There are no doubts about the fact that shorter speeches are far better than the ones that seem to have no end. After all, it’s not about how much you say, but what and how you say it.
Getting well prepared for your speech is something you have to do, unless, of course, you fancy getting stuck every few seconds, gasping for air and getting funny looks from everyone. Think of it not only as a favour someone has asked of you, but also as an honour. Once you know you’ll be doing a speech, try gathering ideas for it. If anything worth sharing with others pops into your head, just write IT down on a piece of paper. Once you have a good few thoughts there, read it to yourself and you might get a nice whole out of it.When you decide what to mention and what to leave out, go through your speech in your mind times and times again so you get used to expressing these thoughts. Don’t pay excessive attention to particular words though, but focus on ideas. That way, if you forget something on the way, you won’t be nervously trying to find that exact word, but will instead continue, replacing it with a different one, but still expressing the same idea.
If you think this might help you, prepare a card for yourself, where you have written down all the key words or main ideas you want to get across during your speech. Don’t write down the whole speech though, as you’ll only end up staring at the piece of paper and ignoring your audience. Eye contact, as always, is very important.
If you’re not the best at telling jokes and you’re worried nobody will laugh, simply refrain from making them. It’s always safer to go with heartfelt messages and real life stories, things you and the person you’re referring to have experienced in the past together. If these happen to be amusing, so be it, they might actually make people laugh.
Always leave out vulgar jokes that might offend people, not only the bride or the groom, but also any other guests listening to your speech. Try not to bring up any ex-partners of the married couple either; you might end up making someone feel ill at ease. Weddings are the last place for indiscreet jokes or tactless comments, so just drop them.
Remember not to try fit too much into your speech, everyone’s anxious to start celebrating and they don’t want to feel like they’re at a boring lecture. If you have any gifts, leave them for when you’re finished talking to avoid confusion. If you find yourself looking for words, just take a deep breath and smile, it’ll all come to you. Enjoy!
