A retirement speech is your best opportunity to deliver best wishes or congratulations to a retiring colleague,

or your only opportunity to express your feelings about a lifetime of employment.

Either way, it is the last moment in your career, and one of the most important. Do not leave a retirement speech to the last minute. Successful careers deserve an equally well thought out retirement speech. Although public speaking can induce some feelings of anxiety, it is certainly not a time to become too anxious.

Make the most out of your retirement speech by doing a little planning beforehand.
Detailed scheduling and notecards are definitely not a requirement, but it does pay to do a little thinking before making the speech. The most important part of any speech, especially a retirement speech, is that you appear relaxed and act yourself. This can be made all the more simple by a little advance planning. Heading into a retirement speech, have some idea of the format you will follow. This will keep the speech concise and effective.

Perhaps the most effective technique in any retirement speech is the isolation of a single incident.
Although you might be speaking of a long career, look to the past for a memorable moment that really reflects that career. This is a great way to illustrate the integrity of those that you work with. A single well chosen incident can do more to illustrate your experiences than an hours worth of aimless rambling.

A dash of a bit of humor can also go a long way in a retirement speech.
The humor does not have to be overwhelmingly funny, but should simply reflect the circumstances and loosen everybody up a little. With just a touch of humor, you can get everybody ready for the speech, grabbing their attention. Using a little humor throughout makes it more memorable. Humor in a retirement speech should not stray toward the tasteless, nor does it need to be groundbreaking. If you have a hard time coming up with anything, turn to the internet for a little help.

There are entire retirement speeches online, sometimes free and sometimes available for a fee.
When really short on time, purchasing one of these as a template might be an option. You should always try to give a retirement speech as personal a touch as possible.

Evan