Workshops
Speech Writing: ‘Writing for the ear rather than
the eye’
By Melissa Dittmann, WIW Member
Ed Vilade, principal of Vilade Communications, and
Eileen Murdock, vice president of communications for CK Marketing Solutions
Inc., were the featured speakers at the January 18 workshop.
Vilade has written speeches for corporations and politicians for over
30 years. His advice for creating effective speeches included:
- Remember your audience. Before you start writing
a speech, research your audience. For example, determine how many people
will be there and whether the speech will be delivered in a formal
setting, like an auditorium, or more informal, such as seated around
a table? “Essentially, match the speech with the audience,” said
Vilade,
- Identify the purpose. Ask the speaker two questions:
Why are you giving this speech? And, what do you want this speech to
accomplish?
- Use repetition. Research indicates that the audience
will only remember about 25 percent of what they hear in a speech.
Repeating key points is essential.
- Be persuasive. The goal of most speakers is to
present persuasive arguments. Even if the speech is fact-based, the
speaker still needs to convey a main point.
- Limit to 20 minutes or less. Keep speeches short,
otherwise, you risk losing the audience’s attention. Vilade recommended
having one key point for every five minutes of the speech and then
limiting a 20-minute speech to three main points. Resist the temptation
to put everything in the speech. Write in sound bites.
- Appeal to emotions and use facts. Incorporate the
three elements of speeches, which were identified by the ancient Greeks:
logos, which draw from logic and factual arguments; ethos, which centers
on the believability of speakers during delivery; and pathos, which
appeals to the audience members’ emotions.
- Show. Don’t tell. Use personal stories to
capture the audience. For example, instead of citing a statistic about
the number of traffic deaths, choose a gripping story about one person’s
personal experiences, he suggested.
- Try humor. If you kick off your speech with humor,
make sure it pertains to the rest of the speech, it’s in good
taste and that it smoothly leads into the talk. Also, consider trying
humor about 5–10 minutes into the speech too, to keep the audience
engaged.
- Capture the speaker’s voice. Vilade meets
with speakers to help capture their speech patterns and voice. Vilade
views his speechwriting as an equivalent to playwriting. “I’m
writing a soliloquy for a character,” he said. “I have
to get to know the character to reproduce speech patterns so it will
be believable coming out of their mouth.”
- Take a backseat. Once the speaker delivers the
speech, the speechwriter must relinquish control. In other words, “the
speechwriter doesn’t exist” at that point, Vilade said.
The number one rule of speechwriting is involves not taking credit
something written in a speech. The words belong to the speaker. Also,
be prepared for changes speakers might make.
Murdock recommended reading and listening to great speeches. She recommended
attending the public-speaking Toastmasters Club meetings as the offer
an opportunity for novices to listen to speeches from the experienced.
Also, she suggested attending speeches sponsored by the National
Speakers Association.
“Pay attention to how people speak and what works and doesn’t,” Murdoch
said. “Tune in to the different types of speaking.”
As Vilade noted, speechwriting is about “writing for the ear rather
than the eye.” And, Murdock added, what works on paper, doesn’t
always work when it’s spoken. Speechwriting is not about writing
for you, she said, but about capturing the dynamics of the speaker and
the audience.
So where can you land a job as a speechwriter? While speechwriters are
often in demand, clients often look for writers with an expertise in
their company’s topic area. Nevertheless, speechwriters can find
jobs through the government, communication organizations, associations,
charities, nonprofit organizations and corporations. Fortune 500 companies,
for example, all have speechwriters on staff.
Some sources to get you started include:
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