There are few speeches you will ever make that are as important as a eulogy. Unlike other speeches a eulogy is an opportunity to pay tribute to someone special and there will not be any other opportunities to improve on your speech next time because there will never be a next time. You have to get it right first time.

The eulogy can offer comfort to those most affected by a sad loss and can offer an appreciation of the benefits this person brought to other peoples lives. A well written eulogy will warm hearts turned cold by grief and it will be remembered long after the day of the speech.

A eulogy is a chance to write a summary of a persons life and that is a great responsibility. You want to get it right. You need to judge the appropriate style and decide if it would be right to add humour or whether it should be kept sombre and subdued.

The style of the eulogy should match the person you are writing about and also the rest of the immediate family. How they viewed the deceased will decide what would be appropriate. If the person you are writing about was something of a comedian then humour could be included but be sure that you will not offend the rest of the family by anything you say.

Speechwriting is an art that most of do very rarely. You may make a father of the bride speech or other wedding speeches as the groom or best man but for most of us speaking in public is a very rare event. Judging what is right is a skill that many of us have never had to learn so speak to other members of the family and ask them for their memories and thoughts about the person. You will build up a picture in your mind of how that person was perceived by the rest of the family and that will help to guide you in writing the eulogy.

It is probably better to play safe if you are unsure. You can get a guide on how to write a eulogy and this can be very helpful both to advise you on public speaking, if you have not done much of that, but mainly in helping you with the format of how a eulogy should be planned.

In some ways it is very like an article with an introduction, the main part of the article and then a summary. You can mention different events the person experienced and their achievements. It would be right to mention how much they will be missed and how they will always be remembered and you can mention some specific behaviour of theirs that will stand out as a memory of that person.

Take your time planning the eulogy and read it out loud several times to yourself and to someone who was familiar with the person you are writing about. If it sounds good to you both then it will probably be just fine.