There’s only one speech throughout all of my education that I can remember clearly — my high school commencement speech. I had expected graduation to be a boring affair, and, for the most part, it was. But when our class president got up on stage, she gave a commencement speech that truly had it all. I was completely engaged the whole time, even laughing as she cracked a few jokes that only the graduating seniors would get. And when it was over, I felt as though I was better prepared for wherever life would take me. Her speech wasn’t just good; it was great. It incorporated the three essential elements for any great commencement speech: humor, life advice, and student empowerment.

Life advice is about as common in commencement speeches as the smell of AXE in Freshman Hall. But, regardless of how ubiquitous the advice may be, it is an essential part of any commencement speech. The intended audience is a class of college graduates, a group of people on the verge of a massive transition. Before their graduation, they may never have known what it means to live in the “real world,” what it means to support oneself. The expectations outside of school will be very different for them, and even armed with a degree and an education, they may still not be fully prepared to face the challenges that the world will put to them. Thus, how could a commencement speaker not provide advice? Great examples of advice-driven commencement speeches are President Obama’s 2017 Howard University Commencement Speech and Robert DeNiro’s 2015 NYU Tisch Graduation Speech.  In the former, the President devoted a large portion of his speech to providing general life advice to the graduates, ranging from how they should deal with the issue of race in America to how they can affect change in the world, while in the latter, DeNiro uses his personal experience as an actor to teach the graduating artists how to navigate the world of professional art. While advice like this may not be unique to commencement speeches, it is certainly an important aspect of them, as one final resource to aid the graduates in their transition into their next chapter.

Student empowerment is an aspect of commencement speeches that seems to often become rolled up in advice, but I would argue that it is a distinct and essential element of the medium. Even though the students may have a rough time ahead of them with the transition into the workforce, it is important that their accomplishments are commended and their abilities recognized. Graduating college isn’t just a given; significant effort and passion are required to excel in any academic environment. A great example of this is Tom Hanks’ 2005 Vassar College Commencement Speech. He starts off the speech with a story about traffic jams, and how removing just four cars out of every hundred in a traffic jam can solve the issue of gridlock. He then goes on to use this anecdote as a way to empower the students by emphasizing the power of a few individuals to have massive effects on the world around them. Although preparing students for the challenge of the “real world” is necessary, it is important as well to assure them that, difficult though it may be, this transition is not impossible — unless they’ve chosen to study a non-STEM subject. In that case, they’re screwed.

Finally, we come to the element of humor, one that I believe is tragically overlooked in writing of all types. When it comes down to it, a speech needs to keep its audience’s attention, and if it fails to do that, no amount of brilliant, insightful commentary, utterly essential advice, or highly empowering rhetoric can save it from being anything but white noise for your audience’s naptime. Of all the common elements of great commencement speeches, humor is by far the most essential. It keeps the audience engaged, ensuring that the message the orator means to impart will actually be received. Two great examples of the usage of humor in commencement speeches are Conan O’Brien’s 2011 Dartmouth College Commencement Speech and Andy Samburg’s 2012 Harvard Class Day Speech. In Samburg’s speech, humor takes a front seat as he manages to make fun of common speech clichés while also keeping the audience engaged and imparting a meaningful message of hope and empowerment. O’Brien’s speech is a bit more toned down, with humor often taking a supporting role for his message backed up by personal experience. There’s no need to overdo it with humor (as Samburg may have done), but having some humorous elements in a commencement speech is essential. Humor is the reason that, when I first began writing this post, I knew I wanted to include Samburg’s Class Day speech. It makes a speech memorable in a way that few other things can.

Commencement speeches are truly special. They provide a bookend to school in a way that other styles of presentation can’t. By the very nature of how they are written, they’re engaging, empowering, and useful to the audience.

Photo credit: US Coast Guard Academy

Guest blogger Willem Klein Wassink is a student at Dartmouth College.