¡¡

¡¡PRESENTATION SPEECH

¡¡¡¡An award presentation speech can be longer than introducing a speaker, depending on the situation. The emphasis is on the recipient¡¯s past actions, not what the recipient will say when accepting the award. Here¡¯s a classic example.

¡¡¡¡Example: Presentation Speech

¡¡¡¡

Colorado Beautification Award

¡¡¡¡

By Mayor Mary Herron

¡¡¡¡As Mayor of Colorado, California, I am frequently called on to present awards and commendations, but this particular award has great meaning for our community. We have inaugurated the Colorado Beautification Award to recognize the outstanding efforts of our citizens who provide this island community with its memorable elegance, its visual refreshment - in short, some of the most beautiful gardens we¡¯ve seen anywhere in the world!

¡¡¡¡As you all know, Colorado frequently plays host to presidents and dignitaries, and not a few celebrities, officials, men and women of the Armed Forces, America¡¯s Cup racers, and other fascinating people from around the world. As they travel our small-town streets, gazing at the mansions, the Victorians, and the cozy cottages, one of the most commonly heard remarks is,¡°Oh, look at that beautiful garden!¡±The world has come to our doorstep and appreciates what it sees. We felt it was time to honor our next-door neighbors for the hours, thought, expense, and good old-fashioned toil they¡¯re invested to make our island community a blooming paradise.

¡¡¡¡This choice was not an easy one for our judges to make, as they¡¯ll be glad to tell you, but after much study and consideration, our judges have named Brian and Andrea Applegate of 555¡°B¡±Avenue as our first recipients of the Colorado Beautification Award. If you¡¯ve driven or walked by the Applegate home, you know that they have not been content to keep their roses, wisteria vines, flowering plums and exotic annuals well-tended inside the walls of their classic cottage garden. For the passersby who might feel shy about peeking through the arched trellis for a glimpse, the Applegate have extended this floral profusion outside their garden walls. They¡¯re planted a colorful abundance of roses, shrubs, annuals, and perennials along the sidewalks of their corner lot,swhereseveryone can enjoy them.

¡¡¡¡Mr. and Mrs. Applegate, if you¡¯ll step up here please... I am honored to present you with this plaque which pays tribute to your selfless toil and investment. You have truly beautified our community, and you richly deserve the first Colorado Beautification Award!

¡¡¡¡(She presents the plaque, steps aside, and joins the applause for the beaming couple.)

¡¡

¡¡ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

¡¡¡¡The key to a successful acceptance speech is to be brief, especially if other people are receiving awards or honors after you. The dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov once accepted an award for actress Marlene Dietrich. When he asked her what he should say, she told him,¡°Take the thing, look at it, thank them, and go. That¡¯s it! They don¡¯t have time to listen anyway.¡±This is extreme - but good - advice. You want to let the audience know that you sincerely appreciate the honor without wasting too much of their time.

¡¡¡¡Be sure to credit other people who helped you achieve what you are being honored for, but keep the list short and meaningful. The help might have been direct (such as co-workers contributing to a project) or indirect (such as your family not complaining about the extra time you spent on the project rather than with them).

¡¡¡¡Avoid being overly effusive. You¡¯ll usually want to avoid phrases like¡°greatest day of my life¡±or¡°best thing that has ever happened to me.¡±These tend to sound insincere. Express sincerely what the honor means to you, limiting the use of superlatives. Temper your enthusiasm with humility.

¡¡¡¡Elie Wiesel spent most of his adult life tracking down Nazi war criminals, and when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, he began his acceptance speech with the following paragraphs.

¡¡¡¡Example: Acceptance Speech

¡¡¡¡

Nobel Peace Prize

¡¡¡¡

By Elie Wiesel

¡¡¡¡It is with a profound sense of humility that I accept the honor you have chosen to bestow upon me. I know your choice transcends me. This both frightens and pleases me. It frightens me because I wonder: Do I have the right to represent the multitudes who have perished? Do I have the right to accept this great honor on their behalf? I do not. That would be presumptuous. No one may speak for the dead, no one may interpret their mutilated dreams and visions.

¡¡¡¡It pleases me because I may say that this honor belongs to all the survivors and their children, and through us, to the Jewish people with whose destiny I have always identified.

¡¡¡¡This introduction by Wiesel to his acceptance speech is so effective that he almost could have stopped right there.

¡¡¡¡The acceptance speech given by the couple who won the garden contest is a model of graciousness. Notice how they thank people who¡¯ve helped them along the way and share the joy they experience as gardeners, rather than focusing on their own talents or accomplishments.

¡¡¡¡Example: Acceptance Speech

¡¡

¡¡Coronado Beautification Award

¡¡¡¡

By Mr. Brian Applegate & Mrs. Andrea Applegate

¡¡¡¡Mr. Brian Applegate:

¡¡¡¡Thank you, Mayor Herron, friends, judges of the committee. My wife and I are quite touched by this honor, considering the many beautiful homes and gardens that cover this island. It has always been our joy to fill our garden with new plants, and things just kept expanding, until I believe we have finally run out of room for more. If our joy brings pleasure to others, then so much the better. Andrea, would you like to add a word?

¡¡¡¡Mrs. Andrea Applegate:

¡¡¡¡I would just like to thank our many friends who have given us cuttings from their own gardens; our children, who have endured our passion for pulling weeds and digging in the manure every spring; my mother, who taught me how to prune a rose; and the committee for bestowing this honor upon us. We¡¯ve just been doing what we love to do, and we¡¯re glad you¡¯ve enjoyed it, too. Thank you all.

¡¡¡¡Example: Acceptance Speech

¡¡¡¡

The Nobel Prize for Literature

¡¡¡¡

By William Faulkner

¡¡¡¡I feel that this award was not made to me as a man, but to my work - a life¡¯s work in the agony and sweat of the human spirit, not for glory and least of all for profit, but to create out of the materials of the human spirit, something which did not exist before. So this award is only mine in trust. It will not be difficult to find a dedication for the money part of it commensurate with the purpose and significance of its origin. But I would like to do the same with the acclaim too, by using this moment as a pinnacle from which I might be listened to by the young men and women already dedicated to the same anguish and travail, among whom is already that one who will some day stand hereswheresI am standing.

¡¡¡¡Our tragedy today is a general and universal physical fear so long sustained by now that we can even bear it. There are no longer problems of the spirit. There are only the questions: When will I be blown up? Because of this, the young man or woman writing today has forgotten the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself which alone can make good writing about, worth the agony and the sweat.

¡¡¡¡He must learn them again. He must teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid; and, teaching himself that, forget it forever, leaving no room in his workshop for anything but the old verities and truths of the heart, the old universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomed - love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice. Until he does so, he labors under a curse. He writes not of love but of lust, of defeats in which nobody loses anything of value, of victories without hope and, worst of all, without pity or compassion. His griefs grieve on no universal bones, leaving none of the heart but of the glands.

¡¡¡¡Until he relearns these things, he will write as though he stood among and watched the end of man. I decline to accept the end of man. It is easy enough to say that man is immortal simply because he will endure: that when the last ding-dong of doom has clanged and faded from the last worthless rock hanging tideless in the last red and dying evening, that even then there will still be one more sound: that of his puny inexhaustible voice, still talking. I refuse to accept this. I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet¡¯s, the writer¡¯s, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet¡¯s voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.

¡¡

¡¡KEYNOTE SPEECH

¡¡¡¡The keynote speech is intended to make participants feel comfortable. As the presenter of the keynote speech, you represent the people who organized the event. What you say helps set the tone for the entire event.

¡¡¡¡While limiting your speech to between three and five minutes, be sure to include vital information, such as information about the organization or event, about the people being welcomed, about the location of important facilities (if needed), and about what the audience can expect from the rest of the event. If you think your audience has other pressing questions or concerns that may keep them from paying attention to or enjoying the programs that follow, it¡¯s a good idea to address these points at the beginning. On the other hand, you don¡¯t want to spend five minutes pointing out the location of the restrooms and the procedure for getting a lunch ticket.

¡¡¡¡In the following keynote speech, the speaker starts on a high note: pointing out the growth and importance of telecommuting, which is the subject of the conference. The speaker goes on to describe some highlights of the conference and the organization behind it. Notice how the speaker refers listeners to an information packer that contains all the details they¡¯ll need without spending any valuable time going over the details.

¡¡¡¡Example: Keynote Speech

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National Conference of the Telecommuting

¡¡¡¡

Advisory Council

¡¡¡¡By Laine Downs

¡¡¡¡Good morning and welcome to the tenth National Conference of the Telecommuting Advisory Council. We are glad to see so many of you here today, proving what we have known since our inception in 1987: that telecommuting is a viable and important work style which has grown tremendously in recent years, largely due to your efforts. Many of you are responsible for implementing telecommuting programs at your companies; others among you are responsible for the government programs that are funding community telecasters throughout the nation; and still others among you are businesspeople who recognize the economic bonus telecommuting can offer, not only to the telecommunications industry, but to community businesses that benefit as workers stay closer to home.

¡¡¡¡Our purpose this weekend is to provide you with the most current information available about advances in the U.S. telecommuting sector. We have scheduled important forums throughout the conference covering the economic, environmental, social, technological, and legislative issues related to the telecommuting workforce. On Saturday morning, we¡¯re offering a special workshop on¡°How to Implement a Pilot Telecommuting Program¡±and I¡¯m told that there are a few spaces left, so if you¡¯re interested, please head over to the registration table in the lobby as soon as we¡¯re finished here.

¡¡¡¡When you came in you received a packet of information about the conference; inside you¡¯ll find a complete schedule of conference events and a detailed map of the hotel, which will show youswheresevery event is being held. If you need more information or if you wish to change or add to your workshop registrations, our staff will be glad to help you after this morning¡¯s session.

¡¡¡¡As you know, the Telecommuting Advisory Council began as a grass-roots organization and we have grown phenomenally, gaining our nonprofit status in 1993 and expanding to encompass regional chapters in Arizona, Texas, Colorado, New Jersey, and Oregon, with city chapters in San Diego, Los Angeles and Oranges County, Sacramento, Atlanta, Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, and of course, our national headquarters in Washington, D.C. We¬ðre proud to announce the formation of our International/European Community Telework / Telematics Forum or ECTF, which you¡¯ll be hearing more about later.

¡¡¡¡The Telecommuting Advisory Council has also established a presence on the World Wide Web, our newsletter is growing every month, and our quarterly audio conferences have met with enthusiastic approval from our membership. We expect more of the same in the next ten years as larger numbers of the working population discover the benefits of telecommuting and as employers and community governments discover the economic, qualitative, and environmental benefits of allowing workers to telecommute.

¡¡¡¡We¡¯re very excited about being at the forefront of this new development, and we know that by the end of this weekend, you will leave our conference not only with new friends and associates who can support your efforts in the telecommuting field but also with new information, ideas, and skills gained from the distinguished faculty and panel representatives we¡¯ve been able to assemble. So, again, I welcome you, and look forward to seeing all of you at our breakfast forum on Sunday.

¡¡

¡¡EULOGY

¡¡¡¡One milestone at which you may be asked to speak is funeral. Here are a few things to remember if you are asked to give a eulogy, a tribute delivered at a funeral service.

¡¡¡¡¡ñTalk to other friends and family; find out what they think is important to say.¡ñEmphasize the positive aspects of the deceased¡¯s life, but again, be realistic.¡ñKeep it short. Avoid using poems or long quotes, unless requested by the family. The audience wants to hear about the person being eulogized, not the wisdom of somebody else.

¡¡¡¡Senator Edward Kennedy delivered a eulogy at the funeral of his brother, Senator Robert Kennedy. He ended with the following words.

¡¡¡¡Example: Eulogy

¡¡

¡¡Funeral of Robert Kennedy

¡¡¡¡

By Edward Kennedy

¡¡¡¡Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today pray that what he was to us, and what he wished for others, will some day come to pass for all the world.

¡¡¡¡As he said many times, in many parts of this nation, to those he touches and who sought to touch him:¡°Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say, why not.¡±

¡¡¡¡Obviously, words of eulogy as fitting as these were no doubt prepared with great care before the speech.

¡¡¡¡When you deliver a eulogy, you should mention-indeed, linger over - the unique achievements of the person to whom you are paying tribute and, of course, express a sense of loss.

¡¡¡¡At the funeral of former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in 1994, Senator Edward Kennedy remembered his sister-in-law in the following way.

¡¡¡¡Example: Eulogy

¡¡¡¡

Funeral of Jacqueline Kennedy

¡¡¡¡

By Edward Kennedy

¡¡¡¡She was a blessing to us and to the nation, and a lesson to the world on how to do things right, how to be a mother, how to appreciate history, how to be courageous.

¡¡¡¡No one else looked like her, spoke like her, wrote like her, or was so original in the way she did things.

¡¡¡¡Finally, turn to the living, and encourage them to transcend their sorrow and sense of loss and feel instead gratitude that the dead person had once been alive among them. In eulogizing his sister, Diana, the Princess of Wales, Earl Spencer affirmed in the following way.

¡¡¡¡Example: Eulogy

¡¡¡¡

Funeral of Diana

¡¡¡¡

By Earl Spencer

¡¡¡¡Today is our chance to say thank you for the way you brightened our lives, even though God granted you but half a life. We will all feel cheated, always, that you were taken from us so young, and yet we must learn to be grateful that you came along at all.

¡¡

¡¡COMMEMORATIVE SPEECH

¡¡¡¡The following commemorative speech was delivered to the people of South Africa on May 10, 1994.Nelson Mandela was celebrating the hard-won liberty and equality for all South Africans. The noble rhetoric and lofty language are appropriate for this auspicious occasion. In fact, this speech is a good example of how the needs of the speaking situation dictate what is said and how the speaker says it. In addition to well-chosen and inspiring words, President Mandela uses repetition and alliteration to build momentum throughout the speech. With repeated references to We, he attempts, rhetorically, to unite the people of South Africa and heal the wounds that have divided his country. This speech proudly marches to conclusion and ends on a high note. Readers today can almost see the sun streaming down on South Africa as freedom begins its reign.

¡¡¡¡Example: Commemorative Speech

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¡¡Glory and Hope: Let There Be Work,

¡¡¡¡

Bread, Water, and Salt for All

¡¡¡¡By Nelson Mandela, President of South Africa

¡¡¡¡Your majesties, your royal highnesses, distinguished guests, comrades and friends£º

¡¡¡¡Today, all of us do, by our presence here, and by our celebrations in other parts of our country and the world, confer glory and hope to newborn liberty.

¡¡¡¡Out of the experience of an extraordinary human disaster that lasted too long must be born a society of which all humanity will be proud.

¡¡¡¡Our daily deeds as ordinary South Africans must produce an actual South African reality that will reinforce humanity¡¯s belief in justice, strengthen its confidence in the nobility of the human soul and sustain all our hopes for a glorious life for all.

¡¡¡¡All this we owe both to ourselves and to the peoples of the world who are so well represented here today.

¡¡¡¡To my compatriots, I have hesitation in saying that each one of us is as intimately attached to the soil of this beautiful country as are the famous jacaranda trees of Pretoria and the mimosa trees of the bushel.

¡¡¡¡Each time one of us touches the soil of this land, we feel a sense of personal renewal. The national mood changes as the seasons change.

¡¡¡¡We are moved by a sense of joy and exhilaration when the grass turns green and the flowers bloom.

¡¡¡¡That spiritual and physical oneness we all share with this common homeland explains the depth of the pain we all carried in our hearts as we saw our country tear itself apart in terrible conflict, and as we saw it spurned, outlawed and isolated by the peoples of the world, precisely because it has become the universal base of the pernicious ideology and practice of racism and racial oppression.

¡¡¡¡We, the people of South Africa, feel fulfilled that humanity has taken us back /into/ its bosom, that we, who were outlaws not so long ago, have today been given the rare privilege to be host to the nations of the world on our own soil.

¡¡¡¡We thank all our distinguished international guests forshavingscome to take possession with the people of our country of what is, after all, a common victory for justice, for peace, for human dignity.

¡¡¡¡We trust that you will continue to stand by us as we tackle the challenges of building peace, prosperity, nonsexist, nonracialism and democracy.

¡¡¡¡We deeply appreciate the role that the masses of our people and their democratic, religious, women, youth, business, traditional and other leaders have played to bring about this conclusion. Not least among them is my Second Deputy President, the Honorable E. W. de Clerk.

¡¡¡¡We would also like to pay tribute to our security forces, in all their ranks, for the distinguished role they have played in securing our first democratic elections and the transition to democracy, from bloodthirsty forces which still refuse to see the light.

¡¡¡¡The time for the healing of the wounds has come.

¡¡¡¡The moment to bridge the chasms that divide us has come.

¡¡¡¡The time to build is upon us.

¡¡¡¡We have, at last, achieved our political emancipation. We pledge ourselves to liberate all our people from the continuing bondage of poverty, deprivation, suffering, gender and other discrimination.

¡¡¡¡We succeeded to take our last steps to freedom in conditions of relative peace. We commit ourselves to the construction of a complete, just and lasting peace.

¡¡¡¡We have triumphed in the effort to implant hope in the breasts of the millions of our people. We enter /into/ a covenant that we shall build the society in which all South Africans, both black and white, will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts, assured of their inalienable right to human dignity - a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world.

¡¡¡¡As a token of its commitment to the renewal of our country, the new Interim Government of National Unity will, as a matter of urgency, address the issue of amnesty various categories of our people who are currently serving terms of imprisonment.

¡¡¡¡We dedicate this day to all the heroes and heroines in this country and the rest of the world who sacrificed in many ways and surrendered their lives so that we could free.

¡¡¡¡Their dreams have become reality. Freedom is their reward.We are both humbled and elevated by the honor and privilege that you, the people of South Africa, have bestowed on us, as the first president of a united, democratic, nonracial and nonsexist South Africa, to lead our country out of the valley of darkness.

¡¡¡¡We understand it still that there is no easy road to freedom.

¡¡¡¡We know it well that none of us acting alone can achieve success.

¡¡¡¡We must therefore act together as a united people, for national reconciliation, for nation building, for the birth of a new world.

¡¡¡¡Let there be justice for all.

¡¡¡¡Let there be peace for all.

¡¡¡¡Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all.

¡¡¡¡Let each know that for each the body, the mind and the soul have been freed to fulfill themselves.

¡¡¡¡Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another and suffer the indignity of being the skunk of the world.

¡¡¡¡The sun shall never set on so glorious a human achievement!

¡¡¡¡Let freedom reign, God bless Africa!

¡¡¡¡The following commemorative speech was presented by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In Washington, D.C. on August 28, 1963.

¡¡¡¡Dr. King¬ðs powerful message about continuing the struggle for civil rights is one of the most famous speeches of the twentieth century. King was speaking to crowd of 200,000 supporters who had gathered at the Lincoln Memorial to demonstrate their support for a civil rights bill that was stalled in Congress. King¡¯s concrete, compelling language portrays the consequences of racial discrimination in human terms rather than as vague conceptual issues. Using vivid imagery, metaphor, and rhythm, King speaks eloquently of his dream of freedom for all. The phrase¡°I have a dream¡±echoes throughout the second half of the speech and is answered by the phrase¡°let freedom ring¡±as it¡¯s repeated throughout the conclusion. These recurring phrases reinforce the mental images created by King¡¯s words, and they help motivate listeners to take action. King¡¯s dramatic delivery was so effective that by his closing words, listeners were rising to their feet and applauding thunderously in acclamation.

¡¡¡¡Example: Commemorative Speech

¡¡¡¡

I Have a Dream

¡¡¡¡

By Martin Luther King

¡¡¡¡I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

¡¡¡¡Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves, who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

¡¡¡¡But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we¡¯ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

¡¡¡¡In a sense we¡¯ve come to our nation¡¯s Capitol to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men - yes, black men as well as white men - would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

¡¡¡¡It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check - a check which has come back marked¡°insufficient funds.¡±

¡¡¡¡But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so we¡¯ve come to cash this check - a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

¡¡¡¡We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand¡¯s of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God¡¯s children.

¡¡¡¡It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro¡¯s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

¡¡¡¡But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads /into/ the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

¡¡¡¡We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate /into/ physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

¡¡¡¡The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people. For many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

¡¡¡¡We cannot walk alone. As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights.¡°When will you be satisfied?¡±We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our vain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro¡¯s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating¡°For Whites Only.¡±We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

¡¡¡¡I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areasswheresyour quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the wounds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

¡¡¡¡Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our Northern cities, knowing that somehow his situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

¡¡¡¡I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

¡¡¡¡I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of his creed,¡°We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.¡±

¡¡¡¡I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

¡¡¡¡I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed /into/ an oasis of freedom and justice.

¡¡¡¡I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nationswheresthey will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.

¡¡¡¡I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with the words of interposition and nullification, one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today.

¡¡¡¡I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plane and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

¡¡¡¡This is our hope. This is the faith that goes back to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation /into/ a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

¡¡¡¡This will be the day - this will be the day when all of God¡¯s children will be able to sing with new meaning.¡°Mr country¡¯s of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing, Landswheresmy fathers died, land of the pilgrim¡¯s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.¡±And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

¡¡¡¡So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

¡¡¡¡Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

¡¡¡¡Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

¡¡¡¡Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

¡¡¡¡Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

¡¡¡¡But not only that. Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

¡¡¡¡Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

¡¡¡¡Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

¡¡¡¡And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring - when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city - we will be able to speed up that day when all of God¡¯s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual,¡°Free at last! Free at last! Thank God almighty, we are free at last!¡±

¡¡

¡¡COMMENCEMENT SPEECH

¡¡¡¡Every graduation must have a speech, sometimes several. This unwritten but binding law means that the commencement address should take its place among other types of special-occasion speeches. Sometimes the commencement speaker is an outstanding member of the faculty or school administration. Increasingly, commencement speakers are politicians, writers, entertainers, and television celebrities. Whoever is elected, the commencement speaker must fulfill two important functions. First, the commencement speaker should praise the graduating class. The second function of the commencement speaker is to turn graduates toward the future.

¡¡¡¡Example: Commencement Speech

¡¡¡¡

Speech to the 1996 Graduates of the

¡¡

¡¡University of Carolina

¡¡¡¡By Janet Reno

¡¡¡¡You are the future of this country. I know you have the energy. I know you have the commitment. I know you can make the choice to stand for what is right and good in this world. If you choose public service, you will be choosing one of the most rewarding and fulfilling careers our society can offer. But whether you are running a business, or teaching a class, prosecuting criminals, or raising a family, you can make a difference.

¡¡¡¡The following commencement address was presented at the University of West Florida on October 28,1993. The speech is lighthearted, it¡¯s easy to read(and listen to), and most important, it¡¯s short. The brevity would certainly be appreciated by anyone who has suffered through lengthy graduation speeches full of rambling platitudes about the graduates- brilliant future. Instead, Martha Sanders uses a simple theme of three-word phrases to provide some homespun advice to the graduates seated before her. She uses examples and stories to illustrate each of the three-word phrases and to make them memorable.

¡¡¡¡Example: Commencement Speech

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¡¡Learn to Listen with Your Heart

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¡¡By Martha Sanders

¡¡¡¡Delivered at the University of West Florida

¡¡¡¡In the Department of Communication Arts we spend a great deal of time thinking and talking about words - the meaning of words, the persuasive value of words, the ethical implications of words and, generally, the impact of words as they are delivered in messages among people. Because of this, I was especially captured by a magazine article a few months ago which discussed how words influence people.

¡¡¡¡The article suggested that the most important messages that humans deliver to one another are usually expressed in very simple terms. I hope that doesn¡¯t shock you now that you¡¯ve spent these past few yearsshavingsyour minds crammed with complicated thoughts. The article went on to suggest that the most influential messages in our language most often come in three-word phrases.

¡¡¡¡I had to agree that three-word phrases such as¡°I love you¡±, or¡°there¡¯s no charge,¡±or¡°and in conclusion¡±certainly were capable of prompting a strong reaction in me, and as I had hoped to impress you with profound thought today, I decided to share with you three three-word phrases that I have found useful as I have moved along in my life.

¡¡¡¡The first three-word phrase I¡¯ve found useful in life is this: I¡¯ll be there. Have you ever thought about what a balm those three words can create?

¡¡¡¡I¡¯ll be there. If you¡¯re ever had to call for a plumber over a weekend you know how really good these words can feel. Or it you¡¯ve been stranded on the road with car trouble and used your last quarter to call a friend, you know how good those words can be. Think about them:¡°Grandma, I¡¯m graduating in August!¡±I¡¯ll be there.

¡¡¡¡¡°Roommate, I¡¯m stuck at the office and can¡¯t get to the airport to meet my sister!¡±I¡¯ll be there.

¡¡¡¡¡°Mom the bady cries all night and if I don¡¯t get some sleep I¡¯ll perish!¡±I¡¯ll be there.

¡¡¡¡Recently I was talking with a local business person who is occasionally in a position to hire UWF graduates, and she told me the single most impressive thing a job candidate can do is to demonstrate a real interest in the well-being of that business. Someone who will help further the objectives of that organization, whether or not he or she is¡°on the clock¡±is going to be valuable person. In other words, be somebody who will be there.

¡¡¡¡One of my favorite stories about someone who knew how to¡°be there¡±is told of Elizabeth, the Queen Mother of England, who was asked whether the little princesses(Elizabeth and Margaret Rose) would leave England after the Blitz of 1940, the queen replied:¡°The children will not leave England unless I do. I shall not leave unless their father does, and the king will not leave the country in any circumstances whatever.¡±I¡¯ll be there.

¡¡¡¡The second three-word phrase I want to present to you is perhaps the hardest to learn to say - I know it was for me and sometimes still is. That is, maybe¡°you¡¯re right.¡±Think about it. If more people were to learn to say maybe you¡¯re right the marriage counselors would be out of business and, with a little luck, the gun shops. I know from experience it can have a disarming effect on an opponent in an argument. In fact, one of my lawyer friends uses it often in his closing remarks - and he is a very successful lawyer. Maybe you¡¯re right.

¡¡¡¡It has been my experience that when we get so hung up on getting our own way that we will not concede on any point, we are doing ourselves a real disservice. Make life a little easier on yourself. Remember the old saying:¡°There are a hundred ways to skin a cat - and every single one of them is right.¡±Maybe you¡¯re right.

¡¡¡¡The third phrase I want to introduce to you I must have heard a thousand times when I was a little girl. Whenever I was faced with a hard decision I would turn to my caregiver and ask what I should do. Her response was always the same three-letter phrase -¡°Your heart knows¡±- then she would go on about what she was doing.¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean? I need advice here. I need for you to tell me what to do.¡±

¡¡¡¡She would just smile and say.¡°Your heart knows, honey, your heart knows.¡±

¡¡¡¡But as I was an imperious child, I would throw my hand on my hip and say.¡°Maybe so, but my heart isn¡¯t talking!¡±

¡¡¡¡To this she would respond -¡°Learn to listen.¡±Now, life doesn¡¯t come in the form of a degree plan. There¡¯s no Great Advisor over there who will give you a checklist and say,¡°Do these things and you¡¯ll earn your degree in¡®life¡¯.¡±

¡¡¡¡To some extent, the page is blank now. You may have a rough outline ofswheresyou¡¯re headed, but I can assure you, you won¡¯t get there withoutshavingsto make some tough decisions - and decision making is never easy.

¡¡¡¡You may be able to find people to suggest what you should do, but for me most part, no one will be willing to accept the responsibility for your mistakes. You¡¯ll have to make your own choices.

¡¡¡¡My advice to you today is to learn to listen to your heart. The psychologists call this¡°tuning in to our subconscious.¡±Spiritual leaders call it¡°turning to higher power.¡±Whatever you call it, there is an ability in each of you to find the right answers for your life. It¡¯s there and it¡¯s a powerful gift that all the education or degrees in the world can¡¯t acquire for you. You¡¯ve had it all along - now, you¡¯re going to have to use it.

¡¡¡¡In¡°The Bending of the Bough,¡±George Moore wrote:¡°The difficulty in life is the choice.¡±

¡¡¡¡Choose well, Graduates.