How to Write an Effective Graduation Speech

It’s an honor to give a graduation speech, so don’t screw it up with clichés and broad messages about not letting people tell you what to do and write an effective graduation speech. An effective graduation speech should show your appreciation and inspire listeners. You will only have one chance to do this, so write an effective graduation speech before it's too late.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Time
• Writing Materials

1. One sure way to write an effective graduation speech is start with a good anecdote. Tell a story that really impacted your life and helped you get to where you are now. Try to tell a story that would include members of the school.

2. Mention an important event or accomplishment relating to the school. For instance, you can mention how the school successfully raised $10,000 for fallen soldiers, the football team finally won after losing for three years, or how someone important died.

3. Keep it brief. You are not the only one who’s going to give a speech! To write an effective graduation speech, you have to consider the time constraints and audience attention span. For instance, at a school of 200 you would have a lot more time to talk than at a school of 4000 students. Also the length of your speech depends on your rank. To be safe, follow these general guidelines: Student: 2-5 min. Valedictorian: 5-10 min Teacher/guest: 10-15 min. Principal: 10-20 min.

4. Do not focus on yourself. This is worst than writing clichés. Do not go on how because of your own hard efforts you got to where you are today (even if this is true, people may think you are bragging). The focus of an effective graduation speech is the students, your friends, family, teachers, the school, and everybody who helped you.

5. Include quotes, clichés, and advice sparingly. An effective graduation speech is not a collection of other people’s sayings, but your own original words. Don’t let someone else write it for you!

6. Avoid inside jokes, controversial topics, and bad mouthing anybody. At best, people will be bored because they have no idea who or what you are talking about, at worst, they will be incredibly offended.

7. Include things that matter to your school. For instance, if it’s a private music school, you can mention how important music is for future generations.

8. Remember to thank the people who really helped you out (parents, teachers, mentors, Basketball coach, Principal, etc.) Ask the audience to give a round of applause for your parents. You should try doing this at the end or beginning.

9. Read it out loud many times. You cannot write an effective graduation speech, without reading it out loud at least three times. By reading it out loud, you will notice grammar errors, awkward phrasing, timing, hard words to pronounce, and other factors you would overlook reading mentally.

10. Have friends proofread it and hear you read it out loud. They may notice something you miss, comment on your performance, and give you practice giving a speech.

11. Relax! Get a good night sleep, eat well, and don’t drink too much before giving your speech. It would be horrible if you write an effective graduation speech, but struggle to give it because you are starving, sleepy, or have to pee!

Tips & Warnings

• Take breaks. You don't have to constantly stress writing your effective graduation speech.
• Memorize all or most of your speech. Thus, not only can you write an effective graduation speech, but also give an effective performance: you will be able to look at the audience most of the time without having your head glued to the paper.
• When you write an effective graduation speech, save often and keep multiple hard copies! You never know what might happen.

[mweise]

on 7/5/2009 VERY good tips - you have given people what they need to do the job right! 5*

[edieness]

on 7/3/2009 Good tips on How to Write an Effective Graduation Speech.

[carmensjones]

on 7/2/2009 great ideas. i hate speaking in public.

[oxymora]

on 7/2/2009 Great tips.

[deedavis]

on 7/2/2009 I am not very good at speaking publicly. Writing would not be a problem for me, it's in the delivery. Hehe. Great tips for how to write an effective graduation speech.