The Detailed Leaving Speech Example to Leave Your Audience Moved

A leaving or farewell speech is an address that is given by a person to colleagues, friends, business partners at the moment of departure from a place where they used to stay for a long time. A leaving speech may take place due to the variety of reasons:

  • Changing the place of residence (for example, in America, an overall percentage of those who move every year is 14.19 according to the U.S. Census Bureau data);
  • a change of employment (if you take into consideration the Bureau of Labor Statistics, you’ll see that on average, individuals held 11.9 jobs from ages 18 to 50);
  • Graduation from a school, college or university (according to the National Center for Education Statistics, the 6-year graduation rate is 88%).

The statistical data looks impressive? It means that nobody can guarantee you that the next year you won’t move to a new region or change a job. In the meantime, prepare better for delivering a leaving speech at a college or university. The purpose to make a leaving speech implies the emphasis of moments spent, gratitude to those who shared a common time, and it is telling plans for a future life. Let’s start!

1. Reflect on Your Personal Feelings

If you face an occasion when you are supposed to deliver a leaving speech, share all the feelings you have. Usually, when we need to say ‘goodbye’ to somebody, especially if it is someone who is close to you, it may be complicated and even painful to say something meaningful. However, you should focus on your feelings and be reflective during your speech.

  • Feel regret? Say it: “My dear …, It is regrettable to realize, but it is my final day in such an excellent company as you. Throughout all spent years with you, I could always count on your reliable support, and I’ve greatly improved my way of life. Even despite the fact that I will remain in the same splendid city of Houston, I will miss you, guys.”;
  • Feel anxious? State it: “I feel a little anxious that I might skip some essential details of our successful collaboration within the walls of our university while speaking here, at the stage. It is possible not because of my poor memory. I simply want to say how I appreciate every moment spent with you. There are many of them that are worthy of attention at the moment when we need to say goodbye to each other. That’s why I have the list of the most important things I’ve experienced together with you. I won’t worry about missing something important in my leaving speech.”;
  • Feel grateful? Express your gratitude: “Certainly, it would be an ugly act to leave you without saying how grateful I am for your participation in my student life. You helped me with my studies. Specifically, I want to express my biggest thanks to my first supervisor Natalie Berkman who, despite my low quick-wittedness, had spent a lot of non-working time to explain me basics of an effective performance as a consultant.”

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Definitely, the decision to change something in the life can be enormously difficult for many people. Nevertheless, after a continuous thinking, you make your choice in the favor of, for example, an educational development that is offered by a college or university. You spend some enjoyable moments there. As a result, the graduation day may be too painful for you or your coursemates. There are 5 ways to make goodbyes less painful at Psychology Today. They greatly help you to reconcile sadness with the reality and future great opportunities.

2. Mention What Experience You Gained

Be it a job, a school, or a place where you’ve been living for a long time, you’ve surely gained some experience that is not always valuable. But your task is to think of what you’ve done while being there, and how it influences your life. What was meaningful to you while studying at a college? Lectures, seminars or extracurricular activities? Your speech may start with something like, “I can confidently state that without my professors’ outstanding skills to …, I would definitely stay as a fresher for all … years of my studying at this college/university. I cannot skip our beloved principal, …, who always demonstrated his/her punctuality at the lecturers by arriving at them on time. With such great people, the studies bring only pleasure for me.”

3. Address to Listeners

Your leaving speech is devoted to people who listen to you. You can inspire or encourage the listeners. Try to be sincere by stating to the point. You can address to listeners:

  • Collectively by addressing the whole group of people: “Even though I am leaving, I am not going to end my communication completely with my coursemates. In fact, all of you can still find me living at the same address, and I will be always happy to have you as guests. Moreover, my phone number and accounts in social networks will also remain the same. I want to really believe that I extremely appreciate the time we spent together, and I hope that you will remember me as a hearty and pleasant person.”
  • Individually by naming a person: “Dear my …, you can feel free to phone me as you did every night before doing homework. I swear that I will do my best to help you with any issue you will have. Hope no issue will be on your way. Here it is, I must go. Just remember that I will be always open for communication with you regardless of any circumstances and weather conditions.”

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Now, you known what to include in your leaving speech, but if you want to turn these points into a touchy leaving speech, use a sample speech outline to help you complete the speech effortlessly. Alternatively, you know where to find some professional help with speeches – ask our specialists, “Write my speech”.

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