It was a fun, easy read, full of anecdotes and helpful little tidbits for the speech writer.
She begins by saying that before you write a speech, you must first ask yourself, "What does this speech have to do? Every speech has a job a reason for being." Get a handle on the task at hand before writing a word.
Next, make it "speakable." Say the speech out loud. Too often, something beautiful on the page is too long and convoluted for a speech.
Couch big ideas in simple words. Great speaker are not great because their words flow. It's because they have great things to say, things about which they are passionate, things they love.
This means the most important part of a speech is its logic. Flowery words sound lovely, but are forgettable if there is no there there. It is beautiful language in service to a great idea that makes for memorable rhetoric.
This is a wonderful little resource for the rhetoric teacher who wants her students to speak well.
