“We are Bonded by Our Shared Cause to Build Entrepreneurs”

CLIENT: Rick Schwartz, board chair, Winsupply Inc.

INDUSTRY: Wholesale distribution

OPPORTUNITY: To frame the new Center for Innovation not as a monument to himself but as a living engine to help future Winsupply entrepreneurs succeed, while publicly honoring and thanking the many people and partners who made the center possible through close collaboration

EVENT: Grand Opening and Dedication of the Richard W. Schwartz Center for Innovation and the Grand Reopening of Winsupply of Dayton on Aug. 25, 2022, at the Winsupply Support Services Campus in Moraine, Ohio

CHALLENGE: To show this diverse audience how Winsupply’s new Center for Innovation and its Support Services Campus are not just impressive facilities but tools to help current and future entrepreneurs innovate faster, build more profitable companies and ultimately earn their own success.

SERVICES: Speech strategy/alignment to company strategy, planning, interviewing, research, message and framework development, speechwriting, line editing; coordination with two other speeches being delivered that day

APPROACH: Build the speech like a short, true story about the company’s past that naturally leads to why this new building matters today.

Open with a simple, concrete scene from 1958 (founders on the road helping young presidents) and then link that to the speaker’s own early days and to today’s entrepreneurs so people could “feel” the throughline of innovation and support over time.

Tell stories using real names, places and actions. Reveal the Brixilated model of the Support Services Campus, which lets people literally “build the campus” with their families at home.

The standout techniques in the speech were clear repetition of a few big ideas (“innovate,” “earn their own success”); vivid specifics instead of abstractions; and generous, name-by-name thanks that showed how many hands and hearts were behind the building.

SAMPLE: Request a copy of the speech