Professionally Speaking

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.

There’s only 24 hours in a day, which is why President Obama, despite being an accomplished writer and orator, needs help with his speeches. During his first term in office, much of this help came from a young man who is arguably the most famous living speechwriter—Jon Favreau—who began working for then Senator Barack Obama as only his second writing job out of college.

Favreau gave the opening keynote—Words matter: Storytelling with President Obama in an age of sound bites—at the 2014 Ragan Speechwriters Conference. His talk in many ways book-ended the 2009 address by Ted Sorensen, who also wrote speeches for a young Senator who was elected as the first Catholic President of the United States: JFK. Sorensen spoke near the end of a very full life, yet the all-to-few years he wrote for Kennedy defined him. It is quite likely that 33-year-old Favreau will likewise be talking about his time as Obama’s speechwriter for the rest of his days.

His talk was perfect for the Ragan audience—a mix of solid speechwriting advice and unique insight into the creation of some of the major speeches of Obama’s Presidency. It was inside baseball talk from a major league player for the guys and gals in the minor league dug-outs.

Surprisingly, despite attempts to analyze the rhetoric, Favreau claimed neither he nor Obama consciously deployed overt tricks of the trade. Rather, these are the speechwriting secrets he shared:

Develop a strong relationship

Obama reassured Favreau (or “Favs” as he called him) on the eve of sending him home to write his first speech: “I know you’re nervous, but I’m a writer too. And I know that sometimes the muse strikes and sometimes it doesn’t. If you get stuck, just come in tomorrow, and the two of us will work though it together.” Obama exhibited the same level of support and involvement in the writing process throughout the eight years Favreau worked with him.

As Favreau described, the speechwriting process usually began with research and fact checking, then sending Obama a draft which would be returned with extensive mark-ups. If it just had the note “Let’s talk”, Favreau knew he had missed the mark.

Favreau shared three lessons from his time working with Obama.

1. The story is more important than the words

Obama always started with the question: “What story am I trying to tell?” He demanded an outline with a beginning, middle and end and required this sum the speech up in a few sentences before the detailed writing started. He did not, needless to say, design his speeches by juggling PowerPoint slide templates. Absent the simple summary, there is nothing to hang the development of the speech on.

The payoff of this story-centered approach was illustrated in the November 2007 Iowa Jefferson-Jackson Dinner primary debate when the opposing Clinton campaign delivered the forgettable tagline Turn up the heat, turn America around. Obama resisted the advice from some on his team that he coin a tagline, instead speaking from the heart about why he was the right person at that moment in history to be elected President:

I am not in this race to fulfill some long-held ambitions or because I believe it's somehow owed to me. I never expected to be here. I always knew this journey was improbable. I've never been on a journey that wasn't. I am running in this race because of what Dr. King called "the fierce urgency of now." Because I believe that there's such a thing as being too late. And that hour is almost upon us.

2. The importance of honesty and authenticity

Decisions on speech topics are too often based on fear (the fear of losing power, of public embarrassment) Obama ignored advice to “play it safe”. For example, when deciding on a response to the Rev. Wright controversy he took the early outline Faverau drafted and made it his own with heartfelt, authentic, honest statements such as:

I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother - a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.

These are not lines that any speechwriter or strategic adviser would ever write. They came from the heart and soul of the person who spoke. Favreau still has the “Track Changes” version of his draft after Obama worked on it, and there is hardly a line that the President did not re-write.

After the speech Obama called Favreau and confessed:

I don’t know if you can get elected President saying the things I said today. But I also know that I don’t deserve to be President if I’m too scared to say the things I believe.

It’s important that we write with courage and character. Slick writing won’t sway audiences.

3. Never lose your idealism as a writer

We live in cynical times. Our job as writers is to inspire and make audiences believe. Don’t fall into the trap of delivering cynical prose.

For Favreau, his cynicism dissolved when he called 106-year-old Ann Nixon Cooper to ask permission for the President to tell her life story in his victory speech. His moving conversation with her, hearing of the pride of this formerly disenfranchised black woman who expressed such pride in the first African-American President, brought him to tears.

It’s worth listening to him tell this in this own words. Click on the first audio podcast icon below to hear this moving story that reignited idealism in the young writer.

The importance of face-time with the speaker

Obama always took time to sit down in face-to-face meetings with Favs and review the story he wanted the speech to tell. Favreau reminded us that if the principals we work for ever claim to be too busy to meet about a speech, to let them know the leader of the free world made the time. Indeed, it’s of paramount importance that speechwriters have a direct, unmediated relationship with the person they are writing for. Anything else is a recipe for disaster. My own experience supports this. The writer needs to be in meetings where policy and strategy are discussed. The writer needs to ask the speaker, “What’s on your mind? What do you want to say?” If they are not able to articulate this, then interview them to find out.

Err toward the conversational

When asked how the corporate clients he now writes for can best improve their speech delivery, Favreau advises they avoid jargon and err toward the conversational. Most audiences respond well to a more conversational tone. Avoid using words you would not use at the dinner table with family. Speeches can often come across as too formal and stilted. Conversational stories tap into people’s emotions.

Audience reaction

Following the keynote I asked audience members to share their impressions of Favreau. Click on the podcast icon below to hear what they had to say.

There’s only 24 hours in a day, which is why President Obama, despite being an accomplished writer and orator, needs help with his speeches. During his first term in office, much of this help came from a young man who is arguably the most famous living speechwriter—Jon Favreau—who began working for then Senator Barack Obama as only his second writing job out of college.

Favreau gave the opening keynote—Words matter: Storytelling with President Obama in an age of sound bites—at the 2014 Ragan Speechwriters Conference. His talk in many ways book-ended the 2009 address by Ted Sorensen, who also wrote speeches for a young Senator who was elected as the first Catholic President of the United States: JFK. Sorensen spoke near the end of a very full life, yet the all-to-few years he wrote for Kennedy defined him. It is quite likely that 33-year-old Favreau will likewise be talking about his time as Obama’s speechwriter for the rest of his days.

His talk was perfect for the Ragan audience—a mix of solid speechwriting advice and unique insight into the creation of some of the major speeches of Obama’s Presidency. It was inside baseball talk from a major league player for the guys and gals in the minor league dug-outs.

Surprisingly, despite attempts to analyze the rhetoric, Favreau claimed neither he nor Obama consciously deployed overt tricks of the trade. Rather, these are the speechwriting secrets he shared:

Develop a strong relationship

Obama reassured Favreau (or “Favs” as he called him) on the eve of sending him home to write his first speech: “I know you’re nervous, but I’m a writer too. And I know that sometimes the muse strikes and sometimes it doesn’t. If you get stuck, just come in tomorrow, and the two of us will work though it together.” Obama exhibited the same level of support and involvement in the writing process throughout the eight years Favreau worked with him.

As Favreau described, the speechwriting process usually began with research and fact checking, then sending Obama a draft which would be returned with extensive mark-ups. If it just had the note “Let’s talk”, Favreau knew he had missed the mark.

Favreau shared three lessons from his time working with Obama.

1. The story is more important than the words

Obama always started with the question: “What story am I trying to tell?” He demanded an outline with a beginning, middle and end and required this sum the speech up in a few sentences before the detailed writing started. He did not, needless to say, design his speeches by juggling PowerPoint slide templates. Absent the simple summary, there is nothing to hang the development of the speech on.

The payoff of this story-centered approach was illustrated in the November 2007 Iowa Jefferson-Jackson Dinner primary debate when the opposing Clinton campaign delivered the forgettable tagline Turn up the heat, turn America around. Obama resisted the advice from some on his team that he coin a tagline, instead speaking from the heart about why he was the right person at that moment in history to be elected President:

I am not in this race to fulfill some long-held ambitions or because I believe it’s somehow owed to me. I never expected to be here. I always knew this journey was improbable. I’ve never been on a journey that wasn’t. I am running in this race because of what Dr. King called “the fierce urgency of now.” Because I believe that there’s such a thing as being too late. And that hour is almost upon us.

2. The importance of honesty and authenticity

Decisions on speech topics are too often based on fear (the fear of losing power, of public embarrassment) Obama ignored advice to “play it safe”. For example, when deciding on a response to the Rev. Wright controversy he took the early outline Faverau drafted and made it his own with heartfelt, authentic, honest statements such as:

I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than[...]

In this fourth and final edited highlight from the Silicon Valley Speechwriters Roundtable call, we hear from the callers who had comments and questions. Helping me respond to callers questions is MasterCard VP Douglass Hatcher.

By listening to the Q&A you'll hear comments and opinions about many aspects of the first day of the Ragan Speechwriters conference.

Questions came in from:

Freelance speechwriter Pete Weissman asked what was the most unexpected thing about the conference.

Communications Director Sharon Rubinstein asked how complex topics can fit into a speech that only covers three points.

Executive Speech Coach, Trainer, Proposal Consultant Chris Witt asked about the distinction between different uses of stories in speeches.

Freelancer Colin Moorhouse commented on the value of the Ragan Conference and the power of storytelling in speeches.

Wendy Hanson shared her interest in podcasting.

Paula Tesch from Duarte asked about the challenge of getting speakers to include storytelling in their speeches.

Doug Neff from Duarte asked about the two kinds of speakers who use stories and the importance of using stories to move audiences to action.

To hear what they said, click on the podcast icon below.

In this third edited highlight from the Silicon Valley Speechwriters Roundtable call, freelance speechwriter Michael Long shares his impressions of the conference. Mike taught a pre-conference workshop on Storytelling for speechwriters and has strong opinions about the keys to constructing a speech around a story. He also presented on Time management for speechwriters and relays a few of the many tips and tricks on ways speechwriters can work more efficiently. He also references his excellent newsletter which is available as a free subscription from his SoMikeSaid website.

By listening to Mike you'll hear a Ragan Conference institution in full flight.

To hear what he said, click on the podcast icon below.

In this second edited highlight from the call, freelance speechwriter Rosemary King and Douglass Hatcher, VP of Thought Leadership at MasterCard, share their impressions of the conference and specifically the panel they were both on: Chart your career path: Job advice from successful professionals. The other panelists were freelancer Eric Schnure who has worked for Vice President Al Gore and as Director of Executive Communications at GE and Caryn Alagno, Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs Group Head at Edelman.

By listening to Rosemary and Douglass you'll hear tips and tricks about ways to chart a successful career as a speechwriter.

To hear what they said, click on the podcast icon below.

The Silicon Valley Speechwriters Roundtable conference call took place Feb 20 at the end of the first day of the 2014 Ragan Speechwriters Conference.

There were 16 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 an hour, and I've divided the audio recording into four segments.

In this first edited highlight from the call, conference MC and Vital Speeches of the Day editor David Murray, and Fletcher Dean of Dow Chemicals share their impressions of the opening keynote by Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau.

By listening to David and Fletcher you'll hear first-hand impressions of one of the most compelling keynotes about the craft of speechwriting that it's been my privilege to hear.

To hear what they said, click on the podcast icon below.

In this fourth and final edited highlight from the Silicon Valley Speechwriters Roundtable call, we hear from the callers who had comments and questions. Helping me respond to callers questions is MasterCard VP Douglass Hatcher.

By listening to the Q&A you’ll hear comments and opinions about many aspects of the first day of the Ragan Speechwriters conference.

Questions came in from:

Freelance speechwriter Pete Weissman asked what was the most unexpected thing about the conference.

Communications Director Sharon Rubinstein asked how complex topics can fit into a speech that only covers three points.

Executive Speech Coach, Trainer, Proposal Consultant Chris Witt asked about the distinction between different uses of stories in speeches.

Freelancer Colin Moorhouse commented on the value of the Ragan Conference and the power of storytelling in speeches.

Wendy Hanson shared her interest in podcasting.

Paula Tesch from Duarte asked about the challenge of getting speakers to include storytelling in their speeches.

Doug Neff from Duarte asked about the two kinds of speakers who use stories and the importance of using stories to move audiences to action.

To hear what they said, click on the podcast icon below.