Readers tell me they enjoy my website, and keep coming back, because of the free advice they find. This is presented in my blog, my free articles on public speaking, sales presentations, customer service and leadership. If you have not downloaded my 11 Mistakes Salespeople Make in Their Presentations…click now!
Finding a speaker’s ‘voice’ is the key to great speechwriting
By Ian Griffin
Capture your orator’s meaning and cadence through familiarity and a few essential guidelines
Veteran speechwriter Hal Gordon says that speechwriters need to know three things—the speaker, the audience, and the subject. Knowing the speaker means, among other things, being aware of how they speak: How they form their words and their cadence when they address an audience.
If a writer can do this, then he or she has captured the speaker’s “voice.” The speech sounds like it is the speaker’s own, not the words of a professional writer. This is a difficult challenge for many.
True professionals are justifiably proud of their ability to write in a speaker’s voice.
Ted Sorensen: JFK’s Counselor
Ted Sorensen, JFK’s speechwriter and counselor, declined to write speeches for anyone else after he left the White House. He states that he could not write for “a stranger calling me up on the phone.”
Sorensen explains, “For 11 years I was with JFK day and night. I knew what he thought and what he said on almost every subject…We traveled all 50 states together. We ate together, we lived together. We formed a bond.” The result was that “I knew what he wanted to say and how he wanted to say it on virtually every topic.” Indeed, the mind meld was so complete that no one “could determine then—and certainly cannot now—which words in a final draft had originally been his and which were mine.”
An admiring Richard Nixon, of all people, told an interviewer in 1962 that “Sorensen…has the rare gift of being an intellectual who can completely sublimate his style to another individual.”
In the absence of this extremely close personal bond, what is a speechwriter to do?
Ground rules
The first rule is to avoid the temptation to try to sneak something of your own into a speech. Make sure nothing gets into a speech that the speaker does not want to say. This might mean saying “no” to some important people in the organization.
Once you’ve controlled the content, the next challenge is to get the “feel” of the speaker.
It’s a lot easier if, like Sorensen, you have direct access to the executive or politician you are writing for. Traveling with an executive—whether in the corporate jet or on the drive to the auditorium—is invaluable. It’s also easier to spend quality time if you have a staff position as opposed to freelancing with a new client.
Homework
Both freelance writers and staffers must do their homework. Start by reading as many of the speaker’s past speeches as you can find. Better yet, search for video and audio on the Web and in podcasts.
Learn to write in someone’s voice and, essentially, you’ve learned to imitate them. It means avoiding anything that would be discordant, either for them to read or for the audience to hear.
The writer needs to be fully aware of the speaker’s background and characteristics. This might be one or more of the following:
Accent: Many non-native English speakers (and even a few native-born ones) have difficulty with certain words. Learn which ones might cause problems and avoid them.
Emotion: Be aware of the emotional challenge that certain situations might present. Chriss Winston, a member of George H.W. Bush’s speechwriting team, tells of the time Bush had to deliver a eulogy for 47 sailors killed in an explosion on the USS Iowa. The writers had built a number of emotional peaks into the address. Bush’s eyes filled with tears as he came to those passages, and he had to skip them and move on.
Origin: Speakers from the American South obviously speak in a different manner to that of New Englanders. Speakers born outside the United States will have a distinctive style. Having emigrated from the U.K. in the 1970s, I’m well aware that, as George Bernard Shaw said, “England and America are two countries separated by a common language.”
If you are writing for a speaker from overseas, you have the dual responsibility of writing in their voice while not confusing the audience. Be careful about letting your British-born speaker tell an American audience that we are “batting on a sticky wicket” or of letting an American named, say, Randolph Scott, start a speech in the UK with the words “Hi, I’m Randy…”
Education: Overly literate speechwriters should avoid the temptation of larding a speech with flowery language and pretentious expressions. Highly educated speakers and subject experts should use language the audience will understand, even if it’s below their own grade level.
As with much of the craft of speechwriting, if you succeed in finding your speaker’s voice, no one will ever know of the work you do. Nor should they.
Ian Griffin is a corporate speechwriter. This is not the same as a speech coach. Ian and I are happy to discuss the difference.
Ian Griffin is a freelance speechwriter. His blog is a Fripp recommendation.
Read More...This came up in my Google Alerts for my brother Robert Fripp on Guitar Column.
Robert Fripp, more famously known as the guitarist of King Crimson, is a musical iconoclast. His philosophical approach to guitar playing and guitar education gives us much needed food for thought, far removed from the humdrum of just pickin’ and grinnin’..
“Music so wishes to be heard that it sometimes calls on unlikely characters to give it voice”
“Most people involved in music have experienced, at least once, what happens when music comes alive. It’s as if one is living for the first time”
“By developing a relationship with music, it becomes available to the musician all the time… like a friend”
“It would be truer to say that the music creates the musician, than the musician creates the music”
“I continue to develop my attention to be relaxed, to be in a place where music can more freely play the human instrument”
“The discipline of being a musician and the discipline of being a human being are exactly the same. There is no contradiction”
“I’m primarily a Gibson Les Paul player. A Strat is an entirely different instrument. It requires a different vocabulary, a different approach — a different way of living actually”
“Almost anyone can get a good sound out of an electric guitar. Not almost anyone can get a good sound out of an acoustic”
“Are we aware of what it means to be inside our left hand? If the little finger keeps pointing at the sky, it’s fairly obvious we have no relationship with our left hand”
“We should only put the fingers on the strings, and we never take them off — we release them. To take the fingers off is a separate command. The difference is very subtle”
“Within an orchestral context I severely doubt if members of the orchestra can hear each other. So it becomes critically important to follow the conductor.”
“How awful that the only person expressing himself is the composer, with the conductor as the chief of police and the musicians as sequencers”
“A good personality, even a strong personality is important to the performer. The personality, in a sense, is an organ through which we live our lives. But to attach any more importance to it than to another organ is silly”
“This may sound strange but for someone to flatter me doesn’t touch me, because it’s unreal”
“When I came to live in New York I had three rules: ride on public transport, do my own laundry, and do my own grocery shopping. I’m nervous about one’s life becoming distant by limousines and first-class travel”
“I have heard of some players that alter their tunings regularly in order to keep themselves fresh”
Robert Fripp speaking engagements
Read More...Executive speech coach's 15 techniques to present online.
As corporate training budgets are reduced Webinars are being more and more popular.
My Fripp Associate Tom Drews is an expert in presenting online and through Webinars. He is the go-to guy with Fripp clients need to learn the RIGHT way to engage an audience when they are in different locations. Tom effectively uses this format with his sales conversations.
Taking the best ideas Tom has taught me, added them to Fripp presentation techniques, and here you have the July 7 lead article in eLearn magazine.
15 Tips for Webinars: How to Add Impact When You Present Online by Patricia Fripp.
Enjoy. Let us know if you want to talk to Tom Drews about helping you win sales, nurture relationships, and extend your brand by presenting on-line!
Read the article here http://elearnmag.org/subpage.cfm?section=best_practices&article=56-1
Last week I received an email asking, “I would like to know your rates and process for executive speech coaching.” I responded, “That all depends on my client’s situation. Our first logical step is to have a conversation. Based on your experience and budget I can advise you.”
Next, she admitted she wanted to do the same…be an executive speech coach. In case you are interested, this is what I wrote back. The advice would be true for ANY service you are offering.
1. Do you have the expertise? It is not the same skill helping someone write and deliver THEIR message as it is to give your own speech.
2. Are people already asking for this specific service from you already?
3. You promote executive speech coaching in the same way as any other business.
4. Fee…what do you charge for your other services? It should be in line with you other offerings.
What I did not tell her…I became a speech coach for other speakers, executives, and celebrities after over 20 years of presenting to audiences in many industries, of all sizes, in 48 states, and on several continents. At that point, I had heavily invested in other highly priced and very experienced speech coaches. (Two of them, now retired, send all their inquiries to me.) Over the years, I have studied through coaches, teachers, and classes about screen writing, comedy, marketing, sales, copy writing, and some acting. Each time I ask, “How does this relate to more effectively relating to an audience and giving a speech?”
Every time I go to a Las Vegas show, (which is often!), I ask, “What can I learn from what these performers do that will help speakers?” For example, every Las Vegas singer will open and close their show with their best songs.
In case you are wondering, “How does this relate to my presentation?” On two different occasions at National Speakers Association seminars, I have interviewed Paul Richards, of California Guitar Trio, on how they put together their “set.” Paul told us, “There is a lot of variety. You appeal to your long time fans, newer fans, and first-time attendees. You play what they want to hear (your “hits”) and also your new songs in order to sell the new CD! Paul, Bert, and Hideyo met on a retreat with my brother, Robert Fripp, of King Crimson fame. None come from California!
My brother, who is a legendary guitarist (42nd best in the world according to Rolling Stone magazine), says a performer has to be, “Reliable, Repeatable, and Responsible. Each time they walk on stage it is as if it is for the first time. An assumption of innocence within a context of experience.” That is exactly the same for a presenter.
Will my email sender put up her shingle as a speech coach? Who knows? I am not quaking with fear at the thought of another competitor! However, as I mentioned to my attendees at the Patricia Fripp Speaking School, “To teach others to be better presenters you do not have to be the BEST speech coach…you just have to know MORE than they do.”
If you want to get to the next level of your presentation skills, why not attend the Patricia Fripp and Darren LaCroix Coaching Camp at Lake Las Vegas August 1-2.
To watch Darren invite me to be part of his free “Get Paid to Speak” Internet TV
Read More...Getting paid to speak by next week: how do you get your first engagements?
Then, once you are getting booked how do you get invited back?
These were the topics on my event with Darren LaCroix.
Do you dream of becoming a professional speaker?
Do you want to get paid for your talks?
Do you want to market your business through speaking at service clubs?
After all, that is exactly the way your scribe Patricia Fripp started her journey to become a professional speaker when I was San Francisco’s top men’s hairstylist. For fifteen years I was solidly booked yet had to build the business for my staff who were not the shameless self promoters I was!
One of my partners in World Champions Edge, Darren LaCroix who was the Toastmasters International 2001 World Champion has a great service for new and emerging professional speakers “Get Paid to Speak TV.”
On Thursday, June 25 I was his guest. Check out the recording!Recording:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1712133
If you enjoy it you can watch Darren’s past events. Next time I will be with Darren for this FREE event is Friday, August 21. Our initial topic before we answer questions is “How to sell from the stage…without selling from the stage.”
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Prospecting Tips for a Slow Economy
Frequently I am asked, “How can I prospect for more business?”
My favorite Frippicisim: It is not your clients’ and prospects’ job to remember you. It is your obligation and responsibility to make sure they don’t forget you.
Here is some practical advice that works for any industry.
1. Don’t overlook the obvious. Go through your address book, data base,
Christmas card list and confirm everybody you know is familiar with your profession,
what your specialty is, and who is the perfect prospect for you to best serve.
2. If you used to work in another industry, update your satisfied clients that you can
still serve them in this different capacity.
3. Keep in touch with your present clients more frequently. Not just asking
for referrals. The better your relationship with them the more they will want to send
you new prospects.
4. One of my friends in the advertising specialty business had a very creative office
décor. Anyone who had seen it raved about it. Going up in the elevator of his building
of 22 floors I had a conversation with a fellow passenger. I asked, “Do you work in this
building or are you visiting?” He mentioned he had worked there for 2 years. I inquired
if he had ever heard of my friend Jonathan and his unique and memorable office. He
said “No.” My recommendation to my friend and everyone else who works in a large
building is to every few months go from floor to floor, office to office, and introduce yourself to your neighbors. You could well quadruple your business close to home.
5. Don’t forget to work on your sales presentation skills! That is something I can help you with!
Why come come to my June 29-30 Speaking School in Las Vegas?
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You may have read about my brother Robert Fripp performing in Estonia for the celebration of their independence. I read this on his wife Toyah’s blog. Excuse me for being a proud sister-in-law, but is amazing, beautiful, and multifaceted in her talent. She can sing, act, write, be an amazing talk show guest or host. Her stage performances have been delighting audiences for thirty years. She started performing in her teens and has been in movies with Sir Laurence Olivier and Katherine Hepburn.
“WE ARE THE HUMANS” BLOG – MAY 2009
Hello my friends,
I’m just between flights from Estonia and Gran Canaria!
The last month has been extraordinary. The filming of THE POWER OF THREE went from strength to strength, I even started to get film offers from productions over Europe asking me to fly out and do a few days filming whilst still commited to PO3! The team where brilliant, Mikolaj Jaroszewicz the Director of Photography created wonders on a budget of pounds. The first AD Stephanie Zari kept us all to time and my fellow actors (including myself) GAVE BLOOD! Rumour has it the ‘rushes’ are splendid and the director Yvonne Deutschman is off to Cannes on the 15th May! I pray she kicks as much butt as she did on set and a little bit more.
The last week has been a pure joy. Bill Rieflin, Robert Fripp, Chris Wong and myself all met in Tartu, Estonia on the 26th April where we had a week’s rehearsal before performing THE HUMANS album, in it’s complete form for the President and the First Lady at Tartu University. Robert was with us to open the show with his ‘soundscapes’, but it became evident on the first days rehearsal he was intending to play the whole of THE HUMANS set too. This is partly down to the calming effect of BILL. Bill has the presence of a ‘kindly father’; when he is not being manically scary, he and Robert are like brothers. I don’t think I could have encouraged Robert to play the whole set unless I had a spare million to give away but Bill managed it without even being aware of it!
The sound was awesome. It added a whole new dimension. I created THE HUMANS because I wanted a project that Bill and I could work on but also, because I wanted tonal space so my voice would sit on it’s own without competing with guitars and keyboards. So THE HUMANS consist mainly of bass, vocal and sound effects. Robert added another tonal dimension that didn’t venture into my vocal range, he added a commentary to my vocal lines. Apart from rehearsing the set daily, (some days we ran the set four times) we ate a lot of cheesecake. Tartu is renowned for cheesecake. Bill, Robert, Wongy, ‘Trev the sound’ and myself can eat cake till the sun sets.
We always knew we where playing for the President but what we didn’t know was we where going to be in the same hotel and dining with him. On the Wednesday the secret service arrived at the hotel, checking it out and us too. We had probably been well ‘checked out’ before we left our countries of residence. I found these men on the roof and in the corridors very amusing, they all talked into their shirt pockets and wrist cuffs but never cracked a smile. Soon the bulletproof limo arrived and the hotel was buzzing with excitement. On Thursday evening, at the hotel, THE HUMANS had dinner with the President and the First Lady plus the Estonian Ambassidor for England, the Minister of Justice and Robert Fripp. The President is a huge Fripp fan which is partly why we were all there to perform.
I gave the President a HUMANS CD. He was very, very happy that is says ‘written and performed in Estonia’. This is an immensely proud country, which has fought for it’s independence from Russia and to have musicians visit and site it for the inspiration for a whole album really means something. I sat next to the President all evening and his last remark got a huge laugh (and I’m sure it was a joke) “Toyah I’d like you to know I will not being hosting a dinner for Madonna when she visits later in the year!”
The show the next day started at midnight on Friday evening, it was too late in the day to be nervous, I could only be extremely excited. Our audience where mainly musicians invited to say thank you for being in Tartu for the Tartu Music Days festival. The President introduced us, which caused a stir because no one in the audience knew he would be there, and when he stood up from the front row and walked to my microphone there was a gasp from the assembled people.
AND the show itself? It was magical. At one point I caught the eye of the secret service men either side of the President, one winked at me and the other put his thumb up and smiled! At 1.15 am we received a 10 minute standing ovation. Congregating in the backstage area after our one and only encore available to us because we only rehearsed the album material, I asked Bill what where we going to do? They where clapping for more. So we went out, bowed and told them to go to bed!
Estonia is an extraordinary place, it has a magical resonance. I strongly recommend you visit it, take a good book and soak up the atmosphere, because it is a place to think and grow.
I hope all of you who have your HUMANS album by now, enjoy it thoroughly!
BE LOUD, BE PROUD, BE HEARD.
LOVE TOYAH
Receive free, on-going Fripp webinar invitations, sales and presentation skills information, and special discounts from Executive Speech Coach, Sales Presentation Trainer, and Professional Keynote Speaker, Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE. As an added bonus, sign up now and receive a free copy of Patricia Fripp’s How to Present and Teach in the Virtual World.
