… OR three winning techniques for proofreading Writers can be careless with their copy. I know, because I pulled a boner early on in my career, and it taught me a valuable lesson — always proofread your work before turning it in for publication. In my first job as a reporter at a daily newspaper, [...]
I hate to open a can of worms, but it has become hackneyed to say “avoid cliches like the plague.” A cliché of a cliché. Who’d have thought? But the point remains – clichés are hallmarks of weak writing. They are born of a lack of creativity and critical thought. If you want to write [...]
I just watched a Tedx video of an Australian woman named Janine Shepherd and let me tell you, it is superb. I’m going to hold onto the URL because the next time someone asks me what makes a great speech, I will send them the link. It’s only 19 minutes, but it’s 19 minutes of [...]
There seems to be a rash of stories lately on how presidential candidate Mitt Romney has ignored the advice and wordsmith expertise of speechwriters and written his own remarks. Years ago, when he was running the U.S. Olympics in Salt Lake City, noted speechwriter Peggy Noonan penned remarks for him to give for a global [...]
OK, people. Listen up. I’m only going to say this maybe a thousand times. Nothing – and I mean NOTHING – is off the record. Just ask Mitt Romney, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Kate Middleton. And it’s not just because cell phone cameras are ubiquitous or that social media has taken over [...]
I’ll readily admit that I didn’t watch all of the speeches at the Republican and Democratic conventions. That’s why I’m calling on several other observers to share their thoughts about the quality of the public speaking at these major events. Some of the reviews are biased toward or against a particular speaker or party. I [...]
They gave him twenty minutes but he finished up in ten. Oh, there’s a prince of speakers and servant unto men. His diction wasn’t such a much, he hemmed and hawed a bit; But still he spoke a lot of sense, and after that – he quit. At first we sat plumb paralyzed, then cheered [...]
“I see a lot of books on public speaking. This one I’ll keep.” Terrence McCann, executive director, Toastmasters International. In January, I had the privilege of taking a class from a woman I consider to be a master at the art of public speaking and speechwriting. Her name is Joan Detz and she [...]
It’s not every day that a high school English teacher gets a job as a speechwriter for the President of the United States. But that’s exactly what happened to William Gavin after he wrote to Richard Nixon in 1967, urging him to run for the White House. Through an improbable series of circumstances, Gavin, who [...]
