The art and science of speechwriting
Image: in the public domain
As a massive fan of Aaron Sorkin's The West Wing, I always relish the opportunity to call on my inner Toby Ziegler when someone asks me to help them with writing a speech.
So I had no hesitation in agreeing to a request last month from a client seeking assistance to refine his opening remarks for a major industry summit. While the topic (the current state of the financial services industry) is not something your average punter is going to find particularly riveting, my client had some particularly interesting insights into the current challenges facing the industry on topics such as reputation, technology, regulation and competition.
Our first challenge was to credibly establish just what the problems are for the industry, and why they are of relevance to the audience (senior management and industry leaders). This required a fine balance – the message had to be forceful enough to challenge the audience's current perceptions and therefore demand their attention, without overstating the case, which would only serve to undermine the credibility of the case my client was prosecuting.
Something that proved very helpful was a number of recent studies that my client was able to make intelligent use of to support his argument. Again, this is a matter of balance as it can be easy to alienate an audience with a long list of facts and figures. In a written document the author has the luxury of packing footnotes or appendices with supporting data. A speech as a very different beast however, so it was important to focus on a small number of carefully chosen examples to make the point.
One of the most interesting aspects of speech writing for me is how you can use a very different voice and approach to written prose. A public speaker can employ techniques such as alliteration, isocolon and rhetorical questions that might otherwise seem awkward or incongruous when read (either on the screen or the printed page) but when spoken provoke interest and engagement.
For anyone seeking inspiration for their next public speaking engagement, I highly recommend visiting Speakola, a website created by Melbourne writer Tony Wilson. While some speeches are not available in their original spoken form, they still resonate (take Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address for example), and there are many others you can listen (and sometimes watch) the original orator deliver.
