Retirement Speech Writing Tips and Examples

In his book Retirement: Your New Beginning, Sid Miramontes introduces retirement as akin to “closing the book on one chapter in order to begin the next.” Accordingly, you can think of retirement speeches as the closing pages of a chapter, and like in any other book, you want to end it with a bang. You want it to be the most memorable farewell speech filled with fun anecdotes, fond memories, and positive energy. Worry no more because this blog will walk you through the ins and outs of retirement speeches complete in all facets: content, scenarios, and examples. As Daniel Webster puts it long ago, “no man not inspired can make a good speech without preparation.”

What are the basics of retirement speeches?

Before we delve into the art of preparing retirement speeches, there are a couple of fundamentals you need to consider for any moment wherein you need to deliver a retirement speech:

Qualities of the Best. The best retirement speeches possess the best retirement stories. These stories honor the people who supported them and motivate the audience by drawing lessons from such stories. Those lessons need to be reflections of a shared experience and must be intergenerational in that they speak to the future generations. In the process, the speaker must strike the delicate balance between what is practical and what is emotional thereby avoiding hyperfocus on the latter. At bottom, the most effective retirement speeches are prepared by tapping into creative energy, delivered in accordance with the rigors of public speaking, and concluded on a positive note.

Length. There is no hard-fast rule on how long retirement speeches should be as it often relies on the flow of the program or event. Nevertheless, it is optimal to have at most a ten-minute speech comprised of 1,500 words.

Structure. The go-to framework is the “story and lesson” structure wherein you incorporate three medium-length stories as a launchpad to the lessons, which are often in the form of career advice, you learned and want to impart to the audience:

OpeningStory #1Lesson/AdviceStory #2Lesson/AdviceStory #3Lesson/AdviceClosing

Opening. At the very start, you must avoid the common mistake of an introduction filled with nothing but welcome, thank you, and acknowledgment. Instead, use this as an opportunity to lay down the larger themes that will drive the entire speech such as the values of hard work and camaraderie, among others. Another way to make the most out of your speech’s opening is to jumpstart the storytelling by sharing an attention-grabbing anecdote that will serve as the hook that will capture the minds and hearts of the audience at the outset which must be sustained by the speech’s middle section.

Middle/Storytelling. Although it is your moment, it is better to share stories about your career as it relates to others such as how your colleagues played an impactful role in your growth. Use the body of your speech as a capsule of stories not just about yourself but about the lessons you learned from others and which you want to impart to others as career advice to them, especially for the next generations. This is, after all, public speaking anchored on influencing other people.

 Closing. This is where you wrap up all the stories and lessons that you have shared into a concluding takeaway for the audience. Like the opening, keep it as short as possible to be impactful as the closing is often what the audience will remember from your retirement speech.  

In sum, retirement speeches are farewell speeches for a retirement celebration. It is a celebration of all the favorite memories and positive experiences that are best communicated via fun and profound anecdotes. One must craft it sincerely and creatively in the same way that it must be delivered confidently and competently, hence the centrality of the content—what must be said.

What do I say in my own retirement speech? 

Now that you are retiring, it is the moment where you want to look back at your career for all these years and exude from that experience, all the anecdotes, lessons, and thanks you want to express to the audience. Thus, retirement speeches often feature a contrast between when you began your career and now that you are closing it. It is in that tale of change that you will derive meaningful anecdotes that are meaningful either because they are personally special or because it is a reservoir of lessons. The lovely memories are those that you will miss the most when you finally retire while the profound lessons are those that you want to be passed from one generation to another, even if you have already retired. Ultimately, a retirement speech is an articulation of your legacy shared not only by yourself but also by others: your friends, families, and colleagues. Never forget to acknowledge them even if it is already in the closing section of your speech.

But what if it is not you who is retiring?

What to say in a speech for someone retiring?  

To speak about someone retiring is to honor that person as well as the event for that person. That entails speaking about their achievements and contributions creatively told through anecdotes that may be poignant or funny. These stories may also be reflective of the retiree’s positive personality which could form the core of what you will be missing when he/she is already retired. Looking forward, you may also remark on how the retiree is a role model for the generations to come. Underlying all these components are heartfelt expressions of appreciation and gratitude wherein you need to consider two Ws: who and what are you thankful for.

After the generic basics of retirement speeches, we are now ready to delve into the specifics of retirement speeches especially as it relates to the identity of the retiree as well as the nature of the retirement event.

Specific Retirement Speech Scenarios

Although retirement speeches follow a seemingly common structure, each scenario possesses particular nuances that need to be accounted for and incorporated into the speech. The following are the most common scenarios:

Retirement Speech for a Colleague. Remember Steve Carell’s last episode in The Office wherein his character Michael Scott is leaving their paper company Dunder Mifflin. Various moments of this episode showcased how to bid farewell to a retiring colleague. Do you recall their final song entitled “9,986,000 Minutes”? That refers to how long Michael worked in the office. This sets the perspective and context of the retiree’s career as well as work experience. And then each of them sang about what Michael has done to them. This is an illustration of how one speaks of the impact of the retiree, may that be personal—contribution to one’s life—or professional—contribution to the organization or institution—as these are at the heart of the retiree’s legacy. Essentially, it is answering the question: what will you miss the most about your retiring colleague once he/she finally retires? This culminates with your summation of the retiree’s career or legacy on the most positive note. In that episode, Jim Halpert tears up and uttered the words: “what a great boss you turned out to be. The best boss I ever had.” As the speech could go on to cover potential next chapters of the retiree’s life in cognizance that retirement is not the end but a beginning, you must not forget the importance of getting in touch which bolsters the sincerity of everything that has been said. As the chorus of that final song for Michael’s farewell to the office puts it: “remember to call!”

How about if the one who is retiring is your friend or more so, a part of your family?

Retirement Speech for Friends and Family. While the basic components of a retirement speech also apply in this scenario, a retiring friend deserves more than that in recognition of the personal bond you have forged for all these years. Thus, speaking about your retiring friend will take the form of a more casual and personal approach. At times, this borders on humor since friendship carries with it the wealth of all kinds of memories—both the happy and the sad ones—that you have confronted together and which only made your friendship stronger. The same is true for speeches about a retiring family member yet the key difference lies in how personal it would be—speeches for family tend to be more personal than those for friends. As expected you’re your closeness as friends or as a family, remember to make the anecdotes and memories as vivid as possible not only as a way of recalling the past but savoring the present moment as a culmination of all these years.

Retirement Speech for those in Service.  Those in the vocation of serving the people, such as the military and teachers, are often special addressees of farewell messages and speeches primarily due to the nature of their careers. Words of sincerity and profundity are only fitting for their sense of duty, honor, and selflessness. Accordingly, these are the larger themes that must govern the retirement speeches for these professionals in the service industry. Central to any retirement speeches for soldiers and police officers are the acknowledgment of their bravery and dedication to keeping the community safe and secure. For teachers, on the other hand, expressions of gratitude for their altruism and compassion in molding the youth alongside the vision of a better future which is perhaps the best gift a student can give to his/her teachers.

Here are some examples of retirement speeches.

Some Examples of Retirement Speeches

To better grasp this guide, the following are three key examples of effective speeches for retirement that you could use as an inspiration in crafting your own:

Jeff Bezos’s Farewell Letter to Amazon.  When Jeff Bezos stepped down as Amazon’s CEO, he left a heartfelt letter to his employees whom he referred to as “Amazonians.” What made this farewell letter effective is that it encapsulates most, if not all, of the aforementioned basics of crafting a retirement speech. There is the tale of change for contextualization wherein he wrote “This journey began some 27 years ago. Amazon was only an idea…” towards “Today, we employ 1.3 million talented, dedicated people, serve hundreds of millions of customers...” And then there are the lessons he learned from this journey which now form part of the shared culture of Amazon spearheaded by innovation. From reminiscing, Bezos turned this into a battle call for the future with his concluding takeaway and reminder to the Amazonians: “Keep inventing, and don’t despair when at first the idea looks crazy. Remember to wander. Let curiosity be your compass.”

President Bill Clinton’s Remarks on the Retirement of General Colin Powell. President Clinton’s remarks for the retiring General Powell are an effective embodiment of a retirement speech for those in the service industry. At the outset, Clinton laid down the principal theme of Powell’s life and career in the military: “Today, a grateful Nation observes the end of a distinguished career and celebrates 35 years of service and victory.” In both the personal recollections, such as the encounters and the meetings, and profound statements, like “a rock of stability in our Nation’s military during a time of profound change”, it all redounds to Powell’s retirement event as an honor and thanksgiving for his service. This culminated with these concluding words: “Your reward is a grateful Nation and a bright future. Your reward is a stronger Nation, safer and better today for your sword, your courage, and your skill. From the bottom of my heart, on behalf of every man and woman, every boy and girl in this great country, I thank you and wish you Godspeed.”

 Jimmy Kimmel’s Tribute to David Letterman.  As a legend in late-night television, Letterman is very much deserving of the best heartfelt tribute which came from Kimmel. What made this tribute notable is that Kimmel harnesses Letterman’s personal impact on him as a microcosm of the retiring host’s great career. He looked back at when he started watching Letterman when he was still a kid throughout college and his television career. Perhaps the words that tug at the people’s heartstrings the most are these: “Watching ‘Late Night,’ not only did I learn how to do everything from Dave, the reason I have this show is because the executives at ABC saw me when I was a guest on Dave’s show and hired me to host this show.” Kimmel capped this off with the simplest yet the most impactful line: “Dave is the best and you should see him.”  

As you can see, it is challenging yet fun to craft and deliver retirement speeches primarily because you earnestly seek to honor the retiree in the best way possible as much as you want to honor all the people who played a meaningful role in your career if you are the retiree. As you now prepare to pen and perform your retirement speech, always be guided by these words from William Jennings Bryan—”eloquent speech is not from lip to ear, but rather from heart to heart.”

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