How to prepare a funeral speech - top tips - video Dailymotion

Claire Kenny shares her top tips for writing a speech for a funeral.

Transcript

00:00 Okay, well firstly, practice, practice, practice.

00:04 That's the main thing.

00:05 You will not get very far if you don't get

00:08 really comfortable with the speech in your head.

00:12 So get kind of into a mindset where you frequently

00:14 run through it and practice it, for example,

00:17 if you're in the car, in a lift on your own,

00:19 any opportunity to run through it

00:21 and get comfortable with it.

00:23 The other thing, and the first step really,

00:25 is to draft it all out in full.

00:28 Don't worry if you're rambling.

00:31 Just get it all down on paper or type it out

00:34 on your iPad, on your phone, or on your laptop.

00:37 So that's your raw material that you need to work with.

00:41 The other tip I would say is be really kind to yourself.

00:44 So this is a big undertaking and public speaking

00:47 doesn't come naturally to everybody.

00:50 So it's okay if you don't memorise the whole speech

00:55 or use cue cards.

00:57 Decide early on if you are wanting to read it out

01:01 from a piece of paper, which is absolutely fine,

01:04 or whether you'd prefer to use kind of cue cards

01:06 with key points on them.

01:08 And if you do want to read it out in full,

01:10 that's absolutely fine.

01:12 I think the other element of being kind to yourself

01:14 as well is you're not Peter Kay.

01:16 So it's okay if your speech isn't going to win

01:20 an award in comedy.

01:23 As long as the sentiment is there,

01:25 there's a reason why you've been asked to give this speech

01:27 and it's because of who you are as a person.

01:30 So you don't have to make your speech technically wonderful

01:33 for it to be amazing.