Best Tips to Prepare a Graduation Speech
Doing a speech for your graduation ceremony can be something somewhat difficult, especially if you’re not the kind of person that is used to speech writing or writing generally, and even if you’re used to writing, the very fact that you are to prepare a speech that you are to give on your graduation day may be quite different as you might be thinking of what you are to put or what you’re not to add, how to put it together. Of course, it might be that you are one of those who are opportune to give speeches on your graduation day due to one reason or the other. This article is on – Best tips to prepare a graduation speech.
For whatever reason why you will be giving a speech on your graduation day it is important that you are able to prepare the speech very well because this is actually the very first stage towards a great delivery, no matter how good you may be at speech delivery, if the content is not good enough, it will affect. You can begin to work on how to deliver the speech later but first of all prepare a great speech. How can you prepare a great speech? What tips can you apply?
1. Appreciate people
One good thing that can be very interesting to put in your speech while preparing it is to thank some people. Thank people that have made your school journey to be meaningful, successful and interesting. You didn’t do it all by yourself, appreciate the right people, they could be lecturers, students, and especially your parents, or teachers that helped you in the course of your schooling at the institution.
2. Have a flow and a great introduction
Your speech is supposed to have a flow, you should have an introduction, the middle and the conclusion and so you must ensure that your introduction is formed and composed in such a way that it can catch the attention of your audience. Don’t dare to start with a boring introduction, look for something that can be captivating. Begin on a good and interesting note so that way that you can create a very good initial impression in the minds of your listeners. In as much as you are very careful to make sure that your introduction is able to catch the attention of your audience, ensure that you keep the attention and that means that the middle of your speech must be able to keep their attention till you get to the climax of the conclusion.
3. Get clues from online samples
You can check online for ideas on how to go about writing your speech. The internet has made things a lot easier, there are samples online that you can use. Look for samples of great graduation speeches that are available, with good content which you can you follow and then try to compose your own speech. Even if you don’t have an idea how you should go about writing your speech, you have the opportunity to go online and check those samples of speeches that probably people have made before, draw ideas from there from those ideas you can be able to get direction for your speech and compose your own speech relevant to your own situation and institution.
4. Talk about others
Don’t just be about yourself alone. Most of the people there are not there because of you, they likely came to celebrate with other students too. So, remember that you are not the only one in the picture. Instead of talking all about yourself, why not find a way to mention some of your colleagues too or bring them into the picture in the speech, this will likely endear you more to the audience.
5. Inspire towards the future
You should try to be futuristic in your approach, it’s important in the sense that you and your colleagues now will be leaving the school, the question might be what’s next? What advice, counsel or encouragement can you give your colleagues and yourself as it regards the next step for the future? – the next thing to do after the graduation. Try to inspire and motivate your audience, especially your colleagues.
6. Focus on one good and strong theme
Ensure that you have a strong theme that you are focused on, that is the center of your speech to the people and you should build every other thing around that. Whatever you are including in the speech, whatever you are trying to build, everything should be around that theme. Don’t have too many themes that you are trying to pass across, just try and have one strong theme and let that one be the focus. When you try to include too many things in your speech that may not go too coherently together, it may make your message to be confused. So just focus on a strong theme and build your speech around it creatively and in an interesting way with a good flow.
7. Do not include things you will eventually hate that you said
Avoid including anything that you will regret saying eventually, so you should make sure that the opportunity you have to make a speech is used as such that you can use to create a good memory for yourself, something you can tell your children about and even show them. You don’t want to say things about students, teachers, lecturers or the school that you will later regret saying. Stick to the good things and the right things, be level-headed, don’t go overboard in your speech. Count it a privilege to be opportune to give a speech for your graduation and make the best use of it.
8. Make do with stories
You can use stories from the experiences you’ve had in the school or institution. A story that is interesting and that relates to the theme of your speech. This will make your speech to be more interesting especially if you are able to present the story in a way that flows with your speech. If you are going to add stories to your speech, do it interestingly and concisely, don’t bore people with too many things that may not be necessary.
9. Keep it short and sweet
Ensure that your speech is not too long, it should be long enough to contain all the important things that you have to say in your speech but it should be short enough not to bore people or make them begin to hope that you finish your speech. It should not contain unnecessary stories. Put in mind that people are not there to listen to your speech all day. They don’t want to be bored, so keep it short and sweet. You probably just have limited time to give your speech, make the content of your speech to be within proper time range.
10. Have a strong conclusion
Make sure that the concluding part of your speech is strong. Don’t allow it to be weak. You should try to reserve a very strong point, perhaps the strongest for the concluding part so as to make it the climax. It’s like saving the best for the last.
11. Be as original as possible
Also try to do less of using famous quotes. You are there to speak to people, what do you personally have to say, what are your thoughts, opinions and the likes, don’t just fill your speech with famous quotes of what other people said. Be original and inspirational.