Rob’s blog
Five ways to break into speechwriting
Maybe you've written a few speeches for yourself or others that went over well. Maybe you're just attracted by the glitz and glamour of the profession. (Maybe you just fell over laughing.) Whatever the reason, you want to start speechwriting professionally. But where...
Public speaking and speechwriting: the essential guides
Looking for advice on public speaking, speechwriting and leadership communications? Here are some of my most comprehensive posts, on topics that people ask me about most often.
Know your audience before you even meet them
Every speech has a goal, one that almost always involves changing the way your audience thinks and acts in some way. You can only do that effectively if you know your audience. But just how you do that isn’t immediately obvious. You probably won’t get to meet most of...
Tony Robbins, #metoo and the failure to listen to a changing world
Tony Robbins' dismissive comments about the #MeToo movement should make everyone who speaks from the stage step back for a moment and think hard. (If you haven’t followed this story, there’s a pretty decent summary here. And if you haven’t seen the video from the...
Need to make a big emotional pivot without losing your audience? Try a three-point turn.
The speaker ahead of me was wrapping up. I could feel a little knot of anxiety start to grow in my stomach as I prepared for my turn at the mic. Speaker after speaker before me had spoken with courage and vulnerability, and nobody in the room had been left unmoved....
A link is a promise.
A few years ago, I came across a "content curation" service that billed itself as the easiest way to share your "thought leadership." You'd enter a few search terms, hook up your Twitter account, and start sharing articles. It was a very...
The Cicero Awards: a rare chance for speechwriters to shine
Let's face it, speechwriters: we're a hide-in-the-shadows, cheer-from-the-wings kind of bunch. Our work involves helping someone else be at their best on stage. Chasing the spotlight ourselves? Not our thing. But there's an exception. The Cicero Speechwriting Awards...
Common myths about speechwriting
Myth: "Speechwriting is a dark and mysterious art, known only to a handful of monks who live in a subterranean lair deep under an extinct volcano. There, they gather under each blood moon to add a single new member to their number, and — in exchange for her or his...
Delivery: How to lift a speech from the page
"Put me up on stage in front of a microphone to speak off the cuff, and I do great," one of my workshop participants said not long ago, as we talked about speech delivery. "But give me a written speech to read and I just go dead," he added, slumping in his chair to...
Getting better feedback
"Could you read this?" a friend asked me, handing over the manuscript for his novel. "I'd love your feedback." So I did. I read all 200 pages and made detailed notes about story, character and voice. How the dramatic structure needed tightening, the personal stakes...
Challenge, call, recipe, reward: How to write the conclusion of your speech
Conclusions are one of the hardest parts of a speech to write. Here’s an approach to bringing any speech to a graceful end with an inspiring call to action.
Don’t make your audience unsubscribe from your speech
I just sent this in response to “Why are you unsubscribing from us?” (on the third screen you had to click through to unsubscribe): The constant stream of “ALERT!” “URGENT” and other messages just got too much. If everything is urgent, then nothing is. I know the data...
Why, yes — I’d LOVE to speak at your event
Public speaking and speechwriting: the essential guides
Looking for advice on public speaking, speechwriting and leadership communications? Here are some of my most comprehensive posts, on topics that people ask me about most often.
