Stepping to a podium, I have always kept the thought in mind that the most meaningful outcome is for the audience to remember how they FELT about what words they heard, more so than RECALL of all the words themselves. Those feelings will stay with them far longer than their recollection of the detailed content. What I learned from Jim's forensics of this speech is how powerfully effective the call-and-response phrases are in securing those feelings in minds. Thank you!
One of the lessons I've learned — when giving speeches, and writing them, and listening to them — is that an audience will remember AT MOST one idea or point from a speech. Therefore you want to be crystal-clear about *what* that point is.
"What I'm telling you today is .... " Or the old three-step formula for a speech:
1) Tell them what you're going to say
2) Say it
3) Tell them what you said
In parallel, you're wanting to guide how they *feel* while listening. Sometimes the two are separate. (People were usually rapt while listening to Bill Clinton riff , but they wouldn't recite what he'd actually been talking about.) The goal is when they're combined.
Bush and his speechwriters understood the power of brevity if the words used are well-chosen. Some occasions, like Gettysburg, demand this type of speech. Kudos.
Stepping to a podium, I have always kept the thought in mind that the most meaningful outcome is for the audience to remember how they FELT about what words they heard, more so than RECALL of all the words themselves. Those feelings will stay with them far longer than their recollection of the detailed content. What I learned from Jim's forensics of this speech is how powerfully effective the call-and-response phrases are in securing those feelings in minds. Thank you!
Bruce, thank you.
One of the lessons I've learned — when giving speeches, and writing them, and listening to them — is that an audience will remember AT MOST one idea or point from a speech. Therefore you want to be crystal-clear about *what* that point is.
"What I'm telling you today is .... " Or the old three-step formula for a speech:
1) Tell them what you're going to say
2) Say it
3) Tell them what you said
In parallel, you're wanting to guide how they *feel* while listening. Sometimes the two are separate. (People were usually rapt while listening to Bill Clinton riff , but they wouldn't recite what he'd actually been talking about.) The goal is when they're combined.
As you know!
Great tutelage!
Bush and his speechwriters understood the power of brevity if the words used are well-chosen. Some occasions, like Gettysburg, demand this type of speech. Kudos.
Finally analysis of Presidential speech-writing more informed than Aaron Sorkin's.
Bill, thanks! It's a niche field, as you know.