Chapter 13 Organizing, Writing, and Outlining Presentations 399The State of the Union Address
As this chapter shows, organizing, writing, and outlining your
speech are crucial steps in eventually delivering an effective prese-
ntation. Recall our discussion of White House speechwriters
preparing the State of the Union address from the beginning of
the chapter. What considerations and challenges will affect their
organization and outlines? How will their organization influence
their audiences’ perceptions of the speech?c Ideas will come in from every direction, so planning and organization are
key. David Frum, a former White House speechwriter, observed that “the
planning for the next State of the Union really begins the day after the last
State of the Union” (as cited in Jackson, 2006).
c Speechwriters need to bear in mind that they are writing for two different—
albeit not mutually exclusive—audiences. Chriss Winston (2002) points
out that members of Congress and Washington insiders judge the speech
primarily on its policy content, whereas everyday Americans tend to look for
leadership qualities and their own values in the president. The challenge lies
in choosing content and language that speak to both groups.
c The key to avoiding what Matthew Scully (2005) refers to as a “tedious
grab bag of policy proposals” lies in the skillful use of transitions. Instead of
jumping from point to point, speechwriters need to find and build unifying
themes among the many policies under discussion. Thus George W. Bush’s
speechwriters were able to draw connections between such issues as cloning
and war by focusing on the overall theme of human dignity and human
rights. These connections allowed for natural transitions from one issue to
the next (Scully, 2005).
c Creating unified themes is also crucial to keeping the content (and length)
of the speech from spiraling out of control. President Bill Clinton was
known for long State of the Union speeches that detailed many policy
proposals, while President George W. Bush preferred to stick to big ideas.
President Barack Obama chose in his second term to use current events,
including major storms and shootings, to advance his agenda items, such as
climate change and gun control legislation.T
AhiBACK TO
Activities
- LaunchPad for Real Communication offers key term videos and encourages self-
assessment through adaptive quizzing. Go to bedfordstmartins.com/realcomm
to get access to:
LearningCurve
Adaptive Quizzes.A
1L hPdf RlC iTHINGS TO TRY
Video clips that illustrate key concepts, highlighted in
teal in the Real Reference section that follows.