15.1 Understanding Special Occasion Speaking

Often the speaking opportunities life brings our way have nothing to do with specifically informing or persuading an audience; instead, we are commonly asked to speak during special occasions in our lives. Whether you are standing up to give a speech at an awards ceremony or a toast at a wedding, knowing how to deliver speeches in a variety of different contexts is the nature of special occasion speaking. In this chapter, we are going to explore what special occasion speeches are as well as several types of special occasion speeches ranging from humorous to somber.

In broad terms, a special occasion speech is a speech designed to address and engage the context and audience’s emotions on a specific occasion. Like informative or persuasive speeches, special occasion speeches should communicate a clear message, but the manner of speaking used is typically different. The goal of a special occasion speech is ultimately to stir an audience’s emotions and connect them to the situation or occasion.

Of all the types of speeches we are most likely to have to give during our lives, many of them will fall into the special occasion category. These often include speeches that are designed to inspire or motivate an audience to do something. These are, however, different from a traditional persuasive speech. Let’s say you’re the coach of your child’s Little League team or a project leader at your work. In both cases you might find yourself delivering a speech to motivate and inspire your teams to do their best. You can imagine how giving a motivational speech like that would be different from a traditional persuasive speech, focusing on why a group of 50-somethings should change their investment strategy or a group of your peers to vote for a certain candidate for Student Senate.

To help us think through how to be effective in delivering special occasion speeches, let’s look at four key ingredients: preparation, adaptation to the occasion, adaptation to the audience, and mindfulness about the time.

Be Prepared

First, and foremost, the biggest mistake you can make when standing to deliver a special occasion speech is to underprepare or simply not prepare at all. We’ve stressed the need for preparation throughout this text, just because you’re giving a wedding toast or a eulogy doesn’t mean you shouldn’t think through the speech before you stand up and speak out. If the situation is impromptu, even jotting some basic notes on a napkin is better than not having any plan for what you are going to say.

Unlike previous speeches we have covered, a ceremonial speech is formatted differently.  Rather than an introduction where we state the thesis, preview the main points, and establish credibility, for a ceremonial speech, we will reference the occasion.  Referencing the occasion means telling the audience what we are celebrating, or why we are here. As a speaker at a ceremony of any kind, it is our job to connect the audience to the occasion, therefore we start by explaining why we are here.  A toast at a wedding might start with the statement “I’m honored to be here today celebrating the union of my sister and her new partner” or “Please raise a glass to honor my parents on their 25th wedding anniversary.” The introduction for special occasion speeches should be very short and let the audience know the importance of the ceremony.

After the introduction, a ceremonial speech should still have 2–3 main points, as we have discussed previously.  For these speeches, the main points are best thought of as stories or shared events that the speaker can relate to the audience to connect them with the importance of the ceremony.  For a toast at your parents’ 25th wedding anniversary, we might use our main points to tell stories about how they first met, or things they have done to keep their love vibrant.  Since we are celebrating, it is important to remember that your main points should be focused on the event and be appropriate to the tone of the event.

Finally, in a special occasion speech, the conclusion is short and tells the audience what to do.  In a toast, we end with the statement “Cheers, everyone please share a drink” or “Congratulations to a special couple, cheers.” The conclusion needs to indicate that the speech is over, and the audience should do something, toast, clap or perhaps share a moment of silence.

Adapt to the Occasion

Not all content is appropriate for all occasions. If you are asked to deliver a speech commemorating the first anniversary of a loved one’s passing, then obviously using humor and telling jokes wouldn’t be appropriate. But some decisions about adapting to the occasion are less obvious. Consider the following examples:

• You are the maid of honor giving a toast at the wedding of your younger sister. You might consider telling appropriate stories of her relationship as it grew or using humor to talk about growing up together.
• You are receiving a Most Valuable Player award in your favorite sport. Merely thanking the teammates who supported you wouldn’t really connect the audience to the occasion; you might talk about everyone’s contributions or explain how hard you worked for the award.
• You are giving an after-dinner speech to the members of your fraternity. Humor is usually helpful in this event to connect the audience to the occasion; you might share stories of the past year, or explain memorable events the fraternity engaged in.

Remember that being a competent speaker is about being both personally effective and socially appropriate. Different occasions will call for different levels of social
appropriateness. One of the biggest mistakes entertaining speakers can make is to deliver one generic speech to different groups without adapting the speech to the specific occasion. In fact, professional speakers always make sure that their speeches are tailored for different occasions by getting information about the occasion from their hosts. When we tailor speeches for special occasions, people are more likely to remember those speeches than if we give a generic speech.

Adapt to Your Audience

Once again, we cannot stress the importance of audience adaptation enough in this text. Different audiences will respond differently to speech material, so the more you know about your audience, the more likely you’ll succeed in your speech. One of our coauthors was once at a conference for teachers of public speaking. The keynote speaker stood and delivered a speech on the importance of public speaking. While the speaker was good and funny, the speech really fell flat. The keynote speaker basically told the public speaking teachers that they should take public speaking courses because public speaking is important. Right speech, wrong audience!

Be Mindful of the Time

The last major consideration for delivering special occasion speeches successfully is to be mindful of your time. Different speech situations have their own conventions and rules regarding time. Acceptance speeches and toasts, for example, should be relatively short.  A speech of introduction should be extremely brief—just long enough to tell the audience what they need to know about the person being introduced in a style that prepares them to appreciate that person’s remarks. In contrast, commencement speeches, eulogies, and speeches to commemorate events can run ten to twenty minutes in length, depending on the context.

It’s also important to recognize that audiences on different occasions will expect speeches of various lengths. For example, although it’s true that graduation commencement speakers generally speak for ten to twenty minutes, the closer that speaker heads toward twenty minutes the more fidgety the audience becomes. To hold the audience’s attention, a commencement speaker would do well to make the closing minutes of the speech the most engaging and inspiring portion of the speech. If you’re not sure about the expected time frame for a speech, ask the person who has invited you to speak.