Want to be a better speaker, communicator, and leader—in work and in life?

 

Follow me on LinkedIn where I share practical tips and lessons like these…

 

 

True stories from writing speeches for President Obama…

 

     🎤 10 public speaking lessons I learned from President Obama  

 

     🎤 Obama’s “most important piece of advice" for being a great public speaker...

     🎤 When Barack Obama was a little nervous before a speech…

     🎤 When we had only seconds to correct a big mistake in the teleprompter…

     🎤 When – just before a speech – Obama said “see if you can shave a page off this speech” (?!?!)…

     🎤 When the presidential seal fell off the podium…

     🎤 When Obama turned the page – and the rest of the speech was missing…

     🎤 How an Australian driver helped write a presidential speech…

 

     🎤 My favorite video from the entire Obama presidency…

 

     🎤 What President Obama was REALLY like to work with…

 

 

Tips & Tricks…

 

     🎤 One of the most inspiring speeches I’ve heard in my life…

 

     🎤 Despite being a speechwriter, I was often anxious about public speaking myself…

 

     🎤 12 lessons in public speaking I teach my Political Speechwriting class…

 

     🎤 "Should I use AI to write my presentation?"...

 

     🎤 How the 50-25-25 Rule can help you prepare better presentations…

 

     🎤 10 questions every speaker should ask BEFORE we get to the podium…

 

     🎤 Why we should never give our voice over to a bot…

 

     🎤 How to say what only you can say…

 

     🎤 Get personal…

 

     🎤 Know your values, and stay true to them…

 

     🎤 Don’t just talk about concepts, be concrete…

 

     🎤 Don’t drown your audience in data…

 

     🎤 How to speak with civility, empathy, and honesty...

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     🎤 Think you’re done writing? Think again. It’s time to cut 15%...

 

     🎤 Why we can’t – and shouldn’t – take everyone’s edits…

 

     🎤 Dear CEOs: make time for your writers…

 

     🎤 Have your own hype song!...

 

     🎤 How to use our words to unify, not divide…

 

     🎤 What I learned from writing a book…

 

 

What We Can Learn From…

 

     🎤 Steve Jobs’ legendary Stanford commencement speech…

 

     🎤 Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s powerful dissents…

 

     🎤 Steve Carell’s dance at the 2025 Northwestern commencement…

 

     🎤 Kamala Harris’ acceptance speech at the 2024 Democratic Convention…

 

     🎤 Tim Walz’s acceptance speech at the 2024 Democratic Convention…

 

     🎤 The beautiful opening sequence of Pixar’s “Up”…

 

     🎤 Donovan Livingston’s viral commencement speech…

 

     🎤 Librarian Amanda Jones’ defense of the freedom to read…

 

     🎤 Cody Keenan’s journey from mail room intern to chief presidential speechwriter…

 

     🎤 Sarah Hurwitz on why Michelle Obama is one of the world’s best speakers…

 

     🎤 Sarada Peri on how to live a life...

 

     🎤 David Litt on 12 ways to bring more humor to your speeches…

 

     🎤 Chai Karve on writing for – and learning from – Gov. Gretchen Whitmer…

 

     🎤 Dana Rubin on the power of “Speaking While Female”…

 

     🎤 Mike Zimmer’s campaign for Iowa State Senate…

 

     🎤 Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement laying off “low performers”...

 

     🎤 21 people on LinkedIn with great advice on public speaking…