Best Man Speeches - Success Secrets

Pretty much everyone can recall going to a wedding where the Best Mans speech had everyone either crying with laughter or was so touching that you could feel the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. When people hear them they presume the best man must just be some kind of natural speaker. This is especially true as we've heard best man speeches that we're so boring you could have taken a snooze. So it's easy to assume that the ability to deliver a wedding speech is a natural gift you're born with or without.

If you've been asked to be the best man and deliver the speech at a wedding, chances are this thought is running through your mind and you're dreading that part of the day. Somehow you may think yours couldn't possibly be as good any the others you've heard. The first thing you need to realize is that a great best mans speech has got very little to do with natural talent. The real secret of success is preparation and planning. The second secret is deciding that you're going to give it your very best efforts.

No comedian goes on stage without a plan of what their routine is going to look like. No matter how spontaneous it looks, virtually everything that comes out of their mouth (including put downs for hecklers) is planned. It's planned to look spontaneous and off the cuff but it's all planned. Follow any big name comedian from one town to the next and you'll hear virtually the same routine night after night.

The same is true of politicians. Very few modern day politicians get up and give moving speeches straight off the cuff. They're planned, reviewed, rewritten and reviewed again. Eventually they get something they're happy with and only then do they stand up and give a truly stirring speech.

So whether you're looking to give a best mans speech that has your audience crying with laughter or has them crying with emotion understand the professional's secret - planning is at the heart of all successful best man speeches.

There's going to be more on planning both on this page plus that on my great best man blog

This page is going to be updated regularly with the kind of information you're looking for to deliver that knockout speech.

As well as updating this page some of my guest articles that start on here are going to be placed on my blog after a period of time to ensure this site stays fresh. You can then check the blog site out to find the added information placed on there.

Time however is not on everyone's side. Some guys suddenly realise they haven't done anything and need a speech writing quickly. Sometimes the bride and groom want to get married quite quickly.

You might want a pre-written Best Man speech or wedding toast. If you do, here's a site that just might be what you're looking for. As well as showing you how to put together a best man speech it includes 20 template speeches for that special day If it's a book on how to write best man speeches, Tom Haibeck's guide is often pointed to as one of the best guides out there. It's even had a celebrity endorsement as Regis Philbin used the book when he had to deliver a wedding toast.

The Internet is a fantastic resource if you want to know how to write a funny best man speech. Not only can you pick up great content for your speech you can also find professional speech writers who can do it. Also there are written guides on how to write your own great best man speech. You've got to decide which is best for you.

The first thing you've got to realise is that no approach is wrong. What's at the heart of it is how well you can deliver what you have in front of you. Delivery is what really makes the joke funny, not just the joke itself. It's where the pauses are. It's in the facial expressions and the voice that makes it funny. Have you ever been to see a comedian, nearly split your sides with laughter and then tried to repeat the same joke to friends only to see them stand in front of you totally straight faced. Often what you'll hear them say is something along the lines of "I guess you had to be there"

So do you go for a site where they get people to write your speech for you or do you use the guides and tips to write your own speech? The choice is yours because in reality it's whatever works for you to deliver the killer speech that's important. So what is the choice?

If you want a funny best man speech but don't have the confidence to write one yourself, then there are professionals out there who can do it. What's important is that if someone writes it for you it's important you can deliver the words written for you in a way that sounds like it's your work. So whilst you might not write it, you may well spend more time practising.

If you're doubtful you can pull off a speech written by someone else then you can go down the road of using a guide. Even people you would assume to be accomplished speakers use guides. TV Host Regis Philbin used Tom Haibeck's guide in order to prepare the toast for his daughters wedding and talked about it on one of his shows.

What guides give you are ways to construct a great speech and you still get to use the words you're comfortable with. So to a degree you've used a professional but at the same time it's truly your work. All that's happened is that you've been shown what to do and how to do it. Obviously there's a little more work involved but it can be a great confidence boost to know that you wrote the speech yourself and that will show on the wedding day itself.

There are benefits to both methods and if you're looking to deliver a high quality speech then you should use every tool at your disposal. If talk show hosts use help, why shouldn't you

No one who speaks for a living goes in unprepared. One of the key reasons is that by planning a speech they are very clear what they're going to say when they stand up. This gives them some comfort and confidence as they enter what is a nerve-wracking time.

If it's the sort of thing the pro's do, it's exactly the sort of trick anyone aspiring to deliver a great best man speech should also use.

One key reason is that so many people say they fear public speaking more than anything in the world - including dying. That's a pretty shocking revelation. If it's that big a phobia, the last thing any best man wants is to go out there totally unprepared.

Can you imagine starting okay, if a little nervous. You're mumbling and you become aware some people can't hear you. Then all of a sudden everything you thought about has gone. You're stood there. Everyone is looking at you - willing you to say something. All you can do is look back, silent and feel the cold sweat you've started to go into.

It's a nightmare scenario and one that so many best men play out in their mind.

Planning will help take that fear away when you stand up. With a properly planned speech, you'll feel so much more at ease, because you've removed so many of the things that can go wrong.

The first secret to a great best man speech is to decide to start planning as soon as you're asked. Get a folder set up, either on your computer or somewhere else. Even if you've got nothing to put in it or no idea where you're going to start the mere act of being ready to prepare puts you in a strong position because your mind is on the lookout for content. As a result you're going to start seeing things and hearing things that you can use as content that you might otherwise have not noticed.

So set something up and get ready to get just what you're looking for.