Jennings 1
Special Occasion Speech
Mrs. Jennings
This speech will be one you will give at least once in your life. You have three choices of how to
pay a tribute to someone you care about. That someone could be a sibling, a best friend, a parent,
a class, or even for yourself (you can pretend to be someone else). This person has taught you
about yourself or has taught you a major lesson in life—this is your chance to thank them for it.
Here are your choices:
____Congratulations! You have been asked to be the best man/maid of honor. Now you get to
give a toast honoring the bride and groom, the two individuals who have chosen you to be a part
of one of the biggest days of their lives.
____ Hey there, Smartie Pants!  You have achieved the highest honor anyone can receive at
high school graduation. You are the Valedictorian. Your speech should give a message to your
classmates about life; it could also be a reflection of memories.
____Because you are the one person who seems to know this person the best, you have been
asked by a family member to give a eulogy for a person who was dear to you. This is your
opportunity to show that person and his/her family and friends how important this person was to
you.
Procedure:
After you have picked your poison, focus in on the topic, and decide what person you will be
honoring, REMEMBER that this person can be a friend, family member, someone you have
never met, your classmates, or even YOU!
Purpose:
The purpose of this speech is to celebrate the life/lives of a person/persons by putting them into
the context of your own life. You are to convince your audience of the importance of your
speech by the following:
 Being emotionally involved
 Using gestures and voice effectively
 Opening and ending your speech with a “bang”
 Showing sincerity and concern for the impact of your speech
Requirements:
 Every good speech includes a manuscript (some people will even ask you for a copy of
it). This manuscript is your speech verbatim (word-for-word).
 In your manuscript, you must follow the basic speech outline (you type up the speech
word-for-word, arranging the points on the outline into unlabeled paragraphs.) Use Times
New Roman, 12pt. Font and double-spacing.
Jennings 2
Outline Model
Introduction
1. Effective attention getter—this could be a quote from your “person,” a
question, a proverb/saying, a memory
2. Explanation of the attention material—why does this opener matter?
3. Credibility statement—how do you know this person? Basically, why
are you giving this speech and not someone else?
4. Topic sentence—what are you telling us about?
5. Preview—what are your three supporting points?
Transition:
Body
I. Main Supporting Point
A.
A story/examples/connection/information
B.
Another connection to the main point
Transition:
II. Main Supporting Point
A.
A story/examples/connection/information
B.
Another connection to the main point
Transition:
III. Main Supporting Point
A.
A story/examples/connection/information
B.
Another connection to the main point
Transition:
Conclusion
1. Review—a brief summary of the speech.
2. Memorable Statement: what thought do you want to leave your
audience with?
GRADING and REMINDERS:
 This speech is like all others. It will be a performance grade for 65 points. You will get
one lab day to type your manuscripts.
 Although you do not have to turn in your outline, it will be to your benefit to do one first
to ensure you have all the essential parts in your speech.
 The required time for this speech is four to six minutes. In addition, for this speech, it is
especially important to practice because essentially it is like reading the manuscript, but
your eyes should not stayed glued to the paper. It is necessary to look up in order to stress
points and let your audience know that you are the one doing the talking.
Good luck!