17.0: Understanding Speeches to Entertain

In broad terms, an entertaining speech is a speech designed to captivate an audience’s attention and regale or amuse them while delivering a message. Like more traditional informative or persuasive speeches, entertaining speeches should communicate a clear message, but the manner of speaking used in an entertaining speech is typically different. Entertaining speeches are often delivered on special occasions (e.g., a toast at a wedding, an acceptance speech at an awards banquet, a motivational speech at a conference), which is why they are sometimes referred to as special-occasion speeches. However, they can also be given on more mundane occasions, where their purpose is primarily to amuse audience members or arouse them emotionally in some way. Remember, when we use the word “entertain,” we are referring not just to humor but also to drama. The goal of an entertaining speech is to stir an audience’s emotions while delivering a message.

Of all the types of speeches we come in contact with during our lives, the bulk of them will probably fall into the category of entertainment. If you spend just one evening watching a major awards show (e.g., the Grammys, the Tonys, the Oscars), you’ll see dozens of acceptance speeches. Other speeches that fall into the entertaining category are designed to inspire or motivate an audience to do something. These are, however, different from a traditional persuasive speech. While entertaining speeches are often persuasive, we differentiate the two based on the rhetorical situation itself. Maybe your school has hired a speaker to talk about his or her life story in an attempt to inspire the audience to try harder in school and reach for the best that life has to offer. You can imagine how this speech would be different from a traditional persuasive speech focusing on, say, the statistics related to scholastic achievement and success later in life.

You will probably be called upon to deliver speeches to entertain more than any other type of speech. Remember that purposes of speeches overlap, and thus speeches to entertain contain elements of informing and persuading. Often you will be speaking beyond the podium, called upon to give brief remarks celebrating a person, marking an occasion, or highlighting an accomplishment. The hallmarks of speeches to entertain, highlighting values through praise and using celebratory language including stylistic devices, will serve you well on said occasions.

Entertaining speeches are common, but that doesn’t mean they don’t require effort and preparation. A frequent trap is that people often think of entertaining speeches as relatively simple and delivered to an audience with low expectations. As a result, they don’t prepare seriously but rather stand up to speak with the idea that they can “wing it” and as a result the speech falls flat. It is helpful to view all speeches as opportunities to say something meaningful. Wasting the audience’s time by being unprepared is perhaps the biggest sin in speechmaking. To help us think through how to be effective in delivering entertaining speeches, let’s look at four key ingredients: preparation, adaptation to the occasion, adaptation to the audience, and mindfulness about the time.

Be Prepared

First, and foremost, the biggest mistake you can make when standing to deliver an entertaining speech is to underprepare or simply not prepare at all. We’ve stressed the need for preparation throughout this text, so just because you’re giving a wedding toast or a eulogy doesn’t mean you shouldn’t think through the speech before you stand up and speak out. If the situation is impromptu, even jotting some basic notes on a napkin is better than not having any plan for what you are going to say. Remember, when you get anxious, as it inevitably happens in front of an audience, your brain doesn’t function as well as when you are having a relaxed conversation with friends. In fact, it is helpful to view speechmaking as a formal conversation. This characterization emphasizes the need for oral style and the helpfulness of selecting a few audience members to focus on when delivering your speech. Having too many notes, writing out the speech word for word, leads to poor delivery through minimal eye contact, racing through the speech, and failing to adapt extemporaneously if needed. Concurrently, having too few notes leads to poor organization, not emphasizing key points, and forgetting information. Note that even in a manuscript speech, as is often the case with speeches to entertain, you should use oral, not written, style and insert pauses to emphasize key points and establish eye contact.

Part of the speaker’s job is to ensure the listener remembers what was said. The audience remembers your use of stylistic devices, also known as figures of speech. The following table provides examples of useful stylistic devices that you may want to use in your speeches to entertain.

Table 17.1: Examples of Stylistic Devices

Stylistic Devices	Examples
Alliteration: same sound repeated, does not have to be initial sound	“The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, The furrow followed free; We were the first that ever burst into that silent sea.” — Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” “This generation of soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen have volunteered in the time of certain danger… In today’s wars, there’s not always a simple ceremony that signals our troops’ success — no surrender papers to be signed, or capital to be claimed.” — Barack Obama, Fort Hood Memorial Service
Allusion: brief example; audience must be familiar with to fill in the details	“Mildred ran from the parlor like a native fleeing an eruption of Vesuvius.” — Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451 Engineers tend not to make good presidents: look at Hoover and Carter.
Analogy: comparison	“Withdrawal of U.S. troops will become like salted peanuts to the American public; the more U.S. troops come home, the more will be demanded.” — Henry Kissinger, memo to President Richard Nixon, September 10, 1969
Antithesis: opposing ideas, combined with negation	“We observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom — symbolizing an end as well as a beginning — signifying renewal as well as change.” “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country… ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.” “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” — John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address “There never was a good war or a bad peace.” — Benjamin Franklin
Apposition: restatement; one statement defines the other	“The sidewalk just outside the Casino was strewn with discarded tickets, the chaff of wasted hope.” — Jonathan Lethem, Motherless Brooklyn
Balanced or Parallel Structure: same pattern of words	“Together, we determined that a modern economy requires railroads and highways to speed travel and commerce… Together, we resolved that a great nation must care for the vulnerable, and protect its people from life’s worst hazards and misfortune.” — Barack Obama, Inaugural Address
Climax: series with the most important idea last	“I stand before you today, the representative of a family in grief in a country in mourning before a world in shock.” — Charles Spencer, Princess Diana Eulogy
Cumulation: list of examples or ideas	“Without your God-given sensitivity we would be immersed in greater ignorance at the anguish of AIDS and HIV sufferers, the plight of the homeless, the isolation of lepers, the random destruction of landmines.” — Charles Spencer, Princess Diana Eulogy
Definition: explaining meaning	“The best form of government is that which is most likely to prevent the greatest sum of evil.” — James Monroe “The mission of the United States is one of benevolent assimilation.” — William McKinley “Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery.” — Calvin Coolidge
Direct Question: question that is posed and answered by the speaker	“Are we a nation that tolerates the hypocrisy of a system where workers who pick our fruit and make our beds never have a chance to get right with the law? Are we a nation that accepts the cruelty of ripping children from their parents’ arms? Or are we a nation that values families, and works to keep them together?” — Barack Obama, Immigration Address
Hyperbole: obvious exaggeration	“Richard Nixon is a no good, lying bastard. He can lie out of both sides of his mouth at the same time, and if he ever caught himself telling the truth, he’d lie just to keep his hand in.” — Harry Truman
Irony: intended meaning different from actual meaning	“Water, water, everywhere, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink.” — Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner “I rather recommend buying the children alive and dressing them hot from the knife, as we do roasting pigs.” — Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal
Metaphor: figurative comparison	“I gave ’em a sword. And they stuck it in, and they twisted it with relish. And I guess if I had been in their position, I’d have done the same thing.” — Richard Nixon
Metonymy: part substitutes for whole	The pen is mightier than the sword. “The Oval Office was busy in work.” (The Oval Office stands for the people who work there.) Let me give you a hand. (Hand means help.)
Negation: what something is not	“Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us… The ultimate rulers of our democracy are… the voters of this country.” — Franklin D. Roosevelt
Parallelism: same pattern of words	“Let every nation know… that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe…” — John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address “We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate.” — Barack Obama, Inaugural Address “There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and, yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space.” — Ronald Reagan, Challenger Address
Personification: giving human qualities to inanimate objects	Lightning danced across the sky. The wind howled in the night. The car complained as the key was roughly turned in its ignition. Rita heard the last piece of pie calling her name. My alarm clock yells at me to get out of bed every morning.
Repetition: word or phrase repeated	“The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.” — Robert Frost, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” “We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France… We shall never surrender.” — Winston Churchill, 1940 “I have a dream…” — Martin Luther King Jr., “I Have a Dream”
Rhetorical Question: answer is obvious and thus an assertion	“When the enemy struck, who in their right mind would have done nothing to retaliate?” — Dwight D. Eisenhower “To be or not to be — that is the question…” — William Shakespeare, Hamlet
Series: more than one word or phrase; often three	“But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate — we cannot hallow — this ground.” — Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address “There are no great limits to growth because there are no limits of human intelligence, imagination, and wonder.” — Ronald Reagan
Simile: comparison with like or as	“Just as a sword is the weapon of a warrior, a pen is the weapon of a writer.” “Life is like a box of chocolates — you never know what you’re gonna get.”
Understatement: obvious minimization	“Flight controllers here are looking very carefully at the situation. Obviously a major malfunction.” — NASA Mission Control, after the Challenger explosion “Dr. Livingstone, I presume.” — Journalist Henry Morton Stanley, after a 700-mile trek to find the lost missionary

Stylistic devices—like metaphor, alliteration, or antithesis—add sparkle to entertaining speeches. This challenge helps you evaluate and refine AI-generated examples.

Try It: AI Stylistic Device Challenge

Wrap Up: As you saw, AI can generate devices, but they’re often cliché. Beyond the podium, originality and authenticity are what make stylistic choices resonate.

Manuscript speeches require revision. When writing, start from an outline with main points and intended support. In a speech to entertain the most effective support is usually examples and testimony. Once you have this first draft, rewrite to eliminate unnecessary words (clutter) and add stylistic devices.

It is helpful to keep in mind what each stylistic device is especially good for. For example, a series of examples (cumulation) can highlight a specific value. Negation is excellent for highlighting what something is not and therefore calling attention to opposing qualities. Note that the use of stylistic devices often combines more than one. Series and repetition and parallelism are often used in combination with other devices. Note also that it is critical that stylistic devices bring new perspectives. Using stylistic devices that are overused, in other words cliches or trite expressions, diminishes your effectiveness as a speaker. It is characteristic of a speaker’s style to use certain stylistic devices. At the same time, speakers should take care not to overuse certain devices. Too much alliteration, for example, will turn your speech into a tongue twister.

Be Adaptive to the Occasion

Not all content is appropriate for all occasions. If you are asked to give a speech commemorating Holocaust Remembrance Day, then obviously using humor and telling jokes wouldn’t be appropriate. But some decisions about adapting to the occasion are less obvious. Consider the following examples:

How might you adapt your message and speaking style to successfully entertain these various audiences?

Remember that being a competent speaker is about being both personally effective and socially appropriate. Different occasions will call for different levels of social appropriateness. One of the biggest mistakes entertaining speakers can make is to deliver one generic speech to different groups without adapting the speech to the specific occasion. In fact, professional speakers always make sure that their speeches are tailored for different occasions by getting information about the occasion from their hosts. When we tailor speeches for special occasions, people are more likely to remember those speeches than if we give a generic speech. This mistake is often evident at memorials, with representatives of the church failing to note the personal characteristics of the deceased.

Be Adaptive to Your Audience

Once again, we cannot stress the importance of audience adaptation enough in this text. Different audiences will respond differently to speech material, so the more you know about your audience the more likely you’ll succeed in your speech. Graduation speakers often make two mistakes in their failure to adapt: first, focusing on themselves and touting their accomplishments to the neglect of their immediate audience; and second, relying on formulaic tropes including roads less traveled and mountains yet to climb.

Be Mindful of the Time

The last major consideration for delivering entertaining speeches successfully is to be mindful of your time. Different entertaining speech situations have their own conventions and rules with regard to time. Acceptance speeches and toasts, for example, should be relatively short (typically under five minutes). A speech of introduction should be extremely brief—just long enough to tell the audience what they need to know about the person being introduced in a style that prepares them to appreciate that person’s remarks. In contrast, commencement speeches and speeches to commemorate events can run ten to twenty minutes in length.

It’s also important to recognize that audiences on different occasions will expect speeches of various lengths. For example, although it’s true that graduation commencement speakers generally speak for ten to twenty minutes, the closer that speaker heads toward twenty minutes the more fidgety the audience becomes. To hold the audience’s attention and fulfill the goal of entertaining, a commencement speaker would do well to make the closing minutes of the speech the most engaging and inspiring portion of the speech. If you’re not sure about the expected time frame for a speech, either ask the person who has invited you to speak or do some quick research to see what the average speech times in the given context tend to be.