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 well, you must avoid clichés like you know what.

Here are some examples of what I’m talking about.

• She was so bedraggled that she looked like something the cat dragged in.
• If you want to find out what the boss thinks about your idea, run it up the flagpole and see what happens.
• When I changed jobs, it was like jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.
• He gave it the old college try, but he just couldn’t learn how to swing a golf club.
• That boy ate chocolate chip cookies like there was no tomorrow.

Cliches once worked

When these phrases were first expressed, they were descriptive and useful. And they were helpful for printers, who printed up plates of words from movable type and used them over and over again.

But now that we’re long past movable type, these phrases suffer from overuse and have lost their punch. The sentences mentioned above would benefit from heavy doses of detail.

For example:

• I couldn’t believe how bedraggled she was. Her hair wasn’t combed, her dress was wrinkled and her shoes were scuffed up.
• If you want to find out what the boss thinks about your idea, draft a detailed proposal and present it to him.
• When I changed jobs, I gave up constant deadlines and 18-hour days for a verbally abusive boss and cutthroat co-workers.
• He practiced at the driving range every day for a month, but he just couldn’t learn how to swing a golf club.
• That boy must have eaten a dozen chocolate chip cookies! I thought he was going to get sick from overeating.

You get the idea.

To avoid clichés (like you know what), stop and think about what you’re really trying to say. Be descriptive and add detail. Provide more information to the reader. They’ll have a clearer idea of what you’re trying to say.

Today is the anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare, widely considered the greatest writer ever in the English language.

His plays are more revered today than they were when he lived 400 years ago in England.  These masterpieces are presented on stages all over the world, and they are read every day on college campuses, in high school classrooms, and in maximum security prison cells.

That’s right. Shakespeare’s work has been the topic of study in the solitary confinement unit of an Indiana prison . Thanks to the work of Professor Laura Bates, inmates at Wabash Valley Correctional Facility have been able to study Shakespeare for the past 10 years.

Shakespeare saved my life

Dr. Bates, an English professor at Indiana State University, just published a most interesting book about her experiences.  Shakespeare Saved My Life: Ten Years in Solitary with the Bard is the story of how reading the works of this exceptional writer changed the life of one particular inmate – Larry Newton.

Newton was sentenced to life in prison for murder when he was a teen-ager. And he was in solitary confinement for 10 years because of numerous escape attempts. But during that long stretch, Dr. Bates introduced him to Shakespeare.

Newton became engrossed in studying Macbeth and other plays because he could identify with the characters.  He especially felt a kinship with Richard II, who was imprisoned after being overthrown as King of England.

According to Newton, Shakespeare helped him break out of his own personal prisons – the prisons of self-destructive thinking.

Words can be a powerful force

The prisoner became so caught up in the works of Shakespeare that he created workbooks for other inmates to use in studying the Bard.  Before Indiana put an end to allowing the incarcerated to seek college degrees, Newton had been working toward a Ph.D.

He eventually was released from solitary (although he was sent back for a time because he was accused of having a cell phone).

Larry Newton and William Shakespeare provide powerful proof that words can have a potent impact.

***

A love affair with language

I have spent my life having a love affair with words. Starting out as a writer in elementary school, I helped craft our fifth grade play about Marco Polo. In junior high, I joined the school newspaper and in college I majored in journalism.

It was during the eight years I worked as a wire service reporter that I learned the mechanics of writing. I have been working on my craft ever since.

Until now, Sheilaallee.com has been devoted to the art of speechwriting. With this post, I am expanding its focus to writing in general. All of the speechwriting content will remain in the archives. And from time to time, I will write about sound speechwriting techniques.

In future posts, I will talk about how to write solid sentences, word choice, grammar, punctuation, capitalization, organization and other aspects of writing well. My goal is to provide valuable information for all who visit here.

And maybe in the process, you will begin to see the power of words – just as Larry Newton did in the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility.

I don’t know that what you learn here will save your life, but it might help you in your business, your career, your personal life and life in general.

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 some of the best public speaking I have ever seen and heard.

Let me count the ways in which Janine excels:

1. She tells a compelling story — the story of how her life changed irrevocably when she was hit by a truck while she was riding a bicycle. Not every speech opportunity lends itself to telling a long story, but this speech demonstrates with great clarity the power of story telling.

2. She uses props. To chart the progress of her story, she uses a series of chairs. She builds suspense as she works her way down the row of chairs. I found myself wondering what she would say when she got to the last chair.

Janine also uses hand-held props — drinking straws — to demonstrate one of her key points. Prior to the speech, she has handed out straws to her audience members, and she uses that prop to re-emphasize her message at the end of the talk.

3. She uses physical movement and visual variety. She stands behind a chair. She sits on a chair. She leans on a chair. She walks. The variety helps the audience stay engaged.

4. She smiles. Even though Janine is telling a moving and difficult story, she smiles often and uses humor.

5. She cries. At one point, Janine reaches the emotional climax of her talk and she lets us see tears in her eyes and her mouth tighten. Emotions are powerful tools for speakers, but she maintains her composure and continues with her talk.

6. She connects her story to her key message at the end of the talk. Her conclusion ties all the pieces of her tale together into a package that she presents to the audience.

I encourage you to listen to this Ted Talk and to learn from it.

And thank you, Janine, for such a fine and moving speech.

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 audience.  He trashed them and wrote his own script.

Then, just last month, before the Republican National Convention, he bypassed two speeches written for him by other writers. Together with his chief strategist Stuart Stevens, he crafted his own acceptance speech for the GOP nomination.

As a speechwriter, I don’t like hearing stories like these. But I understand why they happen.

Give Romney credit

First, let me say I applaud Mitt Romney for being so heavily involved in his most high profile speeches. It’s in his best interests to do so. Some of the most effective speakers – Martin Luther King, Winston Churchill, and former GE executive Jack Welch – were highly involved in crafting their own spoken words.

My guess is that Romney’s would-be speechwriters got little to no face-time with him to capture his voice and truly understand him as a politician and a leader. No speechwriter can channel a speaker without being thoroughly familiar with him or her.

When I sign on with a new client, I tell them up-front that I need to be able to spend time in their presence. I need to go to their speeches and hear then talk. I need to look at videos of previous presentations or press conferences or anything that shows the client speaking. And I need to look at printed remarks “as given” – not “as written.”

If possible, I like to attend meetings where the client is a participant. All of these techniques help me to write in a way that not only carries key messages, it also sounds like the person giving the speech.

Do what it takes & be creative

Other speechwriters have resorted to more extreme methods of capturing the essence of their speaker. The ones who have made the most headway have become close confidants of their client.

For most speechwriters, it’s a never-ending struggle to step inside the mind and voice of a speaker.  Public speaking is usually not a high priority for executives and many leaders. Often, gatekeepers keep writers at bay and others may be threatened by anyone who tries to get close to the head honcho.

My best advice is to keep at it and be creative.  It will be worth it to your speaker, and you will have made yourself invaluable to your organization.

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 the world or that there’s an endless 24-hour news cycle. It’s because nothing is or has ever been “off the record.”

In fact, there’s no such thing, especially if you’re running for president, if you are the president or if you are the future Queen of England. You’re always on display; you’re always being recorded and you’re always being photographed. Public figures like the ones mentioned here have given up all rights to privacy. Their every move, word and action are under scrutiny.

That’s why every high profile public figure should consider the impact of his or her words and/or actions should they appear on the evening news or the latest Twitter feed.  Surely, the handlers of each of these famous people have told them to beware. Surely.

This warning – that absolutely nothing is “off the record” – isn’t just for past, current or future world leaders.  It’s an admonition for anyone in the public eye.

When I was handling media relations for corporations and governments, I made it a point to remind executives that everything they said could end up in the newspaper. Even if they had told a reporter a piece of information was off the record, that reporter could get the same thing from another source who wouldn’t impose any restrictions.

The bottom line is – if you don’t want something to make it into the public sphere – don’t say it or do it. That’s a lesson learned the hard way by Romney, Obama, Bush and Middleton.

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 offer their comments strictly in the spirit of improving public discourse and speech communication.

A checklist and a critique

Dorothy Crenshaw gives a valuable checklist for all speakers in How to Give a Killer Speech. I especially like her reminder to “always pack your own parachute.” When I accompany speakers to events, I always carry a backup copy of their speech, just in case. All presenters should do likewise.

Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Stu Bykofsky says Mitt Romney missed a golden opportunity to connect with the electorate. I don’t get the impression that Romney is comfortable in his own skin — or the skin he feels he has to wear — and that translates into wooden performances at the microphone.

Joseph Romm, author of “Language Intelligence: Lessons on Persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln & Lady Gaga,” says Romney, his wife Ann and his running mate Paul Ryan each failed to get the job done when they spoke. And he called out convention planners for neglecting to coordinate the messages of all speakers, resulting in incongruency from the podium.

Speaking as art and science

I appreciate Greta Stahl’s statement that good speeches are both an art and a science. I don’t think I’ve ever thought of speeches as scientific endeavors, but she’s right in pointing out that they start with a premise and then you build words around that premise. Greta believes Bill Clinton is a master at this art and science.

Even Marketplace, the public radio business and economics program, used the convention speeches as a springboard for a story about the importance of solid speaking skills in the business world.

Folks tend to dread the party conventions because they usually drone on for hours with little excitement. But I’ll say this for them, they put a national focus on public speaking. And Speechwonk that I am, anytime that happens, I consider it a good thing.

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 and cheered again;

For they gave him twenty minutes and he finished up in ten.

The Skiff, 1955

This little ditty may be almost 60 years old, but the message is still valid. Speakers should be considerate of their audiences and make their remarks short.

Many venues allot 30 or 40 minutes for speakers, but I always recommend that my clients speak no longer than 20 minutes. Likewise, if you’re given 20 minutes on the program, try to wind it up in 10 or 15.

For one thing, audience attention spans are short, especially in the western world. Don’t expect your listeners to hang on your words for very long. Invariably, they will start thinking about what they’re going to have for supper or about the vacation to the beach they just enjoyed.

Give your audience — and you — a break

Another reason for brevity is that unless audience members are taking notes, they’re unlikely to remember your key messages if you speak for a long time. Keeping it short means you can focus on two or three key points. The result will be a greater impact.

Remember in high school when you took a test with essay questions? Remember how you thought you could wow the teacher with lots of words – even if you didn’t know the right answer? She probably saw right through you.

The same is true for audience members. They aren’t wowed by lots of words. They’re wowed by carefully chosen, concise words that drive home the message you’re trying to convey. When it comes to public speaking, less is better.

For more tips on how to keep your audience engaged, I recommend a blog post by Claudyne Wilder of Wilder Presentations.

“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 is known internationally for her expertise in producing quality speeches, coaching speakers and teaching others to replicate her methods.

Because her seminar was in Philadelphia, and I had come from Austin, I won the prize for having traveled the longest distance to attend the class. My prize was a book titled “It’s Not What You Say, It’s How You Say It,” one of several books Joan has written on the topic.

I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that I am just now getting around to reading it, because it is a treasure trove of information. Every speaker and speechwriter, as Terrence McCann says, should have it in their library. It’s packed with interesting anecdotes, colorful quotes and checklists for every imaginable speaking situation.

Ten things you will never hear from an audience

One of my favorite lists is the “Ten things you will never hear from an audience.” As in: “It’s okay if you bore us to death — really.” How many times have I carped on that one?

There are things in this book I haven’t seen in any other how-to guides — like assessing your vocal skills. Joan provides tips on how to gauge the sound of your voice, the rate at which you speak, and whether you use a lot of non-words (“uh,”  “like,” “you know.”) She also gives suggestions on what to do if you get laryngitis or need to line up a substitute speaker.

Not surprisingly, she talks a lot about how important it is to rehearse your speech. Some of history’s most noted speakers — President Bill Clinton and the Greek orator Demosthenes — insisted on practicing. The activist Abbie Hoffman used to practice his speeches by shouting out a window to a pair of llamas grazing in a nearby field.

I’m sorry, but no

The book is not all about public speaking. There are some practical guidelines on plain old human discourse — like how to apologize and how to say “no.”

And there’s a wonderful appendix in the back listing books of quotations, anecdotes, eulogies, historical information and scads of other library essentials for speakers and their writers. This section will help folks adhere to producer George M. Cohan’s admonition: “Whatever you do, kid, always serve it with a little dressing.”

“It’s Not What You Say” is the turkey and the stuffing, the salad and the vinaigrette, the bread and the jam. It’s available on Amazon.

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 had never written a speech, was hired to write for Nixon after he won the 1968 election. He got to work with such luminaries as William Safire and Pat Buchanan.

It was Safire who told Gavin, who later went on to write for President Ronald Reagan, that a key to good speechwriting was to “get to the point.”  Gavin also learned that he not only had to give Nixon what he wanted in a speech, his job was to tell Nixon what he needed in a speech.  A good speechwriter, he learned, serves as not only a scribe, but an advisor.

Gavin has written a book about his 30-year career as a speechwriter titled Speechwright: An Insider’s Take on Political Rhetoric. It’s worth a look.

T-Shirt blurbs for speechwriters

Akash Karia assembles a series of posters with advice for speechwriters. I think each of them would make good material for T-shirts.

They offer sage advice. My favorite, of course, is the quote by Winston Churchill. The man was a master at word images.

” There are two things more difficult than making an after-dinner speech:
Climbing a wall which is leaning toward you and kissing a girl who is leaning away from you.”

Winston Churchill

When it comes to webinars…

…PowerPoint is more than okay. It’s essential. How else are you going to provide lots of information to folks tuning in to your session on their computer?

Julie Newman, a communications consultant, offers good advice on how to create a winning webinar slide presentation. And she provides great tips on post-webinar followup.

Teleprompters: They're not just for Presidents

When last we met, I reported on the 2012 Ragan Speechwriters and Executive Communicators Conference in Washington.  I wasn’t the only blogger at the conference and I wanted to share with you comments from other speechwriters who attended.

Ian Griffin reported on a presidential speechwriters panel in which former White House scribes talked about the 2012 campaign. I completely agree with Chriss Winston’s comments about how the Republican candidates are more focused on each other and the process than they are on the issues that voters are concerned about.

Deja vu all over again

That seems to happen in every election cycle. The candidates, their strategists, the media, and the pundits get caught up in a tornado of criticism and analysis that sucks everything else out of the campaign.

Reminds me of a time I went to the Humane Society to adopt a dog. I found a splendid border collie who spent all his time barking at the other dogs and could barely focus on charming me. I had to get him away from the shelter to find out what a fine fellow he was.

Kate Middleton, please don’t read

There was also some talk at the conference about teleprompters – of course – since President Obama uses them often. As Nick Morgan points out, there’s no shame in using a teleprompter, especially if you’re the leader of the free world and you make multiple speeches a day.

Teleprompters used to be so expensive that only heads of state and other deep pockets could afford them. But now, they’re easily affordable for almost any speaker. I’m sure money was not an issue for Kate Middleton in her first public speech a few days ago. A teleprompter would have helped her delivery immensely.