Advice on Public Speaking

Graduation Speech Outline
Opening ? (30 seconds)
?I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.? ? Frank Herbert, Dune

Hi, my name is _______, and I am a Massage Therapy graduate. You may be wondering why I chose this particular quote to begin my speech. It illustrates a poignant idea to me. ?Fear is the mind-killer.? And it is true; we all experience fear: fear of the unknown, fear of loss, fear of public speaking [point to myself], fear of failure. And sometimes that fear can keep us from reaching our goals.

Body- (aprox. 4 minutes)

1. When I first came to Everest, I had been already been jumping around from school to school trying to figure out where I belonged. I began programs just to ?flake out? at the last minute to do other things. Walking into the Massage therapy classroom, I thought, ?Wow. This could be it.? Everest was my first success. It was the first instance in which only I remained, in the face of my fears; and I am certain I am not alone in these feeling. As we sit here today, we sit together as the result of our own strength against the odds- against fear and any other factors that threatened to keep us from success.

2. Many of us here have been out in the ?real world? already, we work or attend our externships and continue to face our fears and succeed. We speak to new people with new confidence in ourselves, in our skills, and we put ourselves out there in new situations facing new challenges- as adults, as capable members of society. We carry with us the fond memories of Everest to aid us in our daily challenges. This graduation is a reminder to us- a support and encouragement- and a symbol of our success. We persevered through early morning (6am) classes, through grueling tests and practicals, through intense personal growth, through mock interviews and then real interviews, and now, here we are. We sit together, all of us, with the confidence and pride earned by those who face their fears. And heck yeah we faced our fears! We met them with a strong handshake, a great smile (and we didn?t neglect the eye to eye contact), and then we kicked them right out the door without a backwards glance.

3. Of course, we couldn?t have faced these trials alone. We had our teachers, our peers, our parents, friends, mentors? I mean, everyone at Everest has been nothing but supportive. If it wasn?t for Ms. Chanel, I probably wouldn?t even be standing here to begin with. Mr. David is an excellent intro teacher and helped me find my place, provided a support, and gave excellent feedback when I doubted myself. And of course, I owe humongous thanks to Ms. Luci Payne for putting me out there and helping me find a job. There are a ton of people, those are just a few. Look at all of these parents and family members sitting here, each one loving us and supporting us without hesitation.

4. And I can?t forget to mention my peers, you guys, the ones who struggled with me, sometimes got me out of bed, sometimes kept me awake- I?ll admit (6am can be early!), I wouldn?t be here without you. Thank you.

Closing- (30 seconds)

Summarize:

In the end, we have to pat ourselves on the back. We went from fearful first mod freshmen to fearsome graduates- the future movers and shakers of the world. And although we are no longer in school, we continue, every day, to learn, facing new challenges and new fears, but I have this quote from Robert Frost that illustrates my point of view:
?In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.?
? Robert Frost

Congrats fellow grads. We did it. We graduated. I wish everyone the best. May we continue to face our fears head on and become more capable, compassionate, and committed people in the process.

Source: http://www.madcastgaming.com/forum/showthread.php?12755-Advice-on-Public-Speaking

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