Jan Sonneveld and Rune Kier are government speechwriters in Holland and Denmark respectively. Rune Kier Nielsen is on Twitter and on LinkedIn. Jan Sonneveld is on Twitter and on LinkedIn . This article is reprinted with their express permission.

Storytelling – The Whirlwind of The West Wing

by Jan Sonneveld and Rune Kier.

Myth has it that a TV series made possible the presidency of Barack Obama. An apparently Latino presidential candidate Matthew Santos (played by Jimmy Smits) inspired Obama’s story: a largely unknown minority congressman, running on a liberal platform, breaking all expectation to become President. Obama followed his fictional friend two years later – or did it follow him? In stories reality and fiction are hard to separate, so let’s call it The West Wing whirlwind. Because if the story of Matt Santos can affect reality, then so can other West Wing-characters, like Toby Ziegler or Sam Seaborn. In fact, they did.

)

We are two speechwriters, from two countries, with one story.

Rune Kier worked with diversity and communications in Danish capital Copenhagen. Through The West Wing he came to see political speechwriting as his means to create social change. The inside-look at government made him believe in cutting the red tape to deliver powerful political ideas with effect beyond the podium. Meanwhile in Holland, another speechwriter in the making was being inspired by The West Wing. Jan Sonneveld had worked in government communications for years until The West Wing reignited his passion for government as ‘a Powerful Force for Good’.

The fictional storytelling of The West Wing presented a believable ideal to us, a story where cynicism was beaten by big beliefs. In essence, it did what any good speech should do: it opened new doors to how we see the world and how we act towards it.

The West Wing was not the first to do it. In South Africa one episode of the television series Soul City had a whole village rise up to protest domestic abuse and collectively stand by a battered women. Afterwards something incredible happened: Real villages followed the example of their fictional role models. It broke the silent acceptance of domestic violence by showing that another reaction was possible and desirable. The same happened on issues like prejudice towards AIDS and abuse of alcohol.

Growing piles of research suggest that storytelling works regardless if it reflects reality. It’s how our brains are wired. When we receive pure information our brain activates the limited parts designed for processing numbers and language. Listening to stories however activates the very same neurons as if we were experiencing the story ourselves: in our brain, we instantly become the protagonist. That is why stories have such an enormous impact on our lives, whether we realize it or not. Even fictitious, they are only inches away from lived reality and so they can come to be reflected in reality in a storytelling whirlwind.

The West Wing inched in on us and shaped our reality guiding us towards political speechwriting. With a reality already affected by a story we took the power of storytelling to heart. Danish and Dutch politics is commonly seen as a dirty, cynical business. Politicians might start their careers with lofty aspirations, but in the fog of daily politicking those dreams easily become invisible to the public eye. In The West Wing, Toby Ziegler and Sam Seaborn fight as speechwriters to preserve government’s big ideals and former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau urges speechwriters to keep their idealism. Working with speeches, our central task is to cut through the noise to communicate visions that connect the speaker with the audience. For us, storytelling is the ideal way to do it.

And then the West Wing whirlwind took another storytelling spin. Inspired by The West Wing and its influence in our own lives, we use storytelling and cultivate our idealism to fight ever-lingering cynicism. For Sonneveld it enabled him as well to help a close friend and local politician to shape his ideas and word for an inspiring TEDtalk.

)

For Kier, The West Wing inspired to weave together statistics from WHO and expert climate scenarios and form the storytelling of Climate Change and the Story of Sarah – a story of changing health and an urgent call to the medical profession. The speech was published in Vital Speeches International and nominated for a 2014 Cicero Speechwriting Award.

The West Wing story might not perfectly reflect White House reality, but it affected our reality none the less. And then the whirlwind blew again, when (like fictional Sam Seaborn) Jon Favreau in real life left The White House and started writing a TV series about young, idealistic people working on a government campaign. His story will look back to reflect his reality at the Obama campaign, but it will also looking forward to affect and inspire the reality of others, just as The West Wing did to us. Reality makes story makes reality makes story. That is why the storytelling whirlwind can bring real change – and give hope for a better world.

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.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:14 — 1.1MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

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.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 22:41 — 5.2MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

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.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:25 — 1.9MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

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.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 10:24 — 2.4MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

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.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 14:25 — 9.9MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

I’m off this month to the 2014 Ragan Speechwriters Conference in Washington DC. It’ll be my fifth conference. As in previous years, I’ll be podcasting interviews with attendees and presenters and grabbing some video with my Flip video camera to post to YouTube.

Conference Call

On Thursday February 20th at 7:15pm (Eastern) I’ll host an informal panel discussion on a conference call with presenters and attendees on behalf of the Silicon Valley Speechwriters Roundtable. This is your chance to hear from a group of speechwriters fresh from the conference who will just have enjoyed:

• A keynote by Jon Favreau, President Obama’s former Director of Speechwriting on storytelling with President Obama in an age of sound bites.
• Presentations and workshops by Fletcher Dean, David Murray, Rob Friedman, Michael Long and a host of others.

The list of people I’ll have on the call will be announced in a week’s time. I probably won’t get Jon Favereau (or President Obama!) but the more people who pre-register for this FREE event, the more chance I’ll have of persuading some high-profile presenters to be on the call.

Remember, the call is open to anyone who wants to dial in, you don’t have to be in DC, or Silicon Valley, to attend. Pass the word and I’m looking forward to a great discussion on the art and science of speechwriting on Feb 20th.

Stay tuned for specific names of participants. Meanwhile, conference call information is available when you pre-register.

Follow the conference on Twitter at #raganspeech.

Jeff Hurt is the Executive Vice President, Education and Engagement, at Velvet Chainsaw Consulting. In 2012, he was recognized as the PCMA 2011 Educator of the Year. Jeff has worked in leadership roles with five associations, five government organizations and several companies in the education, events and meetings departments, including Meetings Professionals International and Promotional Products Association International, one of the top 50 shows in the industry.

This article was first published in his Midcourse Corrections blog and appears here with his express permission.

Just Because You Speak Does Not Mean Your Audience Learns: Eight Presenter Principles To Master

By Jeff Hurt

Most speakers are really good at talking!

But talking to your audience does not mean that your audience is learning.

Our Brains Have Limits

As speakers, we have assumed that talking to an audience results in their learning. We think that their minds are like sponges absorbing what we are saying.

But just hearing information does not equal learning it. You know that from talking to your kids and spouse. Just because you spoke it doesn’t mean they heard it or did it. Plus, if just listening leads to learning, we would play recordings while we slept and say we learned it.

Our brains have a limit to the amount of information it can hold in short term memory. We can hold about three to seven pieces of information for 30 seconds. We have to repeat it or give attention to it to move it to working memory. (Dr. Terry Doyle, 2011; Dr. John Medina, 2008; Dr. James E. Zull, 2002)

So the more a speaker talks, the less the listener actually retains. If you want your audience to learn your info, you have to speak less and get the audience to think and talk more about your content.

Your Speech Or Their Learning?

So, as a presenter, which is more important: your speech or your audience’s learning?

If you said your speech, then you don’t need an audience! You can talk to yourself in an empty room.

If you said the audience’s learning, then you really care about their ROI. You know you need to design your presentation so that the audience has time to think about what you’re saying, digest it, reflect on it and consider applying it. That can’t happen while they are listening to you.

It’s time for all speakers to shift the focus from their talk to the audience’s learning!

Eight Adult Learning Principles

Here are eight adult learning principles grounded in neuroscience and andragogy, the study of how adults learn, that can help guide your presentation.

1. Principle of Active Learning

Active participation through discussion, feedback and activities creates more learning than passive listening or reading. As a presenter, focus on critical content needed to succeed and allow the participants to discuss that content with each other.

2. Principle of Problem-Centric

Adults come to your presentation expecting to get their problems solved. They are not there just to get more information. If your presentation does not help them solve their pressing issues, it will be forgotten. Adults are problem-centric, not content-centric.

3. Principle of Previous Experience

New information has to be linked to previous knowledge and experience or it will not be remembered. Allow participants time to discuss with each other how the new information connects with what they already know.

4. Principle of Relevance

If the information being presented is not relevant to the listener’s life and work, it will not get their attention. As a speaker, your content must have meaning and immediate relevance. Explain why your presentation is important and how it relates to their work.

5. Principle of Emotional Connection

Presentations that connect with a learner’s emotions are more likely to be remembered, recalled and learned. Fear is not a good motivating factor for learning as it causes the brain to react in a fight or flight syndrome. Share stories that emotionally connect.

6. Principle of Self Learning

Adult learners have some strong beliefs about how they learn. These beliefs, whether accurate or not, can interfere or enhance their learning. As a speaker, always explain why the audience should participate in specific activity and how the process and content benefits their learning.

7. Principle of Alignment

Adults expect that a presenter’s content, learning outcomes and activities are aligned together. If the learning outcomes do not match the content, the learner feels disconnected and learning is hampered.

8. Principle of Fun

Learning should be fun! As a presenter, if you are not having fun presenting your information and facilitating learning, then you should stop. By all means, make learning fun, enjoyable and filled with laughter!

Which of these principles resonate with your personal experiences? What additional principles would you add to the list?

Neuroscientists and Education Researcher Sources: Dr. Ruth Colvin Clark, Dr. Terry Doyle, Erica J. Keeps, Dr. D. A. Kolb, Dr. John Medina, Dr. David Rock, Dr. Harold Stolovitch and Dr. James E. Zull.

Here’s an interesting series of comments and informative views that were posted recently to the National Speakers Association (NSA) Facebook Page when a speaker asked “Do you think stories are overrated in presentations and audiences are starting to see through them as manipulation tactics…?” The responses clearly show why professional speakers use stories in their speeches. The comments are filled with useful tips and tricks on the most effective ways to use stories in a speech. The names of the contributors have been removed.

1. I would say a story is to help connect with the audience…to help them relate to the message…but it would depend on the message and how the story is presented.
2. It’s like the whole salt metaphor. Any element of a speech if used too much can ultimately spoil a dish, but when used right it actually brings out the best favors of the other elements. I know that’s an overused metaphor, but I think we sometimes focus too much on one element of speaking. Stories… PowerPoint… Hand gestures…. Humor… Music… Etc rather than thinking about how all the ingredients play together and for what purpose.
3. Stories are the cornerstone to creating a memorable message long after the presentation is over. Presentation is key – if your audience can “feel” your story, you have succeeded.
4. I think that a speaker who does not use stories will more than likely lose the interest of their audience. Stories done properly are powerful tools. Just look at how much of the Bible is based on stories being told and it is still selling well.
5. Two things are key: Relevance: Is the story relevant to the present time, historically. Make modifications to make it relevant. Relationship: What is the speaker’s relationship to the story. If there is no meaningful reason to choose to tell a certain story, don’t tell it.
6. To me the key is authenticity! If it is yours, and it is true and it makes a point integral to the learning experience of the audience then stories can be powerful! Tell someone else’s story as if it is your own … you are asking for trouble!
7. Stories are the fingerprint to your platform. I can think of no other single element that differentiates you from others. For me, the ability to connect and be authentic is directly attributable to my ability to be conversational through sharing my story. Without stories, I think we run the risk of being viewed as a talking head – full of facts, figures and other researched data. Stories personalize the message. I have always been of the mind that the audience wants conversation. Stories are what most conversations are all about. I don’t believe they are overrated at all. I suppose if they were, TED talks would not be so popular. I do, however, believe the audience can tell the difference between a well-delivered story by a trained professional – versus a poorly delivered story trying to be disguised as something relevant.
8. One it the founders of NSA often told me it is easier to change audiences than to change speeches. He was one of the best platform speakers I have ever known and he had but one speech. It was all original material and he did it so well the people would come to hear him time and again just because of his manner and the info given. My suggestion is that when you create something, just do two things. First put the time into being as professional as possible and then don’t get tired of your material because you have heard it before. Remember, we are there not to please ourselves, although if we do it right we will, but rather to add value to the lives of those we touch. Second, remember that to a new audience the information you are sharing is the first time they have heard it from you and no matter the number times you have given it, don’t let them down by failing to deliver it with the excitement you gave the first audience that heard it.
9. The audience connects more with stories than with facts and figures. Tying the two together to create an actionable takeaway makes the tales worthwhile.
10. People love stories… if you’re a good story teller. If you’re not a good story teller, then it seems like you went off on a tangent and just talking about yourself. When speakers are also great story tellers it enhances the speech. However, there is a type of story that is overdone and that is the “personal struggle to triumph” story. Seems like every speaker wants to start off with this “I was in a horrible situation and got out of it and need to speak now to tell you all about it” approach. Most of these situations aren’t relevant to the audience, and might even seem that bad (i.e. “I was living in a studio apartment…” Yeah, we all did at one point … but I’m here to learn XYZ). Whenever I tell a story or make an analogy I try to tie it in as closly as possible to the point I’m making so people stay with me and it makes sense.

photo credit: digitalrob70 via photopin cc

Nice to see that one of my favorite authorities on public speaking has a new bi-monthly column in the Financial Times.

Sam Leith, the author of the critically acclaimed You Talkin’ to Me? launched his Public Speaking column in today’s FT by discussing the importance establishing the trustworthiness of a presenter. This is known as ‘ethos’.

His comments on the “he said/she said” testimony by the editor of The Guardian (pictured) in front of British MPs last week illustrates how trust and respect is uppermost in an audience’s mind when there is an “absence of a decisive open appeal to the facts”. Since the topic was the leaking of classified information by international fugitive Edward Snowden and the freedom of the press to publish this, it pits the word of editor on one side and that of the spymasters on the other:

The territory under contention is trust: should we trust a respectable newspaper against a rogue security establishment, or a respectable security establishment against a rogue newspaper?

Trust me

The art of persuasion involves being seen as trustworthy by an audience. Lose that, and they won’t buy a used car, or your argument, from you.

It’s interesting to consider how the concept of trustworthiness functions in different times and places. In the 1960’s young people were encouraged to “never trust anyone over 30”, until they themselves reached that age. The poor and disenfranchised often distrust the words of the rich and powerful. Different races and ethnic groups distrust others. A man’s word is his bond, until it isn’t. Popular figures one year command standing ovations when they speak, only to be scapegoated off the stage and out of sight the next. Modern corporations, and the North Korean political establishment, are petri dishes for this eternal game of hero worship transforming into a blame game.

I’m looking forward to more insight into the nuances of rhetoric from Mr. Leith in future columns.