From the monthly archives:

June 2010

Speechwriters and speakers should “die harder”

by Cynthia J. StarksJune 28, 2010

I caught the original Die Hard movie on TV the other day, and remembered why I love it. First, there’s a young, virile Bruce Willis (with hair) – so cool, so tough, so much the hero. Sigh… Then, there’s the plot – so simple it’s genius. On Christmas Eve, NYPD Detective John McClane visits his [...]

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Evaluate the speechwriter? Eeek!

by Cynthia J. StarksJune 22, 2010

It’s something I should have done a long time ago, but I confess I never have. What is it?  Ask my clients to evaluate my services after I’ve written a speech for them. I know it’s the right thing to do in an uber-competitive, consumer-driven, customer-feedback world. And I know it’s the professional thing to [...]

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A speechwriter asks: Why cite successes of WW II and space program in Gulf disaster speech?

by Cynthia J. StarksJune 17, 2010

I must confess I wasn’t thrilled when I heard President Obama’s Tuesday night speech on the Gulf oil disaster. But today, when I actually read the full speech, I thought much better of it. We’ve all been there, haven’t we? As speechwriters, we compose some mighty fine prose, but sometimes “between the idea and the [...]

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Speechwriter reflects on where life takes us

by Cynthia J. StarksJune 12, 2010

The other night I watched a PBS special featuring a singing group called 4Troops, made up of four Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans. While on the front lines in Iraq, Meredith Melcher’s ambulance platoon successfully evacuated hundreds of injured Americans and Iraqis to higher levels of medical treatment. She is 29. David Clemo, 30, first [...]

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A speechwriter asks: How much research is too much?

by Cynthia J. StarksJune 6, 2010

These days, I seem to be having trouble saying “enough is enough” to myself when it comes to doing research for a speech. Do you have this problem too? I recently was hired to write a speech on the “The Future of Work,” for the head of HR at a global corporation. The speech is [...]

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