21 speechwriting resources from the world conference of speechwriters
Last month, I attended the Professional Speechwriters Association's World Conference in Washington, D.C. I also attended the PSA's one-day Speechwriting School, which immediately preceded the conference.
Both were invaluable. I met many other speechwriters, absorbed some of the lore of the craft, and learned many specific and actionable tools I can use in my own work. In particular, the teachers of the Speechwriting School were amazingly helpful: Dr. Rose King, Eric Schnure, Felicity Barber, Fletcher Dean, and of course PSA executive director David Murray.
Presenters at this event shared an enormous number of recommendations for speeches to watch, research, inspiration, resources, and books. It was an information-packed two and a half days and I'm glad I went!
I'm sharing the list of every recommendation I noted during the school and conference. This is not a comprehensive guide to speechwriting, but it's a great start.
Speeches:
- Phil Davison’s speech for Republican office in Stark County, OH (over the top!)
- Sen. Ben Cardin speech about Sudan - Spring 2024 (a powerful use of Monroe’s Motivated Sequence)
- Volodymyr Zelensky speech in 2022 (ditto)
- Brene Brown, TED Talk June 2010 (great opening)
- Nixon's 1952 "Checkers" speech (a good example of using expert testimony)
- Obama's DNC speech in 2004 (masterful speech that put him on the map nationally)
- Mitch Landrieu's speech on removing Confederate statues (good use of rhetorical devices)
Research, background, and inspiration:
- Paul Zak's video, "Future of Storytelling" (neuroscience of dramatic arcs)
- Research by Deborah Small, UPenn, on the effectiveness of appeals to donate after hearing different kinds of stories:
- Understanding Emotional Appeals: How to Get Donations (UPenn) 2007
- Deborah Small on Charitable Giving (Social Science Space, 2023)
- Yale Insights (3 articles by Deborah Small)
- Deborah Small, PhD: Processing Probabilistic Events and Making Donations, 2020 (Audio conversation, audio link at the bottom of the article)
- Robert Hardesty - How speechwriters got us to the Moon :
- “After consultation with space officials on the status of the Apollo program, Mr. Hardesty added a line: “We intend to land the first man on the surface of the moon and we intend to do it in this decade of the sixties.”
- “Mr. Hardesty assumed that the president would make sure the line — and its implicit commitment to beating the Soviets in a manned lunar landing — was fully accurate before delivering it.
- After the speech, a top space official called Mr. Hardesty and complained that he had thrown the space program into disarray. At the end of the day — which Mr. Hardesty assumed would be his last in the White House — he ran into Johnson.
- “That speech you wrote for me this morning,” the president said, according to Schlesinger’s book, “now that’s what I call a news lead.”
- Neil Armstrong did, in fact, become the first man to walk on the moon, in 1969.“
- Powerful EU video on importance of democracy and voting, with grandparents who lived through World War II and the Holocaust, and their grandchildren
- The Enemies List podcast - latest episode with Bill Adair, about deepfakes
Resources:
- Yoodli - a free, AI-powered communications coach
- NYT Obituaries. Great source of topical, timely anecdotes, esp the ending of every obit.
- PSA has a one-pager on "how to work with your speechwriter" – available on their website (I'm also happy to share a copy with you if we're working together)
Books:
- Terry Szuplat, Say It Well (a brand-new book on speechwriting by a former Obama administration speechwriter)
- Jim Holtje, The Power of Storytelling (he says that writing this book helped him get hired to write for IBM's CEO)
- Elements of Eloquence
- Richard Schank, Tell Me A Story
- David Maister, The Trusted Advisor (20th Anniversary Edition), 2000 Edition
- The Good Die Young (book about Kissinger - mentioned by a fellow attendee, not on stage – I'm including it because the title is 🎯)