Pro Rhetoric

20/03/2025

A WEEK FROM TOMORROW is the early-bird deadline for the 2025 Executive Communication Awards.

Enter now, and afford to enter more of your team's best work.

Up until a few years ago, “executive communication” at most organizations was either a euphemism or a glorified term for a CEO speechwriter. Not anymore. To ...

18/03/2025

MILITARY SPEECHWRITERS DON'T FALL INTO THIS WORK, THEY'RE THROWN--into one of the toughest, highest-stakes of all communication assignments.

There is no school for this.

Actually, yes there is.

And it's taught by two former superstar military speechwriters, along with the executive director of the Professional Speechwriters Association.

But it's only offered once a year.

This year, it's ...

AboutAgendaFacultyDetailsRegister NEW COMPETENCE. NEW COLLEAGUES. NEW CONFIDENCE. You’ve had tough assignments before. But nothing like this. Now you’re tas ...

13/03/2025

"EXACTLY A HALF-DECADE since the founding of the Executive Communication Council—and at the beginning of yet another deeply disorienting moment in institutional leadership communication—this seemed like a very good moment to dig deep. And deep, these 20 exec comms pros dug ..."

What is executive communication precisely, and what all do you need to know to be great at it? Exactly a half-decade since the founding of the Exe ...

07/03/2025

REGISTRATION IS OPEN ...

Participants in this professional sit-down will get:

• Revealed results from a vital new study on the state and future of executive communication.

• Long views from Yale management professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Southwest Airlines communication superstar Linda Rutherford and Great Place to Work CEO Michael Bush.

• Best-practices on AI, thought leadership and executive presence, from some of your leading exec comms colleagues.

Register yourself, register your team, for the most mission-critical exec comms event of a terribly eventful year.

(PSA members get 25% off)

https://prorhetoric.com/event/executive-communication-summit/

06/03/2025

PSA HAPPY HOUR FOR GOVERNMENT SPEECHWRITERS.

Crazy times, folks—especially if you work for the government. Let’s think together (and drink together) next Thursday, March 13, at 5pm Eastern.

Usually, we cap attendance at our PSA Speakeasy Happy Hours to ensure intimacy and candor, but we’re opening this one up to any government speechwriter or recently separated government speechwriter—or, anybody in the speechwriting biz, who’s interested in helping them.

If you join us, come prepared to share, in a confidential conversation facilitated by onetime FAA speechwriter and close PSA pal Justine Adelizzi, your personal reality, your hopes and fears—and your plans for the future. We are hoping people find comfort in company—and maybe share some ideas with one another, too.

Speechwriters’ Speakeasy Happy Hour PSA Happy Hour Registration 3/13/25 Please use this form to submit your name/email and retrieve the Zoom link you will use to join the Happy Hour on Thursday, March 13, at 5pm Eastern. First Name*Last Name*Email*CAPTCHACommentsThis field is for validation purpos...

04/03/2025

NO COURSE WE OFFER transforms communications careers like this course.

Participants report immediately improved relationships with bosses. Sudden credibility with management. Brimming career confidence.

Do not fail to acquire these essential skills.

(PSA members get 25% off)

https://prorhetoric.com/event/executive-presence-for-corp-comms-pros/

28/02/2025

THIS YEAR OF ALL YEARS, JOIN US.

Walmart is hosting something like an emergency meeting of corporate, university and nonprofit exec comms pros seeking to recalibrate their leadership communication strategies (and exec comms careers) for a new political and cultural moment.

Some seats remain. Register now to secure yours.

https://prorhetoric.com/event/leadership-communication-days-2025/

21/02/2025

THIS FRIDAY MORNING, please treat yourself to a moment of Zen in political oratory: In this short audio, onetime RFK speechwriter Adam Walinski summons a section of a speech word for word, 50 years later, from … well, the mystic chords of memory, I guess.

Earlier this week I wrote about how I've been morally instructed and civically inspired by Robert F. Kennedy's speeches. None more than this excer ...

20/02/2025

THIS IS NEXT THURSDAY.
Don't miss this chance to become a more versatile exec comms counselor.
PSA members get 25% off.

AboutInstructorDetailsRegister Consistent eye contact. Vocal variation. Dynamic facial expressions, gestures and movement: These have been the clearcut rule ...

19/02/2025

REGISTRATION IS OPEN ...
.. for the course that has launched hundreds of speechwriting careers over the last 10 years—and turbocharged hundreds more.

Learn the essential leadership communication craft from the best speechwriters (and the most inspiring teachers) in the business.

(PSA members get 25% off)

https://prorhetoric.com/event/speechwriting-school-online-2/

14/02/2025

BUILD ANOTHER CAPABILITY.

PSA members get 25% off.

AboutInstructorDetailsRegister Consistent eye contact. Vocal variation. Dynamic facial expressions, gestures and movement: These have been the clearcut rule ...

11/02/2025

DOESN'T THIS SEEM LIKE A VERY GOOD TIME to get together with other exec comms colleagues for a candid and constructive conversation?

Here's the place. Seats are capped at 20, and dwindling. Register now.

(PSA members get 25% off)

https://prorhetoric.com/event/leadership-communication-days-2025/

07/02/2025

CALL FOR ENTRIES.

The ECAs provide rare recognition to behind-the-scenes teams, set standards for excellence in this still-burgeoning discipline and show the whole corporate comms world what effective exec comms can do.

The early-bird deadline is March 28.

https://prorhetoric.com/the-executive-communication-awards/

30/01/2025

MIDNIGHT TOMORROW IS THE EARLY-BIRD DEADLINE. Enter now, and afford to enter more. https://prorhetoric.com/cicero-awards/

24/01/2025

REGISTRATION IS OPEN for this all-new webinar from the Executive Communication Council and the Professional Speechwriters Association.

This interactive session is for exec comms pros who serve leaders who struggle to meet conventional public speaking expectations—and for exec comms pros who are neurodivergent themselves.

Participants will learn:

• How to leverage the strengths of neurodivergent brains to impact audiences in remarkable, novel ways.

• How to write for a neurodivergent speaker; matching word choices and speech patterns to their authentic style.

• How to navigate a conversation about neurodivergence with a speaker—actually, how to navigate a conversation with any speaker about their own personal strengths and areas of discomfort—and adapt your strategies accordingly.

• BONUS: How neurodivergent comms pros can use the strengths of their brains to support their principals through uncommon creativity, problem-solving skills and powerful intuition.

Led by Amy Arbogast, a presentation expert and university professor who specializes in supporting neurodivergent speakers.

AboutInstructorDetailsRegister Consistent eye contact. Vocal variation. Dynamic facial expressions, gestures and movement: These have been the clearcut rule ...

21/01/2025

STARTS NEXT WEEK.
Don’t miss this chance to become a smarter, savvier, stronger exec comms pro.

AboutAgendaInstructorDetailsRegister Are your speeches getting things done? Are your video scripts connecting your leader to key constituencies, gettin ...

14/01/2025

EXECUTIVE PRESENCE: IT'S THE SINGLE SKILL SET that makes or breaks a communications career.

You're a strategic thinker, a fine writer, a creative communicator. But you won't get the approval or the resources to do your best work until you can command credibility with the senior executives you serve.

This course will show you how, step by step. The results will be immediate and dramatic.

"I must tell you that I’ve never entered a boardroom with more confidence," a recent participant wrote after the course, adding, "What is blowing my mind is how quickly the relationships are straightening out as I apply the suggestions you made."

Register now for the course that will change your career.

(PSA members get 25% off.)

AboutAgendaInstructorDetailsRegister Corporate leaders need communications professionals they can trust—as more than message-crafters, but as true communica ...