Use of Projector in best man speech advice

ziedth

hey all i'm doing a best man speech for my brother in july and i read online that some people as a bit of a filler use a projector with pictuers of the groom.

I had an idea to kind of cronicle his life with embaressing pictuers till he meets his wife then show them happy with kind of a commentry throughout.

has anyone seen anything like this done before and how did it go down? also, what you you think if it was done on your day.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

texanman

I've seen this been done with funny captions on the pics.And the best man on commentary. It went down great with the crowd.

Enii

It sounds OTT to me. Remember it is a party not a business meeting. Think about what the point of the best man's speech is for i.e. to thank everyone on behalf of the bride and groom, to toast the couple etc.

As a side note has anyone noticed the tendancy for Best Mans speech to be very crass with really blue jokes - not nice. Keep it clean so as not to offend anyone.

And some people see the Best Mans as an opportunity speech to bore the guests with a 30 minute speech. Keep it short - it will be appreciated by the guests.

auditek923

we are using a projector to show a "slideshow" of myself and my fiances life story as such. but it will be seperate from the speeches .its photos with music in the background and about 3 mins long

hunnymonster

As part of the speeches, it might be a bit much. I would certainly feel like I was in a lecture at work. having said that, I do love the idea of photo's playing in the background, say during the meal.

ziedth

I do have to agree with you there it does seem OTT, see i wouldn't be the most charasmatic person in the world, so the part of the speech basically that i have to write myself(the funny story) is causing me abit of problems, i think i'll be grand for the rest cause its half written for me already and i can deliver a line no bother.


See i'm really gonna struggle with a 5min speech i think it would be a good filler.

crackity_jones

Hey Ziedth,

I'm best man for my brother in a couple of months' time and I too have toyed with the idea of rolling out a laptop and projector but after mentioning the idea to a few people I think I'm not going to go ahead with it. There will just be too many people with stuff to say that there just won't be time to squeeze it in.

As Enii has already mentioned, the secret is to keep it short, sweet and sincere. I read somewhere that the best man's speech should last no longer than 4 minutes. This might sound like no time at all but you can say a hell of a lot in that length of time.

And it's something of a myth that the best man has to have them rolling in the aisles. Believe me, after being witness to my fair share or rambling, drawn out, cringeworthy efforts I am more than appreciative of the man who can say what needs to be said along with some honest, heartfelt and very importantly, clean comments about the married couple in that 5 minute period.

And you can script the more 'charismatic' parts of it too. Put a few ideas down on paper and bit by bit you'll piece together something that you'll be able to deliver in a comfortable and confident fashion. It's not stand-up, you're not going to be heckled half-way through, save for the occasional pause while the crowd applauds or laughs. Good times to catch your breath.

I don't know what the deal is with the speeches these days but some people really do believe longer is better. My brother was at a wedding a while back where they lasted close to an hour and a half. Ridiculous, really. People just get bored and restless.

As they say, stand up, speak up and then shut up!

Good luck.

Daz R1

Well I'm speaking first hand ...ive used a projector and it went down very well ,now i didnt use it in the speechs as when you come to do your speech youve to tell a story and use pics as well and unless youve grown up together and had a camera with you everyday this is going to be hard, I had a few things go wrong for me tho as for some reason my laptop worked the day before the wedding but decided to die just before the dinner so after many a paniced phone call to IT friends and a couple of punches it worked ,as i said I didnt use it in the speeches I used it after in that no mans land of time between the top table removal and the band setting up and what helped me as well is that the room had an over head projector ,the images i used were from when "they" were young (as i knew both familes well) and got bunches of pics from the "mothers" which i scaned into the PC ....
Trust me ...use it ....but unless your good at making people laugh and have tonnes of pics,dont use it for the speeches ,
Oh and Good luck

fionajohn

Love the idea of using photos during the meal or between the meal ending and the band setting up, I think the speech should be short,sweet and sincere, best of luck!