If you had just three minutes to outline your campaign’s message and win over critical votes, would you be prepared? What if you were standing in front of a hostile crowd, all eyes on you? If your best strategy is to imagine your audience in their pajamas and crack a few jokes, you probably aren’t as prepared as you think. In this episode of the Election University podcast, our hosts Jason Bennett and Reiny Cohen speak with expert speechwriter Eric Liu to help you craft an excellent stump speech.

Our guest Eric Liu is a former speechwriter and policy advisor to Bill Clinton. He has written seven books, including bestsellers The Gardens of Democracy, True Patriot, the Accidental Asian, You’re More Powerful Than You Think, and Guiding Lights. He is the founder and CEO of Citizen University, an organization dedicated to fostering active citizenship through activism, communication, and education. He is also the Executive Director of the Aspen Citizenship and American Identity program. Eric has hosted two TED Talks, “There’s No Such Thing as Not Voting” and “Why Ordinary People Need to Understand Power.”

You can find out more about Eric and his work with Citizen University here. You can keep up with Eric on Linkedin here or on twitter @ericpliu.

So, what did you think, listeners? Are you standing in front of the mirror practicing your speech right now? Are you thinking strategy and objectives with your stump speeches? Let us know! And this week, we don’t just want to know your thoughts the episode—we want to hear them! This week, we are asking for voice recordings of your stump speech, or your questions and comments on the episode in audio format! In two minutes or less, record your campaign message and send it to podcast@electionu.com. We can’t wait to hear from you!

As always, you can listen to the show right here on the EU website or by subscribing in iTunes, Apple Podcasts, GooglePlay, Spotify, Stitcher, Soundcloud, iHeartRadio, and more! If you do subscribe, please leave us a rating and review. We love the feedback and we read every one! If you'd like to hear a particular topic on our podcast, please email podcast@electionu.com. As always, thanks for listening!