Speeches and slideshows
Alternatives to the speech, the slideshow and the group card
Speeches, slideshows and group cards are how most events honour someone. They work, but each leaves most of the room watching, and each lands on one person to make. Here are ways to keep what's good about them and bring everyone in.
Ideas
Four alternatives worth trying
Use one, or mix them. All of them work for a birthday, a farewell or a retirement.
Twenty short toasts instead of two long speeches
Ask every guest for one line they'd raise a glass to. Shared on the day, twenty short toasts say more than two long speeches, and nobody has to stand up.
Photos everyone adds, with their stories
Instead of one person building a slideshow, ask each guest for a photo with where, when and what was happening. Then the room guesses.
A group card that becomes part of the event
Collect the messages a card would get, but share them in the room instead of in an envelope, so the person sees who said what.
Questions instead of a presentation
A quiz about the person turns a slideshow's facts into something everyone joins: what year was this, where was it, whose story is this.
What to ask for
What to ask for instead of a speech
Short prompts get short, good answers. Send these a week or two ahead.
- One line to toast them with.
- Send your favourite photo of them, with where and when.
- What's the story you'd tell if you had the microphone?
- What's one thing about them more people should know?
- What would you thank them for?
Why it works
Why bring everyone in
A speech is one voice, a slideshow is one person's evenings, and a group card is read alone. Hear Hear collects toasts, photos and stories from everyone and turns them into rounds on the TV, with the toasts landing in between, and the room presses Hear hear for the ones they agree with. Keep one speech if you like; give everyone else a way in.
How to run it
How to run it with Hear Hear
Set up in a few minutes.
Who it's for, the occasion, who is coming, and about 30, 60 or 90 minutes.
Ask for toasts and photos.
Share the link. The guest form asks only for what the rounds will use.
Keep one speech, if you want.
Run it after the formal speech, or let the toasts take its place.
Hear hear.
During each toast anyone can press Hear hear as often as they like, and the screen counts every press.
Pricing
Free to try. One price when the AI does the work.
Free
Questions you write, plus the rounds that need nothing sent in. Guests can send things in straight away.
AUD 19.99 an event
The AI turns what your guests send into rounds, with toasts at the event and the keepsake everyone keeps.
The host pays once for the event. Guests never pay. No subscription.
FAQ
Questions people ask
- Do people still give speeches?
- If you want. Keep one short speech, and let everyone else send a toast, which goes up on the screen between rounds.
- Who makes the questions?
- On a free event, you write them. On a paid event the AI drafts them from what guests sent, a different model checks the facts, and you can check every one first.
- What happens to everything afterwards?
- On a paid event, every toast, photo and memory goes on a keepsake page that anyone with the link can open and save.
Let the whole room have a say.
Set it up in a few minutes, try it free, and share the link with your guests.
Start an event