Farewell
Farewell speeches are usually given standing up in a bar with no notice. They are also the ones people remember hardest, because the person leaving replays them on the flight. Keep it to three minutes, name what changes without them, and end with the door left open.
Usual length
2–4 minutes
The shape it takes
- 01The opening story
- 02Who they have been
- 03Memories
- 04What stays behind
- 05The send-off
Where these go wrong
- Turning it into a group history lesson.
- Pretending it is not sad.
- Forgetting to say when you will see them again.
What to dig out before you start
Two to five of these, written as fragments, is everything the tool needs. Specific beats impressive every single time.
Open the writing room- 01The first proper conversation you had.
- 02A night that became a story you both retell.
- 03Something they changed about how you do things.
- 04What you will miss on an ordinary day.
Finished farewell speeches
Short & proper · 2 min
Ninety seconds, said properly
I'll be quick, because she'd want me to be.
One weekend, she rewrote the onboarding doc that every one of us complained about for two years. She didn't mention it. We found out from the file history.
And in every meeting, she asked the question the rest of us were hoping somebody else would ask. We are going to miss that more than we currently realise.
- I'll be quick.
- She'd want me to be.
- Rewrote onboarding in a weekend.
- Told nobody.
- We found it in the file history.