I did that exact same kind of speech last year. Too keep everyones else off of me, I brought all 7 of my rats to school (only for that period)and they watched the rats while I gave the speech. My ratties LOVE people and almost died from all the attention they got afterwards- Fred was licking EVERYONES fingers- it was too cute. I got an A! Hehe! It was A LOT of fun!

Sounds like your speech is off to a good start!