How can I make my graduation speech not sound cliche and corny?

What type of public speaker are you? Charismatic? Mellow?

I’m kind of in the middle, if that makes sense. I’m not really nervous when I’m doing it, but I also don’t go up there all pumped. I’m more of a serious person but wouldn’t mind joking around. Everyone has requested that it not be boring like they are every year and I was told to make it ‘personal’. I personally know what I would like to say, but have a feeling that I would get in trouble for it :)

I believe if you really, trully think about your youth, it will come to you. I mean come on, this is the last time you’re going to go to a free school, with adolescent students and people turning into adults. You’re saying good-bye to everyone while also saying good-bye to your childhood. Your innocence. You want to make it a speeach to remember, right? Make your speech THE speech to remember for the class of 2009. How? Take everyone back a little. It doesn’t have to ce cliche either. Remind the class of 09 how far they’ve all come, where everyone is going. Keep in mind everyone is scared, so ease their minds. Tell everyone that the possibilities are endless, because in truth, they are. Just make everyone aware of the fact that even though this is the end of high school, it’s just the very beginnin of life, and that each and everyone of those people should live it. In my opinion, that’s the most important thing a person can do: live the life you were given. If none of this has helped, please, I beg you, listen to the song ‘wear sunscreen’ by baz luhrmann. It’s one big graduation speech, it’s fun, and it’s brilliant. Please listen to it. I hope it gives you at least a little bit of inspiration=)

@ccbatx
why am i hearing breakfast club soundtracks in my head?

This is just a brainstorm.

So what if you like, took music lyrics that everyone would know, and created a message of how you guys have succeeded? Make the music lyrics follow a timeline – the first couple of lines should come from when you guys were in middle school, and progress to freshman year, and the sophomore, and so on. The final line should be something from this current year that everyone would relate to. Make it a story or something. Music always gets a crowd pumped up – and it will send shivers down people’s backs.

I’m not saying you should play music, but if you have a musical voice, you could let some of the harmony come out on the end of the lines.

Once again, it’s just a brainstorm. hopefully you might be inspired by this idea and come up with your own.

Inside references up the wazoo. Keeps the students interested, makes them laugh, and can bring out some collective pride. Revel in the fact that the families have no idea what you’re talking about.

Read aloud “Oh the Places You’ll Go” by Dr. Seuss…

Whatever it is that you want to say, but will get in trouble for, say it anyway, but say it with some tact, and then move on. Besides, everyone’s probably thinking it. Just know, any negative feelings you have about high school will eventually be covered up by how much you miss it.

Make it funny. Be honest, but in a funny way. In my opinion, those are the best ones. “Having to be present for homeroom every day sure did suck, but hearing the bell made it better… and I’ll admit, I didn’t go to all of the required assemblies.” True, and funny. =] I remember the attempts of hiding from the yard narcs, getting to the car and getting off campus more than I remember the subjects of any of the assemblies I actually did go to.

Remember why you were chosen.

quote Star Wars.

The best speeches are the ones that are really hard and reveal yourself. When you make yourself vulnerable in a speech it is not boring. So what are they going to do if you say what you want to say? Your graduating right? How will you get in trouble?

Kind of going off of what @Allie and @Jayne said reference high-school specific events. Either momentous occasions that everyone will remember or daily activities that were just the norm and everyone can relate to. Do it even if it had to do with “breaking the rules” at the time. You’re graduating! They can’t give you a detention now!

I would focus on those funny, past experiences rather than on the future, life is a rollercoaster BS. Give a nice, simple two-liner about fun times to come at the end.

Either way, this song will be played, I guarantee it!

@Mtl_zack they didn’t play Vitamin C at my grad! Thank God!

@Mtl_zack They played Green Day at mine.

@aviona I’m so shocked :O
@Allie Well I guess that Green Day is secondary, or played right after Vitamin C in most grads lol.

They also played some Beatles songs and Alice Cooper’s Eighteen and School’s Out at our grad party.

If you can, be funny. Because if you try to be serious, it will be cliche. Most people are probably just hoping you don’t go rambling on.

@Allie Ahh God they played it at mine too! i was ashamed fro everyone there…

@Mtl_zack I just watched that whole song. Really? This is what the kids are listening to? Gross. And doesn’t that girl know that two years into college she’ll be dating indie rockers where Mr McFacialhair will be going to State and rounding out his beer gut? I mean really folks. Let’s sample Pachelbel? Really? What’s with all the midriff shots? They played pomp and circumstance at mine, thank god.

Woah, that was 1999? Wow. Where was I?

The only graduation speech I remember is the one that Kermit the Frog gave at Choate many years ago. My brother gave the Valedictory for his high school class and I cannot recall one word. Ditto for my HS graduation and college; that speaker was a famous Journalist from the NYT.

This is a season filled with hot topics, most of which are going to affect your generation profoundly. Maybe pass out cloth shopping bags to the entire class and then leave the stage.

@eponymoushipster
“Fellow alumni, we are gathered her by the Force of our common attainment. We are moving on to find our place in this galaxy far far away from our youth. We’ve all had sagacious Yodas to instruct us. Flings with Leais and Solos were par for the course…The saber rattling amongst the jocks..

Yet now we must decide whether we will serve the Dark Lord on his corporate Death Star or pursue a quiet life on a Tattoine moisture farm. And who can forget Jabba and that food fight in the lunch room…”

@SeventhSense YES! exactly.

or you can make it motivational:

”You are now the ultimate power in the galaxy!”

I organize the graduation speaker contest in our school and here are some of the things I tell the kids.

You are speaking for and to the class so represent them clearly. Think about beginnings not about endings. Take your thoughts and expand on them, if you want to talk about success, for instance, what can you say about it? Should you talk about using your education to get a prestigious job and money or is a successful life about how you live.

You might want to use a quotation, song or poem as the stepping off point or idea behind the speech. If there is something close to your heart, like music, you might want to use that, however don’t make it entirely about you ie, my parents or our parents?

Don’t be negative or too political. Most parents are happy about graduation and don’t want to hear about why the school could have been better or your strong (and inexperienced) views. I had one student give a speech full of dark humor referring to prison and his lifestyle. He didn’t get chosen for graduation speaker but he will speak at the sr breakfast. On the other hand one student’s topic was hope and he mentionrf Obama in a positive way but didn’t mention Bush.

Ask a teacher to hear, NOT read your speech. Take his critiqu seriously but don’t say anything you don’t feel comfortable with.

Seriously, though, when I gave my graduation speech a long, long time ago, I talked about how awesome some of the other people in our class were—I was a floater in high school so I knew people from all the cliques. I didn’t feel like I could honestly, as a peer, give grand advice about the future, so I chose to laud our collective accomplishments.

Don’t take it too seriously. You’ll never see most of those people again anyway :D

Thank you everyone for your advice. I think I’m going to focus on the idea that doing well is not about being smart, but is instead about working hard. I think that I’m going to talk about how we focus so much on intelligence, but people have so much more to offer. We’re not just our GPAs, and just becuase someone can’t memorize and spit out random facts doesn’t mean that they won’t be successful in life or have other gifts. Then I’m going to talk about other gifts that people have and how we need to share those with the world. Any spins or branches you can think of off of this “theme” would be appreciated! I have to have it written this weekend.

@nromstadt You might include the idea that your school and GPA are only important until you get your 1st job. After that it’s all about how you perform at work-nobody cares about GPA.

@nromstadt, it sounds like you can develop that topic well as long as you avoid the pitfall of sounding condescending to the lower-ranking students.

It’s not right to downplay the achievement of those who have worked hard or make the high achievers feel like you’re saying their achievements mean nothing, but you are correct that grades are not such a great predictor of future success in a world that isn’t structured like school. Saying that all the other gifts you have will help you is true, because the challenges that come will come in all forms. That may be where to concentrate.

Other gifts are those of leadership, tenderness, compassion, musical talent, artistic talent, athletic talent, auto repair, computer genius, green thumb, chef, nanny, none of which is tested for on the SATs or APs

I deleted my other fluther name (nromstadt) but posed this same question with a rough draft of the speech attached under my new name. I took someone of the advice from here into account while writing it. If you’d like to read this or make any suggestions, I’d appreciate any advice!

(Could that be moi?) “someone of the advice” Do you mean “some of the advice” or “someone’s advice?

*Some of the advice