High School Graduation Speech - Pointers and Ideas to Get it Right

Do you need some tips and ideas to help you prepare your high school graduation speech?

Graduation is a time to celebrate, to look back on the past, both the accomplishments and the failures, and to look to the future with hope, wonder, and awe. It's also a time to get your graduation speech just right.

Whether you are a graduating high school senior who is nervous about your graduation speech, a faculty member who has never done one before, or a guest speaker who is wondering just what he got himself into, there are a few things to consider when writing your high school graduation speech.

Know your audience

There are few things worse than standing in front of thousands of people giving a speech, looking out among all those faces and sets of eyes watching you, and realizing that they are fighting just to stay awake. For many past speakers, they learned too late that they didn't plan ahead; they didn't take into account the audience they were going to be speaking to.

A high school graduation speech should be written not just for the students in attendance, but they are certainly the focus. Yes, they want to look forward to their future with ambition and hope, but they aren't quite ready to take it all that seriously.

They are celebrating a major milestone in their life, and the last thing you should do as a speaker is rain on their parade. Avoid the paternal dire warnings of the future. Don't tell them how tough it really is going to be for them. Instead, offer them hope and excitement for what lies ahead.

Use humor

Everyone loves a good comedian. Notice that the term 'good' was thrown in there. Most high school students have been through many of the same situations, and even those that seemed so traumatic at the time can actually be quite funny when looked back upon with the right perspective, especially at a time of great joy, wonder, hope, and awe. Adding humor will keep your audience engaged and interested.

Keep it concise

It can be tempting to ramble on about certain points that you want to make, but for a high school graduation speech, it's generally a good idea to avoid being long-winded. No matter how engaging you may be as a speaker, during this graduation speech, you will begin losing your audience after ten minutes.

If you have been asked to present a high school graduation speech, you should feel honored and take advantage of that honor by writing the best graduation speech that you can. Take your time writing it; there is no need to rush, because when you rush, you produce a less-than-ideal product.

Once you have your high school graduation speech completed, you should practice it several times in your room, ideally while looking at a mirror. Then give your speech to several friends or family members to see their reactions. Note when they laugh and also pay attention to when they look at their watches. These will give you indications on where your high school grad speech needs some work.

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