Watch: Collaboration Key in Convention Speeches
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Columbia, S.C. (WOLO) — Moving and memorable sentiments of a single person crafted and transformed by a team of experts.
“A good speech writer’s goal is to help the speaker to be his or her best possible self,” says South Carolina speech writer Michael Wukela.
He adds that achieving that goal is a multi part process with many things to consider.
“How long you have, and what the theme is and what’s the best way to use your time. From there you just start writing and start collaborating and go through a whole bunch of drafts,” he tells ABC Columbia.
According to Wukela, Mayor Steve Benjamin’s address at the DNC took weeks and a dozen drafts to complete.
“You share it with the folks that are running the convention and make sure they’re good with it, facts and figures you use have to be vetted and confirmed and you go back to the drawing board from there.”
“All men are created equal doesn’t just mean men anymore,” Mayor Benjamin told DNC crowds on Tuesday night.
With the eyes of the world watching, many would assume there’s added pressure but Wukela explains it’s not the size of the stage that matters.
“I mean it’s different in terms of scale, but the truth is working families in Columbia South Carolina are not that different from working families in Columbus Ohio. We share a lot of the same experiences and even when we don’t we share a lot of the same desires.”
Message, collaboration and authenticity, the keys to touching audiences of any size.
“If you don’t do this you have really failed: make sure that the person delivering it has their own voice and that the speech is their voice. Their best possible voice.”
