How to prepare your graduation farewell speech

Video: Tips On How To Give A Farewell Speech

Content

Steps
Part 1 of 3: Plan Your Presentation
Part 2 of 3: Include Important Points in Your Speech
Part 3 of 3: Present Your Speech
Tips
Warnings
Similar articles

Delivering a farewell speech after graduating from high school is a challenging but challenging assignment that delights not only the audience, but the speaker himself. The purpose of such a speech is to say words of gratitude to your teachers, once again remind everyone about graduating from school and cheer up. In addition to saying goodbye to teachers, your speech should include inspiring words of parting words. Putting it all together in one small speech is a rather difficult task for the speaker. However, you can make a great speech if you plan and prepare ahead of time.

Steps

Part 1 of 3: Plan Your Presentation

1 Read other graduation speeches. One of the best ways to prepare for what you need to do is to find people who have already done it. Ask your classmates to read their graduation speeches to you, listen to how these speeches sound, what jokes are used in them. There is no need to copy these speeches, just find something interesting in each speech, some ideas and topics that you can use for your speech.
- Examples of famous speeches include Steve Jobs' speeches at Stanford in 2005, D.K. Rowling at Harvard in 2008, David Foster Wallace at Kenyon in 2009.
2 Find a topic for your speech. Your speech should be structured around something that you are trying to convey to your classmates and teachers. Once you find a topic, you can build your speech around that main point. Thanks to the theme, you can easily understand what phrases and sentences to include in your speech.
- When choosing a topic, think about what kind of reaction you expect from your audience. You might want to inspire them or remember good school days together. This is an important aspect that will influence the choice of theme.
- Here are some good phrases that can be a topic for speech: “find your calling”, “you don't have to be perfect”, “if you think you can do it, then you really can”, “dedication and surrender”. Try to find something that you can complement with examples from personal experience or the experience of your classmates.
3 Sketch it. Before you sit down and start writing a touching speech, sketch it out. Find a big topic, write down everything you want to include in your speech, point by point. In your speech, mention a few jokes or funny stories. Such a plan will help you navigate when writing a speech and not forget any of the points. It also gives you an idea of how long your speech will turn out to be. Some aspects may need to be reduced.
4 Talk to other students. This ceremony is arranged not only for you, but also for all other graduates, so everyone's opinion on this event will be different. Talk to other students, not only friends, but also those with whom you have little contact. Find out what school time was like for them, what memories they have.
5 Be mindful of your audience. This speech is not only for you, it is also for your classmates and teachers. Therefore, it would be a good idea to thank your teachers and parents for educating you. Remember, the main focus should be on you and your classmates. First of all, your speech should be dedicated to graduates.
- If you cannot appreciate your speech, pretend you are a listener. Would you be interested in listening to such a speech at the prom? If you didn't really like your speech, if you were in the place of your classmates, it might be better to rewrite it.
6 Try not to procrastinate. If your performance is part of some kind of ceremony, most likely, the guests are not in the mood to listen for half an hour about nature, friendship and the Universe. Try to be clear and to the point. Plus, if you're shy about public speaking, you will feel more confident with a short speech.
- Talk to your teacher or supervisor about how long you should be giving your presentation. Most likely, they will not tell you the exact time, but they will definitely give you helpful advice. If your teachers did not give you any recommendations on this matter, then 5-10 minutes for a presentation will be enough.
- When writing a speech, keep in mind that the average person reads about 120 words per minute. This is slightly less than 1 page of double-spaced text, font size 16 (to make it easier to read).
7 Leave the most important for last. Chances are, your viewers won't listen to every word. Therefore, the most important idea for which you prepared this speech should be said at the end of the speech, even if it is just a paraphrased thought that you already said at the beginning of the speech. The last sentence of your speech that viewers hear is likely to be remembered best.

Part 2 of 3: Include Important Points in Your Speech

1 Express your gratitude to people. Even if you've written a graduate speech, take a few minutes to thank the people who helped you get your education. You can make a list of the names of those you want to thank. Include the names of your parents, teachers, friends. Do not drag out your speech, thank your family briefly and go back to the main part of the speech.
- One way to end your thanksgiving is to remind the rest of the alumni to also thank their family and teachers.
2 Add some humor and jokes. A few funny stories or jokes are needed to lift your mood and relieve tension. In addition, humor is needed to dilute your speech, so as not to strain the audience after a serious topic. Of course, you don't have to act like a clown to make your listeners smile. Just relax and be confident, even if the audience does not laugh at your joke, pretend that nothing happened, and continue the speech.
- Instead of a joke, you can dilute your speech with an inspiring quote, such as Will Rogers' quote: "Even if you are on the right track, you will be crushed if you just sit on the road." Or a quote from Ben Franklin: "The key to success lies under the alarm clock." These inspiring statements can be the starting point for your speech or topic.
- Think of some funny stories that happened within the walls of your school. They will help diversify your speech and talk about something that everyone will understand. You can joke about the school's layout by saying, "building a future with permanently closed corridors."
- Keep in mind, you only need to insert a few jokes. This is a farewell speech, not a comedy performance.
- Be sure to record and practice these jokes in the same way as the rest of your talk. You don't want to forget them or pronounce them incorrectly at prom.
- Watch your speech. Keep in mind that your audience will be teachers, parents, grandparents, siblings, including your own. So choose jokes that are appropriate.
3 Reflect on the past. Pay homage to your past with your classmates and the various things you did together at school. Graduation is the time to remember everything that connects you with school, right up to the day of graduation.
- You need to mention your accomplishments in your speech. Think about sporting events, awards, charity events - everything where you or your classmates took an active part. The more school-related events you can remember, the better.It is important to celebrate the achievements of your entire class, not just your own.
4 Talk about what's next. Graduation is a time to look into the future. Talk about what might happen after graduation. You don't know for sure what will happen to you in the future, so this part of the talk can be vague and dreamy. Think positively and think about the good things ahead.
- You may go to college after graduation. It’s unlikely that all your classmates will do this, so be sure to mention other possible paths that others can take to get an education and a job. If you are unsure of what your classmates are planning to do after high school, talk to them about it.
5 Tell a story. This is a good way to reveal the topic of your speech and connect your story with real events that happened within the walls of your school. Think about what happened to you in school, what lessons you have learned for yourself, how they relate to your topic. If this topic concerns not only you, but also your friends and other acquaintances, it will be even more interesting. This is a good way to open up a topic and tell classmates about something interesting that happened at school.
- If you can't remember a funny story about you or your friends, share how you have changed during your time at school. Think about who you were when you first entered it, how you got lost in the corridors a couple of times, how you could not find your office. Joking at yourself is a great way to break up your performance if you're not shy about telling funny stories about yourself.
6 Avoid templates. Of course, the topic of the speech is a wonderful thing, but try not to use clichés like "the real world", "the future belongs to us" or "today is not the end of our education, but only the beginning." Such phrases and sentences sound beautiful, but are used so often that they already seem meaningless to us. If the audience hears a few of these phrases, they may lose interest in your speech, and you definitely don't want to.
- The same goes for quotes. A couple of good quotes from famous people will brighten your speech, but these quotes should be relevant to the topic of your speech. Remember that people came to listen to you, and not the quotes of strangers.

Part 3 of 3: Present Your Speech

1 Practice giving a speech. Before graduation, you should read your speech aloud several times. You can practice in front of a mirror or in front of friends. This way, you will understand how long your speech is taking (for example, it may be too long), and also appreciate how it sounds when you say it out loud.
- Try to get into the image as much as possible. Put on your prom costume to feel confident in it, and practice on the catwalk or stage. The more you get used to the image in rehearsal, the more comfortable you will feel on the day of the performance.
2 Keep yourself together. You don't want to cry in the middle of your performance and ruin everything. If you feel like you’re about to cry, take a few deep breaths and take a few steps across the stage to calm yourself down. Graduation is a pretty emotional event for all viewers, so it's not strange that you feel sad at the thought of breaking up with friends and teachers.
- You can drop a few tears, but don't get hysterical. You can always blame it on an allergy or make a joke about getting a speck of dust in your eye.
3 Enjoy. This is an important moment for you, be proud of yourself. Most likely, your classmates won't remember even half of what you say, but that's okay. Anyway, it shouldn't bring you down. Relax and have fun, stick to your plan. The most important thing is that you have found the right words to convey what you think is important.

Tips

Remember that you were chosen to give your farewell speech for a reason. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to give a goodbye speech at prom, so try to show your best.
Take a copy of your speech with you. Even if you do a great job rehearsing in front of a mirror or friends, prom will make it harder for you to focus. Therefore, a copy of the speech as a reminder will not interfere with you.

Warnings

Try not to get distracted during your performance. This means that you need to be sure to turn off your phone, take out noisy key chains and coins from your pocket, and do not chew chewing gum while performing. It will be difficult for people to understand you if they don't listen to you carefully.
In many schools, your speech will be tested first to make sure it is relevant to the topic and does not raise controversial issues. Therefore, rehearsing with one speech and performing with another is not a good idea.
Avoid plagiarism. This should be your speech, not someone else's speech. Your speech should be original and unique. Keep in mind that there are many different speeches to be found on the internet, and it may be tempting to just copy one for yourself, but remember that people can easily expose your deception.