I am tomorrow: Pushing through the comfort zone

My story in 1200 words.

Advice from Sarah Hurwitz - Obama's speechwriter.

1. Channel the person who is speaking

• Ask yourself the question: ‘What would you like to say?’

2. Research and understand your audience
   “Who are you talking to? What are they concerned about? Why are you speaking to them? How well do they know you? What’s the venue?
3. Know that structure is destiny

• If you have a bad structure, you can’t have a good speech. Every paragraph should flow logically from one to the next.

4. Seek multiple opinions

• It’s really important to ask other people to look at your speech — as many as possible — especially if you're speaking to a community that you don't know well.

5. Throw the rulebook out of the window

• Writing to be read and writing to be heard are two very different skills. All that matters is how the words sound coming out of your mouth. With that in mind, you should edit out loud. Don’t just sit looking at your computer screen — print the speech out, practise delivering it and edit as you go.

6. Listening is the key to great speaking

• Listen to the feedback you get, when giving the speech.

7. Speak like you usually do

• Your first question should be, ‘What is the deepest, most important truth that I can tell at this particular moment?’ All too often people focus on how they're going to say something rather than on what they're actually going to say.

Top three tips for speechwriting:

Answer the following questions:
“What is the deepest, most important truth I can tell at this moment?” (Find a perspective to share.)
“Show don’t tell.” (Use examples.)
“Talk like a human.” (No one should ever use policy-talk in speeches.)