About a month ago I was asked to be Best Man for a very good friend of mine.  Like most people, although I was honoured to be asked, one of my first thoughts was – “I’m going to have to write a speech. AAARRRGGGHHH!”

I have never been best man for anyone before, but I did of course give a speech at my own wedding. The groom’s wedding speech though I believe is relatively simple in comparison. The groom is generally just expected to say a few thank yous, say how much he loves his newly crowned wife, say how fantastic the bridesmaids look and what an amazing day it has been. The best man’s speech on the other hand is expected to be a witty and funny insight into the groom’s past that will not only produce lots of laughs, but will also not offend anyone and will contain a fair amount of sincerity as well.

Don’t get me wrong, I was nervous about my speech when I was the groom. I am not a great public speaker and would have preferred it if tradition had missed the bit where the groom says his piece. But I was in front of my friends and family, and was basically just saying what had come from my heart. When the time came I was actually ok about it. I think the adrenaline of the day helped a lot and I just went with it, did what was ‘expected’ of me and sat down to watch my best man do a fantastic job of entertaining our guests with tales of my past misdemeanours.

Now it’s my turn to be the headline act and, although the wedding is not until next year, I am already getting a funny feeling in my stomach every time I think about it. Luckily though I will not be completely unprepared, as The Wedding Community’s speech writing expert Lawrence Bernstein of Great Speechwriting has sent me a copy of his fantastic booklet “The Great Speech Writing Guide – The Best Man”.

This handy A5 sized booklet takes you through every aspect of the best man’s speech, from planning and preparation, to writing a draft, fine tuning and delivery techniques. The booklet inspires you rather than tells you what to say, meaning you can take a lot of the points on board and create a speech that is totally unique.

To start with, Lawrence takes you through the basics of preparing for your speech – How to ensure you keep it relevant so it works for each group of people who will be hearing it, how to judge the suitability of your potential material, where to gather your material from, how to play to your strengths, potential pitfalls and the “Must Haves” and “Might Haves”. This all helps you to decide what you should, might and can’t include.

Once all this groundwork has been done you should be in a good position to start putting pen to paper. Lawrence then explains how to structure your speech, how you should actually write it to make delivering it easier and how to decide what goes into the final cut, and once you have your completed speech the advice doesn’t stop there.

There are pointers on how to practice your speech, who will be speaking and when, whether to have your speech down on paper, cards or memorise it, what to do if things don’t go entirely to plan, how to deal with a heckler and how to deliver your speech.

Finally there is an at-a-glance action plan that goes over the key points again for before, during and after your speech.

I would highly recommend this booklet. It has made me feel more confident about my speech and I will certainly be going back to it when the time comes for me to start planning my masterpiece.

If you would like to treat yourself or someone to a copy they are just £5 (+ 99p postage) and can be ordered here or you can email Anna at Great Speech Writing – anna@greatspeechwriting.co.uk.

Happy Writing and Good Luck!

David