The good news is that when you are giving a ceremonial speech, you don't have to come up with all sorts of new ideas and clever, creative stories. You don't have to be funny. You don't have to walk all over the stage. In many ways, the ceremonial speech is much, much easier than many speeches, but there are still a couple of things that will really mar the presentation. For starters, being so nervous that you're so quiet people can't understand you. What I say they're being so nervous, that you're so soft spoken, people can't understand you.

It's a common problem. All of a sudden, you're standing in front of more people than you've ever stood in front of. You shrink up your vocal cords tighten up in your whispering if you've just been elected to the United States Senate or president or head of your local Kiwanis Club That's not the time to send a message to people that you're timid, scared, nervous, easily frightened. I'm not suggesting that you're bombastic and yelling at people, but you need good volume because what's the point of the ceremony and people gathering if they can't literally hear you. So, when we start to practice in a couple of lessons from now, I really want you to listen to make sure that you're loud enough. It's a very common problem.

And it can Mar and otherwise find performance when you're giving your ceremonial speech.