Ceremonial speech is by definition, a formal speech. Now, I get a little nervous when people use the phrase formal speech in most situations, because typically, what the average speaker means is I'm giving a formal presentation is they want to have a license to do a boring data dump, to tell people, their board of directors about everything they've done in the last quarter. It may feel formal, because you're in a stuffy boardroom, and people are important that you're talking to. But if you make it formal, in the sense of I'm going to be stiff and straight and read, especially if it's for 10 1520 minutes. That's not a formal speech. That's an awful speech.

That's a boring speech, because you're not saying anything that's particularly interesting, and memorable, which is the goal of most presentations. ceremonial presentations are different. You're not trying to come up with new content. You're not trying to dazzle people, with your cleverness with your original ideas. In fact, this is a time to take the spotlight off of you and put the spotlight back on the office or the occasion. Whether it's the wedding, whether it is the funeral, it's a way of getting people to reflect on larger values, eternal values, things that are not new, and things that are not associated with your ideas, you're there to simply put a spotlight on that and to help the process of a particular activity.

So that's what's very different about ceremonial speeches in some ways. It does make it easier, you don't have to go out of your way to juice it up to make it more invigorating or exciting. You're not trying to put your personal stamp on the ceremonial speech as much. So please keep that in mind. This is the wonderful time when you're giving a presentation where your personality shouldn't overwhelm your message.