Media Traning Workshop Series: Speech Writing 101

The second installment of the Media Training Workshop Series is Speech Writing 101.

Want to learn how to write and deliver an effective speech, whether for yourself or others? Looking to craft remarks that engage your audience and leave them wanting

more, instead of less? Join playwright and screenwriter Mario Correa, who frequently ghostwrites speeches for leading entertainment industry figures, as he leads participants through the essential elements of effective speech writing.

Topics will include learning how to tailor remarks based on your audience; developing an accessible, clear arc to your message; succinctly articulating that message through a limited set of key points; and making effective use of anecdotes, personal experiences and humor.
Prerequisite: Attendees are asked to bring some portion of a draft speech for a specific presentation they may be preparing, or may need for the future.This work will be shared and critiqued by the class.

Presenter

Mario Correa is a New York City-based writer who works in film, TV and theater, as well as behind the scenes as a speechwriter. He has written for a wide range of speakers, including entertainers such as Mo Rocca, Joan Rivers and Sherri Shepherd; senior TV executives, including those of AMC, TNT/TBS, IFC, BBC AMERICA, SundanceTV and WEtv; and numerous public officials, including Geraldine Ferraro. Correa’s hit play Tail! Spin!, starring Saturday Night Live alum Rachel Dratch, played an acclaimed run Off Broadway in 2014 and 2015. A New York Times “Critics’ Pick,” Tail!Spin! was nominated for Best Unique Theatrical Experience by the Off Broadway Alliance, and its 2012 NY Fringe Festival debut was a GLAAD Media Awards nominee for Outstanding New York Theater: Off-Off Broadway. Correa was the screenwriter of Members Only, a feature length screenplay commissioned by Turner Broadcasting’s Super Deluxe studios; a staff writer on the Animal Planet series Whoa! Sunday with Mo Rocca; a script consultant on the PBS documentary Electoral Dysfunction, and an Executive Producer, writer and host of the NBC-4 pilot PowerHouse. For two years, he co-hosted Entertainment Weekly (EW) magazine’s daily News & Notes program on SiriusXM’s EW Radio channel.

Produced by Kathryn O’Kane and Octavia Taylor