Speechwriting 2.0: Old pro calls for new rhetoric

How should speechwriting change to meet the age of social media?

Glynn Young goes back a ways. A long ways. In fact, he wrote his first corporate speeches on an ancient device called a typewriter. He wrote many more speeches in a formal style that didn’t permit him to use contractions. Thank you for that warm introduction. It is good to be in Chicago with you this afternoon.

Now the director of environmental communications and employee and electronic communications at Monsanto, he recommends a style of speechwriting—indeed, a whole executive communication mindset—that’s inspired by MySpace and values authenticity above all else.

And if the rabid reception received by Young’s talk at Ragan’s Corporate Communicators Conference in May is any indication—it was standing room only and Young and a mob surrounding him had to be asked to leave the room to make way for the next session—his ideas resonate with executive communicators.

Perhaps they’ll resonate with you, too.