Speech research: How much is too much?
June 22, 2010
These days, I seem to be having trouble saying โenough is enoughโ to myself when it comes to doing research for a speech. Do you have this problem too?
I recently was hired to write a speech on the โThe Future of Work,โ for the head of HR at a global corporation. The speech is being given abroad next week to an international audience of internal HR professionals.
I was delighted with the assignment and the topic. A good part of the speechย focuses on macro trends in the makeup of the labor force, the HR organization and the use of technology in the workplace going forward.
I began by researching the web sites of McKinsey, The Harvard Business Review, TIME, Newsweek, Business Week, The Economist and more for articles on the future of work.
The speaker wanted to use clips from the old โJetsonsโ TV shows to talk about examples of technologies that seemed far-fetched at the time, but now are in useโthank you, YouTube (I didnโt forget copyright issues).
I researched the space program because the speaker wanted examples of its real-life benefits. I now know that scratch-resistant lenses, cordless power tools and athletic shoes are by-products of space flightโbut not โTangโ or GPS, as my speaker had hoped.
The International Labour Office had a 2010 report on โGlobal Employment Trends;โ the Rand Corporation had produced โThe 21st Century at Workโ study, and The Forum for the Future of Higher Education had written on โEducating Americans for Tomorrowโs Global Labor Market.โ
I researched the use of avatars in the workplace in a piece by Stanfordโs Byron Reeves, author of Total Engagement: Using Games and Virtual Worlds to Change the Way People Work and Businesses Compete; and found articles on leading the virtual workforce, using social media to keep remote workers connected and building trust and respect with a globally dispersed workforceโall on the IABC (International Association of Business Communicators) web site.
At referenceforbusiness.com, I found a report on โTrends in Organizational Change;โ at workforcemanagment.com, I uncovered โFast Forward: 25 Trends That Will Change the Way You Do Business;โ Michigan Universityโs Ross School of Business updates its โHuman Resources Competency Studyโ every five years; I read the latest one.
The United Nations published a โWorld Population Study to 2300,โ which turned out to be an excellent source of how changing population trends will impact the global workforce.
HR Magazine featured a piece by The London Business Schoolโs Lynda Gratton on โThe Future of Work;โ The Partnership for the 21st Century (p21.org) posted โExecutives Say the 21st Century Requires More Skilled Workers,โ based on a survey conducted by the American Management Association.
At humanresources.about.com, I read articles titled, โA New Role for HR: Support Your Companyโs Brand,โ and โAre You Ready for an Agile Future? The Agile Organization Embraces Change.โ
My husband, whoโs studying for his masterโs in library science, has been telling me about โtransliteracy.โ Transliteracy will be a valuable skill in the new decade as ideas migrate across multiple social media platforms, including podcasts, digital video, virtual worlds, microblogs, wikis and social networking.
The transliterate organization will have the capacity to get the information it needs when it needs it by communicating and interacting across all these platforms. I researched this interesting facet of the future of work and included it in the speech.
Finally, it seemed to me, no speech on the future of work would be complete without reference to Tom Friedmanโs best seller, The World is Flat. Not having time to read the entire book for the purposes of this speech (Iโll get to it, Tom, I promise), I found several sites with meaningful summaries. I extracted information relevant to the speech and quoted it.
All this research doesnโt even include what I found on the companyโs web site itself, including excellent reports and studies it had done; audio and video from its archive (two of which were so โon targetโ they ended up in the speech); and the companyโs annual report.
It also doesnโt include the research I did on the use of technology in todayโs world โ how many โtweetsโ and texts are sent daily around the globe. How many people are up on FaceBook, eBay and the World Wide Web. How many have purchased iPods, iPhones and even iPads.
It also doesnโt include all the links I followed, some promising, some not, as an idea or piece of information in one place put me in mind of others that begged to be explored.
Letโs face it, Iโm an information whore. Iโll go anywhere with anyone if I think it will give me a great โnuggetโ for a speech.
Believe it or not, this speech had a five-day turnaround. Yikes! Research took two full days; reading it all (I print out almost everything I research so I can underline whatโs important, make margin notes about which section of the speech it will support, etc.) took another day-and-a-half, and writing the speech itself, about two days. Then I sent it off.
I would have liked at minimum another two daysโto sleep on it, to let it percolate in my head, to revise/tweak it, to read it aloud again and again to see how it sounded, felt, tasted.
Alas, this is my tale. I would love to hear yours. How do you know when to pull the plug on your research when time is at a premium yet you want to make the talk as โmeatyโ and excellent as it can be?
Iโm all ears โฆ at least until I get back to researching the current speech Iโm writing. Itโs also a fascinating subjectโhow the Midwest economy might be revived in the face of globalization, the decline in family farms and the loss of its manufacturing base. I have my work cut out for me.
But Iโm a happy camper because Iโve got a two-month lead time.
Cynthia Starks is a freelance speechwriter based in Central Indiana. She may be reached through her blog.