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.
