Rob's blog
A speechwriting lesson from House of Cards
I'm (finally) watching the convention episode ("Chapter 48") of season 4 of House of Cards. And early on, there's a great exchange between a new speechwriter and the pair of writers who've been with the Underwoods from the beginning. They complain about his...
Speaker as performer: Michael Port’s “Steal the Show”
When I coach speakers, there are many moments that feel like breakthroughs. When they show a little vulnerability, and share something of themselves. Or when they internalize the text of a speech well enough to hit every point effortlessly. But few moments give me the...
Speechwriting mistakes: four ways I screwed up (so you don’t have to)
I’d love to tell you that every speech I’ve written has been a roaring success, that every word was purest gold and that I never once face-planted into the metaphorical pavement. Or that yeah, I did screw up, but it was only once. Or only twice. But the truth is, I’ve...
Writing to be heard: a key to speechwriting
Wil Wheaton recently posted something to Medium, and it's well worth reading on its own merits. But one passage jumped out at me in particular, and it's one crucial key to speechwriting: Please note that I wrote this to be spoken/performed, and it may not translate...
Speaking from half a world away: Edward Snowden on big data, security and privacy
Last night, I joined hundreds of other Vancouverites at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre for an evening with Edward Snowden. For more than an hour, the intelligence-contractor-turned-whistleblower spoke to us via videoconference. He was articulate, quietly passionate and...
Will Donald Trump kill speechwriting? (Spoiler: no.)
A few months before the GOP convention, the leading contender for the party's presidential nomination is Donald Trump: a man who draws huge, rapturous crowds... yet delivers long, rambling speeches that are apparently entirely off the cuff. Now, let's be clear:...
Translating client feedback: What they say vs. what they want
One of your most important skills as a speechwriter is listening to your client when they give you feedback. That often means hearing past their words, to what they’re actually saying… and it almost always means probing more deeply for the real issue behind a comment...
Maybe speechwriting doesn’t matter so much after all..?
You’ve probably heard speeches you'd swear were content-free. Here’s one that actually is — and it’s a TEDx talk. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S0FDjFBj8o Beneath that hollow exterior lurks actual content: a pretty devastating critique of how a thin speech can...
The Presentation Audience’s Bill of Rights
WHEREAS life is short and our time on Earth is finite; WHEREAS the duration of a bad presentation is subjectively many times longer than that of a good one; WHEREAS the dedication of audience's time and attention to a speaker is a gift of considerable value, not to be...
When your audience isn’t feeling the Bern
This weekend, Bernie Sanders spoke to a predominantly African-American audience at the dining room of a South Carolina church. According to this account, the response from the mealtime crowd was tepid: polite clapping for all but a couple of lines. We’re used to...
The Pigeon of Dorian Gray, and why you should throw it off the fire escape
Early in my speechwriting career, I was writing for a political candidate. It began with a few weeks of straight-up euphoria. Great news coverage. Enthusiastic volunteers. Support and donations rolling in. (And I got to use state-of-the-art technology: a Compaq...
Illuminate: the exciting new book from Nancy Duarte and Patti Sanchez
There’s a new book out this week from Nancy Duarte and Patti Sanchez, and I’m pretty excited. Ms. Duarte’s earlier books Slideology and Resonate changed the way I think about presentations and speaking. They breathed new life into the three-act structure, and gave us...
