Maybe speechwriting doesn’t matter so much after all..?
You’ve probably heard speeches you’d swear were content-free. Here’s one that actually is — and it’s a TEDx talk. Beneath that hollow exterior lurks actual content: a pretty devastating critique of how a thin speech can inflate its apparent substance using the...
The Presentation Audience’s Bill of Rights
WHEREAS life is short and our time on Earth is finite; WHEREAS the duration of a bad presentation is subjectively many times longer than that of a good one; WHEREAS the dedication of audience’s time and attention to a speaker is a gift of considerable value, not...
When your audience isn’t feeling the Bern
This weekend, Bernie Sanders spoke to a predominantly African-American audience at the dining room of a South Carolina church. According to this account, the response from the mealtime crowd was tepid: polite clapping for all but a couple of lines. We’re used to...
The Pigeon of Dorian Gray, and why you should throw it off the fire escape
Early in my speechwriting career, I was writing for a political candidate. It began with a few weeks of straight-up euphoria. Great news coverage. Enthusiastic volunteers. Support and donations rolling in. (And I got to use state-of-the-art technology: a Compaq...
Illuminate: the exciting new book from Nancy Duarte and Patti Sanchez
There’s a new book out this week from Nancy Duarte and Patti Sanchez, and I’m pretty excited. Ms. Duarte’s earlier books Slideology and Resonate changed the way I think about presentations and speaking. They breathed new life into the three-act structure, and gave us...
Why, yes — I’d LOVE to speak at your event
Public speaking and speechwriting: the essential guides
Looking for advice on public speaking, speechwriting and leadership communications? Here are some of my most comprehensive posts, on topics that people ask me about most often.
