15 minutes of... what?

September 21, 2010 5:36 PM

I'm the invited speaker at a reunion of 1995 law school graduates, and I've never gone to any school reunions. What should I talk about?

I'm a law professor, and the attendees requested me. I've got to take up 15 minutes of their time. I don't know what reunion speakers normally talk about. I've heard a lot of graduation speeches, and I suppose if I were doing a graduation speech, I'd try to sound like what people expect to hear at graduation, but also be memorable and distinctive and maybe push the envelope. But I don't even know what the norm is for reunions. It's at night, over dinner, which, to me, suggests a more convivial, festive attitude than graduation, and I mostly want alumni to feel great about coming back to their old school and participating in a reunion. But what to say for 15 minutes?

posted by Alizaria to Education (4 answers total)

I would talk about the same sort of stuff you talk about when invited to speak anywhere. The research and advocacy and writing you do are the reason they think you're interesting enough to hear from. Talk about that. There will be plenty of other people to talk about how great it was when they were all in law school together and how much they love the school. They've been out long enough that they don't need career motivation. So just tell them about what you do and what they should know about your area of expertise.
posted by decathecting at 5:45 PM on September 21, 2010

Fifteen minutes is a long time. As an audience member, I'd want to know where you start and where you'll stop. Also, since it's a reunion, the passing of time is relevant.

So maybe structure your talk around specific issues that arose when you and your classmates were in school, and how these issues have been addressed since then? That way, you include a narrative. Audiences like stories.
posted by goofyfoot at 1:20 AM on September 22, 2010

Talk about law. In a fun way. Tell some jokes. Some networking tips. You might try that old 'throw-the-speech-away-at-the-beginning-of-the-speech' thing.

Put yourself in their shoes - they chose you because they like you for some reason. Play on that :)
posted by chrisinseoul at 7:23 AM on September 23, 2010

Response by poster: Thanks for your suggestions. I ended up talking about a series of things, mostly playing off the date of graduation, 1995. There was an important Supreme Court case that year, and I tied it to some things about teaching law school and dealing with law and change over time.
posted by Alizaria at 10:57 AM on September 25, 2010 [1 favorite]