One of the prerogatives of writing a blog is that it gives you the opportunity to puff yourself every now and then.

Last month, for example, I won a Silver Cicero Award for a speech I gave to the Washington Speechwriters Roundtable.

The subject of the speech was speechwriter strategies for winning over tough audiences. I’m going to share the opening paragraphs of the speech in today’s post, because I think it contains some useful advice to speechwriters, along with a classic example of self-deprecating humor from Abraham Lincoln.

Here is the speech:

“Sooner or later the people we write for have to speak to audiences that are cold, skeptical or even hostile to them and to their point of view.

“How do we, as speechwriters, help our clients to crack those tough audiences?

“In one respect, there is no difference in writing for a hostile, rather than a friendly audience. The basic devices for moving audiences remain the same.

“Aristotle said that there are three main ways by which a speaker moves an audience.

As speechwriters, we know that they are:

“Ethos –- building a bond with the audience.

“Logos –- appealing to reason and logic.

|And pathos –- appealing to emotion.

“The basics don’t change when we have to write for a tough crowd. We simply adapt them to the occasion.

“I’m going to lay particular stress on ethos.

“One of the best ways of bonding with an audience is with humor. The best kind of humor for tough audiences is self-deprecating humor.

“For two reasons: First, it’s safe. Nobody can object to your speaker making fun of himself. Second, it works. It’s hard to dislike a person who is big enough not to take himself too seriously.

“You may know the story of how Abraham Lincoln was giving a speech, and a heckler accused him of being ‘two-faced.’

“Lincoln faced the heckler head-on and declared, ‘Friend, be fair! If I had two faces, why would I wear this one?’”