1) Make Speeches Great Again
That’s what we storytellers do. We restore order with imagination. We instill hope again and again and again. Quote from Walt Disney, Saving Mr Banks
2) Meet Other Speechwriters
This is our 14th international event.
The best speechwriters aren’t usually corporate animals or political animals: they tend to be the creative types within their organisations.
An ESN conference has been described as a ‘gathering of gregarious loners’. Half the conference is about learning new skills, the other half is about learning from the other practitioners of our craft.
3) Join a Community
The psychologist, Norman Dixon, said the motivation to achieve professional excellence is frequently accompanied by: Greater activity in the institution or community of which they are a member.
Over 40% of the delegates who attend our conferences have been before.
4) Attend the Speechwriters’ Banquet
Few experiences beat formal dining in an Oxford college. You’ll enjoy a three-course meal with wine followed by…speeches.
There will be a competition open to all delegates to deliver an impromptu speech, (with just a couple of hours of preparation).
5) Stay in Magdalen College
Speechwriters are interested in politics, literature and international affairs.
Former top UK politicians, George Osborne and William Hague, studied at Magdalen College, as did writers Oscar Wilde and Julian Barnes.
C. S. Lewis was a don at the college.
Historian, Niall Ferguson was also a student there. The list is very long.
You can have breakfast where they once sat. There are also cloisters, a chapel and a deer park to enjoy when you’re not listening to speeches.
6) Do Pre-Conference Training
First learn to be a craftsman; it won’t keep you from being a genius – Eugene Delacroix.
You’ve got a choice of three pre-conference workshops on Wednesday 29 March.
The trainers include a former head of BBC drama, a speechwriter from the White House Writers’ Group and the creators of the viral YouTube hit, Busting the Mehrabian Myth.
7) Become a better European citizen
We have similar educations. We face similar problems. We have much to learn from each other.
As we face political changes in our countries, we need to nurture personal relationships across borders. That way we can work out what’s really going on.
The conference takes place in Magdalen College, Oxford from 29-31 March 2017. Click here to register.