How To Write A Graduation Speech

Lighthearted but well researched advice and tips on how to prepare,

structure, and deliver a great commencement address
By Cristina Negrut
1. What Should I Talk About in My Speech?
2. Possible Themes
3. Four Ways to Structure a Graduation Speech
4. The Power of Storytelling
5. Cliches and Platitudes to Avoid
6. How Long Should a Graduation Speech Be?
7. Quick Tips
In this article I am going to share tips and techniques on how to select,
structure, and write the type of commencement speech that works for you.
Eight years into what I call my second job, as curator of inspirational
graduation speeches, I got to the point where I can confidently distinguish
four main ways of structuring such a speech. I am going to describe each of
these options and illustrate them with many examples from some of the best
graduation speeches in this collection. It will be up to you to review and
eventually pick a style that suits you best. But first things first. Lets try to
answer the main question that is probably burning you right now and that
brought you here in the first place.

1. What Should I Talk About in My Speech?

I have wracked my mind and heart for what I ought to say to you

today. I asked myself what I wished I had known at my own

graduation, and what important lessons I have learned in the 21
years that has expired between that day and this.
- JK ROWLING at Harvard University, 2000
Wondering about what you should tell the graduates, their parents, friends,
grandparents, and faculty, and a whole rest of the stadium? And lets not
forget about all those people potentially sharing your speech on YouTube,
Twitter, Facebook, and the next social media app that was just loaded 30
seconds ago. Well, you are not alone. Many of the amazing speakers whose
graduation addresses are worth reading and listening over and over again
have asked themselves and fretted about the same very question. So take
comfort in that it is normal to find the task of giving a graduation speech
quite daunting. Do know that this is a clear sign that you care about your
message and you want to get it right. Here are some examples of what past
speakers shared with graduates about their feelings regarding the task of
preparing a graduation speech:
ED HELMS, ACTOR
Knox College
So I got nervous. I got scaredI was simply scared of screwing things up.
What was I going to talk about?
MEREDITH VIEIRA, JOURNALIST
Tufts University
I dont make speeches. Despite what I do for a living, Im basically kind of
shy. But about a little over a year ago, Larry, you know Larry, Larry called.
We traded phone calls and I finally reached him and he was on his sailboat.
He said to me, Listen, I want you to give this speech in 2008. And I had
just started at the Today show and everything I read said the show is going
to tank now that Katie was gone. I said, Listen, Larry, I could really screw
up my job and then youre not going to want me here giving the
commencement address. He sort of laughed and he said, Dont worry about

it. And then I said, Plus, I dont even know what I would say to these
students. He said, Oh, youve got a year to think about it. And then there
must have been a gust of wind because his voice sort of trailed off and the
last thing I heard him say was, Speak from your heart, Meredith.
So for the past year Ive been trying to think of what I should say to you."
BILLY COLLINS, POET LAUREATE
Collorado College
This is not the first commencement address I have ever given. But the task
of dispensing advice to a group of young strangers, and, worse, the job of
reassuring them about the future does not get any easier with time or
practice. Current events are no help, as usual, when it comes to dispensing
optimism. The commencement address is also an open invitation to pretend
to know more than you do, specifically how in the world you got to the point
in life where you were seriously considered as a commencement speaker.
Ask any high school or college classmate of mine and they will tell you that I
would be a serious contender for the Most Unlikely Ever to Be Invited To
Give A Commence Address Prize."
Lets tackle the question of what should a commencement speech include?
Tradition has it that a commencement speech typically contains life advice,
words of wisdom, lessons learned, ideas on how to be successful, insights on
how to be happy, and what really matters in life. Phew. Still here? No
pressure, right?! It seems indeed that it all boils down to one timeless
question: How to be happy and successful? Dont we all want to know this?!
Unless your middle name is Zen Master you too are probably still searching
for the answers. To make this question more palatable you might want to
frame it as what you wished you knew when you were 21? Well get to
actual, possible answers, or themes in the next chapter but for now lets
again give it to past speakers to tell us, from their own research, what they
found out a commencement speech ought to be. Oh, and we have some
speakers that ended up using email or social media to ask the graduates
themselves what they would like to hear in the speech.

SUE MONK KIDD, BEST SELLING AUTHOR

Scripps College
About all a commencement speaker can really do is to suggest a couple of
things that she believes really matters.
CARLY FIORINA, BUSINESSWOMAN
MIT
I sent out an email to all the graduates, asking you not only where I should
focus, but what I should avoid. And I must say, you are both a prolific and a
diverse bunch. I received hundreds of messages.
...
The longer I looked at the messages, however, certain patterns began to
emerge and slowly it became clear to me what I think you really wanted to
hear. You wanted this address to be based on my life experience, not
esoteric theory. You wanted to know the best way to make the decisions
you'll need to live life, to build a career, and, with that one exception, of that
nameless aforementioned gentleman, you actually did want to know how a
leader can lead in this new landscape that's emerging from the mist. And,
oh, I must also add, that on one point there was complete unanimity: please
don't run over your time. On that last point I do promise to be brief.
RAHM EMANUEL, POLITICIAN
George Washington University
So on this beautiful day, before these eager, wild-eyed graduates, I want to
share a few stories and the lessons they have taught me when I faced tough
times, when I stumbled, and when there has been an extreme rare occasion
that Ive made a mistake.
SUMNER REDSTONE, BUSINESSMAN
DeVry University
Ive attended enough of these ceremonies to know that commencement
speakers are always scheduled relatively early in the line-up. There's a
reason for that. It's what Mark Twain called the "live frog" principle. Twain
used to argue, and quite convincingly, that one should swallow a live frog at

the beginning of every day. That way you'd know the worst part of your day
was behind you.
...
That said, I do have a mission to accomplish here. It is up to me to utter
those words of profound wisdom and inspiration ... That your mother will
remember ten years from now.
DAVID BROOKS, NYT COLUMNIST AND AUTHOR
Sewanee University
This may be your first college commencement, but you probably know
commencement addresses have a certain form. The school asks a person
who has achieved a certain level of career success to give you a speech
telling you that career success is not important. Then were supposed to give
you a few minutes of completely garbage advice: Listen to your inner voice.
Be true to yourself. First, my generation leaves you a mountain of debt.
Then we give you career derailing guidelines that will prevent you from ever
paying it off. Well, when I appear before fresh graduates, I do always ladle
out some advice, but this is grade A material, tested with the scientific
method. My advice is going to be about what to worry about and what not to
worry about. My job here is not to eliminate your worries. My job is to make
sure you are worried about the right things. First, let me tell you about the
things you should not worry about.
JOHN GREEN, BESTSELLING AUTHOR
Butler University
The whole idea of this commencement speech is that Im supposed to offer
you some thoughts on how you might live a good life out there in the socalled Real World, which by the way I assure you is no more or less real than
the one in which you have so far found yourselves.
BEN BERNANKE, ECONOMIST
Princeton University
So I thought I would use my few minutes today to make Ten Suggestions,
or maybe just Ten Observations, about the world and your lives after

Princeton. Please note, these points have nothing whatsoever to do with

interest rates. My qualification for making such suggestions, or observations,
besides having kindly been invited to speak today by President Tilghman, is
the same as the reason that your obnoxious brother or sister got to go to
bed later--I am older than you. All of what follows has been road-tested in
real-life situations, but past performance is no guarantee of future results.
GEORGE SAUNDERS, BESTSELLING AUTHOR
Syracuse University
Down through the ages, a traditional form has evolved for this type of
speech, which is: Some old fart, his best years behind him, who, over the
course of his life, has made a series of dreadful mistakes (that would be
me), gives heartfelt advice to a group of shining, energetic young people,
with all of their best years ahead of them (that would be you). And I intend
to respect that tradition."
JIMMY IOVINE, MUSIC PRODUCER
University of Southern California
So the question of the hour is what can I teach you? How can I help you
even in the slightest way to be ready for whatever comes next? So I asked
myself, how did I get here? After a lot of thought, I realized there have been
two life lessons that changed everything about me."

2. A Survey of Possible Themes

Truth be told, the answers to the question of how to be happy and successful
have been thought for a very, very long time and its likely that human
beings will continue to do so for as long as we will exist. Now, I am far from
pretending that I can supply you with answers, but what I can certainly do,
and did was to compile a list of the advice and wisdom most often shared
with graduates in the inspirational speeches I curate. You might end up using
different words but basically the advice, one way or the other, boils down to
one of these 15 themes that I gathered after sifting through all 140+
commencement speeches in the Graduation Wisdom Collection. I
recommend you go over the list but remember to continue with the rest of

the article to the important part of selecting the format of the

commencement speech that works best for you.
1. Find and Follow Your Passion
2. Get Better at Trusting Yourself and Learn to Be Bold
3. Do Not Let Others Define Who You Are
4. About Those Big Dreams...
5. Take Initiative and Get in the Game
6. Be As Persistent As you Can Be and Do not Give Up
7. Learn To Fail or Fail to Learn
8. You Do Not Need To Be Perfect
9. Use Your Imagination and Your Creativity
10.

Remind Yourself To Be Present

11.

If You Think and Believe You Can, You Can

12.

Nudge Yourself To Take More Risks

13.

If You Cannot Embrace Change, At Least Give It a Hug Once in a

While
14.

Work Hard and Keep Walking the Road

15.

Try Selflessness and Give Back

Going through this list might inspire you to pick the themes that you find
most important. Do not worry about the fact that it has been all done before.
Remember you are the one selected to be the speaker, it is your task to
inspire the graduates. Most importantly, consider these two things. First, for

advice to work it needs to be continuously reinforced. So it is your job on

graduation day to reinforce the message. Yes, its true, they graduates
already heard such meaningful advice from their parents, from teachers,
from wonderful books starting with the book of their childhood and on to
their young adults lives, from museums and works of art. But on that day,
you and only you have the one great opportunity to inspire them. Take it on
with enthusiasm!
Second, picking the theme is almost less important than picking really good
stories to illustrate the theme. Are you surprised? Think about this example:
consider you will talk about the importance of working hard. After all,
everyone, and I mean everyone, knows that working hard makes one more
likely to succeed. Simply listing this advice without a powerful story or great
metaphor will fall flat and go directly into the boring, lets get over with,
graduation speech. On the other hand, you can spend the time needed to
enhance your advice , as coach Woody Hayes did, for a successful speech:
You'll find out that nothing that comes easy is worth a dime. As a matter of
fact, I never saw a football player make a tackle with a smile on his face.
Never.
Now, if you feel it is too hard to come up with your own metaphors for the
whole speech, I hope you find comfort in that it is perfectly acceptable to
use quotations by your favorite authors or other personalities to make your
point stand out. Our graduation quotes collection might come handy here.
Just remember, you cant make your whole speech a list of quotation. It
would feel depersonalized.

3. How to Structure a Graduation Speech

In this section I describe four main options for how to structure a graduation
speech. These categories are not the only ways to organize a speech
however ,after reading and scanning through scores of such speeches, these
four patterns emerged among the best of the graduation speeches. The hope
is that having a framework for how to organize your speech it will be a little

bit easier for you to write it. While helpful examples are used to illustrate
these, its important to not get discouraged when you read the speeches. Do
not put yourself down. Believe you were asked to do the speech for a
reason. Moreover, for every great speech here, there are literally thousands
of others that were instantly forgotten less they were so bad or boring that
people could not forget them even if this is all they wanted to. Lastly, simply
the fact that you came to the Graduation Wisdom site and are reading these
tips on how to write a speech tells me youre on to something good.

I. A Handful of Themes Illustrated with Personal or Other

Non Fictional Stories
In this category are the speeches that have anywhere between two to five
themes and the speaker introduces them early on. Most of the speech is
divided equally among the chosen themes and stories are used to make the
message stick. (Read more about the power of stories in thestory section).
Steve Jobs famous 2005 Stanford commencement speech is one of
the best examples. No further than his first paragraph he states : Today I
want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three
stories. The first story is about connecting the dots.
Another straight forward sample graduation speech of this type, and equally
famous, is Harry Potters author, J.K. Rowlings 2008 Harvard University
commencement speech. Here is how she skillfully introduces her two
messages: I have asked myself what I wish I had known at my own
graduation, and what important lessons I have learned in the 21 years that
has expired between that day and this. she continues: I have come up with
two answers. On this wonderful day when we are gathered together to
celebrate your academic success, I have decided to talk to you about the
benefits of failure. And as you stand on the threshold of what is sometimes
called real life, I want to extol the crucial importance of imagination.
I understand, you might not quite be one of the most famous CEOs or
authors on this planet. Fear not! One of the best speeches, actually in our
top ten list for the longest time, is given by a teacher. Mark Lewis,

Professor of Clinical Psychology gave a fantastic commencement

speech at University of Texas. 14 years later now, this speech remain
truly a gem meant to inspire generations to come. Here is how professor
Lewis starts his main part of the address: I want to tell you three true
stories this evening. Together they make a point that I consider one of the
great secrets of life and I hope youll remember these stories, because I
promise you that youll need them at some time or another. A fabulous
speech and a good example for this category that uses examples from the
real world other than his own personal experiences. I consider this to be
especially helpful as inspiration for the valedictory speakers who are
probably the same age as the graduates and hence have had less personal
experiences to use in their speeches. But not necessarily. Back to Lewiss
speech, he is a great storyteller. He also managed to produce some of the
best lines that became one of my favorite graduation quotes: The person
who youre with most in life is yourself and if you dont like yourself youre
always with somebody you dont like. So simple, so true, and so beautifully
put into words.
But lets return to the more common scenario of speeches with personal
stories as speakers reflect back on their own lives and try to highlight the
experiences and stories that shaped them. Another great one, also in top
ten, is from director and movie producer (Airplane) Jerry Zucker
given at University of Wisconsin in 2003. He not only shared great
advice but also managed to be funny - a much welcomed bonus if you can
pulled it off. Everybody likes a joke or two and you might be surprised, but
given that the occasion is festive and the audience is in such a happy
celebratory mood, the jokes take off easier than you might otherwise think.
Dont be afraid to try a couple unless youve known all your life you never
pulled a joke in which case you might want to lighten up. Just kidding.
Lets review a few more examples. TV host, Professor and Author
Melissa Harris-Perry at Wellesley College in 2012 has an interesting one
as she adds a twist to her themes. She phrases the message in
unconventional terms. She says: I've got three things I want to ask you to

be as you move forward, and I think these might be kind of counterintuitive,

particularly coming from a political progressive who is unashamedly feminist,
concerned with racial and economic and environmental justice, but here are
the three things I'm going to ask of you: Be ignorant. Be silent.Be thick.
This inverting techniques reinforces the stories in that it tells you something
contrary to the general believe and consequently it draws you in by
awakening your curiosity.

II. Six to Ten Plus Themes Illustrated with Anecdotes and

Short Personal Stories
This type of graduation speech allows the speaker to share a larger number
of ideas and tips with the audience. The themes themselves are not
announced at the beginning. The authors only mention how many pieces of
such advice they will give. You can pick this category if you feel that a longer
list works better for you, for example if you find yourself having a hard time
narrowing down the advice to just less than five ideas. Moreover, with a
longer list but shorter time to support the advice, it is perfectly fine to
alternate between personal examples and anecdotes. A recent favorite of
mine in this category is the speech given in 2013 by Australian musician
and comedian Tim Minchin at University of Western Australia. The
speech is funny, passionate and inspirational and contains Nine Life
Lessons.
Another speech I loved for years, ever since I discovered it, was given at
Wheaton College back in 2000 by yet another non celebrity, in case you were
worried about that. Author and art historian John Walsh proves that
fame is not what matters after all. His speech eloquently shares his 8 things
that he wished he has been told at his commencement and the advice
stands as relevant today as it was over a decade ago.

III. One Autobiographical Narrative

The speakers in this case have chosen to open up more than in any other
type of graduation speeches. The audience will learn quite a lot about their

personal lives and experiences as the transcript reads like a mini memoir.
While similar to the first category in that the speakers share a handful of
lessons learned, these speeches read like one lifes story in 12 minutes.
Moreover, the advice is not clearly stated at the beginning. The speakers
might start their stories by talking about they way they were brought up or
jump to the time right after finishing school, and gradually highlight what
they learned along the way. The whole speech is one glued together
narrative as opposed to a few snapshot stories from different times in the
speakers life.
I have chosen three great commencements speeches to illustrate this
category and will add more as I can. Movie producer Michael Uslan, the
originator of the Batman series gave one of these addresses at University
of Indiana in 2006 and made it in the Top 10 Speeches list.
More recently, in 2013, music producer and entrepreneur Jimmy
Iovine swept me away with his advice and the way he could open up in his
graduation address at University of Southern California. Also from 2013,
comes the speech by actor and comedian of The Office fame, Ed Helms. His
talk to graduates at Knox College has the story since he was 8 years old and
along the way shares this outstanding advice: Don't be afraid of fear.
Because it sharpens you, it challenges you, it makes you stronger; and when
you run away from fear, you also run away from the opportunity to be your
best possible self.
Game of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage opens up and shares with the
audience his path to becoming a successful actor in the 2012
commencement address at Bennington College.
One of the advantages of focusing on your life story is that you will do less
reading of the speech since it is much easier to recall the details of our own
life and the speech appears less scripted.

IV. One Main Topic with Hardly Any Personal References

Last but not least we have the speech that focuses in its entirety in driving
home one main theme. In my opinion, this type is the hardest to pull
together to create one outstanding commencement address. But hard as it
can be, it does seem to pay off. Short of any scientific evidence, it appears
that these speeches are the most likely to help the speaker land a book
publishing contract. At least this is what happened in recent years with the
speeches I will highlight here.
First, there was David Foster Wallaces speech, going by the title :This
Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living
a Compassionate Life first published in book form by Little, Brown and
Company in 2009. The iconic speech was given at Kenyon College in 2005
one year before I started this website and having much to do with my
decision to look for more amazing such speeches. I remember I had it all
printed out and underlined, and pulled out my office desk from time to time
to be reminded of the importance of paying attention to what is. Granted,
from a brilliant author we heard a brilliant speech.
Another amazing speech, by another best selling author was famously
reprinted in The New York Times this year. George Saunderss
convocation speech at Kenyon College has all the ingredients to stand
the test of time. With outstanding insight and beautifully crafted sentences
he inspires us all to "Err in the direction on kindness". An expanded version
of the speech is set to be released in the spring of 2014 by Random House.
Type in Google You Are Not Special and youll be flooded with links to the
speech that went viral in 2012 with the same title by David McCullough Jr. ,
a high school teacher. The speech, given at Wellesley High School
graduation ceremony is likely the best high school commencement
speech ever. The speaker, son and namesake of the famous historian, tells
the graduates : the great and curious truth of the human experience is that
selflessness is the best thing you can do for yourself. The book based on the
speech is also set out for release in 2014 by HarperCollins Publishers.

4. The Power of Storytelling

Stories have the power to bring the advice to life and make it stick. Speakers
can connect and better engage with the audience through stories since
human beings, turns out, respond emotionally to stories.
Neuroeconomics pioneer Paul Zak, director of the Center for Neuroeconomic
Studies and author of The Moral Molecule: The Source of Love and
Prosperity studies how people respond to stories. He discovered that even
the simplest narrative can call result in a strong empathic response by
triggering the release of neurochemicals like cortisol and oxytocin.
So if I were to give you just one single advice, it is to really spend time and
search for good stories or anecdotes to support your themes. Be creative!
You can do it! Make sure to include this sentence or a similar one, I am
going to tell you a little story about how and I will guarantee youll take
your speech to the next level!

5. How Long Should a Graduation Speech Be?

I am going to speak for 13 minutes. I think you deserve to know that this
will be a finite experience. It is well-known in the world of public speaking
that there is no pleasure you can give an audience that compares to the
pleasure they get when it is over, so you can look forward to experiencing
that pleasure 13 minutes from now. All the pre-law students just looked at
their watches. - Billy Collins at Collorado College
Keep it short. I cant reinforce this enough. Anywhere between 10 to 15
minutes, with target for 12 minutes is the best length, I found out. It will
allow you to maintain the enthusiasm and focus of the audience. Attention
spans, it seems, are going down so much more these days so I might need
to update this recommendation soon.

6. Cliches and Platitudes

"Cliches are trite, stereotyped expressions, sentences or phrases, usually

expressing a popular or common thought or idea that have lost originality,
ingenuity, and impact by long overuse. Overuse, my friend. In other words,
quite possibly tried and true. The worst thing about clichs, as eyerollinducing as they are, is the fact that they are often plainly true." - Porochista
Khakpour , Author and Professor
To give such an address is also to walk through a mine field of clichs. Most
of which I dont believe anyway. I am not, for example, a big fan of working
hard to achieve something. I prefer the attitude of Max Beerbohm who said
that "the ant sets an example for us all, but it is not a good one. - Poet Bill
Collins
Below is the beginning of a list of cliches you might want to avoid. They
would not add anything to a speech. If you already wrote the speech you
can check to make sure they are not included. I will add more in time, I just
started with the ten most obvious one.

This is the beginning.

Time of unprecendented...

The future belongs to you.

This is your day.

Current unemployment rates...

Go change the world.

Today is not the end of your education, but the beginning.

We gathered here today to mark a milestone.

Aaccelerating change in the world from globalization and technology.

Everything you have done so far has been preparing you for these
moments.

7. Quick Tips

If possible, make a reference to something fun in campus. From what I

have seen a quick mention of a popular bar would do it. It gets the
audience excited and it is an easy win. Careful to not make mistakes
with the local reference.

Thank and congratulate the right list of people: Deans, trustees,

parents, graduates. I am sure you can get advice from the University
office on this one. Make sure you do it wholeheartedly for the
graduates. They are excited. They deserve it.

Enthusiasm, enthusiasm, enthusiasm! Nothing reads like a boring

speech than a boring pace. It is a celebration, make it so, show it with
all your heart.

Repeat your message to make it stick.

Run your speech thought the platitudes checker and make sure you
edit it accordingly.

Typical public speaking tips such as preparation, rehearsing the speech

to pace yourself just right, show passion, and emotion.

It is my great hope that these suggestions will help you prepare and deliver
the an amazing commencement speech. Good luck!
You can contact me at: cnegrut@graduationwisdom.com