Speechwriting for Campus Leaders: Tips for New or Occasional Speechwriters

Last updated June 1, 2015

Course Length

1h 28m

Last Updated

June 1, 2015

Speechwriting for Campus Leaders: Tips for New or Occasional Speechwriters

Last updated June 1, 2015

Overview

Once you have defined your institution’s strategic messages and found your leader’s voice, the next task for your speechwriting assignment is to get words on the page. But knowing how to keep your listeners’ attention can be especially challenging when you aren’t a full-time speechwriter.

Join our expert instructor, Chuck Toney, online for easy-to-implement tips on how to effectively incorporate technical and rhetorical tactics into your next speechwriting assignment. You will learn how to prepare the physical text of the speech and how to add impact through devices such as repetition, alliteration, rhythm, and emphasis. You will also leave the session with three types of speeches every campus speechwriter should have ready for delivery.

Agenda

  • The importance of public speaking, strategic messages, and speaker voice
  • The challenges of speechwriting
    • Maintaining consistency of style and message across multiple venues
    • Surviving the review process
    • Integrating PowerPoint
    • Writing for emotional events
    • Using humor
  • Technical aspects of speechwriting, with examples
    • Understanding the importance of physical text
    • Accommodating speaker preferences
    • Using preparation and lead time
    • Meeting with your leader beforehand – what you need to cover
    • Rehearsing – necessary or not?
    • Timing a speech
    • Realizing that it’s not about you
  • Rhetorical devices in speechwriting, with examples
    • Repetition
    • Alliteration
    • Rhythm
    • Emphasis