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How to Make Dry Topics Interesting Again (Really!)
Your subject matter isn't boring. You've just forgotten why it matters.

Wherever you go in the world, speechwriters’ problems are the same.

Last week while teaching in Paris (lucky me!), I made a point I make to every speechwriter: it is vital to humanize the problem you’re describing and the solution you’re offering. As always, this question came in response: What about X? How do you humanize X?  

In this case, X was sustainability. The writer with this question said she had to demonstrate that certain programs ought to be adopted and, when adopted, that they performed to specification.

The conversation proceeded like this:

 

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“Why is sustainability important?” I said.

“It supports the environment,” she said.

“And what do you care?” I said. 

She frowned a little. “It helps the environment. That’s what sustainability is for,” she said.

“No,” I said. “Why do you care if it helps the environment? So you can have high numbers for the program metric?”

“No!” she said. “It affects people.”

“Now we’re getting somewhere,” I said. “Does it save lives? Does it lengthen lives? Does it make life more enjoyable? Does it have a noble purpose?”

“Yes, all those things,” she said.

“How so? What do people lack at the beginning of the program that they have at the end?”

It began to make sense to the group, and for more than just sustainability. Others volunteered their “dry” subjects: Adherence. Compliance. Accountability. Diversity. For each, the problem is the same. We keep our eye on metrics but forget that someone, somewhere decided to spend time and resources on these things because they improve the experience of life.

Call it the forgotten argument: why, at bottom, do we advocate for anything? Because it has a human impact. 

This is where the most effective message lies. Trace your topic back to its impact on human activity. What we do drives how we feel, and that is where persuasion begins.

Stop arguing for some performance goal that elides the human effect. Your idea of overall success is the particular success of some program because, to you, the larger purpose is already a part of your thinking. That's why you don’t much mention it in the speech.

But the audience doesn’t know what you know. They need to be reminded how your proposals touch the world.

Bring everything back to quality of life: physical, emotional, spiritual, financial. If you fail to do that, all the audience hears is you chasing some number.

Always, always: tie things back human activity.

 

Tie things back to human activity. Always.



One more thing: connect your argument to the here and now. For instance, don’t advocate for “a better future.” And don’t think you’ve fixed it by adding “for the children,” a pair of phrases that combine amorphous and anonymous into a gray cluster of nothing. Talk about “your children” and “my children” and “your friend’s children,” and talk about what those children are going to do in that future: choose a career, find someone to love, make a family, explore the breadth of the world for 70 years. Talk about someone you know, or someone they know. In the particular experience lies the general appeal, not the other way around.

Every bit of work that gets done in the world gets done because it affects someone’s life. If you think your subject matter is dry, I say you’re wrong. You’ve simply forgotten why it matters.

 
 


Mike's Calendar
Topic Organization Date Location
Creative Writing (6 weeks) Georgetown University Thursdays from Oct 3 Washington, DC
Speechwriting Georgetown University Oct 9-11 Washington, DC
Short Play “O Come, All Ye Faithful” Players Theatre Short Play Festival Oct 17-20 New York City
PSA World Conference Professional Speechwriters Association (PSA) Oct 21-23 Washington, DC
Speechwriting Georgetown University Nov 6-8 Washington, DC
Business Writing and Persuasion A public corporation Nov 21-22 Tennessee
Speechwriting PSA Mar 26-27, 2020 Washington, DC

















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