How long are special occasion speeches

A toast is a speech designed to congratulate, appreciate, or remember. First, toasts can be delivered for the purpose of congratulating someone for an honor, a new job, or getting married. You can also toast someone to show your appreciation for something he or she has done. Lastly, we toast people to remember them and what they have accomplished. When preparing a toast, the first goal is always to keep your remarks brief. Toasts are generally given during the middle of some kind of festivities e.

Second, the goal of a toast is to focus attention on the person or persons being toasted—not on the speaker. As such, while you are speaking, you need to focus your attention toward the people being toasted, both by physically looking at them and by keeping your message about them. You should also avoid any inside jokes between you and the people being toasted because toasts are public and should be accessible for everyone who hears them. When you lift your glass, this will signal to others to do the same and then you can all take a drink, which is the end of your speech.

A roast is a very interesting and peculiar speech because it is designed to both praise and good-naturedly insult a person being honored. Because of this combination of purposes, it is not hard to argue that the roast is probably a challenging type of speeches to write given the difficult task of simultaneously praising and insulting the person. During a roast, the roaster will stand behind a lectern while the roastee is seated somewhere where he or she is clearly on display for the audience to see, thus allowing the audience to take in his or her reactions.

How does one prepare for a roast? First, you want to really think about the person who is being roasted. Does he or she have any strange habits or amusing stories in their past that you can discuss? When you think through these questions, you want to make sure that you cross anything off your list that is truly private information or will really hurt the person. The goal of a roast is to poke at him, not massacre him.

Second, when selecting which aspects to poke fun at, you need to make sure that the items you choose are widely known by your audience. Roasts work when the majority of people in the audience can relate to the jokes being made. If you have an inside joke with the roastee, bringing it up during roast may be great fun for the two of you, but it will leave your audience unimpressed. Lastly, end on a positive note.

While the jokes are definitely the fun part of a roast, you should leave the roastee and the audience knowing that you truly do care about and appreciate the person.

Not to sound depressing, but since everyone who is alive will someday die, the chance of your being asked to give a eulogy someday for a friend or family member is significant. When preparing a eulogy, first you need to know as much information about the deceased as possible.

The more information you have about the person, the more personal you can make the eulogy. While you can rely on your own information if you were close to the deceased, it is always a good idea to ask friends and relatives of the deceased for their memories, as these may add important facets that may not have occurred to you. Of course, if you were not very close to the deceased, you will need to ask friends and family for information.

Second, although eulogies are delivered on the serious and sad occasion of a funeral or memorial service for the deceased, it is very helpful to look for at least one point to be lighter or humorous. In some cultures, in fact, the friends and family attending the funeral expect the eulogy to be highly entertaining and amusing. Picturing the heavy-set comedian naked surely brought some humor to the somber proceedings, but Arnold knew Farley and his audience well enough to know that the story would be appropriate.

Knowing the deceased and the audience is vital when deciding on the type and amount of humor to use in a eulogy. Ultimately, the goal of the humor or lighter aspects of a eulogy is to relieve the tension that is created by the serious nature of the occasion. The last thing that you will want to do or be in a mental state to do is figure out how to structure your eulogy.

To that end, here are three parts of a eulogy i. The first thing you want to do when remembering someone who has passed away is remind the audience what made that person so special. So you will want to praise them and their accomplishments.

The second thing you want to do in a eulogy is to lament the loss. To lament means to express grief or sorrow, which is what everyone at a funeral has gathered to do. Here you might mention all the things that will no longer happen as a result of the death. The final step or main point in a eulogy is to console the audience, or to offer comfort in a time of grief.

What you must remember and many people often forget is that a eulogy is not a speech for the person who has died; it is a speech for the people who are still living to try to help them deal with the loss. You will want to end your eulogy on a positive note. Offer some hope that someday, things will get better. If the deceased was a religious person, this is where you might want to incorporate elements of that belief system.

Some examples would include ideas like:. Using the Praise-Lament-Console format for eulogies gives you a simple system where you can fill in the sections with 1 why was the person good, 2 why you will miss him or her, and 3 how you and the audience will get through this loss. It sometimes also helps to think of the three points in terms of Past-Present-Future: you will praise the deceased for what he did when he was alive the past , lament the loss you are feeling now the present , and console your audience by letting them know that things will be all right the future.

With regard to a eulogy you might give in class, you generally have two options for how to proceed: you can eulogize a real person who has passed away, or you can eulogize a fictional character if your instructor permits that.

If you give a eulogy in class on someone in your life who has actually passed away, be aware that it is very common for students to become emotional and have difficulty giving their speech. Even though you may have been fine practicing at home and feel good about giving it, the emotional impact of speaking about a deceased loved one in front of others can be surprisingly powerful.

Conversely, if you give a eulogy on a fictional character, you must treat your classroom assignment eulogy as you would a real eulogy. A speech of farewell allows someone to say good-bye to one part of his or her life as he or she is moving on to the next part of life. Periods of transition are often marked by speeches of farewell. When preparing a speech of farewell, the goal should be to thank the people in your current position and let them know how much you appreciate them as you make the move to your next position in life.

Second, you want to express to your audience how much the experience has meant to you. As such, you should avoid negativity during this speech. Lastly, you want to make sure that you end on a high note. Speech of farewell. These typically take place at graduation ceremonies. Nearly every one of us has sat through commencement speeches at some point in our lives. Numerous celebrities and politicians have been asked to deliver commencement speeches at colleges and universities.

A famous and well-thought-out commencement speech was given by famed Harry Potter author J. Speech of commencement. If there is a specific theme for the graduation, make sure that your commencement speech addresses that theme.

If there is no specific theme, come up with one for your speech. Last, and probably most important, try the humor out on real, live people. This is important for three reasons. First, the success of humor depends heavily on delivery, and especially timing in delivery. You will need practice to polish your delivery so that your humor comes across. You may have a humorous story that you love reading on paper, but find that it just seems to drone on once you start telling it out loud.

Furthermore, remember there is a difference between written and verbal language, and this also translates to how humor is interpreted. Third, you need to make sure the humor you choose will be appropriate for a specific audience. What one audience finds funny another may find offensive. Humor is the double-edged sword of public speaking. On one side, it is an amazing and powerful speaking tool, but on the other side, few things will alienate an audience more than offensive humor.

Take, for example, the experience one of your authors had while he was attending a large university. One of the major problems that any large university faces is parking: the ratio of parking spaces to students at some of these schools can be one parking space for every seven students.

In addressing this topic at a banquet, a student gave an after- dinner speech that addressed the problem of the lack of student parking. To do so, he camouflaged his speech as a faux-eulogy fake eulogy for the yellow and black board on the parking lot gates see Image The student personified the board by noting how well it had done its job and lamented that it would never get to see its little toothpick children grow up to guard the White House. A motivational speech is designed not only to make an audience experience emotional arousal fear, sadness, joy, excitement but also to motivate the audience to do something with that emotional arousal.

Whereas a traditional persuasive speech may want listeners to purchase product X or agree with idea Y, a motivational speech helps to inspire people in a broader fashion, often without a clearly articulated end result in mind. As such, motivational speaking is a highly specialized form of persuasive speaking commonly delivered in schools, businesses, religious houses of worship, and club or group contexts. The hero speech is a motivational speech given by someone who is considered a hero in society e.

The survivor speech is a speech given by someone who has survived a personal tragedy or who has faced and overcome serious adversity. In the following clip, cancer survivor Becky M. Becky Olsen goes all over the country talking with and motivating cancer survivors to beat the odds.

The religious speech is fairly self-explanatory; it is designed to incorporate religious ideals into a motivational package to inspire an audience into thinking about or changing aspects of their religious lives. The final type of motivational speech is the success speech , which is given by someone who has succeeded in some aspect of life and is giving back by telling others how they too can be successful.

As stated at the beginning of this section, you will almost certainly be limited by your professor with regards to which of these types of speeches you can give for your special occasion speech in class, but it is not unrealistic to think that you will be called upon at various points in your life to give one or more of these speeches.

Knowing the types and basic structures will help when those moments arise. Speeches of Introduction The first type of special occasion speech is the speech of introduction , which is a mini-speech given by the host of a ceremony that introduces another speaker and their speech.

Speeches of Presentation The second type of special occasion speech is the speech of presentation. Speeches of Acceptance The complement to a speech of presentation is the speech of acceptance. Speeches of Dedication A fourth special occasion speech is the speech of dedication. Toasts At one time or another, almost everyone is going to be asked to deliver a toast. Roasts A roast is a very interesting and peculiar speech because it is designed to both praise and good-naturedly insult a person being honored.

Praise The first thing you want to do when remembering someone who has passed away is remind the audience what made that person so special. Lament The second thing you want to do in a eulogy is to lament the loss. Console The final step or main point in a eulogy is to console the audience, or to offer comfort in a time of grief.

Speeches of Farewell A speech of farewell allows someone to say good-bye to one part of his or her life as he or she is moving on to the next part of life. If there is a specific theme for the graduation, make sure that your commencement speech addresses that theme. If there is no specific theme, come up with one for your speech. Some common commencement speech themes are commitment, competitiveness, competence, confidence, decision making, discipline, ethics, failure and overcoming failure , faith, generosity, integrity, involvement, leadership, learning, persistence, personal improvement, professionalism, reality, responsibility, and self-respect.

Talk about your life and how graduates can learn from your experiences to avoid pitfalls or take advantages of life. How can your life inspire the graduates in their future endeavors? Make the speech humorous. Commencement speeches should be entertaining and make an audience laugh.

When you lift your glass, this will signal to others to do the same and then you can all take a drink, which is the end of your speech. A roast is a very interesting and peculiar speech because it is designed to both praise and good-naturedly insult a person being honored. Because of this combination of purposes, it is not hard to argue that the roast is probably a challenging type of speeches to write given the difficult task of simultaneously praising and insulting the person.

During a roast, the roaster will stand behind a lectern while the roastee is seated somewhere where he or she is clearly on display for the audience to see, thus allowing the audience to take in his or her reactions. How does one prepare for a roast? First, you want to really think about the person who is being roasted. Does he or she have any strange habits or amusing stories in their past that you can discuss?

When you think through these questions, you want to make sure that you cross anything off your list that is truly private information or will really hurt the person. The goal of a roast is to poke at him, not massacre him. Second, when selecting which aspects to poke fun at, you need to make sure that the items you choose are widely known by your audience.

Roasts work when the majority of people in the audience can relate to the jokes being made. If you have an inside joke with the roastee, bringing it up during roast may be great fun for the two of you, but it will leave your audience unimpressed. Lastly, end on a positive note. While the jokes are definitely the fun part of a roast, you should leave the roastee and the audience knowing that you truly do care about and appreciate the person.

Not to sound depressing, but since everyone who is alive will someday die, the chance of your being asked to give a eulogy someday for a friend or family member is significant. When preparing a eulogy, first you need to know as much information about the deceased as possible. The more information you have about the person, the more personal you can make the eulogy. While you can rely on your own information if you were close to the deceased, it is always a good idea to ask friends and relatives of the deceased for their memories, as these may add important facets that may not have occurred to you.

Of course, if you were not very close to the deceased, you will need to ask friends and family for information. Second, although eulogies are delivered on the serious and sad occasion of a funeral or memorial service for the deceased, it is very helpful to look for at least one point to be lighter or humorous. In some cultures, in fact, the friends and family attending the funeral expect the eulogy to be highly entertaining and amusing. Picturing the heavy-set comedian naked surely brought some humor to the somber proceedings, but Arnold knew Farley and his audience well enough to know that the story would be appropriate.

Knowing the deceased and the audience is vital when deciding on the type and amount of humor to use in a eulogy. Ultimately, the goal of the humor or lighter aspects of a eulogy is to relieve the tension that is created by the serious nature of the occasion. The last thing that you will want to do or be in a mental state to do is figure out how to structure your eulogy. To that end, here are three parts of a eulogy i.

The first thing you want to do when remembering someone who has passed away is remind the audience what made that person so special. So you will want to praise them and their accomplishments. The second thing you want to do in a eulogy is to lament the loss. To lament means to express grief or sorrow, which is what everyone at a funeral has gathered to do. Here you might mention all the things that will no longer happen as a result of the death. The final step or main point in a eulogy is to console the audience, or to offer comfort in a time of grief.

What you must remember and many people often forget is that a eulogy is not a speech for the person who has died; it is a speech for the people who are still living to try to help them deal with the loss. You will want to end your eulogy on a positive note. Offer some hope that someday, things will get better. If the deceased was a religious person, this is where you might want to incorporate elements of that belief system.

Some examples would include ideas like:. Using the Praise-Lament-Console format for eulogies gives you a simple system where you can fill in the sections with 1 why was the person good, 2 why you will miss him or her, and 3 how you and the audience will get through this loss.

It sometimes also helps to think of the three points in terms of Past-Present-Future: you will praise the deceased for what he did when he was alive the past , lament the loss you are feeling now the present , and console your audience by letting them know that things will be all right the future. With regard to a eulogy you might give in class, you generally have two options for how to proceed: you can eulogize a real person who has passed away, or you can eulogize a fictional character if your instructor permits that.

If you give a eulogy in class on someone in your life who has actually passed away, be aware that it is very common for students to become emotional and have difficulty giving their speech. Even though you may have been fine practicing at home and feel good about giving it, the emotional impact of speaking about a deceased loved one in front of others can be surprisingly powerful.

Conversely, if you give a eulogy on a fictional character, you must treat your classroom assignment eulogy as you would a real eulogy. A speech of farewell allows someone to say good-bye to one part of his or her life as he or she is moving on to the next part of life. Periods of transition are often marked by speeches of farewell.

The goal of the roast is to both praise and insult in a good-natured manner. How does one prepare for a roast? First, you want to really think about the person who is being roasted. Do they have any strange habits or amusing stories in their past that you can discuss? When you think through these things you want to make sure that you cross anything off your list that is truly private information or will really hurt the person.

The goal of a roast is to poke at them, not massacre them. Second, when selecting which aspects to poke fun at, you need to make sure that the items you choose are widely known by your audience. Roasts work when the majority of people in the audience can relate to the jokes being made.

If you have an inside joke with the roastee, bringing it up during roast may be great fun for the two of you, but it will leave your audience unimpressed. Lastly, end on a positive note. While the jokes are definitely the fun part of a roast, you should leave the roastee knowing that you truly do care about and appreciate the person.

A eulogy Speech given in honor of someone who has died. Watch the following clip of then-Senator Barack Obama delivering a eulogy at the funeral of civil rights activist Rosa Parks in November of In this eulogy, Senator Obama delivers the eulogy by recalling Rosa Parks importance and her legacy in American history. When preparing a eulogy, first you need to know as much information about the deceased as possible. The more information you have about the person, the more personal you can make the eulogy.

While you can rely on your own information if you were close to the deceased, it is always a good idea to ask friends and relatives of the deceased for their memories, as these may add important facets that may not have occurred to you.

Of course, if you were not very close to the deceased, you will need to ask friends and family for information. Second, although eulogies are delivered on the serious and sad occasion of a funeral or memorial service for the deceased, it is very helpful to look for at least one point to be lighter or humorous.

In some cultures, in fact, the friends and family attending the funeral will expect the eulogy to be highly entertaining and amusing. While eulogies are not roasts, one goal of the humor or lighter aspects of a eulogy is to relieve the tension that is created by the serious nature of the occasion.

Tell the audience about who this person was and what the person stood for in life. A speech of farewell Speech designed to allow someone to say good-bye to one part of his or her life as he or she is moving on to the next part of life. Whatever the case may be, periods of transition are often marked by speeches of farewell. In this speech, Derek Jeter is not only saying good-bye to Yankee Stadium but also thanking the fans for their continued support. When preparing a speech of farewell, the goal should be to thank the people in your current position and let them know how much you appreciate them as you make the move to your next position in life.

Second, you want to express to your audience how much the experience has meant to you. As such, you should avoid negativity during this speech. Lastly, you want to make sure that you end on a high note. The goal of an inspirational speech Speech designed to elicit or arouse an emotional state within an audience. In Section Although some inspirational speeches are sometimes tied to ceremonial occasions, there are also other speaking contexts that call for inspirational speeches.

For our purposes, we are going to look at two types of inspirational speeches: goodwill and speeches of commencement. Goodwill An intangible asset that is made up of the favor or reputation of an individual or organization. Speeches of goodwill Speech given in an attempt to get audience members to view the person or organization more favorably.

There are three basic types of speeches of goodwill: public relations, justification, and apology. You can almost think of these speeches as cheerleading speeches because the ultimate goal is to get people to like the speaker and what he or she represents. In the following brief speech, the CEO of British Petroleum is speaking to reporters about what his organization is doing during the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Notice that he keeps emphasizing what his company is doing to fix the problem. Every part of this speech is orchestrated to make BP look caring and attempts to get some amount of goodwill from the viewing public.

The second common speech of goodwill is the speech of justification, which is given when someone attempts to defend why certain actions were taken or will be taken. In these speeches, speakers have already enacted or decided to enact some kind of behavior, and are now attempting to justify why the behavior is or was appropriate.