Episode #56: How Not To Blow Your Acceptance Speech

When you are under the spotlight in business you have to shine. Yet, so often, we see people catapulted to the top as an award winner and they do a dreadful job with their acceptance speech. You really have to wonder why that is? They entered the contest so they must have at least expected there was a chance of winning. If that did happen, then they know they will be invited to the stage to receive the award and say a few words. When this turns into reality, it is at this point that often the wheels fall off. Their spot of fame turns to infamy pretty quickly, as they botch it and come off as rank amateurs rather than successful professionals. It doesn’t have to be that way, by the way.

Before we get into this week’s topic, here is what caught my attention lately.

The Japanese government has given approval for the use of blood transfusions including platelets created form artificially derived stem cells to treat patients with intractable diseases. Researchers expect the induced pluripotent stem cells to become a new source for platelets, replacing transfusions of donated blood that tend to be deficient. In other news, over one fifth of Japan’s population is now seventy years old or older. There are twenty-six point one eight million people over seventy accounting for twenty point seven percent of the population. Wow, that is more than the population of my own country of Australia. Elderly women, defined as those aged sixty-five or older have grown to a record twenty-point one two million compared to fifteen point four five million men. Japan’s ratio of twenty-eight point one percent elderly is expected to reach thirty-five point three percent in twenty forty. Those over eight years of age represent eleven point zero four million people , and those over ninety comprise two point one nine million people. The older generation are still working. Working over sixty-fives number eight point zero seven million people accounting for twelve point four percent of the workforce.

This is episode number fifty six and we are talking about How Not To Blow Your Acceptance Speech. Soredewa ikimasho, so let's get going. The hush has now swept across the room. All eyes are fixed on the MC, breaths are being held, awaiting the announcement of this year’s winner. Amazingly, it registers that it is your name they are calling to the stage. Emotion wells up. Your team join you for handshaking, shoulder hugs, high fives and backslapping. The prize is now firmly ensconced in your hand and you are beckoned to the microphone. What happens next?

Do you find your mind is experiencing whiteout and goes blank. Do your nerves suddenly kick in when facing a sea of faces with thousands of eyes boring into yours? Do your knees mysteriously seem to have been drained of all their sinuous strength? Do you launch forth into a raging torrent of Ums and Ahs, followed by indiscriminate rambling, punctuated with pathetic apologies for your inability to string two words together?

Are you having an out of body experience watching yourself have a public meltdown of stupendous scale. Seeing yourself trash your company and personal brands simultaneously, because you are demonstrating to all that you are a total dud as a professional?

How could it come to this, to have capitulation snatched from the jaws of triumph?

Simple really. You didn’t prepare properly. You didn’t think through the consequences of filling out that pile of boring and tedious application documents, all those many moons ago. There you were cheerfully getting stuck into the booze at your table with your colleagues, full of bonhomie and good spirits, unsuspecting of the ordeal about to descend upon you.

The harsh stage lights shine on the harsh reality that you are woefully unprepared for the win. At the podium, emotion wrestles with the brain to pull it altogether, but you fail. Remember we judge every company by the people we meet. If they are smart, we think everyone is smart. If you are a shambles, we pin that crime on the entire team.

What would have been a better approach? Expecting to win is a good place to start. From that thought flows a stream of things that must be done, just in case lightening does strike, unlikely as that may have seemed at application time. What will be the content, how will you start, how will you end?

Here is how to do it with aplomb, so that the audience mentally genuflects, “Wow, I wish I could be like that”. Firstly, find out how much time you will have available. How would you know that – ask the organisers. How many minutes do they give the speaker who wins, when it comes their time to address the crowd? Usually, you can imagine two minutes tops. In that space of time, what would be the content you want to cover.

You will want to thank the judging panel for selecting you and the organisers for putting on the event. That is polite and a set piece. “Ladies and gentlemen, let me say thank you to the judging panel for selecting us. I am sure it was a very demanding job for you and the organisers of today’s competition. On behalf of all the candidates, allow me to say thank you one and all for your efforts”.

You will have others you want to recognise, such as colleagues, clients and family. You could just say a simple thank you to these groups, but that is a bit pedestrian. Here is your chance to really shine, so why not grab it with both hands. Think of a short story for each group, that connects their support with this win. Story telling is powerful, because it creates context and draws your audience into the mental picture you are drawing.

If it was a colleague for example, you might say: “Inside our company, Taro and his team regularly took the last train home in the coldest, darkest depths of winter and were back early the next day, bright eyed and bushy tailed, to get the Z project completed. Thank you all for going the extra mile, for your loyalty, commitment and perseverance, when so many doubted we could do it” .

For clients, you might select an episode of some consequence. “We would not be standing up here tonight, if it wasn’t for Tanaka san at XYZ company. She gave us a chance to demonstrate we could deliver on schedule, on budget and at the right quality. I know that she had to weather some particularly tough internal meetings with her Directors last fall, but she went to bat for us. So we all say a very big “Thank you” to her and we are delighted she can be with us tonight”.

For family, you could note, “As we all know, we often spend more hours working with our colleagues than we spend with our own family. When we get home, exhausted, we unburden ourselves and share our concerns and worries. We need to set the ledger right and also share in the good times and tonight is just that occasion. I would like to thank my own family for their total support, which keeps me going.

I would also like to recognise all the families of our team members who equally are giving their support. We know it is a sacrifice and we appreciate that you make that on the company’s behalf. So this prize tonight goes to all the angels at home who keep us going and make it all worthwhile”.

How do you wrap it up. This is the time to sell your company’s services or products. You could say, “Finally, I would like to say how proud I am of our widget. We are committed to making the lives of our clients and their clients easier and more effective. We are on a mission to serve as many people as we can, because we know we are bringing value and growth to their businesses. Entwined inside their growth and success is our success and that thought drives us each and every day to do our best. Thank you!”

This is just the planning component completed. The other thing is the speech delivery practice. There will no supporting slides to serve as a prompt for what you cover next. There will be possibly be a mike stand and no more, so no place for notes and you don’t want to be reading them anyway.

Better to have your eyes on your audience and connect with the room. Mentally, divide the room into six sections and give some attention to each sliver. Think of a baseball diamond. Left, center and right field plus inner and outer field. Make eye contact with someone in each section and speak to that person for about six seconds before moving to another section. Do it at random, so the audience can’t mentally escape, because they can predict where you will make eye contact next.

Use your hands for gestures, rather than thrusting them into your pockets, stand up straight for maximum credibility and a professional look. You may be nervous and speaking quickly, so make sure to inject some pauses, to allow the audience to catch up with where you have been taking them. A pause allows you to check that your speaking speed isn’t getting too fast and frantic.

Stand up straight, don’t slouch with your weight split 70/30. Instead go for 50/50 weight displacement, so you look as tall and elegant as possible. This is no time for being casual. This is a formal occasion, so rise to the challenge and impress.

If the mike stand is too low, then adjust it, unhook the mike itself or pick the whole thing up (like a rock star!). Leaning over and down to speak into the mike, gives your audience an unwanted view of the top of your head. You want them looking at your face, not your pate. You need to have good posture throughout to have sufficient gravitas suitable for the evening’s affair.

Run through this acceptance speech at least twenty times, before you give it. Use your smart phone or tablet and video yourself, to get an idea of what the audience will be seeing. You may be puzzled to discover that you are scowling and looking unhappy on this magnificent occasion, because the concentration is killing you. Smile! It is easy to say, but under the pressure we may forget to smile and just look angry and unhappy to our audience.

You may find you are speaking in a dull as dishwater monotone voice, that is killing your audience and your reputation. The video will reveal all and help you rid yourself of bad habits, nervous ticks and outright errors.

What happens if you get the order wrong, get stuck or leave something out? Don’t worry. The only person in the room who knows what you are going to say is you. Therefore if you do mess it up, maintain your absolute best poker face and keep going. Make it appear as if everything is going according to your best laid plan.

So if we put it all together, it would go like this:

“Ladies and gentlemen, let me say thank you to the judging panel for selecting us. I am sure it was a very demanding job for you and the organisers of today’s competition. On behalf of all the candidates, allow me to say thank you one and all for your efforts.

Inside our company, Taro and his team regularly took the last train home in the coldest, darkest depths of winter and were back early the next day, bright eyed and bushy tailed, to get the Z project completed. Thank you all for going the extra mile, for your loyalty, commitment and perseverance, when so many doubted we could do it.

We would not be standing up here tonight, if it wasn’t for Tanaka san at XYZ company. She gave us a chance to demonstrate we could deliver on schedule, on budget and at the right quality. I know that she had to weather some particularly tough internal meetings with her Directors last fall, but she went to bat for us. So we all say a very big “Thank you” to her and we are delighted she can be with us tonight.

As we all know, we often spend more hours working with our colleagues than we spend with our own family. When we get home, exhausted, we unburden ourselves and share our concerns and worries. We need to set the ledger right and also share in the good times and tonight is just that occasion. I would like to thank my own family for their total support, which keeps me going.

I would also like to recognise all the families of our team members who equally are giving their support. We know it is a sacrifice and we appreciate that you make that on the company’s behalf. So this prize tonight goes to all the angels at home who keep us going and make it all worthwhile.

Finally, I would like to say how proud I am of our widget. We are committed to making the lives of our clients and their clients easier and more effective. We are on a mission to serve as many people as we can, because we know we are bringing value and growth to their businesses. Entwined inside their growth and success is our success and that thought drives us each and every day to do our best. Thank you!”

That is two minutes. We have managed to say a lot in two minutes and we will leave a very positive impression with the audience hearing that speech. Please take the structure provided and create your own stories that will attract the support of your audience. This is the time to differentiate your company and personal brand, so make the time and put in the effort. After people come up to and tell you what a great speech that was, you will realise all the preparation and effort was worthwhile.

What if you go to all this trouble and you don’t win. You have definitely improved your speech making skill and you have put yourself out of harm’s way. Both are major wins, even if the big prize eluded you this time. There is always next year, the next occasion and your speech is ready to rock. You have positioned yourself in a good place from every angle.

Good luck and break a leg!