Planning Your Speech
Read other graduation speeches. One good way to prepare for your speech is to look for people who have already done it. Find other great graduation speeches, and look at the themes they hit and the jokes they told. You don’t want to copy them, just look for ideas that reflect your experiences or potential themes you can use. Some famous addresses include: Steve Jobs at Stanford in 2005 J.K. Rowling at Harvard in 2008 David Foster Wallace at Kenyon in 2009
Find a theme. Consider what you want your audience to get out of the speech, such as inspiration or reflection on good times. Draw from your own experience and the experiences of your classmates. Good themes include: “Find and follow your passion” “You do not need to be perfect” “If you think and believe you can, you can” “Try selflessness and give back”
Make an outline. List your big theme, then all the points you are going to make in support of it. Include space for jokes and stories as well. This will remind you of all the points you want to hit so you don’t forget any while writing. It can also show you how long your speech is, and maybe let you know that some things need to get cut. Your outline should include multiple parts, sections, and subsections.
Talk to other students. This ceremony isn’t just for you, it’s for everyone, and each person’s experience at school will have been a little different. Talk to other students, including people who aren’t your friends or you don’t know very well. Learn about how they saw their time in school, and what kinds of memories they will take with them. Note any themes or trends amongst the students. Find the most common and important ones, and stick with those. Don't forget the smaller memories and lesser-known stories. Mentioning them during your speech will help make those people feel noticed.
Remember your audience. This speech is for you and your fellow graduates. While it would be nice to thank your teachers and parents for getting you to graduate, remember that you and your classmates are the main focus. Make sure you are speaking to them first and foremost. If you aren’t sure how your speech will go, think about if you were listening to it. Is this the kind of speech you would like to hear at your graduation? If you’re not sure you would enjoy it, your fellow students probably won’t either.
Keep it short. Your speech is just one part of a larger ceremony, and people probably won’t want to listen to you give a half-hour lecture on the nature of friendship and the universe. Keep your thoughts short and to the point. Plus, if you don’t like giving speeches, keeping it short will make it go faster. Talk to your principal or teachers to get a sense of how much time you have. If they don’t have good guidelines, 5 to 10 minutes should be more than enough. The average speaker reads about 120 words in a minute. That is a little less than 1 page of double-spaced,16-point font, which you’ll want because it is easier to read.
Put your most important message at the end. Chances are the audience won’t be hanging on to your every word. Make sure you leave them with your biggest idea, even if that’s just restating the big idea you laid out the in beginning. This will be the last thing anyone hears, making it the thing they will most likely remember from your speech. Keep the message short, brief and to the point. This will make it easier to remember. Your message does not have to be philosophical or mundane. It can be humorous.
Including Important Parts
Thank people. Even though your speech is for the whole graduating class, take a few moments to thank people specifically for what they did to help you get there. You can make a list of names, including your parents, teachers, and friends. Just remember to be brief, and turn your attention back to the graduates. One way to make this more accessible to the rest of the class is to finish this section by encouraging or reminding the other graduates to thank someone too.
Include a few jokes. Adding a few lines in your speech to encourage laughter will help you and your audience get comfortable. It can also briefly take people’s minds off of the bigger, weightier topics you’ll be talking about. You don’t have to be voted “Class Clown” to be able to tell a good joke. Just stay relaxed and confident in your delivery, and if people don’t laugh, just move on. One style of joke is the funny inspirational quote, like Will Rogers’s “Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there,” or Ben Franklin’s “You will find the key to success under the alarm clock.” These clever lines can be a good start to a speech, introducing your big theme. Look for funny stories specific to your school. These can help personalize your speech, and reference things that most of the audience will recognize. You can make fun of school construction that was “building the future one closed hallway at a time.” You only need to include a few jokes. This is a valedictorian speech, not an audition for your stand-up comedy career. Remember to write them down and rehearse them just like the rest of your speech. You don’t stumble over the punchlines or forget how they go on the big day. Keep it clean. Your audience will include teachers, parents, grandparents, and siblings, including your own, so make sure your jokes are appropriate for all.
Reflect on the past. Focus at least part of your speech on things you and your classmates did during your time at school. Graduation is a time to celebrate all that you have done, including finishing high school. Make sure you mention specific accomplishments. Look for sports championships, awards, charity events, anything that you or your classmates accomplished during your time in high school. The more examples you can include that don’t involve you, the better. You are celebrating your whole class’ accomplishments, not just your own.
Talk about what comes next. Graduation is also a time to look forward to the future. Spend some time talking about what will happen after graduation. Because you don’t really know the future, this section can be a bit more vague and aspirational. Remember to stay positive, and think about what good will come next. As the valedictorian, you are probably going on to college after graduating. That may not be true for everyone in your class, so don’t forget to mention other possible avenues like getting a job or serving in the military. If you aren’t sure what kinds of things your classmates are doing after graduation, that’s a great thing to ask when you talk to them.
Tell a personal story. One good way to illustrate your theme and tie your story to past experiences is to tell a personal story. Think about an experience you had in high school that taught you the big lesson from your theme. If it includes your friends, or others in the audience, even better. This is a good way to personalize your big theme, and let your classmates know about your particular high school experience. If you don’t have a specific funny story about you or your friends, consider talking about how you’ve changed over your time in high school. Think about how you felt when you started as a freshman, how you got lost in the large school, or couldn’t reach your locker. A personal story is also a good way to add a little self-deprecating humor, as long as you are comfortable telling a story where you don’t look brilliant or cool.
Avoid cliches. While it is nice to have a theme, stop yourself from using ideas and statements like “the Real World,” “The future belongs to us,” or “Today is not the end of your education, but the beginning.” These kind of statements are overused and so plainly true that they become meaningless. Hearing them is a sign that your audience can stop listening, which you definitely don’t want. This means quotes too. One or two good quotes from famous people can be useful, as long as they relate directly to your main point. Remember that people want to hear you talk, not recite a list of famous lines.
Delivering Your Speech
Practice your speech. Graduation day shouldn’t be the first time you recite your speech out loud. Give yourself a few practice runs beforehand, either in front of a mirror or your friends. This will let you see how long your speech goes (and if it is too long), as well as how it actually sounds when you say it out loud. If you can, recreate the setting as much as possible. Wear your cap and gown so you will be comfortable in them, and practice at the podium or where the graduation is, if possible. The more familiar you are with the setting, the more comfortable you will be in giving your speech.
Keep it together. You don’t want to break down during the speech. If you feel some tears coming on, take a few deep breaths and grip the podium to distract yourself. Graduation is an emotional time for everyone involved, and it is understandable that you’ll get a little choked up thinking about your friends and classmates. Letting one or two tears out can be fine. You can always pass it off by blaming allergies, or make a joke about it being dusty in the room.
Enjoy yourself. This is a big moment for you, and it should be a proud one too. That being said, your classmates probably won’t remember most of what you say. That’s okay. If anything, it just might take some of the pressure off of you. Relax, have fun, and stick to your big ideas. The important thing is that you find a message that you care about and think is important.
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