Judith Pratt's Freelance Writing Blog

Scratchy Throat Speaks

Judith Pratt — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:29:00 GMT

Happy February Flu season to all!

I’ve been croaking scratchily for several weeks. How can I coach public speaking when I sound like a hinge that needs oil?

Well, because I know what to do about it. It all comes down to three tips: Breathe more. Articulate more. Talk less.

Breathe More

Breathing powers speech like food powers the rest of you. The harder it is to talk, the stronger your breathing needs to be.

Serendipity favored me this week. I had two classes in breathing. The first was in Sharon Costianes’ Feldenkrais series; the second was in Users Guide to Your Body, with Maren Waldman and Ron Floyd.

In order to breathe well, we need to know where our diaphragm is, how it works, and how to help it work better. We need to get the knots out of our rib cage, both front and back. Then we need to think about all that as we practice speaking. For me, that means becoming a member of Bob and Ray's Slow . . . . Talkers . . . of . .. America.

Articulate More

When you can’t rely on vocal power, pay attention to articulation and clarity. Even quiet people can be heard when they crystallize every sylable. No, you don’t have to lose your cool regional accent, unless it’s one of those mush-mouth ones. Southerners rejoice—your lovely long vowel sounds only need strong consonants to divide them.

Do your Ts and Ds sound alike? Do you speak with your mouth mostly closed? Or do you smile all the time you’re speaking? Open wide and get those sounds out! Tongue twisters help, and are a good warmup to practice when your voice returns

Talk Less

While your scratchy voice heals, don’t talk so much. And don’t whisper—that’s even harder on your infected throat! It’s a good time to practice listening skills. Then you’ll have lots of new things to talk about when spring comes.

Small Mouth Blues

Judith Pratt — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 23:38:00 GMT

On my last visit to the dentist, I once again realized that I have a very small mouth.

At this point, my friends always make a lot of unnecessary cracks. But it’s true. Cramming those x-ray thingies into my dainty jaws is always a struggle.

It’s a worse struggle because I’m a public speaking coach.

See, the mouth is where sounds resonate. Like a guitar’s body, like the innards of a grand piano, the better the space, the better the sound. With no space to echo in, my voice insists on sounding tinny.

For those of you with the same problem, there are solutions.

First, practice humming into your face bones and sinuses. “MMM” sounds are best. Make them echo around in your face. Bonus: it feels like a massage.

Then be sure that your jaw isn’t all tightened up. Yawn. Rub your jaw joint. If you clench your teeth, you can feel what my voice teacher friend Susannah calls your “cowboy muscle.” You’ve seen the camera pan in on that strong silent face as he tightens his manly jaw in frustration. We all do that when frustrated, so stretching it out makes it easier for your voice to get out of that teeny mouth.

Help people hear you by practicing your articulation. Lots of consonants sound alike. Was that name Pratt, or Bratt? And can you say the word “anemone” clearly, or does it sound like “amenninny”?

Finally, practice enough so you can have fun explaining your interesting ideas to the big mouths.

Phonies Beware

Judith Pratt — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 18:43:00 GMT

“If you read your marketing, sales, or Web site descrptions for your business out loud, does it sound like a real person is saying it?”

Rohit Bhargava wrote this in his book Personality not included: Why Companies Lose Their Authenticity, and How Great Brands Get It Back.

Talk about a lousy title for a book. But do not be fooled. Read it. It’s great.

Bhargava clearly articulates something that has been inarticulately bugging me for years. He says that the market-speak of the past doesn’t work in the days of Web 2.0.

Even in the days before the Web, I never thought much of market-speak. Stuff like this gave me hairballs even when I wrote it.

“Help from alumni, parents, and friends is key to meeting the demands of the 21st century while providing the best possible atmosphere for learning.”

(Before flaming, let me point out that most colleges and universities sound like this when asking for money.)

Do you trust this college? Does this sound authentic, like a real person wrote it? Or is it something that The Onion or Wonkette loves to hate? (For those of you who haven't met them, these are the kind of people who skewer phonies all over the Web.)

Read Bhargava for actual practical tips on how to stop being a faceless piece of Teflon and start talking like a real human being.

Teflon inventor Roy Plunkett

I'm Persuaded

Judith Pratt — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:49:00 GMT

Last Friday November 6, I did a workshop in public speaking for the 2009 LeadNY class.

The LeadNY program, run from Cornell University, provides a two-year program of seminars, workshops, and field trips for people in

New York’s $4 billion agriculture industry. It’s a big commitment. People from all over the state travel to various cities for a series of three-day events, learning how to lead their industry.

After my workshop, five brave souls had volunteered to be guinea pigs, each presenting a five-minute persuasive speech. Experience level ranged from an ex-teacher to not so much. Did I mention that they were brave?

Check out a of the few topics I learned about:
conservation tillage
mobile meat processing

Many of the LeadNY participants want to influence public and social policy, so it’s a good idea to start practicing early. And, as with any speech, practice is the only thing.

Plenty of online sites offer How To Write the Persuasive Speech. Here’s my favorite.

Looking at the Persuasive Speech definitely takes us back to the basics.

Know your Audience—and use that to connect with them
Learn what makes a good argument. That’s argument as in “reason to believe,” not as in “talk radio.”
Practice well.

Meanwhile, thanks to the LeadNY folks for the maple syrup and the interesting speeches.

Talking in Elevators

Judith Pratt — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 22:06:00 GMT

In the past week, I attended three large networking events, collecting a fistful of business cards and listening to lots of elevator

speeches.

The elevator speech is that 60-second talk about your business, suitable for telling to someone you meet in an elevator before he or she can escape—I mean, before they reach their floor.

At the Women Ties conference, we did some speed networking—moving from table to table and repeating our E-Speech over and over. After the tenth repetition, even I was tongue tied, and one very professional woman lost her thread completely and sputtered into silence.

E-Speeches are not easy.

My favorite how-to article on this topic appears on Quintessential Careers site. One great suggestion: develop different speeches for different situations. I’d suggest having at least a short one and a long one. You can also tailor them to particular client groups, or to each service that you offer.

One again, notice the need to practice practice practice! It’s the only way you’re going to sound relaxed and casual—and avoid tongue-tied sputtering.

Be Yourself and Be Heard

Judith Pratt — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:32:00 GMT

I just gave a speech about public speaking, using my experience as an actor, teacher, and writer.

The main points:

You have to be yourself, and you have to communicate with the audience.
You have to practice, and practice well.

I was not surprised to discover that the best books on the subject were by ex-actors. Speak Without Fear, by Ivy Naistadt, offers great tips and exercises for all those who find public speaking to be a fate worse than death.

Taking Center Stage: Masterful Public Speaking, by Deb Gottesman and Buzz Mauro, uses all the skills you learn in acting class to help public speakers.

All public speaking advice begins and ends with the word practice. But I would add that it must be good, useful practice, not just going through it wrong over and over again. You need a plan. And you need an audience.

Actors call it rehearsal. Actors rehearse with a director.

Athletes call it practice. Athletes practice with a coach
.
The director or coach creates a practice plan; then tells the performer when they’re on, and off track. A good director stands in for the audience. A good coach leads the athlete to do her best.

Don't practice hard. Practice well!

Plain Speaking from the Great Plains

Judith Pratt — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:07:00 GMT

I believe that clear writing reflects clear thinking. And that fuzzy, buzzword-laden writing reflects fuzzy thinking.

Now I’ve got scientists on my side.

Awhile ago, I blogged about this topic.

So I was excited to learn that John Geppert and Janice Lawrence, at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, have proved that CEOs who use jargon and weasel words are more likely to commit the kind of fraud that led to the economic meltdown. The Christian Science Monitor reported it.

But I first read the article in GoodNUz, a University of Nebraska alumni magazine.

Yes, this Bostonian-born-and-bred went to grad school

on the Great Plains.

And I’m not surprised that this study came out of the straightforward Midwest.

Maybe their winds blows all the bullshite away.

Dramatic Writing for the Short Attention Span Reader

Judith Pratt — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:35:00 GMT

Why would a freelance writer spend her vacation studying playwriting?

The obvious answer is because I’m also a playwright.

Another answer: playwrights know all about catching the reader’s interest, telling the story clearly, and keeping the reader wondering what happens next.

In our world of the short attention span, writers need to grab and hold an audience with every tool we can find.

The Playwrights’ Intensive at the Metropolitan Theatre Ensemble taught me how to discover those tools. So I’m mining the world of playwriting in order to write better brochures, fund-raising materials, marketing materials, and video scripts. Thanks to Karen Paisley and Stuart Spencer for an amazing experience!

(If you go to the Playwrights Intensive link, you'll see a photo of me being Dead Mother. Blue t-neck, white pants, closed eyes.)

Then I went to the Southampton Writers Conference,where Laura Maria Censabella showed me how to catch and hold the attention of an audience. And Jacquelyn Reingold, who writes for theatre, television, and film, taught me about the incredibly detailed structure that TV writers use.

Think about it. TV writers have to grab you over and over again, to keep you coming back after every commercial. After all, you can change the channel any time. Or go get a snack. You can even just turn the tube off.

It’s the same with your direct mail letter, your marketing brochure, or your website. The reader can toss it away or surf to the next site. The writer’s job is to keep them reading.

Did you?

Interviewing Academics

Judith Pratt — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:19:00 GMT

Higher education is my beat.

I love talking with faculty and students. I love learning about their work in every discipline: law, theater, agricultural economics, you name it.

Here are a few things I’ve learned about interviewing academics.

Start out filled with intellectual curiosity. You can’t fake this very well. An academic friend once complained to me about a writer he called a “dumb groupie,” who loved academics, not their ideas.

Bone up. You’ll be talking everything from Chinese history to veterinary science. And you’ll be talking with people whose lives revolve around their topics. With curiosity and research, you’ll be able to ask interesting questions and follow the arcane conversation with the same enthusiasm as the professor.

Realize that the process will take at least two hours. Ask enough questions to focus the interview without derailing the discussion.

Once you’ve got a notebook or MP3 full of high level talk, it’s time to make the story fascinating for everyone without misrepresenting the complexity of the professor’s work. When you research the topic, be alert for when the writing works and when it doesn’t. In general, notice, find, and read writers who make intricate concepts clear. Then -- practice!

Your job is to make the college and its work look terrific, and your interviewee feel great about working there. That means allowing your interviewees to read your article. A journalistic no-no is the college writers’ “yes-absolutely.”

They will nitpick your work. They’re academics. So when you send the material, set them up carefully. Say something like: “I know how busy you are, so just let me know about any factual errors, or misrepresentations. This is for a general audience, so I’ve simplified accordingly. And my editor wants only 900 words, so if you really need to add anything, tell me what to take out.”

Usually the professor gracefully says “feel free to take or leave my suggestions.” If not, treat him or her as you would a client, tactfully discussing how some of the edits will work for your audience, and some won’t.

Then stand ready to learn about another esoteric and enthralling topic.

The Cost of Freelance Writing

Judith Pratt — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:27:00 GMT

I cannot resist posting this YouTube link. Negotiation is all very well, but some of us take it too far!

Vendor-Client Relationships

(Please note that the guy in the restaurant says he could get a beef dinner at a taco stand for much less than he paid in this nice restaurant.)

As my friend Jeanette used to say: "You can get it fast, cheap, or good. Choose one."

Clear Writing, Speaking, Teaching

Judith Pratt — Wed, 27 May 2009 16:36:00 GMT

Today I’m following up on last week’s rant about the way bad thinking shows up immediately as bad writing or bad public speaking.

Folks sent a couple of interesting comments about that notion.

A. Many brilliant scientists are terrible public speakers, and their writing is so technical only their peers understand it. But there's nothing wrong with how they think!

B. Language is left-brained, and many expressive people are right-brained. They work better with mind-mapping, or pictures.

However, if you want to communicate your ideas, your work, or your product, you have to use language that your audience understands. I love pictures too, but they can’t do it all. And scientific illiteracy regularly appears as Terrible Trend of the Times.

So, you scientists and engineers, you right-brained artists, you who hate to write or to speak in public—how are you going to market all you know and everything you can do?

Here are five starting points:

1. What you say is important, but how you say it is essential -- if you want to communicate to anyone except people just like yourself.

If you only speak scientific jargon or a colorful patois, your audience is limited.
If we can’t hear you because you mumble or speak in muted tones, your brilliance will be lost.

2. You have to know your audience.

At many conventions, academics happily listen to one another mumble their way through jargon-riddled speeches; then avidly read the conference proceedings.
But how would you get this information to the general public? lawyers? high school students?

3. People can’t listen as fast as you can talk.

That’s why you tell them what you’re going to tell ‘em; tell ‘em; and tell them what you told ‘em.

4. Your personal habits can work for you, or against you.

Remember how you watched your teachers’ every twitch and repeated phrases? The more of those a teacher exhibited, the less you learned.
On the other hand, imitating the “right” speaking or writing style never works.

All that leads to the most important point:

5. Practice, practice, practice.

When a speaker or writer makes it look easy, he or she has practiced. A lot. Usually in front of a teacher, who can catch the jargon, the mumbles, and the fuzzy organization.

And remember, I look forward to your comments--because everyone needs to practice!

Clear Writing Equals Clear Thinking: A Rant.

Judith Pratt — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:58:00 GMT

In my little college town, everyone is a writer.

On the World Wide Web, everyone is a writer too.

The resulting tsunami of jargon, p.r. clichés, and blogolescent maunderings leads this omnivorous reader to prefer made-for-tv movies and Sudoku.

It also leads to a failure to communicate.

Here are a couple of my pet peeves:

“Located in the heart of the Fingerlakes.” Or the City. Or the back yard.
“Writing is our passion.” Or health. Or industrial piping.

In his book The Art of the Start, Guy Kawasaki says it this way.

“Our software is intuitive, secure, fast, and scalable.”
As opposed to hard to use, vulnerable, slow, and limited?

Surrounded by monster marketing, hampered by time crunches, sooner or later we all resort to this stuff. After all, what’s the down side?

Maybe you aren’t a great writer. But if you settle for marketing jargon, adminispeak, and Orwellian double think, you’ll start to believe it. Your ability to think will get scrambled. And your business will suffer.

Consider George W. Bush.

Cute:
"I didn't grow up in the ocean -- as a matter of fact -- near the ocean -- I grew up in the desert. Therefore, it was a pleasant contrast to see the ocean. And I particularly like it when I'm fishing."

Not Cute:
"And so, General, I want to thank you for your service. And I appreciate the fact that you really snatched defeat out of the jaws of those who are trying to defeat us in Iraq."

I rest my case.

It's All in the Stories

Judith Pratt — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:40:00 GMT

I love stories.

I read them. I watch them. I even write them.

Do you know the Breast Cancer website? You click on half-a-dozen good causes to help them out. Hunger and Literacy are the two I always click. Then there's Child Health and RainForest. After viewing those big problems, Animal Rescue might seem less essential to the welfare of the planet.

But Animal Rescue has stories. Stories about how a rescued animal becomes a cherished companion. Guess where I want to click first?

Some research even indicates that we're hard wired to love and respond to stories. Thousands of years of campfires can't be wrong.

Storytelling, therefore, has become important to marketing and business writers. Communications consultant Thaler Pekar summed this up beautifully on Kathy Hansen's blog about storytelling,

“The business interest in storytelling is riding this “crave wave” as well as a parallel realization that designing messages that create emotions like desire, craving, and/or trust towards a product requires that the message tells a story. Nothing is important or unimportant to someone except for the story they tell themselves about it. You want your product to be important to a consumer? Inspire them to tell themselves a story about it that makes it personally relevant.”

The key word here is "personally." Too often, my clients think of telling their “stories” in lists of accomplishments and impressive statistics. So I ask for the individual stories of their customers and staff members. Those draw the reader in, motivating them to go on to learn about the company's accomplishments, products, or non-profit needs.

How to do this?

Listen for the good stories. Ask for them.
Include images and emotional content.
Connect them to your organization's mission.

One screenwriting guru, Michael Hauge, boils all stories down to three elements.. They are

Character
Desire
Conflict.
To that, I add: Make the point.

Here's how that might work.

A local nonprofit that serves uninsured people in health crises got union workers to donate labor to fix up the nonprofit's building. But where's the story?

Imagine a large, beefy guy ripping down crumbling walls with a crowbar, covered in dust and sweat. (Character)
He volunteered to help out (Desire), but he feels weird about the breast cancer literature that's lying around. (Conflict.) So he makes boob jokes.
But then, during a break, swilling water and slurping coffee, he says: “My mom died of breast cancer. I didn't know what to say to her. It was hard.”
Next day, his buddies show up to volunteer their labor.

Okay, I embellished this a little bit in order to make a story that has a beginning, a middle, and an end that connect to the wonderful work this nonprofit is doing. But I didn't embellish it much.

And it's a great story.

Fear of Public Writing

Judith Pratt — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:59:00 GMT

Fear of public writing can be almost bad for careers as fear of public speaking.

I’m not writing about the kind of phobia where putting fingers to keyboard leads to full-blown anxiety attacks.

I’m writing about the kind of fear that creates 1,020 websites dealing with writing phobia, where people say things like “I was so traumatized and terrorized by the prospect of committing my imperfect thoughts to words on paper that I couldn’t even begin.”

Despite such terrors, fear of writing is not a public menace. Just look at all the blogs and articles and websites that pop up daily. But writing is a real pain to many otherwise brilliant professionals, especially fundraisers and salespeople.

Why them? Because their skill is with people; with talking and listening. It’s a world of possibilities, optimism, and friendship. Slapping words on paper is lonesome. It’s also horribly concrete. Written words are never perfect. Worse, they stay there forever. Years later, they might come back to haunt you and make you look stupid.

Faced with that, what keeps writers at their computers? Here’s what we know that the phobics don’t.

1.   Perfection is the enemy of the good.    What’s the use of a brochure that doesn’t get out until the information has died of old age?

2.   Just get it on paper. You can go back and edit later. Or get a colleague to edit it for you.

3.   Speaking of information, that’s what people want, rather than deathless prose. They also want to hear your story. More on this next week!

4.   In today's information glut, your words will never haunt you. Google “fundraising” and you get 28,900,000 hits. “Marketing” gets 638,000,000. So keep it short and timely.

5.   Writers love to write, the same way other folks love to hang out with people and talk with them. So if all else fails, hire a writer!

Four plus Eight: A Communications Plan for Fundraising

Judith Pratt — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 15:00:00 GMT

You need a communications plan just as much as you need a fundraising strategy. But what does that mean? Below are four areas to consider, and eight kinds of communications to use.

Four Areas to Consider

Tony Poderis points out that you need to look four areas when planning your communications. Here they are, with my interpretations.

Message: Link your words to your fundraising strategy and your mission.
Recipients: Who is your audience? What do they read? How do they like to be contacted?
Results: When they read or hear your message, what specific action do you want them to take? And remember, telling their friends about you, or calling you for information, can lead to donations.
Media: Should the message go as direct mail, a PSA, a newsletter? When deciding, consider both your message and your audience.

Eight Communications Media

As you make your communication plan, consider materials that go beyond the basic annual fund letters and direct mail appeals.

1. Articles: Tell your stories for your newsletter and/or your website. Donors want to know what you're doing. Katya's NonProfit Marketing Blog has some great tips on how to do this.

2. Stewardship materials: Thank-you letters, endowment reports, newsletters, annual reports. Penelope Burk has actually trademarked the phrase “donor centered fundraising,” but what other kind is there?!

3. Brochures: These can be simple, inexpensive three-fold flyers, or an expensive, glossy campaign brochure. Or both, depending on where you are in the fundraising cycle. Tom Ahern always has great ideas about writing for fundraising.

4. Project Descriptions: If you can’t see how cram everything you do into one brochure, you might want to create a series of project descriptions that can be packaged for each individual prospect.

5. Newsletters. These can be paper or e-mail, depending on what your donors want to read. And, as Vinay Bhaqat. points out, using both approaches can make sense.

6. Web Content: Here's where you can reuse and recycle your articles, brochures, newsletter content, and project descriptions. Just make them shorter, and provide interesting links.

7. Annual Fund Letters and Direct Mail: Your basic tools. Joanne Fritz,, Stephen Hitchcock and Alan Sharpe have good ideas about these.

Finally, consider what your staff might need in order to implement your communications plan!

8. Documentation: Describe your work processes for volunteers and new hires. This might look impossibly labor intensive, until you realize just how much time is spent training and relearning procedures.

Writing vs. Fundraising

Judith Pratt — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:18:00 GMT

Development. Advancement. Or just plain fundraising.

Writing to help raise money isn’t just grant proposals. It’s lots more. (Those of you who are trying to do it all in a small nonprofit know how much more!)

But after 15 years of writing fundraising materials, I have discovered that the writer’s art and the fundraiser’s art can be mutually exclusive. Writers like to sit alone and scribble. Fundraisers like to listen to folks, chat with them, make them feel comfortable. Which one are you?

Okay, I do know people who can do it all, like my friends George, Jessica, and Jim. (You can tell by the alliteration that I didn’t make those names up—they’re real people!) But even they are happy to hire a writer so that they can spend more time with their donors.

A writer who understands fundraising will also serve as your fundraising consultant. He or she will realize the need to connect with an audience without spending – or seeming to spend – a fortune. A good fundraising writer will also understand the development process: the strategies, the language, the need for consensus, and the need for donors to approve what is written about them.

Whatever you call it -- development, advancement, or fundraising -- get a writer who understands your art.

Coming soon: “Eight Areas for a Communications Plan for Fundraising”

How to Work with a Freelance Writer

Judith Pratt — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 10:06:00 GMT

What’s hard about asking someone to help out by writing your newsletter article, proposal, training manual, or brochure?

After all, the freelance or contract writer is taking the project off your desk for you. Just tell her what you want, and forget about it!

That works fine – as long as you communicate well and are clear about cost and deliverables.

Most people feel that everyone knows what they know. Even scientists and technicians, who fully understand that their work is arcane and magical, can be guilty of assuming that important details are common knowledge – and leaving them out. So the more that the writer knows about your organization and your project, the better work he or she can do for you.

If it’s a confidential issue, say so – and perhaps ask the writer to sign a confidentiality agreement.

A good freelance or contract writer usually will come in with questions about your project. It will save time and bottlenecks if you’ve thought about some of those questions in advance.

Who are you and what do you do? At the first meeting with the writer, supply background on your organization, including documents similar to the one you’re asking the writer to create.
What’s the goal of the project? Be specific, and link it to your overall business and marketing strategy.
How will the material look? If you want a lot of photos and graphics, let the writer work with your graphic designer to ensure that the writing and the pictures work together to reach your goal.
Who is the audience? Age, interests, backgrounds.
What’s the style and tone? Once you know your audience, that decision will be easier to make.
How much information is essential? Remember, people don’t have time to read. Because you love what you do, you’ll want to tell people everything about it. A good writer will cover the essentials and get people coming back for more information.

Money

Before you get too far into negotiations, make sure that you and the writer are on the same financial page. And remember that, unlike your full-time staff, a freelancer pays for his or her own computer, printer, office, paper, fax machine, envelopes, stamps, and health insurance.

You'll do better with a price-by-project, rather than an hourly rate. That means that the writer may need to review your whole project before coming up with a price.

Even for a short project, be sure you get some kind of letter of agreement that specifies what will be written and how, how many drafts there will be, when each draft should be delivered and returned for rewrites, the final due date, the cost, and the method of payment. Larger projects need to spell these issues out in detail.

Good luck!