The Office Christmas Party Speech – (Don’t Drink and Dribble)
It’s that time of year again when the office Christmas Parties are in every building and event space in town. And we all know that along with the fun, the glass (or 5) of bubbly and the inappropriate festive behaviour of some of our colleagues we have to listen to, or even worse, give the end of year motivational, thankyou speech.
Here are some tips to nail your Christmas speech and ensure you don’t bore your staff, embarrass yourself or end up in the staff newsletter for all the wrong reasons.
- Don’t drink and dribble. Leave the alcohol until after the speech. Drinking one glass too many can loosen your inhibitions and focus. What may have seemed completely inappropriate to discuss at work hours before may now seem amusing to share with the entire organisation after a drink or two.
- Prepare in advance, don’t wing it. Even if you are not quite sure you will be called upon, still plan in advance so it seems impromptu but you can deliver it confidently and with clarity.
- Have a clear message to share with your team or audience. If it’s to thank them for their year of commitment and hard work, have some specific examples to draw upon.
- Keep it light. Everyone is in the mood to celebrate. Not the right time to talk about all the recent redundancies. Add some light festive cheer.
- Share a story. A feel-good or funny workplace story with people, places and events that they will all relate to or remember works a treat to get everyone reminiscing.
- “My boss’s end of year speech was too short” said no-one ever!
So, in summary your ‘Christmas Chat’ should be short, sharp, light, funny with a dose of feel good emotion.
You hear the cheer and the round of applause. Now go and find that eggnog, you’ve earnt it
Paula Smith – Chief of Business and Learning at GITP is an expert in Presentation Intelligence™
Speaker (CEP, CSP), Author, Master Trainer and Business consultant helps experts and organisations grow their business and their brands by harnessing the power if speaking and Presentation Intelligence
