FIRST, THINK: Who is this person and why are they significant?   Make a list of people you might like to talk about and list some adjectives to describe them.  Consider how comfortable and capable you are discussing someone if they are no longer alive.

Desmond Kelly

  • Short, bald, funny, hard-working, driven, smart (sometimes), helpful, Irish, snake, eye on the prize, crazy, dad jokes, cool dad, funny lingo

Ethan Kelly

  • Tall, red hair, funny, inspiration, very smart, athletic, helpful, protective, dependent, sometimes lazy, strong, the dynamic duo, car music,

Joan Kelly

  • independent, hard-working, smart, caring, loving, very protective, very smart, funny, crazy, gets on my nerves,

Glenn Dunne

  • brother to me, my height, big, tough, Irish, funny hair, thick accent, the only person I trust, good memories, 18 years of friendship, funny, crazy, nice

NEXT: BRAINSTORM:  What other stories or anecdotes can you think of? Continue to add depth to your outline and speech.  (Writing a draft of a toast for your “person,” even if you are not composing a toast, might help shape your speech.) 

NEXT: NARROW:  Pick one person and focus on what you think your audience should know about this person.

Glenn

NEXT: STRUCTURE:  Layout 3 clear parts on paper: Intro, Body, Conclusion and start to budget the time you will spend delivering each part.

Intro: I would like everyone to raise their glass for my best friend Glenn Dunne. We have been friends for my entire life, literally, do not remember a time without him.

  1. Start off by telling the story of how we met and why we became best friends
    1. Community Center
    1. Walking into each others house
    2. two streets away
  2. Explain how we have stayed friends through thick and thin. He will always be my friend
    1. The only person I fully trust
    2. would drop anything for each other
    3. Fighting
  3. Tell a funny story that we did together. Ex. mud fight, poison ivy, wagon/skateboard racing
    1. wagon/skateboard racing: no helmets, big hill, main street, and basically dying

Conclusion: This is just the beginning of our friendship. I don’t see this friendship ever ending in the future and I see us making more funny and stupid memories.

What I need to work on: Filler words, rearranged, move conclusion too after first body then move the story to after the conclusion

NEXT:  IN MOTION: Draft, add, subtract, practice, revise, repeat.  This speech, like all the others, is meant to evolve as you keep working with it throughout the week.