Graduation speeches should revolve around the students in the graduating class and their teachers. They should not be generic or abstracted in any way.

Major events: Graduation speeches should highlight any major events that took place in the community, the school or even the world during the past few years that have led up to the graduation. It is especially effective to include any events that spark great emotion in the audience, such as the passing of a student or the school team winning a major event; if there are any such events, and there probably will be, then they should be included in your graduation speeches.

Avoid negativity: It is important that the speaker does not include anything negative about anyone from the graduating class. The graduation is a momentous occasion and thus any negativity would ruin the great feelings of elation that goes with the event. It is a common mistake of the speaker to think that something negative would create humor, a factor which is somewhat important in any speech. The problem with this kind of humor, however, is that one person or a group of people may feel dejected or be made unhappy by the mentioning of the negative event or circumstance, even though others may find it funny. The point here is that at an occasion such as this we want everyone to feel the same feelings of joy and elation throughout the event, without anyone feeling discouraged or left out in any way.

Avoid talking about yourself: The speaker should try and avoid talking about himself too much during graduation speeches. If you avoid talking about yourself completely that is even better. The point is that the graduation speech is about everyone in the graduating class, and by concentrating too much on yourself, or any single individual for that matter, you detract from the great feeling of togetherness and mutual achievement that is necessary during graduation speeches. By concentrating on the class and the achievers as a whole, the speech serves its purpose and brings about great joy, elation and feelings of companionship.

Thanks: It is a common courtesy to ensure that you do not forget to thank the parents, teachers, dean etc. when delivering a graduation speech. It would not have been possible for anyone to graduate without the collective input of these people, and thus it is crucial that this opportunity be used to give them their respective dues. The thanksgiving need not be a lengthy and drawn out segment, but should aim to include all relevant people and not exclude anyone who may have felt that they are deserving of thanks for some input that they had given, no matter how small it may seem to the speaker at the time of formulating the speech.

Short and sweet: Graduation is a great event that is exciting to everyone in attendance, and this mood can easily be impeded with a long and drawn out graduation speeches. Thus, a concise and thoughtful graduation speech that gets straight to the point in as little time as possible is a winning speech.

Like the other speeches, the purpose of graduation speeches (aka commencement speeches) differs according to the speaker—the valedictorian and salutatorian may give thanks to their teachers and relate their experiences of school life, the guest of honor may praise the student body for completing their education or moving on to the next level, etc. A graduation speech is largely about serious topics, though funny ones may be used depending on the circumstances.

For graduation speeches delivered by a guest of honor, it would be a good idea to focus topics that are relevant to the students, perhaps something instructive or inspirational. commencement speech.

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