by Rob Cottingham | Aug 20, 2015 | Speechwriting
Speechwriter and speechwriting trainer par excellence Colin Moorhouse writes about Beached Whale Syndrome: comparing the romantic complaint about men who roll over and fall asleep immediately after an amorous encounter (or, not to put it too delicately, their half of...
by Rob Cottingham | Aug 19, 2015 | Speechwriting
A questioner on Quora asked a while ago how long it takes to write a speech, and what factors affect it. Here’s my answer: I’ve smashed out seven-minute speeches during an election campaign while the plane was landing for statements the speaker gave as soon as...
by Rob Cottingham | Aug 18, 2015 | How to..., Speechwriting
So many speeches don’t (…dammit…) Whenever I find myself repeatedly writing, deleting and re-writing the first lines of s (…augh…) The Oxford English Dictionary defin (hell, no.) Ever find yourself staring at a blank screen, stymied at how to start a...
by Rob Cottingham | Aug 12, 2015 | Everything Else
Someone asked one of the LinkedIn groups I’m in what courses an aspiring public relations practitioner should take in college. There was some good advice about writing and so on; others suggested related disciplines like marketing, or specific skills. I came at...
by Rob Cottingham | Aug 11, 2015 | Speechwriting
One of my favourite things about Facebook is that Jon Favreau’s community page lists him as “musician/band”. Not just because he’s kind of a rock star (in, you know, speechwriter terms). But because I’ve argued for a long time that...