If you want to go on the road with your speaker,
offer yourself as a speech Sherpa

The consensus last week on a blog entry about whether speechwriters should travel with their speakers: yes. The reality: It doesn't happen as much as it should.

A late entry into that conversation comes from freelancer Jay Stuller, who worked for years at Chevron. He says he traveled frequently with at least "a half dozen different execs."

Here's why: "We frequently made changes en-route or at the event, if a pertinent news or other development would help make it a better talk. Also, the executives were clearly comfortable knowing a professional had their back謡hether it was working with media, answering post-speech questions, keeping in contact with the office, collecting business cards and, essentially, freeing the individual to concentrate on the audience. What's more, the flight home would typically include a debrief on the speech."

I wonder: If execs knew a speechwriter was able and willing to serve as such a speech Sherpa, would they be less likely to climb to the podium alone?