Farewell

How to give a memorable farewell speech at work

By Paul Carroll, Toastmasters International

It is an honour to be asked to give a farewell speech at work, particularly if it is for someone that you have worked with for a long time. You’ll want to do the best job you can, both for the leaver and all your co-workers who will be there.

Here are some practical pointers for getting prepared so that you give a speech worthy of the occasion.

Structuring your speech

It is good to start by saying something about your association with the person leaving as this explains why you have been asked to speak and sets the tone for the event.

I then recommend covering three points of importance. The first may be serious or reflective, but make sure that at least the last one is humorous or light-hearted. For a short speech, you’ll need just three anecdotes illustrating three aspects or periods of your colleague’s time with the organisation, or three characteristics they’re known for, two memorable achievements and something that went wrong (you get the idea).  With additional time you could make the stories longer or add further anecdotes to each section.

Round off things off by raising your glass and giving a toast.

Getting ideas 

For someone you’ve been working with for a while, you’ll have plenty of experiences to draw on. Set a timer, give yourself five minutes and quickly jot down as many ideas as you can come up with. 

For example, you might remember when the two of you were held up because of a visa error and spent a huge amount of time talking to border officials. Scribble down Visa/Airport and move on. You can then review your list and decided which are best for the occasion. It is also good to ask co-workers to suggest the most memorable occasion they can think of. You’ll know which to include when you review the overall balance of your speech. 

Putting stories together

Many organisations hold teambuilding events. If your usually polite, serious colleague was left dangling forlornly on a zip-wire there is likely to be some humour to exploit (remember Boris Johnson’s London Olympics escapade)!  The more senior they are of course, the funnier this will be.

A key question is how much detail to include.

Think about TV dramas. Series about the legal or medical professions don’t show the humdrum aspects of the job. You won’t see an hour-long episode of Line of Duty where all that happens is that a witness sits looking through mugshots trying to find the shooter.

Instead, you’ll see a few shots of the witness with the pictures, maybe with a clock on the wall ticking to establish it’s been a long time.  Then you’ll see the “Aha!” moment.

The point is that you’ll need a bit of shorthand and cut things down to a few elements which establish the context, followed by the revealing part you want to remind your audience about.

For example, I have used a story where I reminded colleagues of that time leaflets had been printed to send to clients about “market volitility ” and strategies for dealing with it. My boss. then a quiet fresh-faced graduate trainee (with English as a third language), pointed out that “volatility” was misspelled (on the front cover no less). As I did with my story, you’ll need to ask yourself which details do I add, and which ones do I leave out? Which add to the build-up? Which add humour?

I thought it was funny (well, later…much later) that nobody had read the front cover and that my now boss (who didn’t often speak up way back then) pointed it out. Correcting a spelling error “in his third language” was the icing on the cake whenever I retold this story.

Going back to the zip-wire story, if you have time for more than a one liner, a longer version, you can build in the nerve-pumping at the beginning, the dignity preserved or lost, how long it took, the eventual arrival of the rescue, and the epithets muttered by the boss about not having away-weekends in future.  

Finding the right humour

If your manager is retiring, it’s not the time for a lot of heavy experiences which appeal to deep emotions. Nor is it the time for metaphorical I-climbed-the -mountain inspiration. As in the outline above, you can remind your audience of a metaphorical mountain where your retiring manager took charge and you all climbed together. However, I recommend primarily focusing on the lighter fun stuff.

Inevitably, what’s funny to a group who experienced it might not be so hilarious to people outside the group. There’s a saying people sometime use when a funny line fails to create laughter: “You had to be there”. It may be a cliché, but it something to bear in mind when you’re connecting with your audience.

By using the suggested structure and other tips you’ll make a speech that will be remembered warmly by the recipient and everyone else at the farewell party.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Paul Carroll DTM is a member of Toastmasters International, a not-for-profit organisation that has provided communication and leadership skills since 1924 through a worldwide network of clubs. There are almost 400 clubs and 8,000 members in the UK and Ireland. Members follow a structured educational programme to gain skills and confidence in public and impromptu speaking, chairing meetings and time management. To find your nearest club, visit www.toastmasters.org