Speech Writing Tips for Simchas
Although it is of course an honour to be asked to give a speech at a simcha, doing so can often be quite a daunting experience. With hundreds of eyes watching you, even the most confident people can feel nervous.
The speech writing tips below will help you to wow your listeners and make sure that the shaking you do is down to laughter rather than nerves!
1. Before you even put pen to paper, think about the main messages you want to get across.
For instance, if you’re giving a best man speech you might want to show the other guests how much your best friend loves his wife and how happy you hope the two of them will be together.
Or if you’re giving a speech at your son’s barmitzvah, you might want to tell everyone how proud you are of him.
2. Write out your speech on cards
Writing your speech out will remove the fear that you might forget what you want to say on the day.
Writing it on cards rather than an A4 sheet of paper will help you to maintain eye contact with your audience as your face won’t be hidden by paper.
3. Put yourself into your speech
Don’t be afraid to put your personality into your speech and to jazz it up with jokes and anecdotes. Just be careful that the jokes or stories that you tell aren’t too embarrassing or you’ll have your audience cringing rather than laughing with you!
4. Practice makes perfect
Practice your speech a number of times in front of the mirror so you get used to looking up from your cards and are comfortable with what you are saying.
You might also want to read it to a few people to get their reactions.
5. Brevity is the art of wit
Keep your speech short. Five minutes is an optimum length, much longer and your audience will start to nod off!
6. Ending on a high note
Ending your speech with a toast or witty quotation that ties up what you have been saying ensures that it will finish on a high.
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