A farewell speech is a short talk given when someone leaves: you on your last day at a job or school, or you speaking for a group as it sees off a colleague, teacher, classmate or friend. Most run one to three minutes. The good ones tell one specific story, thank people for specific things and end with a wish or a toast.
Below are eleven original examples sorted by situation, each with its length and a note on why it works. Swap in your own names and details and most are ready to read. After them: a way to write your own, lines to open and close with, and what to leave out.
How long a farewell speech should be
Shorter than you think. People are usually standing, often holding a drink, and they came for the person, not the speech. At a relaxed 130 words a minute, the middle of the range speaking coaches usually suggest, two minutes is about 260 words.
| Setting | Aim for | Words |
|---|---|---|
| SettingToast at drinks or a going-away party | Aim for30–60 seconds | Words70–130 |
| SettingYour own goodbye at a team meeting | Aim for1–2 minutes | Words130–260 |
| SettingSpeaking for the team about a colleague | Aim for2–3 minutes | Words260–400 |
| SettingSchool farewell function or assembly | Aim for3–5 minutes | Words400–650 |
Whatever the length, the order that works is the same:
- One line on who you are and how you know the person, for anyone in the room who doesn't.
- One story: a single moment that shows who they are, or what the place meant to you.
- Thank-yous, each with a reason attached.
- A look ahead and a clear last line, so people know when to clap or raise a glass.
The story goes before the thank-yous on purpose. A list of names loses a room that is not yet listening. A story wins it back.
When you are leaving a job
Your own farewell is the easiest to write and the hardest to keep short. You don't need to explain why you are leaving, recap your career or thank everyone in the building. Thank the people in the room, tell one story and let them get back to the cake.
I'll keep this short, because Priya has told me the cake is melting.
Six years ago I walked in on my first day and found a sticky note on my monitor that said, “Welcome. The printer on this floor lies.” I never found out who wrote it. But it was the most useful thing anyone told me that month, and it set the tone for this team: honest, a bit dry, and always looking out for the new person.
I've learned more here than anywhere else I've worked. Dev taught me to read a contract without panicking. Marisol taught me that a “quick question” is never quick, and to block out the hour anyway. And Tom, you gave me the Hartley account when I was sure I wasn't ready. I wasn't. You let me find that out safely.
I'm going to run a client team at a smaller agency, which is exciting and slightly terrifying. If it goes well, it will be because of habits I picked up in this room.
My personal email is on the card going around. Please use it. Thank you, all of you. And somebody warn my replacement about the printer.
Can I have thirty seconds before the next round? I just want to say thank you. I came here for the job and I'm leaving with friends, which was not in the offer letter. Lena, thank you for every lunch you dragged me out to. Sam, thank you for never once asking whether I'd tried turning it off and on again. I'll miss this more than I can fit into thirty seconds. To the team.
Most of you know this hasn't been an easy year here, and I'm not going to pretend otherwise. We said goodbye to a lot of good people in March, and the ones who stayed carried more than their share.
So I want to thank the people who carried it. Ana, who rebuilt the onboarding guide on her own time because the new starters deserved better. Marcus, who answered every “who owns this now?” message without once sounding tired, even when he was. And all of you, for being kind to each other when it would have been easy not to be.
I'm leaving for a job closer to home, and I'm leaving grateful. Whatever comes next for this team, you've already shown how you handle the hard part. Stay in touch.
Saying goodbye to a colleague
When you speak for the team, the speech is about them, not you. Before you write, ask two or three coworkers for a story. The best material is rarely your own. A retirement follows the same pattern with a longer look back, and there are worked examples in the retirement speech guide.
For anyone who doesn't know me, I'm Jess, and I've sat across from Daniel for four years, which means I know exactly how many times a day he says “let's take this offline.” It's eleven.
Daniel joined when this team was three people and a shared spreadsheet. He's the reason it's now eight people and a system that works. But that isn't what I'll remember. Last December, when the Brennan order went to the wrong warehouse two days before Christmas, Daniel drove four hours with a van full of boxes so a small bakery could open on time. He didn't tell anyone. We found out because the bakery sent us cookies.
That's Daniel: does the hard thing, skips the credit, gets the cookies anyway.
Daniel, your new team has no idea how lucky they are. They'll find out. Please raise your glasses: to Daniel, and to whoever has to learn his spreadsheet.
Rachel asked me not to make a fuss, so I'll make a small one.
When I started here, I sent Rachel a status report that was three pages long. She sent it back with one sentence circled and a note: “This is the only line I needed. Start with it next time.” I have started with it every time since, including today.
That was how she managed: clear about what mattered, generous with everything else. She protected our Fridays, argued for our raises in rooms we weren't in, and never took credit for a launch she'd spent weekends rescuing. She also taught at least four of us how to turn down a deadline politely, which her new company may not thank her for.
Rachel, thank you for making us better at this than we were. We'll keep starting with the one sentence that matters.
I'll be honest: I've worked with Omar for only five months, so I asked around. Here's what I heard.
From the support team: Omar is the person you call when a customer is upset and nobody else can calm them down. From finance: his expense reports are, quote, “a thing of beauty.” And from Joyce, who has sat next to him for nine years: “He remembers everyone's kids' names. Everyone's.”
That's a lot of people saying the same thing in different ways. Omar, you'll be missed in departments you've never visited. Good luck in Denver, and thank you.
Farewell speeches at school
School farewells are more formal. There may be a principal, a stage and a printed program, so open by greeting the room. Keep jokes affectionate rather than pointed, and remember that parents will hear every word. If your event also needs someone to open it, see these welcome speech examples.
Good evening, Principal Alvarez, teachers, families, and our seniors.
On my first day here, I got lost looking for the chemistry lab and walked into the senior lounge. Kavya, who is sitting right there, looked up, said “wrong building,” and walked me all the way across campus. She was late to her own class to do it. That is how most of us met you: you showed us where things were before we had to ask.
You ran the clubs we joined. You built the robotics team that finally beat Lincoln. You sat with us in the library before exams and explained calculus more patiently than you'll ever admit. And you proved you could take your grades seriously and still have the loudest table in the cafeteria.
Next year we'll be the ones in the senior lounge. We'll try to be as good at it as you were, and we will definitely give directions.
Wherever you go next, whether that's college, work or a year off, we hope people are as kind to you on your first day as you were to us on ours. Congratulations, and thank you.
Before the bell, I want to say something, and I'm going to ask you to let me finish without groaning.
This is my last week at Riverside. In the fall I'll be teaching in Oregon, closer to my family. I've taught for eleven years, and this class is one I'll talk about for the next eleven.
You argued about The Crucible for three days straight, and twice you changed my mind. You turned a dull unit on persuasive essays into a debate tournament the principal still asks about. And when Eli broke his arm in March, half of you showed up to take notes for him without being asked. That last one isn't on any test. It's the thing I'm proudest of.
Keep reading things that annoy you. Keep arguing, kindly. And when someone in college asks who your English teacher was, say something nice.
Thank you. It's been a privilege.
Mr. Haddad, we were told to keep this to two minutes, which feels unfair, because you never once finished a lesson before the bell.
You're the reason half this class knows what a hypothesis is and the other half has stopped calling it a guess. You let us set things on fire, safely, mostly. You stayed after school every Thursday for the science fair team, and when we placed fourteenth, you took us out for pizza as if we'd won.
Your new school is lucky. We hope they ask as many questions as we did, and listen to the answers better than we did.
Thank you for everything. We'll miss you.
Farewell speeches for friends
A going-away party is the least formal setting of all. Nobody needs a greeting to the room or a full list of thanks. Make them laugh early, say one true thing, and give them a reason to raise a glass.
Hi everyone. For those who don't know me, I'm Claire. I met Nadia nine years ago when we were both pretending to understand wine at a work party.
Since then she has helped me move apartments three times, talked me out of one terrible haircut and into one excellent job, and answered every 2 a.m. text with either advice or a photo of her cat, depending on what I needed.
Nadia is the friend who remembers. Your mother's surgery date. The name of your landlord's dog. The restaurant you mentioned wanting to try, once, two years ago. Lisbon is getting someone who will know half the city by Christmas.
I'm not going to pretend this is easy. The city will be quieter without you, Nadia, and so will my phone, at least until we figure out the time difference.
So, to Nadia: to new streets, old friends, and a guest room I fully intend to use.
I promised Gwen I wouldn't cry, so I've written this down.
Eight years ago I joined this choir because I wanted one evening a week away from a screen. I could not read music. Several of you could tell. You kept seating me next to Harold anyway, and Harold sang the alto line quietly into my left ear until I learned it.
Thursday nights have been the best part of my week for a long time. I'm moving to be nearer my grandchildren, and I'll find a choir there, but I won't find this one.
Thank you for your patience, your harmonies and the alto line in my left ear. Keep singing.
How to write your own
- Ask how long you have
Ask whoever is organizing how long you have, then write to about 80 percent of it. At 130 words a minute, a two-minute slot is roughly 200 words on the page.
- Collect stories before you write
List five moments you remember, and ask two or three people for theirs. Pick the one that shows character and that everyone in the room can follow without backstory. If a story needs explaining, it is an inside joke. Cut it.
- Put the story first and thank by name
Get to the story within the first 30 seconds, then thank people by name, each for something specific. Lou Gehrig's farewell at Yankee Stadium on July 4, 1939, given about two weeks after his ALS diagnosis, is remembered for one line, but most of it is a list of the people he was grateful to, named one by one.
- Match the tone to the room
Set the tone of voice by the setting: drier at the office, warmer at a party, more formal in front of a principal and parents. A joke at the person's expense should be one they already tell about themselves.
- End on a line people can answer
Close with a toast, a wish or a callback to your opening, one of the simplest rhetorical devices and the one that makes a short speech feel finished. Then read it aloud with a timer and print it in a large font.
If you want a skeleton to fill in, this one fits most of the examples above. For a longer talk, the speech outline template has room for more sections.
Farewell speech outline
Hi everyone. For those who don't know me, I'm [your name], and I've [how you know them] for [how long].
[One story, three to five sentences: when it was, what happened, what they did.]
That's [name]: [one line on what the story shows about them].
[Name], thank you for [specific thing]. And [person or group], thank you for [specific thing].
[Where they are going next, or what you will carry with you.]
So please raise your glasses: to [name], and [a callback to the story].Opening and closing lines
The first and last sentences are the ones you will say while looking at people instead of your notes. These are written to be adapted.
Openings
- “I'll keep this short, because [name] made me promise.”
- “For anyone who doesn't know me, I'm [name], and I've shared [a desk, a locker, a commute] with [name] for [time].”
- “I was asked to say a few words. I've narrowed it down to about four hundred.”
- “[Number] years ago, [name] walked into [place] and [one specific thing they did].”
- “I've written this down, because I know myself.”
Closings
- “Please raise your glasses: to [name].”
- “[Place] will be quieter without you. Not better. Just quieter.”
- “Wherever you go next, I hope they're as lucky as we were.”
- “Thank you for [specific thing]. Stay in touch, and I mean that.”
What to leave out
Keep
- One story everyone in the room can follow
- Thanks with a reason attached
- Jokes the person would tell about themselves
- A clear last line, so people know when to clap
- A printed copy in a large font
Cut
- Inside jokes that need explaining
- Complaints about the company, the boss or why you're leaving
- A roll call of everyone in the building
- Stories about drinking, exes or anything HR would hear about
- An apology for being a bad public speaker
Frequently asked questions
How long should a farewell speech be?
One to three minutes for most workplace and friends' farewells, which is about 130 to 400 words at a relaxed pace. A toast can be 30 seconds. School farewell functions sometimes allow three to five minutes. Ask the organizer, and write a little under the time you are given.
What do I say when I'm leaving a job I didn't enjoy?
Thank the people, not the job. You don't need to give reasons or pretend the place was perfect. One honest line such as "It's been a demanding couple of years" is enough before you move on to the colleagues who made it bearable. Criticism belongs in an exit interview, if anywhere.
Do I have to give a speech at my own farewell?
No. If someone else speaks about you, a short reply is polite: thank them, thank the room in a sentence or two, and say how people can reach you. Thirty seconds is plenty, and reading it from a card is fine.
Should a farewell speech be funny?
A little humor helps, especially at the start, but a farewell is not a roast. Use jokes the person would tell about themselves, keep them short, and test them on someone outside your group. Make the ending sincere.
