So you're the best man. Your duties include throwing an awesome bachelor party for the groom before he makes the lunge into monogamy. You're also responsible for helping with wedding arrangements and hanging onto the rings, but wait there is one other thing the best man is responsible for...oh thats right a speech. You know the speech, the speech in front of two hundred of the bride and grooms families and friends. The speech that honors and gives blessing to the couples new found wedding bliss. If you're a best man in this situation your probably thinking oh it's just a speech it's not like it has to be memorable like The Gettysburg Address. This may be true, your words might not have to go down in history but the best man's speech is extremely important for the wedding. It helps set the mood for the reception. A poor speech can put a damper on the party. If a good speech is given, that can bring joy to all guests this will create a more relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere for the party to escalate. This is why this article offers three crucial points to giving the perfect best man speech.
The first and most important point is finding a balance in your speech between humor and seriousness. As the best man you must understand the main goal of a best man speech is to celebrate the love of the newly weds. Make sure in your speech there is a portion doing just that in which you discuss how much you can tell the couple is in love and stress the responsibilities that go along with marriage and most importantly don't forget to wish the couple a wonderful marriage on your behalf. Now being heart felt and serious is fine but too much is going to bore the party to death. They are going to feel like there listening to an economics lecture. This is where your humor factor comes in. Humor is always a good way to get the party in good spirits and not only that, it will help ease the best man's anxiety. If the best man sees his audience laughing he will pick up on theier positive vibes and become in good spirits himself, which will only allow him to deliver his speech better. Humor can easily be put into a speech using a joke in the introduction or comparing marrage to something funny in an analogy. The one that will always work is a funny story about the bride or groom before they were married. This a guaranteed laugh.
Next is time limit. Your probably thinking how long should a best man speech be. Well put it this way a best man speech should be longer than it takes the DJ to announce you and shorter then a monologue from a Broadway show. This does not mean time should cause you to compromise your speech. If you have a witty or humorous line dont cut it out due to time constraints. I personally recommend a best man speech being no shorter then one minute but no longer than four. Anyone who can find a midway point between that should be perfectly fine.
Lastly is preparation. Regardless if a speech is for a graduation or a wedding, a good speech is well prepared. Preparation can be done in three ways. The first is research, now no best man speech doesnt require research like someone going for a PH.D but it couldnt hurt if the best man took some initiative to look up previous best man speeches on the internet or ask someone who has given a best man speech in the past. After you take in all your research you can adopt the points you felt could help your speech and tailor it accordingly.
After focusing on research you should focus next on presentation. Focusing on how you present your speech will only make you more prepared and ultimately improve your confidence at game time. The best way to do this is by practice. So practice your speech in front of family, friends and whoever is willing to listen. The more your speech is practiced the better it will be delivered at the party. With practice your only going to become more accustomed to speaking in front of groups of people. When it comes to presentation it is important to work on body language and eye contact. You always want to make sure your hands are not moving too much and your not fidgeting. This gives off that your nervous.
Lastly when it comes to presentation always work on your vocals. For example there might be parts of your speech in which you want to stress the words louder or change the tone of your voice. This would be like going from Humorous to serious. You dont want to seem like your reading from a book. Let the audience know by the tone of your voice that your changing directions.
If these three crucial points are followed you can rest assure you will give a successful best man speech. The last thing I will leave you with is remember to have fun with the speech, be creative and original. The more you make this speech your own the more confident you will be delivering it. |
