If you're going to be delivering a college graduation speech, congratulations! And...good luck. You know it's going to be quite a challenge. Even in small universities, the college graduation is a major milestone - and graduates treat it that way. Colleges will rent out major arenas in order to fit all of the people who will be attending the graduation, which means you've got to put together a speech that truly delivers. Here are some tips that can help you plan a speech that will knock them off their feet.

• First, make sure you follow all of the school's guidelines. Before you even plan your speech itself, you're going to want to understand the issues the school has to tell you - for example, are you under any major time constraints? If you are, it could change the speech you're planning. Don't let your plans go haywire by planning before you know what to expect.
• It's a good idea to find some previous examples of successful graduation speeches - whether from your specific college or from other colleges. Why? While you don't want to directly copy and other speech, you do want to get an idea of what goes into a successful speech. The more you see these previous successful speeches, the better of an idea you'll have about how to create your own.
• Consider your audience. You're giving a college graduation speech, but the audience will also include hundreds to thousands of family members, relatives, and friends - in other words, you have to match your content to the entire audience. You'll want to create an appropriate speech that works on all levels of your audience. Don't indulge in too many inside jokes or make references that only half of the audience will actually understand.
• Be willing to cut your losses with bad ideas. When you sit down to write your speech and jot down a few ideas, don't think that you're obligated to keep any one idea. If it's an idea that won't work once you've come up with something better, don't be afraid to simply cut it loose and cut it from the speech. Since you're probably under a time constraint in the first place, this will also help you keep the overall speech brief.


Keep those tips in mind and you should have no worries about putting together a speech - you'll meet the school's standards and you'll meet your own standards of excellence. As for the nerves, well, that's a whole other article!