Ragan Speechwriters Conference: Day 2 – Lunch Panel
Networking Lunch: 30 ideas in 30 minutes
Rueben Bronee – Government of British Columbia
Fletcher Dean – Eastman Chemicals
Richard Feen – Freddie Mac
Bob Lehrman – Freelance
Elizabeth Mitchell – Freelance
Michele Nix – Office of Tom Ridge
- Use a simple Zen-like approach to writing.
- Audiences need to hear words that are short and familiar.
- Freelancers, know the company you work for: don’t FedEx a draft to executives at UPS.
- Turn track-changes on for drafts to allow the executive to see you’ve not ignored them.
- Use a ScriptMaster speaker box to manage script.
- Use music quotes as well as those from offbeat TV shows “Save the cheerleader, save the world�.
- Speeches are an oral contract with your organization, be careful what you say.
- Use Stephen Lucas’s The Art of Public Speaking
as a template for success.
- Make speakers show they are passionate about a topic, don’t say “I am passionate about…�
- Develop a thick skin, don’t take things personally. They only yell at people they trust.
- Don’t agree to be on a panel after eating spinach. Find out if the speaker is on before or after the meal.
- Constantly listen to your speaker, whenever they are available. Use the speaking tones you hear in future scripts.
- Give feedback to executives to help them overcome challenges in natural speaking style or bolster goodness.
- Face-time is important. Don’t let VP of Communications wall you off (and so many of them will want to, won’t they?). You need to be able to ask the executive questions like “Tell me about your Dadâ€? to get true human stories.
- Don’t be afraid to punt on the podcast. Don’t just use technology for the sake of it.
- Take the time to remind yourself you can write.
- Include phrases in a speech that can be taken wholesale and quoted in press.
- Think twice about recycling speeches: like day old sushi it just smells bad.
- Keep speeches away from the lawyers. You own it.
- Bridge back to key messages in speeches at the end. Write two endings – one for the end of the speech proper, before Q&A and a second ending to hit them again with key messages.
- Get physical when you write a speech. Get up, walk around, take the dogs out, don’t become chained to the keyboard.
- Build in “How the Hell’s� into speech – references to group you are speaking to that are so specific they wonder “How the Hell did they know that?�
OK, so I missed 8 ideas. Whose counting? And if you have one I did miss, please leave it as a comment below.
No Comments so far
Leave a comment
Leave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>