Barack obama is usually the candidate who begs his staff to let him take one more question at every event, but this week he hasn't been a man to linger. Even though his public schedule was relatively light, behind the scenes he was racing his own internal clock to finish what is the most important speech of his career. Four years ago obama spent months writing the convention speech that would catapult him onto the national stage. Even though he was busy with his day job in the illinois state senate and was running for the u.s. Senate, obama would find time to scribble thoughts, often sneaking off the state senate floor to the men's room to jot down ideas, or writing in the car as he campaigned across southern illinois. It took him months to gather all those fleeting ideas and craft his acclaimed keynote speech. The difference here is, you know, he's got a few other things going, obama's top strategist david axelrod told reporters wednesday on obama's flight into denver.

The first draft wasn't finished until last week, and as of wednesday his staff couldn't say how long the speech was running or when it might be finished. The looming deadline has led to a lot of late nights and bleary eyed mornings for obama, who instead of practicing delivery has been focused on the writing, even during his walk through of invesco field wednesday night. The toughest aspect of writing a speech isn't so much the rhetoric, it's the ideas 151 which take time to incubate and develop, says andrei cherny, editor of the journal democracy and a former white house speechwriter under clinton. The hardest part about writing a speech like this is not the mechanics of it but what you want to say and how you're going to say it, the strategy of it, cherny says.

For a speech of this magnitude it's not uncommon for politicians and their staffs to work on language for months, going into double digit drafts, according to cherny. Obama takes an unusually hands on approach to his speech writing, more so than most politicians. His best writing time comes late at night when he's all alone, scribbling on yellow legal pads. This is how he wrote both of his two best selling books 151 dreams from my father and the audacity of hope 151 staying up after michelle and his two young daughters had long gone to bed, reveling in the late night quiet. For this speech obama removed himself from the distractions at home and spent many nights in a room in the park hyatt hotel in chicago. These late night sessions produced long, meandering texts that were then circulated to a close group of advisers, including axelrod and obama's speechwriter jon favreau 151 a 27 year old wunderkind wordsmith.

When you're working with senator obama the main player on a speech is senator obama, axelrod said. He is the best speechwriter in the group and he knows what he wants to say and he generally says it better than anybody else would. The time constraint may have led obama to sacrifice his famed rhetorical flourishes for cold, hard facts.

He told reporters in illinois earlier this week that he isn't aiming for the polished, soaring language that is his hallmark, but rather a more nuts and bolts dissection of the choice voters face. I'm not aiming for a lot of high rhetoric, i'm much more concerned with communicating how i intend to help middle class families live their lives, obama said. He also did his best to dampen expectations for a memorable address, telling reporters in wisconsin, i may not be as good as the other headliners the other three nights, but hopefully it'll make clear the choices the american people are going to face in november. When his campaign came under fire before the pennsylvania primary for controversial statements by obama's pastor, the rev. Jeremiah wright, obama delivered a historic speech on race that changed the conversation and stemmed the attacks.

This time around obama needs to turn the conversation away from him 151 where it has lingered the last month, producing worrying poll numbers for the democrats 151 and on to the issues. This speech and this election is really not about barack obama it's about the american people, axelrod said. It's about the country, it about the direction that we have to go to get us out of the ditch we're in. david kusnet, former chief speechwriter to president bill clinton, is the podesta group’s senior writer and the author of several books on the economy and american politics. i do solemnly swear that i will faithfully execute the office of president of the united states … in washington, dc, and countless communities, there are people who dream of reciting that oath and delivering an inaugural address. Most of us won’t write speeches whose most memorable lines end up etched on marble monuments.

But many leaders in every sector of american life give important speeches to shareholders, employees, community leaders, graduating classes and the news media. For those occasions when you need to find and speak the right words, here are ten time tested techniques that can benefit any speaker:

speeches are meant to be spoken and heard

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And third, i want to talk about one of my basic objectives for this company over the decade ahead. Learning from preachers, the best speakers of all kinds start on a high note, then bring the audience down by explaining a problem, then bring the audience back up on an even higher note than the beginning by presenting a solution or vision. Began by praising the participants in the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. Before you write a speech, ask yourself what you want your listeners to remember. In his first inaugural address in 1981, president ronald reagan declared: in this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem government is the problem. President bill clinton’s 1996 state of the union address positioned him halfway between reaganism and liberalism: the era of big government is over.

But we cannot go back to the time when our citizens were left to fend for themselves. Abraham lincoln’s gettysburg address took only two minutes and 246 words, most of them of one or two syllables. Before lincoln, then famous orator edward everett’s spoke for two hours and 13,607 words, many of them multi syllabic. It’s better to start by saying something that grabs the audience’s attention. In his commencement address at stanford university in 2005, apple computer ceo steve jobs began: i never graduated from college. Litany – repeating the same words, usually at the beginning of each sentence – helps audiences hear what you’re saying and answer with applause.

In june 1940, after the british troops were evacuated from dunkirk, prime minister winston churchill vowed: we shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. In his debut before a national audience, delivering the keynote address at the 2004 democratic national convention, an illinois state senator named barack obama spoke more conversationally than most politicians. He described his younger self as a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that america has a place for him, too. These vivid descriptions of himself and others are how regular people talk ok, regular people with the gift of gab.

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