Speeches
Confessions of a Speechwriter
Speechwriting is a discreet profession. We writers submerge our egos to serve the needs of the speaker. The writing must reflect the speaker: his thoughts, his words and his manner of speaking. In essence, the speechwriter is a chameleon. Our work is what the speaker would have written if he had both the time and a copy of Bartlett’s Quotations.
Let’s imagine that you are giving a speech and could use my assistance. If you know precisely what you wish to say, my task is chiefly to polish and punctuate. However, if you are undecided as to the theme and thrust of the speech, my work begins as your first audience. While you think aloud, I will listen and respond. I will ask questions to encourage your ruminations and anecdotes. After perhaps a half hour of reflections and nudging, you will decide the focus of the speech, and I will base my work upon that.
Speechwriting is more than a flight of rhetoric. In fact, the “inspiration” only occurs after I have immersed myself in research and analysis. If I am not an expert on the topic, at least I must prove myself an apt student, analyzing the pertinent information and creating from it an outline of compelling facts and cogent logic. Only then can I begin to write the speech, and choose the words and wit to say it.
In my career as a speechwriter, I have assisted the leading executives of major corporations and government agencies. You can see examples of these speeches by clicking on the links on this page. The selection covers a variety of topics: education, history, healthcare and ethics. Those do seem like ponderous subjects but you will see that I am not a ponderous writer. Indeed, my work has been published in “Vital Speeches of the Day” and anthologies.
The selected speeches also convey the distinctly different voices and personalities of the speakers. Read them and you can discern that one is a Yale patrician, while another is the homespun son of the Southwest. Yet I am neither, but I can write for both, and you.
If you have need of a versatile and experienced speechwriter, I obviously am available. Contact me to discuss the possibilities.
The Legacy of Education Shell Oil
Living History U.S. Navy
Ethics and Innovation Baxter International
A Chicago Buffet Kraft Foods