Free Retirement Speech Tips - 6 Ingredients For a Successful Retirement Speech
As a business consultant I am often called upon to advise on various issues, consult with clients and stakeholders and prepare reports and presentations.
This has challenged me to develop a range of conceptual skills, quantitative skills and public speaking ability.
These are six tips which may help you as you face the challenging prospect of giving a colleague's retirement speech.
I have put these together based on my experiences of a number of retirement speeches.
1: Sample retirement speeches: While a sample retirement speech can be a fantastic base for your custom presentation, make sure it remains just that.
A base.
It is well worth spending the time required to prepare a custom speech, whether it is starting from scratch or adapting a sample.
2: Make the retiree feel good: It sounds like an obvious point but as humans we tend to underestimate how sensitive people are to what is being said about them.
While a bit of harmless fun or the odd funny anecdote can be a real speech asset, avoid being too pointed or doing anything which risks embarrassing the retiree.
If the joke is borderline, probably it is best not to use it.
3: Choose the speaker carefully: If you do not know the retiree well or have indifferent (or negative!) feelings towards him or her, delegate the speech to someone who is similarly senior but whom knows the retiree well or feels more positively toward him/her.
4: Check in advance if the retiree wants to respond: Not every retiree will be keen to respond to the glowing retirement speech given in their honour.
Rather than putting them on the spot when you give the speech, gauge with them in advance whether they want to respond.
They may just enjoy smiling and blushing! 5: Ensure sufficient notice is given: It is really painful attending a retirement speech where there are only a handful of people.
Spread the word around in advance; make sure there is a sizable turn out at the presentation.
6:Gifts: Put some thought into the retiree's gift(s).
This means extending your horizons beyond a silver pen or necktie.
Really think about what would be meaningful for this retiree.
Consider, do they have any particular interests or hobbies which a gift could enhance during their retirement years?
This has challenged me to develop a range of conceptual skills, quantitative skills and public speaking ability.
These are six tips which may help you as you face the challenging prospect of giving a colleague's retirement speech.
I have put these together based on my experiences of a number of retirement speeches.
1: Sample retirement speeches: While a sample retirement speech can be a fantastic base for your custom presentation, make sure it remains just that.
A base.
It is well worth spending the time required to prepare a custom speech, whether it is starting from scratch or adapting a sample.
2: Make the retiree feel good: It sounds like an obvious point but as humans we tend to underestimate how sensitive people are to what is being said about them.
While a bit of harmless fun or the odd funny anecdote can be a real speech asset, avoid being too pointed or doing anything which risks embarrassing the retiree.
If the joke is borderline, probably it is best not to use it.
3: Choose the speaker carefully: If you do not know the retiree well or have indifferent (or negative!) feelings towards him or her, delegate the speech to someone who is similarly senior but whom knows the retiree well or feels more positively toward him/her.
4: Check in advance if the retiree wants to respond: Not every retiree will be keen to respond to the glowing retirement speech given in their honour.
Rather than putting them on the spot when you give the speech, gauge with them in advance whether they want to respond.
They may just enjoy smiling and blushing! 5: Ensure sufficient notice is given: It is really painful attending a retirement speech where there are only a handful of people.
Spread the word around in advance; make sure there is a sizable turn out at the presentation.
6:Gifts: Put some thought into the retiree's gift(s).
This means extending your horizons beyond a silver pen or necktie.
Really think about what would be meaningful for this retiree.
Consider, do they have any particular interests or hobbies which a gift could enhance during their retirement years?
