Monday, April 1, 2024

Be your own speechwriting Santa Claus – download a free 74-page e-textbook on Essentials of Speechwriting, and two other briefer publications

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My previous post on March 29, 2024 was titled Good brief advice from Indeed [Canada] on Eight Key Steps to Successful Speech Writing. Where can you find more detailed advice?

 

On December 20, 2023 I had blogged about Getting better at speechwriting by learning from professional organizations. In that post I mentioned the European Speechwriter Network. There is a free download of their 74-page pdf textbook from 2017 by Alan Barker titled Essentials of Speechwriting [Some notes for speechwriters], which accompanies The Essentials of Speechwriting training course. Most sections are just a single page. Section headings and [page numbers] in it are:

 

Introduction [3]

Rhetoric: what it is and why it matters [5]

The five canons of rhetoric [6]

Kairos [7]

Responding to the Kairos: ethos, logos, pathos [8]

Ethos: key features [9]

Logos: key features [10]

Pathos: key features [11]

Thinking about the audience [12]

Audience profiling [13]

Establishing the speech’s objective [14]

Judicial speeches [15]

Deliberative speeches [15]

Ceremonial speeches [16]

Ceremonial speeches: purpose [17]

Ceremonial speeches: goals [18]

Ceremonial speeches: strategies [19]

Invention [20]

Invention: a worked example 21]

Arrangement: the classical model [22]

Arrangement: the classical model explained [23]

Building pyramids [24]

Arrangement: Monroe’s Motivated Sequence [25]

Starting the speech [34]

Seven ways to start a speech [35]

Style? [36]

PRAISE: six elements of style [37]

Proverbs: making your message memorable [38]

Proverbs: rhetorical characteristics [39]

Resonators: making your material concrete [40]

Resonators [41]

Attention: grabbing it and holding it #1 [42]

Attention: grabbing it and holding it #2 [43]

Attention: the curiosity factor [44]

Influence: making yourself credible [45]

Influence: finding your stance [46]

Influence: making your material credible [47]

Stories: involving your audience in the action [48]

Stories: creating a plot [49]

Emotions: stimulating action in your audience [50]

Style: creating a text for speaking [51]

Transitional devices [52]

Varying sentence construction [53]

Verbs: active and passive [54]

Nouns: concrete and abstract [55]

Nominalization [56]

Writing for non-native English speakers [57]

Figures of speech [58]

Working with your speaker [60]

Talking to your speaker [61]

Speechwriter as Consultant [62]

The three modes of appeal revisited [64]

Speechwriter as Coach [67]

Speechwriter as Style Consultant [69]

Speechwriter as Event Manager [70]

Writing for non-native English speakers [71]

Useful resources: books [72]

Useful resources: websites [73]

Alan Barker [74]

 

There also is a 38-page 2010 ebook by Peter Dhu titled The Killer Speech Writing Workbook. Section headings and [page numbers] in it are:

 

   Introduction to the Speech Writing Workbook [4]

   Warm Up Exercise: Preventative medicine for writer’s block [6]

1) Start at the End [9]

2) Theme: The thread that weaves your speech together [12]

3) WIIFM – What’s in it for Me [17]

4) Identify Three or Four Key Points [22]

5) Start Strong [28]

6) Write Your First Draft [30]

7) Practise and Prepare [34]

    References [36]

 

The June 2018 issue of Toastmaster magazine has a profile article by Missy Sheehan about Peter Dhu on pages 12 to 14 titled Finding His Voice.  

 

And back on May 23, 2010 I blogged about another useful publication in a post titled Speechwriting advice US citizens already have paid for. I discussed Speechwriting in Perspective: A Brief Guide to Effective and Persuasive Communication which is Congressional Research Service Report #98-170. You can download a 26-page pdf here.

 

The Santa Claus image was adapted from this one at the Library of Congress.

 


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