1. Make sure that your best man speech is prepared several weeks before the day of the wedding.

2. Practice reading your speech a few times before finally performing it at the wedding reception. Read right through to a couple of friends before the big day.

3. Keep it to around five minutes in length.

4. Be careful not to offend anyone in your speech.

5. Make a copy of your speech in case you lose the original.

At a wedding the best man speech is a time-honoured tradition when he can tell all those wonderful and funny stories, even bring a tear to the best man's eye, but it can also be a frightful experience especially if the best man really does not like speaking in public.

However, giving the speech is probably the easy part, delivering the speech is more of a talent and one of the best ways to learn about the delivering is by watching others 'perform'. But there really is no need to fret, it's a skill that can easily be learnt.

The best man speech is the perfect way to put the icing on the cake for the bride and groom on their wedding day and to share with everyone present how you came to be friends.

The speech can be made more interesting by adding some inspirational quotes or a short story and should also carry a message of congratulations.

Remember that the wedding day is a family occasion, so keep any humour or one-liners clean, also keeping any dubious language out of your speech is a good idea, remember a lot of weddings these days are video taped, you don't want to look a prat for all time!

Give yourself at least one month to start slowly preparing by writing down notes on what you want to cover in your speech.

You owe it to the bride and groom, their families, and yourself, to present the best speech you possibly can.

Length of the best man speech is another important consideration. The ideal speech should be between two and seven minutes. Keep the speech short and sweet, and to the point, don't waffle on.

A sense of humour and the ability, or at least the nerve, to get up in front of a room full of people and give a speech loud and clear is your objective.

Make sure if you are going to drink alcohol to take it easy until after the best man speech is over and you are not in the spotlight, it will be obvious if you get too drunk, you'll slur your words or sway around.

People remember only a few things about a wedding; the way the bride looks, the ceremony and lastly the wedding speeches. The best man speech is a tradition at every wedding, and like all traditions, it has developed a set of rules and standards that are expected of anyone giving the speech.

If you aren't naturally a funny man, then you can find some funny speeches or quotes in books, the Internet, friends and family.

If the standard of your jokes are along the lines of: 'The wedding was a moving affair, so much so, even the wedding cake was in tiers' then you probably won't reach the required standard on your own!

Most people can't deliver a successful speech without some help and assistance and one of the best places to get it these days is online, and, for a very modest fee Dan Stevens, author of 'Best Man Speeches' can help.