
Origin story: how I became a speechwriter
With one confident answer, I launched my career as a speechwriter. These 5 lessons can help you do it, too.

The State of the Union is social
There’s a point I’ve been hammering for years now (and I do mean years): the rise of social networks and easily-shared media should mean a profound change in the way speakers and speechwriters approach our craft: at once both broader in scope and more...
How Obama’s messy closet saved the State of the Union speech
State of the Union speeches are often messy, sprawling things. Countless constituencies and interests — within and outside government — vie to hear their priorities reflected in the President’s words. And even without their lobbying, the scope of governing is...
Punch up your presentation deck (before you jazz up your template)
In the last post, I tackled a Business Insider article that claimed the reason most PowerPoint presentations aren’t effective is that they use boring templates. My response: what makes presentations awful isn’t boring templates. It’s boring content (slide or spoken),...