The Lost Art of the Great Speech: How to Write It * How to Deliver It

Speakers, speech writers in short supply

Despite the many advantages of learning the craft of speech making, good speakers are in short supply. Exaggerated fear of facing an audience, lack of confidence, concern about selecting a subject—these and other problems, both real and imagined, conspire to keep many capable people in the audience rather than at the lectern.

In the business world today, good speech writers are much in demand. Busy executives often turn to speech writers for help, either because they themselves are not good writers or because they just don't have time to devote to writing their own speeches. Many large corporations employ full-time speech writers, who are well-paid, respected, and have the ear of management. Other companies ...