard it referred to numerous times as …
Speaking and speechwriting: Kicking it old-school
Dec 08, 2013
“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 …
The trouble isn’t with safe harbor clauses …
Feb 25, 2014
Re. “Fear and loathing in executive communications.” Fletcher Dean, Director, Office of the Chairman & CEO and Executive Communiations: I don’t buy the position that the reason corporate chiefs can’t …
Book Review: Confessions of a Presidential Speechwriter
Mar 05, 2014
…[O]nce you’re launched [as a speechwriter], it’s just like theater or being published, being in a decent production or having a good publisher. After you’ve had a book or two …
Inspired to become speechwriters by The West Wing …
Mar 12, 2014
Myth has it that a TV series made possible the presidency of Barack Obama. And apparently Latino presidential candidate Matthew Santos (played by Jimmy Smits in The West Wing) is …