Personalizing
1. Turn preaching into a story. You are no more experienced than any other person in that auditorium so acting like an advice dispenser or a motivational speaker is bad. An example: valedictorian speaker talks briefly about college and what people should do when they get there, forgetting that some people will go straight to work after high school. But what if college is something you're really passionate about? Instead of cutting it out of your speech, write about it from your own point of view. Tell a story about a time that you didn't go out with your friends because the SAT was just a week away. Talk about how you felt, and what getting into a good college meant for you at the time you made the decision. A valedictorian's emotions are still human emotions after all, and a personal story is the best way to help the audience relate to them.Compare and contrast:
"True happiness comes from working hard on something you love."
"Building a robot in that club was one of the most simultaneously stressful and joyful experiences I've ever had."
"As I stand here, I can't help but wonder which among us will become a Nobel Prize winner, the next president..." etc.
"My best friend, Tom, once wrote a list of people we knew next to the things they would do in life. The only thing more startling than some of his speculations was the fact that we knew so little about the people beyond our immediate circle. One of you out there is going to become a billionaire at some point and I'm going to be kicking myself for not making more friends during these past few years."
2. Show your flaws. Strengths vary drastically from person to person, but flaws are universal. If you talk about how you always aced the calculus tests you are appealing to only those who aced calculus tests. If you lament over how much you procrastinated for those tests then you immediately put yourself in a category that includes most everyone. Even when you talk about your own achievements, the emotions you felt and the problems you had along the way are going to more interesting than the fact that you have a 4.0 GPA. Remember that people who don't know you very well will tend to view you through the stereotype of a super-student and a couple flaws here and there will force them to evaluate you as a person.
3. Say what you want to say. Once you view yourself as a valedictorian speaking for the entire class, your speech will be extremely hard to write. If instead you free yourself from any obligation except to tell a little about what you know best (your own life) then the words will come more easily. Whatever is important to you--hobbies, funny moments with friends, future aspirations--is open game. A good way to use something that's important to you as a cornerstone of the speech is to find something really specific like a quote or image that's important to you and place it at the beginning, end, or both. Maybe you start off with a story about you and your friends hanging out. Then at the end, you can take a few themes that have been running throughout your speech and sum them up using that same story.
Example valedictorian speeches that show these principles are hard to find, but commencement speeches by famous people are often written for the same general purpose: to cap off four years of learning with some inspiration and advice. In particular, Steve Jobs' commencement speech to Stanford class of 2005 demonstrates that even for those who have made it big in life, the best speech is still one that's humble and personal. Watch it and notice how simple the content of the speech is. Jobs simply tells three stories from his life and briefly reflects upon them, yet because we feel that he's telling us everything he can about the impact of these stories on his life, the effect is riveting. Taking a more humorous route, Conan O'Brien's commencement speech at Harvard derives most of its jokes from self-deprecation, or showing flaws.
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