The Academy Awards and the Art of Public Speaking
Last year Megan Mylan set the bar with her Oscar acceptance speech. This year, unfortunately, no winner quite met the bar that Megan had set, although some certainly took it in a much different direction.
The lack of great acceptance speeches at the Academy Awards is nothing new — Joseph Lindsay has posted an excellent article on that here.
One “thing” that stood out to me more than any other last evening…reports indicate that the number of viewers increased by 15 % from 2009, and stood at over 41 million. 41,000,000. Think about that.
Over 41 million people watched the ceremony, during which awards were presented to a cadre of film professionals. Said professionals participated in those movies and films that were watched by, oh, I don’t know…maybe some of the 41 million people who tuned in last night.
Not one acceptance speech focused on the one group who made each award possible – THE AUDIENCE. No one spent significant time thanking the fans who voted with ticket purchases and their time.
There is a crucial public speaking lesson here — if you should ever win an award (and I hope each of you win a number of them), when you accept, remember your audience, always.
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- Mar 18, 2010: uberVU - social comments
I agree. We should always show appreciation for the people that helped make us successful.
I still think Paul Hogan’s advice for Oscar winners’ speeches takes some beating – see http://bit.ly/btLBnl – which also suggests why it’s not really surprising that actors are hopeless at making (their own) speeches.
Good techniques. I agree that one needs to Focus and remember what is it that one is trying to accomplish?
One needs to learn about goal setting from the Olympic gold medalist rower- Sir Mathew Pinsent.
At the IMD OWP 2010 Pinsent will share his experience from four Olympic campaigns, which resulted in four gold medals. He will highlight the importance of goal setting, communication, trust and ultimately the courage it takes to win in the toughest of conditions.
Good day – excellent text.
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