by Robert (Bob) Stewart
Our attempts to persuade someone to hire us to write speeches for them or others sometimes resemble selling personal insurance.
"I don't think so," says the client. "Look, everybody knows how to write. Thanks but I'll take my chances."
Opinions about well written speeches, and who's qualified to write them, are like cell phones; everybody's got one . . . . and sometimes nobody answers when wanna be speechwriters practice personal versions of, "Can you hear me now?"
There are plenty of convincing reasons why others should hire us to research and write speeches instead of recalling their mothers' singing, "Anything you can do, I can do better" from Broadway's classic, Annie Get Your Gun!
So, what should we tell them?
"I'm sure you write well and are confident you can write your own speeches. You also ought to consider some practical reasons for letting qualified professionals write speeches for executives in your organization.
"Good speechwriters ... I'm talking about really good ones... know how to":
Keep a speech's message on course instead of rambling aimlessly.
Sometimes you're too close to your own message - words wander, losing their direction and the audience's attention quickly. Good speechwriters make sure your message's style, pace, and tone are clear and concise from beginning to end. All parts of the speech are understandable and logically connected. The speechwriter also can be objective when you necessarily can't, and still remain faithful to the emotional spirit and theme for your primary message.
Poised and confident speakers count for a lot. But they won't find any cover from a badly composed, poorly written speech and an unforgiving audience.
Write for the listener rather than the reader.
The executive producer of ABC World News Tonight might enjoy reading newspaper columns written by acclaimed national journalists. But he or she wouldn't ask Thomas Friedman or Ellen Goodman or George Will to write the copy that scrolls on Peter Jennings' teleprompter five nights a week. There is a distinct difference between both styles and voices of writing. Friedman, Will, and Goodman would tell Jennings' producer that while appreciating the offer, they didn't perfect their craft in that venue.
Keep the speech aimed at the audience's expectations.
What audience members come and want to hear always counts more than what a speaker wants to hear himself or herself say. It's about them, not the speaker. Professional speechwriters know how to craft a narrative message so its impact does not stray from what the audience expects and the speaker wants to express.
Respect the rules of grammar and elements of style.
Speeches and officials remarks at least ought to pass English Composition 101, not some tortured representation of America's primary language. Speechwriters know, and remember that adverbs modify verbs and adjectives, along with the rules of parallel construction and consistent verb tense. A speech that's supposed to inspire while it mangles the rules of grammar and narrative construction ends up a pathetic collection of brutally disjointed words and phrases.
Effectively compose the dominant thoughts in the speaker's head and heart.
The speech's rhythm should be coherent, the overall message eloquent, memorable and its vocabulary rich rather than annoyingly repetitious. A veteran speechwriter can craft words and phrases that will reflect a speaker's beliefs as even handed instead of small-minded; lasting, not some editorial disappearing act.
I was once asked to consider writing speeches for the chairman of a major pharmaceutical and health care company. The question was natural; I'd already written speeches for a prominent U.S. governor and high visibility communications in the drug and health care industry.
The other person said, "I ought to tell you we consider this to be a junior position. It probably won't even be at the managerial level in the organization."
A week later a friend asked me what I thought about the encounter. I answered that if they offered the job, I'd thank them but pass on it. It seemed to me they didn't think the person who wrote the words of a leading American business executive was worth much, literally and philosophically. Most of all, I believed it represented how little they valued their chairman's message.
I'd listened several times to the same chairman and the company's president/CEO address their employees worldwide on satellite or closed circuit television. Their words were wooden and superficial, seeming void of genuine feeling and commitment. Each time I was particularly unmoved by what they said, how they said it, and felt sorry for the speechwriter who owned the script.
On one episode of NBC's political drama, "The West Wing," the character of speechwriter played actor Rob Lowe claimed, "Oratory should raise your heart rate. Oratory should blow the doors off the place." I think so too, and expect my speechwriting colleagues would agree.
We should tell our prospective client that if he or she needed heart surgery, they'd ask a cardiovascular surgeon, not their family doctor, to perform the procedure.
When someone is scheduled to deliver a speech or remarks, serious or lighthearted, official or conversational to any waiting audience, he or she should call on a professional speechwriter to write it . . . . . not on personal pride and vanity to wing it.
About the Author
Bob Stewart has written speeches for the Governor of New Jersey, the president and CEO and other executive officers of a large national trade association in Washington, D.C., business leaders in the private sector, and candidates for elected office in national campaigns.
He currently writes speeches and other key editorial messages for a major health care initiative involving legal reforms and federal legislation to improve patient safety and compensation associated with prescription medicines and biologics.
Bob Stewart Editorial
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