Here are some specific tips to help you give a great speech! You do not need to be a graduate of Toastmasters or a professional actor to give a great speech. Here are some tips:
- Write it down – don’t free flow
- Read your speech from your phone if possible! This accomplishes a few things: 1) the light from your phone helps light your face because you’re looking at it. 2) in a dark setting, it’s very hard to read a piece of paper in low light and you will have a tough time. 3) You can change the size of the words on your phone to make it easily readable 4) you can scroll with one hand while you hold the microphone with the other (hard to do when you’re turning physical pages) 5) When you use paper, sometimes your face will get blocked as you hold it up to read the bottom of pages
- If there is a microphone on a stand, plan to stand there vs. taking it off the stand. You can adjust a mic stand to different heights very quickly and easily.
- If you have long hair, make sure it is out of your face. If you’re looking down a lot, it may cover your face
- Do not roast… it’s awkward. Trust us.
- Do not google “great wedding speeches”. Those soundbites may be new to you, but trust us… many guests have “heard that before”
- Here is a great general outline to follow: 1) introduce who you are and how you know the couple, 2) talk about the person you are closest to (bride or groom) and use a story (funny or sentimental) that helps describe their personality, 3) talk about why you are so happy that they found the other person (include a story here too if you have one) 4) end by asking people to raise their glass in a toast.
- Keep it short… people’s attention spans for speeches (especially if there are many of them) is about 5 minutes. Don’t be THAT PERSON who talks for 20 minutes! Everyone will remember that… and not in a good way, and no matter how entertaining your speech is. Think of it this way… the host is spending a lot of money on this event, and it’s rude to assume a large amount of time should be taken up with your speech!
