How speechwriters can humanize execs—and help deliver key messages

For any speech, the hardest part is often knowing where to start.

What is the key message you want to convey? What does this specific audience want to hear, and what is the natural cadence of the speaker you are writing for?

Joanne Callahan, a speechwriter with Con Edison in New York City, shares how she starts her writing process for any set of remarks: a spec sheet. It’s a tip she says she learned attending Ragan’s Speechwriters Conference in Washington D.C. a decade ago, and now she is sharing her own wisdom ahead of her presentation for Ragan’s Speechwriters and Public Affairs Virtual Conference March 4.

Callahan says that her spec sheet—the document that guides her early work on a speech—has a few key questions that must be answered, essentially distilling the “who, what, when, where and why.”

“The first thing is: ‘Who’s the speaker?’” Callahan says, “and then I’ll find out everything I know about that speaker, whether it’s the CEO or the president.” You can also ask around or dig online to get some personal information about your speaker if you don’t have a chance to sit down with the presenter before the event.