Joan Detz Speaker Services

I’ve received several inquiries about reference materials for commencement speeches. 

Looking for interesting trivia about colleges/universities?  Nothing beats PILED HIGHER AND DEEPER: THE FOLKLORE OF CAMPUS LIFE (written by Simon J. Bronner, published by August House, Little Rock, Arkansas). 

This book provides outstanding references, plus a detailed index. 

Sections cover a wide range, including:  Final exams … Absent-minded professors … Revealing graffiti … Crib sheets and blue book scams … Greek life …  Homecoming … Tormenting the Faculty … Studying, and other games … Sports … and (of course) Graduation. 

May and June are prime graduation months … which means they’re prime months for commencement speeches.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be posting information for speechwriters who have to tackle a commencement address.

To get started:  Read the ”Commencement” chapter in CAN YOU SAY A FEW WORDS? (St. Martin’s Press, 2006).   

Last month, I taught my annual Advanced Speechwriting seminar.  A big topic in the Advanced class?  Writing “special occasion” speeches.

I encouraged the speechwriters to put local details in special occasion speeches - the more specific, the better.

Here’s an example:

Tom Brokaw addressed the Class of 2009 at The College of William and Mary (my alma mater).  According to the Alumni Magazine:

Brokaw said that in preparation for his speech, he had asked Jon Stewart ‘84, D.A. ‘04, a College alumnus and the host of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, what words he associated with William and Mary.  Stewart gave William and Mary’s commencement address in 2004.

“He thought for a moment and he said:  ‘Just four words.  Paul’s Deli cheese fries,’” said Brokaw, receiving laughter and cheers from the audience.

“You have but to hold forth in cap and gown, and any gibberish becomes learning, all nonsense passes for sense.”  (Moliere)

“Training is everything.  Cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education.”  (Mark Twain)

“Commencement speakers, said Father Flynn, should think of themselves as the body at an old-fashioned Irish wake.  They need you in order to have the party, but nobody expects you to say very much.” (NY Governor Mario Cuomo, giving the commencement address at Iona College)

“I am not unmindful of the fact that countless middle-aged moralists like me are rising these days on countless platforms all over the world to tell thousands of helpless young captives the score - and I suspect that all of those commencement orators are almost as uncomfortable as I am.” (Adlai Stevenson, speaking at Smith College)

“Only the educated are free.”  (Epictetus)

I’ve received several requests for information on writing commencement speeches.

For starters, turn to CAN YOU SAY A FEW WORDS? (St. Martin’s Press, 2006).  The book features a large chapter on commencement speeches.  Plus, the Appendix provides a detailed description of more than one hundred books and websites … all offering great/quotable lines.

Also:  Wisconsin Public Radio interviewed me for a one-hour show on commencement speeches:  www.wpr.org #070523M (”At Issue with Ben Merens”).