How To Write Good Birthday Speeches
You have the task of preparing a birthday speech. You want your three minutes to be a dazzler but preparing your milestone speech feels more like a millstone.
There is a list of things to say and even large lists of things not to say, but not much on how to write the speech.
OK, let’s start: Take a piece of paper and a pencil. We are going through the steps necessary to get a great birthday speech, which you can be proud to deliver.
Start off with a few basic questions first:
- Who is your target audience? Is it family? Is it the family and friends? Is it a mixture of family, friends and colleagues? What age are they?
- What type of celebration is it? Is it a formal dinner? Is it informal?
- Are you the only speaker or are there more?
The tone and the content of your birthday speech depend on your answers to the questions above. Of course, everything that could be misunderstood or be seen bad for your audience will be left out of your text.
Let us now get the building blocks of your speech together.
On your paper write down three headings with enough space between for notes.
- Introduction
- Main idea 1, Main idea 2, Main idea 3
- Conclusion
Use your knowledge of your audience, the birthday person and the occasion to fill out the blanks.
For example, next to “Introduction” you can write: Hello and welcome to Michael’s 29th birthday. We are pleased that you all found your way here today.
And now to the next section: the middle.
This is where you are going for the most important points. Most birthday speeches are only three minutes long so that makes room for three main points. You decide what to choose. Most of the time they are a mixture of good-natured fun about the birthday person and maybe one or two words of wisdom.
Your “Middle” notes might look like this.
- Main idea 1: Childhood – I remember when Michael was seven he wanted to be a hair stylist. So one day he decided to paint his hair green with water colors
- Main idea 2: young-adult age – playing in a band, was never good at sports, his first girlfriend
- Main idea 3: Present/Character/Future – he now has a wife and is going to be a father soon, what will his career path be like in the next years
Finally take notes next to “Conclusion”: Quote (You can find some useful Quotes for Birthday Speeches in this blog) and final toast. Example: “Ladies and gentlemen, let’s raise our glasses to Michael. May you have another great 29 years!”
Ok. This is not speech, but it is already an outline. To make the transition from this to a whole birthday speech you have to go over your notes again and flesh them out so each idea will link smoothly to the next.
The easiest way I know to do is to say it out loud as if talking with a friend. You will notice quickly where your speech is lacking something or where you have problems delivering it. These are th parts that still need work.
I want to give you an example:
Main idea 1 “I remember, when Michael was seven years old he wanted to be a hair stylist. So one day he decided to paint his hair green with water colors.
What we need is a bridge or transition, from this idea to the next: Michael’s first girlfriend etc.
How about this? “Fortunately Michael decided that green hair was not his style. Otherwise he never have met his first true love: Margret.”
I hope now you get the idea. Use it throughout all parts of your outline.
It is important to say each segment outloud and experiment with links till you find the ones that sound right.
When you’ve finished linking say your whole birthday speech aloud multiple times. Listen carefully and amend, if necessary.
The process is simple and that’s how to write birthday speeches that work every time.
If you need a speech right now try one of these professionally written and easily customizable birthday speeches here.
Related articles
- How To Write Entertaining Birthday Speeches (howtowriteaspeech.net)
