Former Obama speechwriter offers public speaking tips

Terry Szuplat, former speechwriter for President Barack Obama, discussed his new book, “Say It Well: Find Your Voice, Speak Your Mind, Inspire Any Audience,” in a chat with ABC News.
One of Obama’s longest-serving speechwriters, Szuplat demystifies the art of public speaking and shares life-changing lessons from his career to help anyone become a more confident and compelling communicator and leader.
Szuplat says one of the things that he’s thrilled about is that he shares many of the conversations he had with Obama over the years in his latest book.
Szuplat discussed his new book and the difference between writing and delivering a powerful speech.
ABC NEWS: Speeches have the power to inspire, persuade and captivate. Yet crafting one, let alone standing before an audience to deliver one, is something that makes many of us sweat or even worse, panic.
In his new book, “Say It Well: Find Your Voice, Speak Your Mind, Inspire Any Audience,” one of the longest-serving speechwriters for former President Obama, Terry Szuplat, demystifies the art of public speaking and shares life-changing lessons from his own career to help anyone become a more confident and compelling communicator and leader.
Terry Szuplat, you’ve been on our show before, but glad to have you join us live in the flesh tonight. Tell us, how did you get into speechwriting?
SZUPLAT: Yeah, I think, like a lot of people, I sort of fell into it. I went to Washington thinking I was going to be a lawyer, had plans to be, you know, I was going to be Supreme Court justice arguing historic cases. And funny thing happened, I didn’t get into law school, but but I got this incredible opportunity to, to be a speechwriter for our secretary of defense and just found it to help someone communicate their vision and their values to help them find their voice was something I really enjoyed.
So I’ve tried to sort of take what I learned and and share it with other people in this book.
ABC NEWS: Tell us about the difference between writing a powerful speech and delivering a powerful speech.
SZUPLAT: Well, I found that out in my own life. So, for for 30 years, I was writing speeches for other people and, you know, got pretty good at it. But then when I left the White House, I had to start giving speeches myself. I was being invited, and I really struggled at times. Sometimes I was fine, but other times, you know, and I write about in the book, I froze up and it was uncomfortable.
And so I had to sit down and think deeply about what was I doing for Barack Obama all those years for President Obama? What was he doing? And I just sort of relearned all these lessons, sort of reverse engineer my own career and then apply these lessons in my own life. And that’s what the book is, how I learned to become a better speaker myself.
ABC NEWS: Could you give us a tip, a little sneak into say, well, as far as what transformed and what was the connection that you all made from making the words kind of leap off the page?
SZUPLAT: Well, you know, one of the things that I’m thrilled about this book is that it shares many of the conversations that I had with President Obama over the years. We were very lucky. We spent a lot of time with him in the Oval Office. And so getting his thoughts on writing and what makes for an effective public speaker. And so I asked him once what, you know, what what do you think makes for an effective public speaker? And he said, this stuck with me. Is that for him, effective public speaking begins when you know who you are, you know what you believe, and you’re speaking from a place of just your core convictions.
ABC NEWS: What inspired you to write “Say it well”?
SZUPLAT: Well, it was that experience where I finally you know, I had sort of withdrawn after a few, you know, uncomfortable public speaking situations. I was invited to give a big speech, a 40-minute speech in front of 300 people. And my first instinct, like a lot of people, I think, was to say, no, it’s just too uncomfortable, too scary.
And that’s when I really started to think deeply about what was it that I was doing for President Obama all those years? What were the skills that made him so successful? And the, you know, act of giving my own first real speech and it going, well, thank God it went well, said well, this is a, this can be a skill that anybody can learn. I got better at it. I tell the story of how Barack Obama, as a young man in his 20s, froze up one time.
I think most people would be shocked to hear that a young Barack Obama froze up giving a speech. But, you know, he worked to get better and all of us can work to get better. And those are the lessons that I share.
ABC NEWS: And give us a sense of a lot of people aren’t necessarily giving, you know, a speech for an audience, but we are having conversations and especially in this divided time. What kind of tips might you be able to share just about effective communicating?
SZUPLAT: Effective leaders, effective speakers first think deeply about the values of the person you’re speaking to. What motivates them? What’s their worldview? And if you can, if you can speak to that, you have a better chance of forging a deep connection with them, maybe even persuading them.
ABC NEWS: Just before we go about 30 seconds left, a lot of people talking about artificial intelligence, the good, the bad, the ugly. What do you think with when it comes to speech writing?
SZUPLAT: I think that I have two basic rules, is this: If you have to get up as a human being and stand up in front of other human beings and you want to forge a human connection. Don’t ever use a bot. Don’t ever use a machine. A machine will never know what’s in your heart, what motivates you. And, you know, our voice is the most powerful thing we have. Don’t ever give it over to a machine.
ABC NEWS: Well, said, Terry Szuplat, but I guess we could have expected that. And I want to let our viewers know. “Say It Well: Find Your Voice, Speak Your Mind, Inspire Any Audience” is now available for purchase starting today. Thank you so much, Terry.