Discover how some of the world’s most celebrated names got to where they are today, in these top 10 best and most famous graduation speeches.
What makes a truly great graduation speech?
Graduation Speeches are a fantastic way for alumni and honorary degree holders to address the outgoing student cohort, and their peers, families and guests. It gets attention, sets a tone and can be the make or break of a public speaker, with clips and memes spreading across the web like wildfire.
In the past graduation speeches may have been quite dry affairs, with dreary professors or captains of industry sending the eager young audience to sleep with tales of how things were when they were young. The stories were a little obvious, the advice sounded like something your parents might say and the whole thing was regarded as a chore by everyone involved.
I’m not sure when some universities started the popular trend of getting more interesting people to speak at graduations, but over the past three or four decades there has been a growing list of speakers with something more exciting, original, or even outrageous to say.
So, what makes a great graduation speech? Who are the masterminds of this new genre, and what could you include in a speech if ever you were called upon to address this year’s finest?
Here is my take on what makes a truly great graduation speech…
– Make it about life
This is potentially a big networking event. People in the audience have achieved something extraordinary and are at the start of something new. You must make it all about the big ideas. Sure, you can talk about details, hard work, education and diligence, but it always should be brought back to those big life ideas – hopes, dreams, ambition, but also regrets, choices, mistakes, risks and returns.
– It’s all about the numbers
Great graduation speeches are often simply lists. They could be ‘three things to do when you graduate’, a ‘top ten’, ‘five mantras’, ‘nine life lessons’, ‘five things to remember and one to forget’ … Steve Jobs spoke about three big stories from his life.
– Shared experience makes a bigger impact
You are probably there because you are an individual with some pretty unique experiences. But don’t forget that it is the things that you have in common with the young people in the room that matter most. Digging deep into what makes us all tick is the thing.
– Be humble, be honest
You should of course make a point of thanking the university and the students for having you. You may have received an honorary award, so honour that with some gratitude. Don’t over-egg your rise to fame or your success story, people can and will Google you – so exaggeration is not a good look. Showing off will not wash. Show your human side, it’s what everyone can relate to.
Who gave the best graduation speech?
Everyone has their favourites, Rik Mayall and Tim MInchen are funny and surprisingly serious, and Oprah and Michele Obama have some inspiration to share, but you have to go a long way to find better than Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and Pixar Animation Studios, on June 12, 2005.
He tells three very simple stories. The first is about the repercussions of simple, single discissions made early in life, and how they can make unforeseen impacts on your life, and the future success you might have.
The second was about getting fired from Apple, and how it forced him to look at work and life in a fresh light. The result was a new company that was subsequently acquired by Apple, giving him another lease of life in that company, leading to the iPhone and renewed success. It also led to a new relationship with the woman who would become his wife.
The third story is about death. How making big choices with the idea of death clearly in mind has given him exceptional clarity. After his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, he’d been told to get his affairs in order. Then a biopsy showed that against the odds, his was an operable form of pancreatic cancer – rare – but in his case miraculous. This has given him a new way to look at life, work and business, and act in a manner that he has really nothing to lose.
He brings all of these stories back to a relevant set of statements delivered directly to the audience.
His final anecdote was about a publication called The Whole World Catalogue which bowed out of publication some years ago with a statement ‘Stay hungry, stay foolish’ which Jobs bestows on the crowd as a final summary – a gift to his rapt audience.
Greatest quotes from graduation speeches
Tim Minchin – Be micro-ambitious, and work passionately on what is in front of you, you never know where you might end up.
“Your inexperience is an asset in that it will make you think in original, unconventional ways. Accept your lack of knowledge and use it as your asset.” —Natalie Portman
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. You have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” —Steve Jobs
“Now go, and make interesting mistakes, make amazing mistakes, make glorious and fantastic mistakes. Break rules. Leave the world more interesting for your being here.” —Neil Gaiman
“I am here to tell you that whatever you think your dream is now, it will probably change. And that’s okay.” —Conan O’Brien
The Top 10 List of Graduation Speeches
Many of these celebrated global names didn’t attend the universities they address, in these famous graduation day speeches they reveal some incredible insights into their unique journey as to how they got to where they are in life. Read below to see my top 10 grad speeches of all time.
1. Steve Jobs (Stanford 2005)
Although Apple’s former CEO Steve Jobs didn’t attend college as a youngster, in 2005 he addressed Stanford University at the University’s 114th Commencement ceremony on June 12. Drawing from some of the most pivotal points in his life, Jobs urged graduates to pursue their dreams and see the opportunities in life’s setbacks – including death itself.
2. J.K. Rowling (Harvard, 2008)
Author of the best-selling Harry Potter book series, J.K. Rowling, delivered a Commencement Address on ‘The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination,’ at the Annual Meeting of the Harvard Alumni Association in 2008. In her speech, she extolled the benefits of failure and the crucial importance of imagination.
3. Sheryl Sandberg (UC Berkeley, 2016)
Former Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg delivered a Commencement Keynote speech to UC Berkeley graduates where she talked about the major inspirations in her life, including her Grandmother, as well as the sudden death of her husband and ‘what she learned in death,’ in a very honest and heartfelt speech.
4. Will Ferrell (Harvard, 2003)
Actor and comedian Will Ferrell addressed Harvard in its Commencement Class Day speech on June 4, 2003, to stand-up applause from the young audience. He began with: “Today’s speech is going to be a little different, a little unorthodox. Some of you may find it to be shocking. I’m not going to stand up here and try to be funny. Because even though I am a professional comedian of the highest calibre, I’ve decided to do one thing that a lot of people are probably afraid to do, and that gives it to you straight….”
5. Natalie Portman (Harvard, 2015)
Academy Award-winning actress Natalie Portman addressed the graduating seniors at Harvard’s Senior Class Day ceremony on May 27, 2015. A Harvard graduate herself, Portman said she is “still insecure” about her own worthiness even 12 years after graduating but has to remind herself “today, you are here for a reason.”
6. Neil Gaiman (University of the Arts, 2012)
British author Neil Gaiman addressed the University of the Arts Class of 2012, which has been hailed as “a must-watch for any artist and everyone who hopes to be creative and successful.” Gaiman revealed he didn’t have a career plan, and left school early but he just “wrote and wrote and wrote…” making it all up as he went along.
7. David Foster Wallace (Kenyon College, 2005)
American author David Foster Wallace’s 2005 commencement speech at Kenyon talked about the genre of commencement speeches themselves and the cliches that surround them. He said: “Because the really significant education in thinking that we’re supposed to get in a place like this isn’t really about the capacity to think, but rather about the choice of what to think about.”
8. Jim Carrey (Maharishi University of Management, 2014)
Actor Jim Carrey gave the commencement address to the Maharishi International University (MIU)’s class of 2014. In true Carrey style, he kicked off with a comedic ramble about how he’s just there to “make sound” which is what he’ll be doing – too much laughter and applause from the audience!
9. Valedictorian Carl Aquino (West Hall High School, 2010)
A speech of a lifetime and life itself comedically written and presented by Valedictorian Carl Aquino, a 2010 graduate from West Hall High School. In this speech, he humorously related the four years of high school to a Rubix cube with some music in the background.
10. Conan O’Brien at Dartmouth College in 2011
American talk show host Conan O’Brien had some encouraging words for the 2011 Dartmouth College senior class on the day of their graduation. In the speech, he celebrated the graduates achieving a college diploma, unlike the “dropout losers” like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg.
Now, you might not be about to be invited to Harvard to make that graduation speech. But as pieces of amazing public speaking, they set a fantastic precedent, and a very high, very public standard. If you have to address people formally, in whatever context, and make an impression, you can do worse than watch as many
of these as possible and learn from the masters!
Image credit: Harvard University
