Panel: Tips for writing your best “big speech”

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Whether you’ve been asked to write a commencement or a convention speech, this panel of experienced speechwriters will share how best to understand the audience, define a speaker’s main message and work under a time crunch.

Key Highlights:

  • Determine what really matters to your audience so you can craft language and content that will strike a chord with them
  • Research the topic and be prepared to bring interesting facts, figures and anecdotes to the table to liven up the speech
  • Have the speaker define his/her goals and audience takeaways in simple terms
  • Decide how you’re going to organize the speech, establishing a hook and revolving the speech around the speaker’s focal point
  • Elana Aptowitzer
    Head of Speechwriting
    Department of National Defense
  • Mark Isaacson
    Director of executive communications
    National Association of Manufacturers
  • Rob Friedman
    Affiliate consultant
    Ragan Consulting Group
  • Karen Wing
    Exec Comm Writer/Editor
    Penn State University
  • Daron Christopher
    Speechwriter
    Project Management Institute