Hey, y’all: my speechwriting page on Squidoo has just been named Lens of the Day!

Drop by and have a gander – I’ve added a bunch of tips there, including tip#7, “Talk about the squirrel”:

I used to work as a tour guide in Ottawa. Busloads of seniors would come in from south of the border, and I’d show them the sights… including Rideau Hall, the residence of Canada’s Governor General.

The first few times I did it, I’d be waxing rhapsodic at the front of the bus about the Governor General’s role in Canadian politics, and how the stone fence surrounding Rideau Hall was a public works project during the Great Depression… and not a person would be listening.

Instead, to a person, the tourists’ noses and cameras would be pressed against the windows on the opposite side of the bus. They were oohing and aahing over something completely different.

Black squirrels.

Apparently, the squirrels where my tourists came from are all gray. A black squirrel? That was something to write home about… and a lot more interesting than my disquisition on 1930’s-era employment policy.

The first few times this happened, I tried to chivvy my audience back to the other side of the bus. A few folks were kind enough to tear themselves away so as not to hurt the feelings of the nice young man with the microphone, but even they kept sneaking looks at the rodents.

Eventually it occurred to me that I should actually talk about the damn squirrels. At first I just joked about them, trying to redirect my audience’s attention, but ultimately I had to actually address the squirrel itself – to tell them about how this was a particular strain of the eastern gray squirrel they were used to, and how they tend to be found mainly in cities, where there are fewer predators.

Chances are your audience has a squirrel on its mind, too. If you want to keep their attention, you need to address it (even if it’s just a passing reference so they won’t keep wondering if you’ll ever talk about it).

Speechwriting: Writing to be heard on Squidoo