A practical process for writing any speech – from the Professional Speechwriters Association

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a twelve-page article (a PSA whitepaper) by Michael Long at the Professional Speechwriters Association (PSA) titled One Step at a Time: A Practical Process for Writing Any Speech. It briefly describes and then discusses the following six steps:

 

Step 1: Assess the event and the speaker

Step 2: Create a spec sheet

Step 3: Identify the big ideas and put them in order

Step 4: Add evidence

Step 5: Write the open and the end

Step 6: Make it better [polish everything]

 

There is another ten-page article (also a PSA whitepaper) by David Murray titled Speechwriting, FAQ (and subtitled Honest answers to the ten toughest questions communicators {and their bosses} ask about creating compelling speeches and presentations).

 

There also is an 18-page pdf version of an article (another a PSA whitepaper) by Boe Workman titled Writers of the Lost Art: “Rhetorical Perspective,” and the Future of Speechwriting, which I had previously discussed in a post on January 23, 2023 titled What is the future of speechwriting? I found them all at the PSA Resources web page.

 

The cartoon image of a woman came from Wikimedia Commons.