I am always impressed by speeches that seem to effortlessly intertwine nuggets of wisdom, the odd anecdote, and the occasional apt joke.
How did the speaker find such gems, and wouldn’t they have taken an age to research?
Reader, this is where I take you inside the world of the enthusiastic speechwriter. Call us a bit nerdy but those of us tasked with crafting speeches, especially for others, are always on the lookout for potential content. And all life is content.
So where do we store our finds? In a Commonplace Book. A sort of scrapbook of knowledge sometimes recorded under a theme or pattern devised to make the content easy to find when you most need inspiration.
If you are interested, “Commonplace” is a translation of the Latin term locus communis which means “a general or common topic” and can include anything from a quote, a joke, a proverb, a saying, something overheard in the pub, or on social media. If you get time to sort these items, you might choose sub-headings like ethics, education, business, family, etc. to squirrel them away for another day.
By the seventeen century, commonplacing was formally taught in colleges, and later became the practical tool used by authors such as Mark Twain and Virginia Woolfe to keep notes they could draw inspiration from.
Do we still commonplace today? Yes, we do. And we can either put pen to paper or use various online tools that serve the purpose. However, in my opinion, it’s easier to pull a small notebook from your bag when taking a bus ride to scribble down what you just overheard!
If telling you a little about commonplacing and the wonder of the Commonplace Book has intrigued you, I’ll be covering this, and many other related tips when I lead the PRCA ‘Speechwriting Made Simple’ workshop.
Running a PR Agency? Your clients may well ask you to help them with speeches and presentations; after all these are crucial communication opportunities which must be handled well. Every agency should have at least one competent speechwriter in the team.
Maybe this is a skill your company has always needed, and you can think of a staff member who would enjoy the challenge.
If so, why not set them the task of starting a scrapbook of potential content? It’s a fun way to encourage their creative thinking.
Visit our training page to see what courses are perfect for you here.