So just how do you deliver a hilarious, memorable best man speech?  Believe it or not, it’s not that hard to do, and I’m speaking from experience.  In fact, I’ve been a best man several times, and each time, I must admit, I gave pretty darned funny best man speeches.  But the really ironic thing is, I used to hate public speaking.  I just dreaded it.

So how did an average dude like me go from being terrified of speaking in public to delivering hilarious wedding speeches that absolutely brought the house down?  The answer is simple:  I prepared for it, and I was lucky enough to find a book that showed me everything I needed to know to create the perfect best man speech. Click here if you’d like to check out that book.

What exactly did I learn from all my preparation and research?  Well, in part I stumbled upon some very basic truths about what makes great, memorable, and funny best man speeches:

• Your speech needs to be short, but not too short (2-4 minutes)
• You need to please the entire audience, young and old
• You need to build on the emotion of the father of the bride’s speech
• You have to achieve the perfect balance between the funny and the heartfelt

And that was just for starters.  So are you overwhelmed yet?  I know I sure was… at least in the beginning.  But as I went along, I really started to get the hang of the whole speech thing – I guess practice does make perfect.

Through preparing and following one of that book’s really great example speeches, I was able to come up with an outline of exactly what I wanted to say.  As I went over my material and tried it out on friends, I gained more and more confidence.  And I really believe that confidence was what allowed me to give what everyone said was one of the most hilarious best man speeches they’d ever heard.

So what you need to come up with a truly great and utterly memorable best man toast of your own?

You should start by doing a bit of “freewriting” – that is, jotting down the most important things you want to say about the groom.  Then, you really should get hold of a couple example speeches and select one to use as the template for your own speech.  If you want to save a lot of time, do what I did and click here to get that book on funny best man speeches.  I know it sure was really a big help for me.

I have to admit, when my best friend first asked me to be his best man, I was both incredibly honored… and utterly terrified at the prospect of giving the best man speech.  After all, most of us have seen some really funny best man speeches and some utter disasters as well.  Since I never was really big on public speaking, I was afraid mine would be one of the clunkers.

But as it turns out, my first best man toast was a huge hit.  In fact, not to brag, but I totally rocked the house.  So how did an average guy like me go from being a nervous wreck to delivering what everyone said was on of the most memorable and hilarious best man toasts they had ever heard?

One word:  preparation.

Being properly prepared really is essential if you want to deliver a memorable, hilarious best man speech.  (And if you’d like, you can click here to get a peek at the book that became my secret weapon in preparing my speech.)

Now it might sound funny, but the best way to appear relaxed, at ease, and confident is to know exactly what you want to say ahead of time and practice saying it until you have it down cold.

Don’t get me wrong, the LAST thing you want to do is to appear stiff and rehearsed.  That’s why it’s really important to know the RIGHT way to prepare for a best man toast.  You want to capture just what it is that makes your best bud – the groom – the guy he is, and you want to do it in the funniest way possible.

And, if your lucky like I was, your bud will return the favor when it’s your turn at the altar (if you’re not already married).  My bud Kyle gave one of the most hilarious best man speeches ever at my wedding.  Of course, it didn’t hurt that I gave him my secret weapon – the book I found on how to write funny best man speeches. Feel free to click here if you’d like to check out a copy of that book too.