Episode #9: Five Things For Your Acceptance Speech

You are at an event, it could be internal presentation or an industry event and you are been chosen for a prize or recognition. Award awarded and now you have to speak. This is where we are genius at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, as we make a dog’s breakfast of our remarks. Very depressingly, we go from hero to zero in rapid order. It doesn’t have to be like this if we do a little preparation and some simple planning. Here are five things to work on for your speech.

Number One. Expect to win. “Win, what me?”, you might be thinking. That in fact may be very unlikely, but at least prepare in case you do. Think about it - what if you do win? What are you going to do then, with no thought and no preparation, about your remarks? You need to have thought about what you will say and if you wish to avoid public humiliation, you will have rehearsed your remarks before hand. A two minute acceptance speech is very short and that makes it much harder than it looks. It also means laying off the booze at your table before the announcements. You need all your facilities for the big moment.

Number Two. Have a plan for the speech. Decide who you want to thank. When talking about your team, add in some human context about certain things they did to make this award possible. For example, Yuki stayed back late in the depths of winter, Taro came up with the marketing plan, etc. Thank their families for all the support they have given to the team. Mention how your company helps organisations and how committed and proud you all are to see your clients succeed.

Number Three. Eliminate any hesitations in the form of ums and ahs by having your first sentence ready to go and hit it hard. When you get to the end of the sentence purse your lips together and insert a short pause, and then hit the first words of the next sentence hard too. In this way, you will reduce or banish any ums and ahs when you speak. When you do that, you sound more poised, confident and intelligent.

Number Four. Look at your audience, making eye contact the whole time. Select one person at each table and talk directly to them for about six seconds, looking them in the eye. Then move your gaze to another table in random order and speak to that person for six seconds holding their eye contact. In a two minute speech, you will have been able to make direct eye contact with twenty people in your audience.

Number Five. Hit key words in your talk for emphasis. No monotone please. Instead pick out words that need greater strength applied. Combine this with your gestures to really support what you are saying. We want the full power of your body language being brought to the fore as well. This will give you the platform to make a powerful, brief, impressive contribution to the proceedings.

So we have to remember, One, prepare on the basis you are going to win. Two, plan your thankyous carefully and introduce the human element. Three, speak without hesitation by eliminating ums and ahs. Four, work the room with your eye contact. Five, use voice intonation to stress key words and phrases for maximum impact.