I was recently invited to a conference in China, and two days before the start I was informed that I had to present the opening remarks 致开幕词 in Chinese. I protested to my host that my Chinese is not good enough to compose anything on such short notice, but he insisted. I ended up using a lot of sentences from some ChinesePod lessons (especially “Opening a Meeting” and “Closing a Meeting”) as my framework, and managed to work up something decent. Thanks for helping me 保全面子！
By the way: on a recent visit to China I recorded some Chinese Subway Announcements and Railway Station Announcements in case anyone wants listening practice.