A ceremonial lecture is a lecture that is held on the occasion of a festive celebration in front of the party guests. The occasion of the celebration is often thematized in the lecture, whereby it is often put into the wider context.

The term “ceremonial lecture” can be used to refer to both a genre of presentation and a literary genre.

“Ceremonial lecture” as a genre of presentation refers to a one-sided verbal conveyance of one’s own thoughts in a coherent form, presented orally on the occasion of a festive ceremony, which aims at the comprehensive presentation of factual information on a precisely defined topic, is conceived as prose and is addressed to an audience composed of a plurality of listeners who have gathered on the occasion.

The literary genre of a “ceremonial lecture” is a written text in the form of a prose, which serves as the basis for a one-sided verbal communication of one’s own thoughts in a coherent and self-contained form, which is presented orally on a festive occasion and which is aimed at the comprehensive presentation of factual information on a precisely defined subject and is addressed to an audience gathered for a festive celebration.

A person who addresses an assembled festive society with a ceremonial address is called a ceremonial speaker. The generic term speaker is used alternatively, as are the terms keynote speaker and dinner speaker.