Commencement speeches should start graduates off on the right note

Commencement speeches should start graduates off on the right note

The title "Commencement speeches" says it all. Basically it says, "You are starting a new life and it's up to you what you make of it." Commencement speeches then have to be motivational, challenging and encouraging. Getting all that across is, naturally, a real challenge to the speaker too.

Quite often, of course, the speaker at a commencement ceremony is experienced in the field. He/she may have given a thousand such speeches. Sometimes though he/she must feel as though what he/she ahs to say is stale. He may want to find new ideas, a new approach. He may want to make the graduates sit up and take notice.

Commencement speeches could, for instance, start with a topical mention. The recent earthquake in Japan is an example of something that all the graduates will recognise. Graduates may be compared to that calamity, as people who can make an earth shattering difference. Alternatively, you might start the speech with an apt quotation or a poem or reading. It's worth while spending time to select something appropriate to the particular commencement ceremony. If you can find a suitable humorous quotation so much the better. You will have grabbed the attention of your audience if you make them laugh.

Times change but people don't and so the Commencement speeches have to relate to the things that really matter to the graduates whenever they graduate. One hundred years ago nobody would have qualified in the computer field. Yet even then speakers had to convince graduates of the importance of communications and to that of having a businesslike and professional approach to their career. Ethics have and will always be important. Encouraging students to have an open mind and to watch out for opportunities is as important today as it ever was.

Commencement speeches should touch on values and encourage graduates to show their appreciation to those who have helped them reach this stage in their lives. They should mention the fact that graduates will have to adapt to changing circumstances and how important it is for them to work with change and to be adaptable.

Sometimes the speaker is speaking because they have made a success of their lives in some way. Such a speaker should convince the graduates that they too can do the same. They should give examples of the challenges they met along the way and what they did to overcome them. An example, like a good picture, says a lot.

Above all commencement speeches should get across the message that the hall is full of people who are full of potential.

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