How to Write a Presidential Speech
If you were a fan of the award-winning TV show The West Wing, you know that aides charged with responsibility for drafting President Jeb Bartlett's speeches were constantly on the spot to pull together the right mix of words and phrases, and do it on the fly. While you might not be writing for POTUS, your ability to craft a coherent message on behalf of a corporate or service club president is just as important as drafting language for the nation's Chief Executive. Sure, it's daunting, but if you listen carefully to what the president wants to say and feel confident about how she expects it to sound, you're on your way to mastering the art of speech writing--one president at a time.
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Instructions
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Sit down and discuss with the president what he hopes to gain by making the speech. Is the objective political? Informational? Are you being asked to articulate the president's need to mend fences, explain an unpopular position or put a verbal bandage on unflattering rumors? Your understanding of why the speech is to be written will go a long way to helping you create a good draft the first time around.
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Assess the audience and write to that demographic. Targeting a presidential speech to the military requires different language than one drafted to motivate a sale work force so they produce better numbers for a company. Additionally, people who attain the title of of president always know the tone they want to evoke, so listen carefully, ask questions or seek clarification if you're foggy about a directive.
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Begin the writing process by summing up the overall message you plan to convey in one sentence. This can be tricky, but once you get the hang of it, you'll find your writing to be more precise. Seasoned writers agree that until the heart of a speech can be boiled down to a single sentence, it's not ready to be written.
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List talking points. This list should come directly from your meeting with the president. If you're writing a speech that's to run less than 15 minutes, stick with one or two talking points; if you have a longer window of opportunity, adjust the talking points accordingly. You'll need to find a good balance between too many talking points and too few--a task that continues to plague even seasoned speech writers.
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Grab your audience by the back of the neck, metaphorically, when crafting the speech's opening statement. The president must get the attention of listeners immediately in a dramatic, compelling way. Bold introductory statements such as, "I'm here to tell you how we're going to move beyond the current state of..." and "You've turned to me for decisions on how to...and I'm here to tell you that I have the answers that will help get us through this dilemma" clearly state the reason for the speech and help listeners understand where the message is going.
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Continue to use talking points as the skeleton on which to hang the flesh of the speech. Sprinkle in facts, figures and pertinent examples to support the talking points. Anecdotal vignettes put a "human face" on sub-topics explored by the president over the course of the speech, so be certain opportunities aren't wasted when you refine and adjust the copy.
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Write a closing statement that is as powerful as the introduction you've created. It should wrap up the talking points and remind the audience of why the speech was given. Auxiliary to providing a wrap-up, the concluding paragraph should send a strong message of reassurance, strength, certainty and resolution. Closing statements are often the words for which a president is remembered long after the speech has been delivered, so keep this in mind.
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Include a call to action at the end of every presidential speech you write. Tell the audience what you want them to do now that the president has delivered his message. Ask for audience response--emails, feedback, suggestions--anything that offers an opportunity for attendees to respond to a presidential call-to-action.
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Present your draft speech to the president. Double-space hard copy to leave room for edits or send it via electronic mail and ask recipients to use software markup tools to indicate desired changes.
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Revise and re-send successive drafts to the president, understanding that this first speech writing job is going to be the hardest of all. Once you get the hang of what the president wants, you'll be able to comply quickly and efficiently in the future.
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