What can you say about William Safire: brilliant speechwriter, master of the English language, insightful, witty writer. His introduction to Lend Me Your Ears – Great Speeches in History remains the best, succinct introduction to the art of speech writing there is.

Here is his take on how to end a speech:

What every audience needs…is a sense of completion; what the speaker needs is a way out on a high note. .. That calls for a peroration.    A peroration, my friends, is a devastating defense against the dread disease of dribbling-off.  It should start with a quiet, declarative sentence; it should build in a series of semicolons; it should employ the puissance of parallelism; it should make the farthest rafter reverberate with the action and passion of our time, and – throwing aside all rules of short sentences or self-quotation – it should reach into the hearts and souls of a transfixed humankind to say, “This – this!- is the end of the best damned speech you’ve ever had the good fortune to experience.

The best book, like the best speech, will do it all. Make us laugh, think, cry and cheer—preferably in that order.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
(thanks to Vital Speeches of the Day for featuring the quote on the VSOTD web site.)

A good speech, like a good novel is constructed around conflict.
Lee Iacocca

You can see offer me some tips and advice about executive speeches on “We Mean Business,” a great community TV show, hosted by good friend Steve Dorfman and “Chef Tony” Marciante. WMB has been doing a terrific job providing expert interviews, commentary and innovative ideas on business strategy and growth. As they say, the show lets you “Discover the things that will make an immediate difference in your business today!” Tune in!

Even if it weren’t written by a friend and colleague, I’d highly recommend this new “Definitive Guide to Professional Speechwriting” by Fletcher Dean. Dean is Director of Leadership Communications (and speechwriter) at Dow Chemical. And this book reflects that fact that he has thought long and hard about the speechwriting craft. At just over 100 pages, the book is proof that good things come in small packages, because it’s filled with great insights and tips. Here are Dean’s  10 steps to writing a speech:

Know the audience
Target the words
Find the right material
Tell a story
How to say it: show or tell?
Structure the speech
Write the material
Rewrite for clarity
Using PowerPoint
Coaching the speaker

To hear Dean talk about the background of the book check out this great blog post in Ian Griffin’s Professionally Speaking blog.

Working on a Business Journal column on strong finishes to speeches, I came across a terrific post in one of my favorite blogs: Angela DeFinis’s Come Alive. She does a super analysis of Meryl Streep’s excellent introduction of Hillary Rodham Clinton at the Women in the World Summit 2012. Streep’s remarks are very good throughout, but the finish is…Well here’s how DeFinis captures it.

“Let’s not forget that brilliant ending that took everyone by surprise when Meryl reached below the podium, pulled out her Oscar, and said, `This is what you get when you play a world leader.’ The audience went wild.

“‘But if you want a real world leader and you’re really, really lucky, this is what you get,’ Meryl continued, as she directed everyone’s attention to Hillary’s entrance on stage.”

It helps to have an Oscar, of course, but the way Streep brought it into the speech was spectacular.