The art of the speech

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Hello Spark reader,

Spark is again demonstrating the network effect in action today with friend of Vivace Katharine (Kaye) Ramsden delivering the first in our Spark Conversations series between our community members and their wider networks.

Kaye is a highly experienced and award-winning branded content and communications consultant whom Ryan and I have known since our days at Thomson Reuters. She sat down with speechwriter Avi Herbatschek to reflect on his craft and address some of the myths of speechwriting in the process.

Speechwriting is a fascinating and little-spoken-about topic; we hope you’re as intrigued by this peek into the mind of a full-time speechwriter as we were.

—joel

In conversation with Avi Herbatschek

As told to Katharine Ramsden

There’s a common misconception that speechwriting is about wordsmithing. It’s not. A good speechwriter is, above all, a good thinker and someone who provides strategic counsel.

If you’re a CEO preparing to deliver a major speech, you don’t want someone who just cranks out polished sentences. You want someone who can absorb your thinking and elevate it—make it sharper, more substantial, more resonant, and more right for the moment.

A good speechwriter must give more than they’re asked for. They don’t just write up thoughts—they deepen them. That requires intellectual ambition and the ability to express big ideas clearly and simply. The best speechwriters are independent minds with the judgment to challenge, clarify, and shape ideas. They sound like intelligent people having a lively conversation and thinking out loud. That’s what the best writing really is.