Anatomy of a commencement speech
The best graduation speeches follow a surprisingly similar pattern
We combed through dozens of inspirational, funny, and memorable commencement speeches and found the best ones follow a surprisingly similar pattern comprising eight distinct parts. Listen to the anatomy of a graduation address above and click on the links below to watch any of the speeches in full.
- Will Ferrell at University of Southern California, 2017
- Stephen Colbert at Northwestern University, 2011
- Jon Stewart at the College of William & Mary, 2004
- Kerry Washington at George Washington University, 2013
- Conan O'Brien at Dartmouth College, 2011
- Jim Carrey at Maharishi University of Management, 2014
- Toni Morrison at Wellesley College, 2004
- Peter Dinklage at Bennington College, 2012
- Shonda Rhimes at Dartmouth College, 2014
- Steve Jobs at Stanford University, 2005
- Natalie Portman at Harvard University, 2015
- David Foster Wallace at Kenyon College, 2005
- Ellen DeGeneres at Tulane University, 2009
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