Do you want to get better at speechwriting?
Most professional speechwriters learn on the job. They don’t have any formal training.
That works, over time, but during lockdown, I discovered a way to rapidly speed up the process.
I was contacted by a Government speechwriter who got a good degree, but was just starting out.
He sent me the script of a speech that had been delivered by his boss.
I spent an hour marking it. I prepared questions about how the speech came to be written, how he selected the material and why he structured it as he did.
We then did a Zoom session, lasting one hour.
It reminded me of my tutorials at Oxford. I was the tutor going through his speech line by line, making suggestions. He was asking me questions and taking notes.
It was all about his material. He quickly grasped how he could improve.
His speech was long enough (2000 words) to do a second session.
I spent another hour analysing the language he used. I listed ways he could make the text less like a university essay and more like a persuasive speech.
We then went through this in a second Zoom session lasting one hour.
I recommended some books and showed him the process I use to write a speech for a client.
It was good for me because I was able to illustrate my points with stories from my long speechwriting career.
It helped him because I was giving him valuable insights as he was starting out.
The plain truth is a university education doesn’t teach you to write speeches, but it does give you the aptitude to learn quickly.
You don’t need to be a speechwriter to benefit from these sessions.
I’m opening them up to anyone who wants to sharpen their writing style for their own speeches.
They’re intense, focused and fun.
If you’ve got one or two examples of your own work that you’d like to improve, I’d be happy to work with you.
I’m offering these Oxbridge-style tutorials – two hour-long Zoom conversations about your work, supported by two hours of analysis.
Drop me an email or give me a call +44 7545 232980 if you’re interested.
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