A conversation with Bob Lehrman

On Thursday September 1, members of the Silicon Valley Speechwriters Roundtable hosted a conference call with with renowned author, speechwriter and professor Bob Lehrman. Robert A. Lehrman served as Chief Speechwriter to Vice President Al Gore and, in 2004, as Chief Speechwriter for the Democratic National Committee during his more than three decades of experience writing speeches. His 2009 book, 'The Political Speechwriters Companion' is one of the best books I've ever read on speechwriting, period. He's an editor of the new book 'Democratic Orators from JFK to Barack Obama' (Palgrave/Macmillan 2016) and authored the chapters on the oratory of J.F.K. and Barack Obama. Bob has written for political figures, celebrities, heads of nonprofits, and corporate CEOs. He created and co-teaches the political speechwriting course at American University, speaks often at other campuses, conferences, and associations, on the topic of political speechwriting, and has conducted four workshops in Hanoi for Vietnamese diplomats. Author of a number of award-winning novels, and many articles for publications like The New York Times, Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, and Politico, Bob has a B.A. from Tufts University and an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop, where he studied with Kurt Vonnegut and Richard Yates. I was going to summarize the topics we discussed on the call, but Rob Cottingham did a great job capturing this in an awesome Sketchnote: (Click to enlarge) To listen to the first half hour of the call, click on the podcast icon below.