How to Prepare to Give a Commencement Speech

Kick Fear in the Butt!

“Give a commencement speech.”

Giving a commencement speech was one of the many goals on my vision boards. I consider myself an academic entrepreneur (a person who works in an educational setting and has a few business ventures); therefore, it only made sense to have this as one of my goals. I am currently in school for my PhD in Industrial and Organizational Psychology; therefore, I figured I would not give a commencement speech for a few more years. Well, when you put something on a vision board, and you believe it will be yours, you can manifest it sooner than you think, which is what happened to me.

I won Alumna of the Year in 2016-a year after I graduated with my masters in Education-and as a bonus for winning, I was offered the chance to speak to the graduating class and their friends and families, which was over three-thousand people. I immediately said, “YES.”

The only thing I had to do was prepare.

Easy? Right?…

Here are five things I did to prepare:

1. Reach out for help. I am a certified trainer; therefore, I was used to speaking in front of people, but I had never spoken to a crowd of that size. I reached out to a dear friend who is a Toastmaster genius, and she helped me craft my speech and we worked on my presentation posture and stance.

2. Think about your topic of choice for your speech. I was told I could speak for 10–15 minutes; therefore, I had to write a speech that took up that much time, which is not the easiest thing to do. I had two months to prepare, so I took a couple of days to think about what I, if I were graduating, would want to hear from the speaker on graduation day. After a couple of days of thinking, it hit me, I will speak on the power of the imagination.

Listen to my speech here:

3. Write the speech. I wrote the first draft in one day. Let it sit for two days, and reviewed it daily. I did edit, after edit, after edit. I let my friends and family read it as well. Next, once I felt the written editing was done, now it was time to practice.

4. Practice, practice, practice. As a corporate trainer, we are taught to spend 8 hours preparing material and 20 hours or more practicing your presentation. I practiced my speech daily, which lead to me doing more editing. I went back to my friend to practice my presentation and stage presence. I practice the speech so much, by the time the day came to give the address, I was READY!

Practicing eases your nerves and helps you to feel more confident. I wanted to enjoy the moment and not think about the outcome, therefore practicing helped me accomplish this.

5. Record yourself. Make sure someone records your speech or anytime you speak, if possible. Having yourself recorded gives you a chance to hear how you sound and adjust for future speaking events. It may be painful to listen to yourself speak, but it is worth it to work on your craft.

Giving a commencement speech is not something people will do regularly, however, giving a speech or a presentation is.

Preparation is key.

Giving my commencement speech was not only a testament of what I asked for on my vision board, it also gave me the confidence of knowing, I can speak to massive-sized crowds. It made me think about the future and what is next. In 2016, when I gave my commencement speech, I set myself up to speak to many more crowds, and that is what I have done and continue to do.

I am enjoying the journey one presentation/speech at a time.