Public Speaking

258 CHAPTER 18^ Speaking on Special Occasions

speech at the memorial service for Sonny Bono, her former husband. It’s available

online.)

•   Keep it short. Unless you’re told otherwise, limit your remarks to five to ten minutes

at the most.

Commemorative Events

Commemorative speeches are common at breakfast, luncheon, and dinner meetings,

as well as at conventions and other ceremonies. Although their basic purpose is to

inspire and to reinforce beliefs and values, these special occasion speeches are often

entertaining as well. Each speech is different; however, the following characteristics

are typical:

•   Build the speech around a theme. Find out in advance if one has already been

selected for the occasion; if so, prepare your remarks around it. If not, select your

own inspiring theme. Here are some titles of recent commemorative speeches that

show the speaker’s theme: “If I Were to Sing Tonight”^9 (by an Irish American gover-

nor at the American Irish Fund gala); “I Was a Teenage Scientist”^10 (by a university

president at a science talent search dinner); and “From Tentative Twig to Mighty

Branch”^11 (by a university vice chancellor at a welcoming ceremony for new students

and their parents).

•   Inspire listeners. Positive emotions and values such as hope, courage, respect,

perseverance, and generosity are common in inspirational speeches. Notice the many

positive emotions and values in this excerpt from the prime minister of Australia Julia

Gillard’s^12 address to the US Congress:

For my parents’ generation, the defining image of America was the landing at

Normandy... risking everything to help free the world. For my own generation, the

defining image of America was the landing on the moon. My classmates and I were

sent home from school to watch the great moment on television. I’ll always remember

thinking that day: Americans can do anything. Americans helped free the world of

my parents’ generation. Americans inspired the world of my own youth.... I see the

same brave and free people today. I believe you can do anything still. There is a reason

the world always looks to America. Your great dream—life, liberty and the pursuit of

happiness—inspires us all.

•   Pay special attention to language. To make your speech both inspiring and memo-

rable, choose vivid, moving, and interesting words and phrases. Describe scenes in

detail; select words that are rich in connotative meanings. Some of the most famous

inspirational lines come from Martin Luther King Jr.’s speeches (available online) or

from John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address, which you can read in Appendix B. The

following excerpt comes from a commencement address:^13

This planet came with a set of instructions, but we seem to have misplaced them.

Important rules like... don’t let the earth get overcrowded, and don’t touch the

thermostat have been broken. Buckminster Fuller said that spaceship earth was so

ingeniously designed that no one has a clue that we are on one, flying through the

universe at a million miles per hour, with no need for seatbelts, lots of room in coach,

and really good food—but all that is changing.

The speaker concluded by inspiring students to use their knowledge to restore the

planet.

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