In a great wide-ranging report on a National Speakers Association convention panel from Ian Griffin, these two sentences seized my attention: Dychtwald claimed he gets more accomplished in the last 60 seconds of a speech than in the first 30 minutes. “The audience are with me, everything I say hits home.” from How to write a … Keep reading →
How Neil Young Helped Me Quit The Government of Canada “Been to the Royal Mint, I’ve been to Parliament, I’ve crossed the Rideau for a heart of gold…” Brent Kerrigan (who, btw, bears no responsibility for those lyrics) writes a great piece about escaping the financial stability of a gilded cage and starting his own … Keep reading →
Say What: Paul Ryan on America’s tough issues – The Washington Post Check this out. The Washington Post took the prepared notes for GOP vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan’s convention speech, and set up a page where you can comment on an individual paragraph, watch that segment of video, and call in the fact-checkers. What’s missing? … Keep reading →
From How political speechwriters do comedy. – Slate Magazine: Which brings us to the third rule: Use jokes as damage control. Clinton never made light of the Lewinsky scandal directly. But in 1999, he started off his WHCD speech by somberly noting that had the Senate’s impeachment vote gone another way, he wouldn’t be standing here today. … Keep reading →
U.S. readers, here’s a a dream job (provided your dreams tend to move very, very quickly, and you have several in one night): The Department of Health and Human Services is scouring for a scribe for Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.They’ll consider all levels of experience, but you must be able to “write well and quickly on a … Keep reading →
Amanda Dyer, a non-geek at Duarte Design, says she and her colleagues find it helpful to draw on our knowledge and experiences to create simple yet compelling metaphors that make an idea come alive in the audience’s mind. And we encourage our clients to do the same. These ideas are the currency with which you … Keep reading →
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.
