Creating Event Speaker Bios and Working with Speakers on Remarks
for Family Reunification Day Event
Once you have identified your speakers for Family Reunification Day, here is some
general guidance on how to craft speaker bios and work with each speaker to draft even
remarks. This guidance is designed specifically with parents and those speakers who will
be sharing personal experiences in mind, but can be applied to all speakers.
Creating Speaker Bios
The press packets for the Family Reunification Day event should include a one or two
page document that contains brief bios for each of the speakers. This document will
provide event attendees – particularly media - with basic information about each speaker.
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Each brief bio can be anywhere between a paragraph and half a page in
length. Be consistent in terms of length – don’t write a three sentence bio for one
speaker, and a page for another. Generally, two or three paragraphs per speaker
will suffice.
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Each bio should include basic information: name, where they live, and their
profession. For parent speakers, you will additionally want to provide
information on how many children they have and perhaps their names and ages as
well (if parents are comfortable sharing that information), in addition to how long
they have been reunified for, and how long they were separated.
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The best bios also include at least one speaker quote. This helps communicate
information in the words and voice of each individual. It also helps create a more
readable document – it is more interesting to read a bio that consists of more than
just a series of facts or experiences strung together, but is infused with the
individual’s voice.
Guidance for Speaker “Interviews”
In choosing your speakers, you will likely be having one or more conversations with
each. These conversations can – and should – serve as the starting point for drafting
speaker bios and identifying key points for event remarks.
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When taking notes during these conversations, it helps to write what it said
pretty much verbatim. If you, and they, are comfortable, tape record and
transcribe the conversation. This can be incredibly helpful in identifying
compelling quotes, and helping to determine how to best work with the speaker to
relate their experiences. It is also much more helpful in identifying any gaps –
questions that you did not ask or areas that you still need clarification on – than
just writing down brief answers to each question.
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Start your initial conversation with each speaker by obtaining basic
information: name, where they live, what they do for a living. For those
speakers who will be sharing their personal experiences at the event, ask them
questions about these experiences.
For parents, ask how many children they have, how long they have been
reunified, and how it feels to be back with their children. Ask them to describe the
process of reunifying. It can help to start “backwards” – with the most recent
events and information first, because that is what most people vividly recall.
Working backwards, you can ask them in greater detail about what the recovery
process was like, when their children were removed, and the challenges they
experienced in working towards reunification.
From your extensive call notes and /or call transcript, you should be able to craft a
compelling brief bio and identify the key points/experiences that you think would be
most helpful to have the speaker address in their remarks.
Here are some examples of brief speaker bios:
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Baltimore, Maryland resident Kelly Smithson is the proud mother of three high
school age girls: sixteen year old Ellen, fourteen year old Amanda, and Cindy,
who is the youngest at thirteen. “They are the most important people in my life,”
Kelly says. “Not a day goes by that they don’t amaze me.” Seven years ago, Kelly
became addicted to meth, and after being arrested, her daughters were removed
from her care and placed with a foster family. “Losing my girls was a shock to the
system,” Kelly recalls. “I knew things were getting worse, and that I was not
always there for them as my addiction got stronger. But not having them there –
knowing that they might never be there again – wasn’t something I ever thought
would happen.”
Kelly’s case worked told her about Woodhaven Center, a rehabilitation center
focused on providing intensive services to parents overcoming addiction. While at
Woodhaven, Kelly met Donna Clarke, a counselor who helped provide constant
encouragement and worked to help arrange regular, weekend visits with her
children. “Donna and Woodhaven helped me through recovery, and helped keep
me connected to my girls,” Kelly said. After six months, Kelly left Woodhaven,
and four months later, regained custody of her children.
Today, Kelly works part-time as a pre-school assistant. She remains in contact
with Donna, who she says helps her to recognize all that she has accomplished
and encourage her to achieve even more. She has been reunified with her children
for more than five years, and proudly reveals that all three girls are honor roll
students and sing in the church choir.
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Robert Dungee is a senior at Hamlin College in Columbus, Ohio. A business
major, Robert wants to return to his hometown of Akron, Ohio after graduation
and open a restaurant. “I have a lot of dreams and goals, a lot I want to
accomplish,” he says. “My father has always encouraged me to reach for the
stars.”
At thirteen, Robert and his little sister Elisha went to live with their grandparents.
Their father, James, had begun to suffer from serious depression and, as a result,
lost his job and became unable to care for his children. “He told us that he wanted
to get better and that he loved us very much, but things just kept getting worse,”
Robert recalled. “Even though we were going to live with our grandparents, it
hurt so much to be away from Dad.” Robert’s grandparents lived in the same
town, so he and his sister were able to remain in the same school and keep the
same friends. Their father, who was receiving in-patient mental health counseling
at Lehigh Valley Center, was still a regular presence in their lives. “He saw our
report cards, asked about our friends, and talked to us about how we were going
to be together again soon,” Robert said.
After completing counseling and receiving job counseling, James started work
with a local company, and, four months later, was reunified with his children. “It
felt great to be a family again, together,” Robert said. While the pain of being
separated from his father was terrible, he realizes that, during that time, his father
received needed treatment. He is proud of all that his father has accomplished,
and says, “I know my father is proud of me too.”
You can use any of the above as a template, or you can establish your own template
based on the first brief bio that you draft. Remember to share the draft bio with each
speaker for their review and revision before finalizing. Also remember to share the entire
bio document with all speakers.
Crafting Speaker Remarks
Depending upon the comfort level and preferences of each of your speakers, you may
want to work with them to: draft their remarks, put together general talking points, or
identify key issues to address. You should give them as much or as little assistance as
they would like or need with this process.
The extensive call notes (referenced in the section above) will be incredibly helpful in
identifying key points for each speaker to touch upon. Each speaker should begin their
remarks by introducing themselves with basic information: name, where they live, etc.
For parent speakers (or foster parents, young adults, or others who will be sharing
personal experiences) you should emphasize that they should tell their story in a
linear way, rather than jumping back and forth between the present and the past,
which can be hard for an audience to follow. They can begin by talking about how long
they have been reunified with their children, and provide a little bit of information about
their children (names, ages, grades they are in).
But they should start “at the beginning” by talking about what led to their involvement
with the child welfare system, what their recovery process was like, what
services/programs it involved, and how they became reunified. It is important not just
that they are able to relate “the facts” but to talk about what they felt during this process.
What made them hopeful and what did they find hard? Who helped them to succeed and
what obstacles were in their way?
Encourage them to talk about the programs and services – and people – that helped them,
and how they helped. And now that they have succeeded, how do they feel? What does
their life look like everyday? What advice do they have for parents currently going
through the recovery process?
As mentioned in the previous sections, you will get the best sense of how to help each
speaker identify the most important elements of their story, and the most powerful ones,
by referring back to your call notes. You can then use these to work with speakers to draft
their remarks, if they would like assistance with this process.
Timing & Practicing Event Remarks
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Depending upon how many speakers you have, each will have around 8 minutes
to speak (this is for a program that contains 5 speakers). This is generally the
equivalent of reading about a page and a half (double spaced) of text.
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Once each speaker has their remarks or talking points drafted, encourage them to
practice. They can practice with you, or with friends or family members who can
help to time them. They can also practice in front of the mirror, which will help
remind them to make eye contact throughout their remarks. Let them know that it
is okay for them go under (or slightly over) the 8 minute mark, but that is where
they should aim (assuming you have 5 speakers).