The BBC’s recent series by Alan Yentob entitled ‘Yes we can – the lost art of oratory’ was must see for anyone involved in freelance copywriting or blog copywriting.

When people think of oratory, it’s often in the context of blood and thunder type speeches. Live, with exaggerated intonation, heavy emphasis, dramatic pauses, movement and gestures. A powerful orator can stir the blood of the most passive of men.

Cromwell, Lincoln, Churchill, Hitler, Martin Luther King and many of the great orators are examined and the questions asked ‘What makes a good speech great?’ How much is content, how much is presentation?

What can a freelance copywriter learn by considering these questions and the relationship between oratory and blog article writing, for example? More importantly how can this help blog article writing and gain more visitors and more conversions?

A speech is normally written before it’s delivered. Could a speech intended for live airing simply be put online and have the same effect? Or are their differences in the medium of delivery (from a pulpit as opposed to through a PC) that differentiate the two?

A smart freelance copywriter will identify the context and the audience – the right voice, the tone the engagement, the nuance and volume that will deliver messages effectively.

While former Labour leader Neil Kinnock, one of the finest live orators of his generation, failed to achieve high personal ratings with the mass audience beyond the conference hall, Barak Obama the most considered and effective of orators works with modern mediums to amazing effect. How did he become the most powerful man in the world? Not by passing lots of legislation. Not by solving the problems of the US people and by solving world issues.

Obama became the most powerful man in the world by sharing a vision in a way that persuaded millions of Americans that only he had the ability to move their country forward. “The time for change is now,” he said and “Yes we can”. No histrionics, just beautifully applied messages with an intelligent and intellectual basis to his proposals.

So is Obama the world’s first Web 2.0 orator?

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