Friends, Romans, Countrymen: Lend me your ears
Kelly Lynch // November 23, 2012
Jo-Ann Hicks is a Senior Communications Advisor with Emera Corporate Communications. An MSVU alumni and communications veteran, Jo-Ann has worked in the public relations industry for over a decade. With extensive experience in the non-profit and corporate sectors, Jo-Ann has plenty to say about what it takes to write a good speech and how to connect with your audiences.
What makes a good speech?
Jo-Ann: I think that’s really hard to define. I think it’s something that creates a feeling in people, something that inspires people and connects with them on an emotional level. Because when you think about great speeches and great lines from speeches there’s always some sort of emotional appeal. And they’re always very simple, the language is simple, it’s not something that is …you know, you don’t need to dig out your thesaurus and look up the most complicated word to describe something. Usually things are described in a really simple way, in a way that people can relate to and connect with, I think.
What kind of criteria do you consider when crafting a speech?
Jo-Ann: Obviously the message is the most important. The speech writing that I do is mostly for our CEO, Chris, or another executive. I’m working on one right now for the ICDU AGM*. The message is what you think about first. I think, in terms of AGM speeches, they’re reflective on the year prior – there are key messages you want to get across. At the same time there’s a real danger of giving a laundry list of accomplishments, which isn’t terribly appealing. It’s difficult to strike the balance.
You have to remember your audience, too. That’s one of the major rules. When Chris has been going around – you know, he hasn’t needed remarks for the Maritime tour** because it’s so close to his brain – but when he’s delivering that message to a group of business people in Saint John, he might take a different angle and say things differently than if he were giving it to a group of employees. You have to consider what your audience already knows and how close they are to what you’re talking about. Maybe they need more background information or more context. As always, message and audience are critically important.
One of the things that’s also important to me – I guess part of my process – is I listen to Chris. I take whatever opportunity I can to meet with him, hear him speak, and when he does I take notes. Sometimes I record it and listen to it again. You know, I’ve read things where speech writers are basically channeling the person they’re writing for. Capturing Chris’s voice is more than me being able to craft the right words for him to say, it’s about writing it in a way that he would actually say it. I try to listen to him and pay attention whenever he speaks, wherever he speaks, I use it as an opportunity to capture his voice and how he says things. You have to get to know who you’re writing for.
What do you consider the best speech you’ve ever written, and why?
Jo-Ann: I guess the last AGM speech I was pretty proud of. As you can imagine, through the editing process lots of things get cut out. There’s always little nuggets I love that get tossed out the door – you know he [Chris] says, “I’m not saying that” or someone else says, “he’s not saying that.” But this one, and where it was such a collaboration of things, where David [Rodenhiser] had started it and Gerald [Weseen] fed into it and where there were lots of touch points, it just made me really proud when a lot of the stuff I said stayed there.
The stuff that stayed at the top was something that I actually came up with. That’s always a sign of a good speech with Chris – when he sticks close to the remarks, it makes me feel like I’ve gotten it right. Him not sticking to the remarks isn’t a sign of a bad speech either. Maybe he’s just thought of something new, maybe a headline in the paper has prompted him to talk about something else, maybe he talks more about the financial side of things.
Is the editing process a challenge?
Jo-Ann: It can be a frustrating process sometimes. When you write something that you’re really proud of and people come in and say “no, no, no, no” – it’s hard. But you lose your objectivity sometimes. You can get really attached to your work and the language. Sometimes, at the end of the day, you really just have to let some stuff go. Someone is always editing, someone’s always providing feedback. Whether you’re a student or a professional, you have to take that feedback and work with it.
Is it a challenge to put yourself in the place of the person you’re writing for?
Jo-Ann: It’s really, really difficult. I’m more accustomed to Chris, it’s been a few years – I hope I get his voice, and his quirks and whatnot. But it is harder for other people. A couple years ago I was asked to write remarks around the AGM for our new Chair and I don’t think I’d even met him before or had a conversation with him. He needed remarks to recognize outgoing board members. They were both founding members of our board, both hugely important people. How am I supposed to write remarks for the Chair of our board about two of the most distinguished members of our organization. I don’t even have a clue how John [the Chair] speaks!
So,after I pulled all my hair out, I Googled. As with any creative process, or the writing process, you start with research. I found out some really interesting things about both of them. In the end, you sometimes don’t know if you get it right. People seem happy in the end…they keep asking me to write them, anyway!
Do you have any advice for students just beginning to encounter this kind of writing?
Jo-Ann: You need to be really humble. View it as a partnership. You’re an advisor to someone who has great things to say who may or may not know how to say it – and you can help them do that. Really when I write, they’re telling me what to say. I just happen to know how to string it all together, hopefully in a way that makes sense to them. And research, too. You never know what kind of little stories you can unearth. It depends on your topic, too, I suppose, but always remember that you’re trying to connect with people.
Writing is not something everyone can do. When you can write, you can make things [that may not be interesting to begin with] palatable. I feel very lucky to have this talent or…whatever it is. I say that, and I get this look on my face because it comes naturally to me, and I love to do it. But when I encounter other people who are surprised and ask, “Wow, did you write that?” It makes me feel pretty lucky to be a writer and to have that gift. That sounds a little hokey, I guess, but – I do feel lucky.
What’s your stance on ghost writing in general? Many individuals are unaware that some of the speeches or messaging they hear aren’t written by that speaker. Do you think this is misleading?
Jo-Ann: [It’s not misleading] When you think of it in terms of your role as channeling the person you’re writing for, of being a partner and helping them deliver their message. I don’t invent things for Chris to say. He tells me what to say. In that way, it’s not misleading at all. Chris isn’t a writer, so I’m just enabling him and facilitating him getting his message out to other people. In that way it’s not misleading, but I can see how people might think that. When you’re doing a speech, get them to say it first and put it in their own words and see where that leads you. In the end, you’re writing what they’re thinking.
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ICDU: ICD Utilities is the holding company for Grand Bahama Power Company. Emera has significant investments in both companies.
Maritime tour: President & CEO of Emera, Chris Huskilson, has been touring the Maritime provinces the last few months to tell the story behind the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project.
To learn more about Emera, visit the Emera website.
