Professionally Speaking

Members of the Silicon Valley Speechwriters Roundtable joined speechwriter, screenwriter and author Mike Long on a conference call earlier this week. This is the second of two edited highlights of the call. In part one Mike talked about becoming a freelance speechwriter.

In this second edited highlight, Mike talks about how his experience as a screenwriter helps him write better speeches and the core elements essential to any story. To hear what he said, click on the podcast icon below.

Members of the Silicon Valley Speechwriters Roundtable joined speechwriter, screenwriter and author Mike Long on a conference call earlier this week. This is the first of two edited highlights of the call.

Mike is the former director of the White House Writers Group, and an accomplished speechwriter, author, essayist, and award-winning screenwriter and playwright. He has written remarks for members of Congress, U.S. Cabinet secretaries, governors, diplomats, CEOs, and four presidential candidates.

As director of writing for the Master of Professional Studies program in Public Relations and Corporate Communications at Georgetown University, he created the writing curriculum and teaches graduate courses in PR writing, speechwriting, and business and persuasive writing.

A popular and provocative speaker, he has been is a frequent presenter the Ragan Speechwriters Conference and appeared on CNBC in the U.S. and is a frequent commentator on CBC News: Morning with Heather Hiscox in Canada.

In this first of two edited highlights from the call, Mike talks about how he got into freelance writing and offers sage advice for anyone who is considering launching their own freelance career. To hear what he said, click on the podcast icon below.

Members of the Silicon Valley Speechwriters Roundtable joined speechwriter, screenwriter and author Mike Long on a conference call earlier this week. This is the first of two edited highlights of the call.

Mike is the former director of the White House Writers Group, and an accomplished speechwriter, author, essayist, and award-winning screenwriter and playwright. He has written remarks for members of Congress, U.S. Cabinet secretaries, governors, diplomats, CEOs, and four presidential candidates.

As director of writing for the Master of Professional Studies program in Public Relations and Corporate Communications at Georgetown University, he created the writing curriculum and teaches graduate courses in PR writing, speechwriting, and business and persuasive writing.

A popular and provocative speaker, he has been is a frequent presenter the Ragan Speechwriters Conference and appeared on CNBC in the U.S. and is a frequent commentator on CBC News: Morning with Heather Hiscox in Canada.

In this first of two edited highlights from the call, Mike talks about how he got into freelance writing and offers sage advice for anyone who is considering launching their own freelance career. To hear what he said, click on the podcast icon below.

"The job is not doing the speech. It is getting the speech" - Shep Hyken

The National President of the NSA, Shep Hyken, CSP, CPAE spoke to members of the NSA Northern California Chapter on Saturday. Shep is a customer service expert, professional speaker and author who works with companies who want to build loyal relationships with their customers and employees.

His talk to the 80+ Chapter members and guests was a compendium of best practices he's gathered over the 32 years he's been a professional speaker. He shared the tips and techniques that he has used to build his own successful speaking business. His ideas ranged from the value of writing articles that will establish you as an expert in your field to how blogging, books, a website and social media are all part of a coordinated program to build momentum in the market.

Among the points I noted:

Consider using college interns for marketing tasks. Post openings at the business school. Ask candidates to review your website, suggest what they can do to help, how many hours they can work and what they need to be paid. Shep has been amazed by the creativity students bring to his office and the value they've added.

Re-purpose the content of your articles, blog postings and newsletters into a book. Start by listing titles onto index cards, shuffling them and seeing if there's a structure for a book in there.

Transform articles into videos. Drop the text into telepromt+ so it scrolls by on the screen as you record the video on your webcam. Works best if you write as you speak.

Take this formula for green screen paint to Home Depot and have a gallon mixed up. Paint the wall of a spare room and put in a Sony videocam with external mic jack, some studio lights and you are set to record. Use an older version of the Sony Vegas software to edit, or the built-in software on a Mac.

Shep's talk covered many more topics including the secrets of low-cost book publishing in hard cover; scripting your calls to prospective clients when using the phone to build your business; generating passive income from products, and more.

To hear Shep in action, click on the podcast icon below. These two brief extracts of the his talk cover the ways he cultivates the ideal client and as his incredible 5-day social media publishing schedule that is a key part of his active marketing.

“The job is not doing the speech. It is getting the speech” – Shep Hyken

The National President of the NSA, Shep Hyken, CSP, CPAE spoke to members of the NSA Northern California Chapter on Saturday. Shep is a customer service expert, professional speaker and author who works with companies who want to build loyal relationships with their customers and employees.

His talk to the 80+ Chapter members and guests was a compendium of best practices he’s gathered over the 32 years he’s been a professional speaker. He shared the tips and techniques that he has used to build his own successful speaking business. His ideas ranged from the value of writing articles that will establish you as an expert in your field to how blogging, books, a website and social media are all part of a coordinated program to build momentum in the market.

Among the points I noted:

Consider using college interns for marketing tasks. Post openings at the business school. Ask candidates to review your website, suggest what they can do to help, how many hours they can work and what they need to be paid. Shep has been amazed by the creativity students bring to his office and the value they’ve added.

Re-purpose the content of your articles, blog postings and newsletters into a book. Start by listing titles onto index cards, shuffling them and seeing if there’s a structure for a book in there.

Transform articles into videos. Drop the text into telepromt+ so it scrolls by on the screen as you record the video on your webcam. Works best if you write as you speak.

Take this formula for green screen paint to Home Depot and have a gallon mixed up. Paint the wall of a spare room and put in a Sony videocam with external mic jack, some studio lights and you are set to record. Use an older version of the Sony Vegas software to edit, or the built-in software on a Mac.

Shep’s talk covered many more topics including the secrets of low-cost book publishing in hard cover; scripting your calls to prospective clients when using the phone to build your business; generating passive income from products, and more.

To hear Shep in action, click on the podcast icon below. These two brief extracts of the his talk cover the ways he cultivates the ideal client and as his incredible 5-day social media publishing schedule that is a key part of his active marketing.

Hall of Fame keynote speaker and executive speech coach Patricia Fripp spoke to the members of the NSA Northern California Chapter Speakers Academy on Saturday. Fripp is the founder of our Chapter and a leading authority in the world of professional speaking.

Her entertaining and informative morning session touched on many aspects of her own 30-plus year career as a top speaker. She shared valuable information for aspiring professional speakers who want to prepare and present powerful presentations, including:

Ask: Are you practicing to improve or to reinforce bad habits? As a novice, start with best practices from the beginning.

Take advantage of the opportunity the Academy and NSA chapter gives us to network with others who have a passion for speaking.

Expect to bomb -- if you've not failed somewhere on stage, you're probably not challenging yourself enough.

Asking questions is the best education. The quality of the information you receive depends on the quality of your questions.

Be willing to promote yourself in an ongoing, consistent and relentless way. Refocus and redirect what you are doing.

To build a long-term sustainable business you need to exceed expectations, or you won't be invited back.

Desire trumps talent. You must have a relentless commitment as well an interest in speaking on your topic.

The most powerful way to learn any topic is to teach it to others.

Find a topic for your speeches by looking within your experience and talent, such as the expertise you've accumulated in your day job. No matter how technical your field, build your speech by thinking how you would explain what you do to your grandmother.

Despite the fact that there's only so much truth in the world, you have a unique point of view. Deliver that in your speeches. Don't invalidate your life experience.

A great way to develop material for a speech is to become a customer of the client who books you for a speech. Be a secret shopper and report your learnings. Talk to lower-level employees.

Structure your speech on a strong premise or central theme that is a basis of argument, leading to a conclusion. Be sure your talking points back-up and prove your big idea.

Remember the first 30 seconds and last 30 seconds of any talk have the most impact. Don't waste them with empty pleasantries.

Engage the audience in your subject by asking "Would it interest (horrify, amaze) you to know..."

Populate your presentations with flesh and blood characters other people can relate to. Stories do this.

Your audience will remember what they "see" in your stories.

These were among the many lessons shared by Fripp in her session. For anyone who would like to dive deeper into what she has to offer, I highly recommend her Virtual Training program. This online resource gives you access to one of the most in-demand executive speech coaches and sales presentation experts available. Fripp's Virtual Training is engaging and fun. It is designed for ambitious professionals, executives, sales teams, and professional speakers. Heck, she'll even give you a 7 day free trial. What's not to like?

To hear a brief extract from Saturday's event, where Fripp shares the secret of her own career success, click on the podcast icon below.

Hall of Fame keynote speaker and executive speech coach Patricia Fripp spoke to the members of the NSA Northern California Chapter Speakers Academy on Saturday. Fripp is the founder of our Chapter and a leading authority in the world of professional speaking.

Her entertaining and informative morning session touched on many aspects of her own 30-plus year career as a top speaker. She shared valuable information for aspiring professional speakers who want to prepare and present powerful presentations, including:

Ask: Are you practicing to improve or to reinforce bad habits? As a novice, start with best practices from the beginning.

Take advantage of the opportunity the Academy and NSA chapter gives us to network with others who have a passion for speaking.

Expect to bomb — if you’ve not failed somewhere on stage, you’re probably not challenging yourself enough.

Asking questions is the best education. The quality of the information you receive depends on the quality of your questions.

Be willing to promote yourself in an ongoing, consistent and relentless way. Refocus and redirect what you are doing.

To build a long-term sustainable business you need to exceed expectations, or you won’t be invited back.

Desire trumps talent. You must have a relentless commitment as well an interest in speaking on your topic.

The most powerful way to learn any topic is to teach it to others.

Find a topic for your speeches by looking within your experience and talent, such as the expertise you’ve accumulated in your day job. No matter how technical your field, build your speech by thinking how you would explain what you do to your grandmother.

Despite the fact that there’s only so much truth in the world, you have a unique point of view. Deliver that in your speeches. Don’t invalidate your life experience.

A great way to develop material for a speech is to become a customer of the client who books you for a speech. Be a secret shopper and report your learnings. Talk to lower-level employees.

Structure your speech on a strong premise or central theme that is a basis of argument, leading to a conclusion. Be sure your talking points back-up and prove your big idea.

Remember the first 30 seconds and last 30 seconds of any talk have the most impact. Don’t waste them with empty pleasantries.

Engage the audience in your subject by asking “Would it interest (horrify, amaze) you to know…”

Populate your presentations with flesh and blood characters other people can relate to. Stories do this.

Your audience will remember what they “see” in your stories.

These were among the many lessons shared by Fripp in her session. For anyone who would like to dive deeper into what she has to offer, I highly recommend her Virtual Training program. This online resource gives you access to one of the most in-demand executive speech coaches and sales presentation experts available. Fripp’s Virtual Training is engaging and fun. It is designed for ambitious professionals, executives, sales teams, and professional speakers. Heck, she’ll even give you a 7 day free trial. What’s not to like?

To hear a brief extract from Saturday’s event, where Fripp shares the secret of her own career success, click on the podcast icon below.

In this third and final edited highlight of the Silicon Valley Speechwriters Roundtable conference call from the PSA World Conference, I give a summary of Bob Lehrman’s break out featuring a conversation with David Kusnet who was Clinton's speechwriter. Katie Gray shares admiration for General David Petraeus’s intellect.

Brian Jenner shares Eric Schnure’s tips on writing for roasts and why it’s important to “singe not burn” and ways jokes can be reused. Schnure recommended writers do a “joke dump” and write 10 jokes for every one used. A good way to structure a joke is by associating a person or place in the news with a different issue. CEOs can get away with humor if they introduce it by saying “As Jon Stewart said…”.

To hear the audio, click on the podcast icon below.

In this second edited highlight from the call, social media director Jerry Weinstein reviews postings to the tweet-stream under the #PSAworld hashtag. He discusses the unusual nature of the opening keynote that took people out of their intellect into a bodily appreciation of what is involved in the act of speaking. He comments on the “Know your Worth” breakout session with Fletcher Dean, Julie Conway and Harry Kruglik and the relevance of salary surveys in journalism which might be valuable for speechwriters to initiate. Likewise, in a parallel breakout, Gotham Ghostwriters founder Dan Gerstein addressed the value of freelancers sharing rate information.

Duarte Design content developer Katie Gray was attending her first ever speechwriters conference and was impressed by the variety and cross-section of presentations. She liked the mixed media content of Mette Højen’s presentation on the ways speechwriters can command audiences exactly like an orchestra conductor.

David Murray explains why he chose an experiential opening keynote from Edmée Tuyl. He explains that it’s easy to find tips on the basics of speechwriting which he assumed most attendees at this event knew. He wanted to encourage people to share experiences, with someone who talked about speechwriting on a holistic basis. He discusses the closing keynote by General David Petraeus was himself a speechwriter for General John Galvin, Supreme Commander of European Forces. Petraeus demanded the right to be present every time the General spoke and to be in the car on the way to the event to get the boss fired up before stepping onto the podium.

To hear the audio, click on the podcast icon below.

The Silicon Valley Speechwriters Roundtable conference call took place May 21 at the end of the first day of the Professional Speechwriters Association (PSA) World Conference held May 22-23 at New York University.

There were 9 callers online from around the country. The Roundtable is open to anyone who is interested in speechwriting in Silicon Valley, not just those of us who live and work there. The call lasted 45 minutes, and I’ve divided the audio recording into three segments.

In this first of three edited highlights David Murray, the organizer of the Conference, discusses the mood of the event. In contrast to the 200-person Ragan Speechwriters Conference in Washington DC which attracts generalists, this event was targeted specifically at practicing professional speechwriters—over 50 attendees came from Europe, USA and Canada. David gives a preview of the review sessions that will occur on the final day of the event. He concludes by describing advantages of becoming a member of the newly formed Professional Speechwriters Association.

Brian Jenner of the UK Speechwriters Guild attended the 2008 Ragan Conference and saw first-hand the differences between British and American approaches to speechwriting and was inspired to found the UK Speechwriters Guild. The interest of other Europeans led to the European Speechwriters Network holding their first conference in 2013. He claims that this event has made him realize the differences in style between speechwriters and the “hippie tendencies” of some people who make their living as speechwriters!

To hear the audio, click on the podcast icon below.