Attending the Lawrence Ragan Communications Speechwriters Conference in the Mayflower Renaissance Hotel in Washington DC was an amazing experience for me. There were over 200 speechwriters there. The lectures were so detailed and analytical. It was a revelation.
Americans tend to be more responsive and articulate in seminars, and as speakers they are very polished. They speak the same language, but the culture and attitude to the world is very different.
I got an insight into American corporate culture from Linda Rutherford from Southwest Airlines. Because sales is fundamental to the Americans, they will go to great lengths to get their message out. Southwest Airlines has an internal speakers bureau, which arranges for company employees to go out and speak to schools and other organisations.
Hal Gordon, a former speechwriter for the President Reagan Administration and Colin Powell, gave a very inspiring talk about using stories in speeches. His tip was, save something good for the end. The end of your speech needs to get them applauding. He explained why Jesus used parables, and how we identify with different characters. One heckler suggested that Jesus used parables because he didn't have statistics. I found that amusing.
Bob Bostock, a speechwriter for former-New Jersey Governor Christie Whitman, talked about ghostwriting books and self-publishing. He had a refreshing no-nonsense approach to the hard work that goes into creating a book. After the lecture, we also shared notes on the decline of Conservatism in both our countries.
Drew Westen, Ph.D., gave an analysis of how to use emotions in speeches with reference to the forthcoming Presidential elections.
The Americans are very comfortable talking about feelings. Something the British avoid, especially when talking about politics. We were invited to investigate our feelings towards a party's principles, our feelings towards candidates, our feelings towards candidates' personal attributes, our feelings towards candidate's policies. Lastly we were asked to evaluate the facts about the candidate's policies.
Westen ended by quoting Ella Fitzgerald, "It don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that swing." You've got to connect with the feelings of the voters. Tony Blair was the master of that. New Labour understand the principles. They probably got it from the Clinton campaigns.
I enjoyed giving my presentation. I could give a few insights into the problems of being a freelance, which they appreciated and they laughed at my jokes. I was so grateful that they took the risk of asking me to speak. I've never been offered a gig of similar prestige in the UK.
Lawrence Ragan Communications would like to run speechwriting seminars in the UK, but I'm not convinced there would be a market for such events.
The British don't analyse things in the same way and they don't give the same emphasis to communication skills. The ritual of giving speeches is given great prominence in American society. My experience at university was that the standard of lecturing was appalling. In Anglican churches it is pretty dismal - and there is no pressure for clergy to improve. In business in the UK, it's regarded as showy and rather, well, American.
I enjoyed chatting to Hal Gordon, who seemed to have a very romantic view of the British political system. He writes a blog called The Speechwriter's Slant. I shall be a regular reader from now on.
Mark Ragan , the CEO of Lawrence Ragan Communcations, was a very charismatic host of the conference. He looks a bit like Michael Douglas. He shared his stories of his appeares as a speaker in the UK. In fact the thing about a speechwriting conference is that everyone tells stories, it seems the best speechwriters are compulsive anecdotalists!
Ragan run this conference every year in Washington. If you're at all interested in the art and practice of speechwriting I recommend going to this conference next year. Email David Murray for more information.
