by Norma Budden

Created on: May 13, 2008   Last Updated: June 02, 2009

Graduation is a momentous occasion to be remembered for a lifetime. A milestone has been achieved. Students have become young men or women and, overnight, have become responsible for their future. The world of opportunity opens before them as they had only dreamed or imagined.

Some tips to keep in mind when writing an inspiring graduation speech are:

1. Engage the listeners

An inspiring graduation speech - whether given by the valedictorian, a graduate's parent, or a special speaker invited by the graduation class - should engage listeners and be entertaining. Like any speech, the first sentence will either gain the attention of the audience or will cause them to lose interest.

Many speakers begin with a story from their own experiences. Even popular writers, musicians, singers, and so on, are regular people with events happening to them which prove they are just as human as anyone else. When speakers bring themselves to the level of their audience, they will gain their respect and attention and, providing their speech continues to be engaging and entertaining, everyone should be in for an enjoyable evening.

2. Use every day language
Even world renown scholars appreciate the opportunity to sit, relax, and listen to a speech where they don't require use of their built-in mental dictionaries. Speaking in every day language will be more interesting for everyone. Also, it will enable graduates to remember what was said long after graduation day is over, which is what speakers aim to do. After all, what speaker wants to pour his or her heart into a graduation speech that won't be remembered?

3. The message
A graduation speech needs to have a primary message. Often, graduation speeches encourage graduates to pursue their goals in life - that the sky is the limit to what they can achieve if they put their minds to it. The message may even encourage other people in attendance to work at achieving personal goals they had set aside for too many years.

However, a word of caution: don't focus an entire speech on personal definitions of success because people view success differently. Some measure it by the amount of money in their portfolios while others measure it by the amount of time they spend with their families. Some graduates may feel their level of success would be to work with non-profit organizations - working with underprivileged children - while others feel they need to be at the top of a corporate ladder. Thus, motivate an audience to be the best they

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