Even though he wasn’t taking about speech types, business advisor Somers White once said that 90% of how well a speech goes is determined before the speaker steps on the platform, moves to the dais, steps in front of a microphone, and opens his or her mouth. Preparation is critical, which means speech writing is…
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One reason stories are so effective is because, when presented with conviction, enthusiasm, and clarity, they are memorable—and you need a speech to be memorable because people have short attention spans. According to Gloria Mark, a psychologist and the chancellor’s professor of informatics at the University of California, Irvine, attention spans have been shrinking over…
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A recent newsletter I received from Ally Machate, who runs a editing and marketing firm, mentioned three costly mistakes authors make when publishing. The first mistake is rushing to publish without proper editing. “Skipping professional editing might save time (and money in the short term),” she writes, “but it often lead to … negative reviews.”…
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Ninth in an occasional series about compelling stories and ideas worth telling. Have you ever been in a relationship with a con artist? Did you lose a lot of money? Did you try to get him or her back, against your better judgment? Did that con artist try to kill you? Did you survive and…
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I have long believed that critical thinking is a skill that is lost among much of the population. People who can think critically can evaluate information and decide if it’s true, false, necessary, or unnecessary. They can take that information and make better judgments and hold well-informed opinions. That seems to be disappearing in society,…
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Here’s a story about stories. I recently gave a speech at a networking group of which I have been a member for eight years (and am quitting this month, but that’s not important right now). I had 10 minutes to talk about ghostwriting, since we were expected to talk about our business. I had previously…
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Eighth in an occasional series about stories and ideas worth telling. Everybody, brothers included, makes choices, and there always are repercussions and consequences of the choices everybody makes. One can choose to live near nature, hear the sounds of birds and insects chirping; enjoy the clean, crisp air, and feel peace—and be susceptible to wild…
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I’m going to begin by stating something incredibly obvious: Words matter in speeches. Trust a speech writer in NYC. Duh, I hear you thinking. Fair enough, let me continue. A speech should be written concisely, meaning the speaker gets up, gets it done quickly, and gets out. That means the speaker (and by extension, the…
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To AI or not to AI, that is the question. See what I did? I, a human, took something famous written by another human and put a twist on it. I wanted to see if I could get AI to write the same line, so I went to ChatGPT and asked it to “Take Shakespeare’s…
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As a ghostwriter, the copy is everything. If the client doesn’t like what’s been written, it’s going to be a longer, less enjoyable process. Or worse, the client will walk. This means that the copy has to sing. It has to wow. It has to excite the client. Mastering your essay writing can in turn…
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