Coming up with an original and entertaining speech is no simple business. No-one wants to hear the same old jokes and let’s face it, unless you were there or can at least see the evidence that provides the punchline to many of the stories between groom and best man, sometimes they’re just too personal to really work as part of a public speech. To get around these problems many wedding speakers have turned to technology to give them a little visual or audio aid to lift their speech and help make it truly unforgettable. But is the use of technology in a speech the way to go or is it better to keep things a little more pure and simple? Let’s see what our debaters have to say on the matter!
In the Red Corner, arguing against the use of technology in the speeches, probably because it sounds like another reason for people to get their iPads out and block their faces from the pictures, it’s Dom “The Tog Bride”
In the Blue Corner, arguing for the use of technology in the speeches, despite public speaker’s use of technology generally being the bane of his former life as a theatre and events technician when it all went wrong, it’s Matt “The Gormless Groom”
The Speeches – Integrating Technology Vs Keeping it Simple
FIGHT!!!
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Dom: The best speeches don’t need any distracting visuals or sound effects, if you can get the right balance of humour, emotion and real stories into your speech it will be far more compelling than looking at some pictures on a screen.
Matt: If you’re not a confident speaker then technology can really help you to create a brilliant speech without the need for too much public speaking! Create a video, show some pictures, create some simple animations to make the jokes for you, tell stories nicely and earnestly to your audience whilst the screen behind you shows the real (more embarrassing) story behind what you’re saying. There’s all kinds of things you can do that will make your speech long-remembered for even the most nervous of speakers.
Dom: Technology frequently goes wrong. Probably half of the time we’ve seen technology used there’s been some sort of problem, whether it be sound missing from a video or something going out of sequence. If the technology doesn’t work and you’ve based your speech around it it can leave you with nothing to say which is far worse than just not using it in the first place.
Matt: Yes technology can go wrong but there’s no reason to if carefully thought about and well rehearsed. And if used right it can help you to create a seamless speech that is completely different from anything the guests have seen before and can go down an absolute storm. Lots of what might be your best stories might just not make sense to those that weren’t there without some sort of visual reference. Using images on screens behind you can provide you with the punchlines to your stories and everyone loves seeing pictures from the bride and groom’s past!
Dom: Having things on display or sound coming through can often prove to be distracting rather than an enhancement to a speech and can end up stopping the guests really listening to the speaker.
Matt: Sometimes technology is not just an enhancement to the speech but the very thing that facilitates it. For example if you have a multi-lingual crowd you can have a translation of the speech showing on the screens to allow everyone to enjoy it, or if you have any hearing impaired guests the words can also be displayed. It may even be that one of the speakers has physical difficulties with delivering a long speech but may be able to record all or part of the speech beforehand and play it back in order to still be able to say everything they want to.
Dom: If using technology you or the bride and groom may need to hire in extra equipment which can be very expensive and an extra hassle to set up on the day as well as return afterwards.
Matt: But often that equipment can be utilised for other things during the rest of the day such as showing a photo-slideshow on the screen throughout the day or having guest’s pictures appear on the screen via instagram.
Dom: There are so often problems when you take what looked great at home and try to make it work in a different space and often with different technology. Maybe it sounded loud enough in your room at home but the audio doesn’t carry far enough in a bigger space with a hundred or so guests or the presentation can’t be seen by those at the back. Maybe you’ve created a presentation on a mac but it needs to be played back on PC and the two formats aren’t compatible. Maybe there’s that one vital cable or adaptor missing that you didn’t realise you’d need. Unless you’re a professional, use of presentations with speeches often go wrong for just these reasons.
Matt: Technology use in speeches isn’t limited to putting visuals on a screen, you might want to have a comical lighting effect or have a piece of music strike up to underscore what you’re saying for a bit of a comic montage. There are so many possibilities that technology provide you with.
So those are our thoughts but where do you stand? Leave a comment or place your vote below!
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