One of the most difficult speeches to prepare is an address to a graduation class, which is why I don’t often do them.

The remark frames commencement speaking as deceptively hard work: a graduation address must be broadly inspiring yet specific, memorable yet brief, and suitable for a mixed audience of students, families, and faculty. By admitting he rarely gives such speeches because they are difficult to prepare, Moran signals humility and a respect for the occasion—implying that platitudes are easy but a genuinely useful message is not. The line also functions as a mild self-deprecating joke, lowering the speaker’s authority just enough to build rapport while underscoring that commencement rhetoric carries high expectations and emotional stakes.