How To Give An Outstanding Acceptance Speech: 7 Presentation Secrets Learned From The Academy Awards

Will you be ready when it is your time to give an acceptance speech?

The following are seven presentation secrets to giving an outstanding acceptance speech in any situation:

1. Prepare For the Moment – You may have heard the Oscar winners say, “I really didn’t think I would win,” or “I really didn’t think I would be standing here tonight,” and then give an acceptance speech like they didn’t think they would win. Well, my question is, “Why did you think you were invited to this gala event?”

Most likely, you will know ahead of time that you will be possibly winning an award, so take the time to prepare your presentation. Practice your speech using a tape recorder or, better yet, a video camcorder. Also, if you can, give a dress rehearsal of your speech in front of friends, family, or colleagues.

2. Agree Who Will Give the Speech - Time and time during the Academy Awards Ceremony, the first person to the microphone will speak for the full thirty second time limit and not allow the other winners in the group (many seen clutching their own acceptance speech notes) the opportunity to give their acceptance speeches. Where this moment should be one of the happiest moments in their lives, you can see the disappointment on the faces of the winners who didn’t have the opportunity to speak.

When you are working as a team on a project and are receiving an award, agree in advance who the acceptance speaker will be. This might be the team leader, the manager, vice president, etc., but work this out before giving the speech.

If you decide on one person to give the speech, then you need to decide on who will be recognized during the time this person gives the presentation. Also, when speaking for the group, make sure the “I’s” are changed to “We’s.” For example, when speaking for the group say, “We would like to acknowledge the following people…” instead of saying, “I would like to acknowledge the following people…” Remember, the designated speaker is representing the group.

If decision is to have several team members speak, achieve consensus on how much time each person will have to speak so that each person has an equal opportunity to express appreciation.

3. Use Notes to Enhance Your Presentation – At the Academy Awards Ceremony, one person read his entire speech from his notes, not once looking at the audience. What he had to say was very heartfelt and sincere; however, his sincerity didn’t translate to the audience because his notes were in the way.
When giving an acceptance speech, use notes as a tool to enhance your presentation and not as a crutch. Only use notes for remembering the opening sentence, important names to thanks, or whatever facts you need to mention. Don’t have the entire speech on notes.

The following are some quick tips for working with notes:

* Practice with your notes so that your speech is natural.
* Type your notes. In the heat of the moment and sometimes bad lighting, our eyesight can become a little challenged. Type your notes in 16-18 point fonts.
* Double space your sentences so that you can easily read your notes.
* Type only on the top half of a full page so that you are less likely to lose your place after looking up at the audience.
* Look up at the audience after every two or three sentences to maintain rapport with the audience.
* Number your notes in case they fall and become scrambled so that you can quickly recover.
* Practice a smooth transition for pulling your notes out of your pocket or portfolio.
* Don’t flip your notes because the flipping noise will cause a distraction for your audience. Practice sliding your notes.

4. Share the Wealth – How many times have we seen at the Academy Awards ceremony where some persons went on about how they personally achieved the reward or, worst yet, forgot to acknowledge the most important person for whom they would not have achieved the award (Remember Hillary Swank not remembering to thank her husband?).

Take the time to give appreciation to the organization giving you the award and to those who helped you achieve the award. No person is an island. You achieved the goal through the help of someone(s), so acknowledge and appreciate them. To save time, if it is a few people, acknowledge them by name. If it is a large group of people, department, or organization, mention the group by name. For example, you might say, “I would like to acknowledge the people in marketing for their hard work on the Peterson project for making this moment happen. If it were not for their time and effort, we would not have won the XYZ account. Thank you.”

Also, only thank the necessary people during your acceptance speech. Don’t thank Guttenberg for inviting the printing press if he has nothing to do with why you accomplished your achievement. Stay focused on only those people who had a direct effect on your achievement.

5. Let Sincerity Flow Through Your Speech – Let your appreciations come from the heart. Briefly convey your own feelings regarding your appreciation of the award and all that it represents. Be honest and don’t over exaggerate your feelings while accepting the award.

Be clear and concise in your showing of appreciation because you will most likely be under time constraints.

6. Value the Award – Many times during the Academy Awards Ceremony, you will hear the winner of an award say, “I really don’t deserve this award,” or “I really shouldn’t be standing here.” When you make statements like that, you devalue the award and recognition given to you. Also you question the judgment of the people who chose you to accept the award. Simply acknowledge their judgment and recognition and continue your speech.
7. Stay Within the Time – At the Academy Awards, the Oscar winners have thirty seconds before the band starts playing the “wrap it up” music. In many cases, the winner attempts to speak over the music. Between the band and the Oscar recipient, who do you think wins? Of course, it is the band. As soon as the band starts playing the music, the audience stops listening to the recipient.

Many times when you are given an award during a meeting, conference, etc., you are also under time restrictions. In most cases, you will have longer than thirty seconds. Take the time to ask the person in charge of the meeting how much time you have for your speech. Also, make it a habit to look at the agenda ahead of time to see how much time you have been allotted. It may be only three minutes, 10 minutes, or 30 minutes, but find out ahead of time. By finding out ahead of time and staying within the time given to you, you show respect to your audience, the people in charge of the meeting, and most of all yourself. Once you go over the time allotted, you can see the audience members start looking at their watches and stop listening to your important speech.

Note: If you can’t find out ahead of time how much time you have to make your speech, assume you have very limited time and keep you comments brief.

Take the time to apply these seven acceptance speech secrets and you will give an outstanding presentation each and every time you receive an award.
Ed Sykes is a highly sought after expert, author, professional speaker, and success coach in the areas of leadership, motivation, customer service, and team building. You can e-mail him at mailto:esykes@thesykesgrp.com, or call him at (757) 427-7032. Go to his web site, www.thesykesgrp.com , and signup for the newsletter, OnPoint, and receive his free motivation and customer service ebooks.

Can I Make Profit With Amega Global?

Amega Global markets a product line that consists of nutrition, skin care, and some magnetic energy products that are all designed to increase overall health and wellness of its users. The company is a MLM company that uses a multi-layered compensation model to reward the distributors of its goods. Many people don’t understand how the multi-level pay plan operates. Some join the business to get rich "tomorrow", but fail to realize that it takes a lot of hard work to make a Network Marketing business successful. It takes dedication, diligence, and hard work to be successful.

Amega Global was incorporated by a consortium of three companies in 2006. The company’s products are manufactured throughout Asia and distributed through the Network Marketing business model. They’ve achieved a worldwide presence with offices currently in 17 countries.

With most business opportunities, the company has to fight to get your attention because of competition from other companies presenting similar products in the same niche. Much importance is placed on the compensation plan and how much money you will make – we have been conditioned to focus on that and think that this factor will shape the success of our future business venture. Amega Global is refreshingly different!

Compensation.

It is the quality of the products that will fuel your business success.

When you concentrate on the unique products and their ability to help people live a healthier life, the money will follow naturally.

These are the investment levels with which you can enter Amega Global:
BA Kit $49 Get Fast Start and Retail Sales

Silver BA $49-$199… $300 daily cap in Team Binary

Titanium BA $200-$499… $400 daily cap in Team Binary

Titanium BA $500-$899… $1,200 daily cap in Team Binary

Platinum BA $900 or more… $3,600 daily cap in Team Binary

The company has a binary compensation plan which seems to have become industry standard in recent years. The 10% binary compensation is solid with the bonus composition looking as though it favors associates that recruit in large numbers. With the Fast Start Bonus set at only 10% for new associates, it appears this greatly favors those at the higher achievement levels. This is both good and bad, depending on what is your current rank. The mega matching bonuses pay seven generations from Diamond and below up to Associate Director. There is a builder’s pool set at 1% of the total country pool for Diamond’s and below. This is a great incentive for new associates who are actively building their business.

Just like any MLM structure, Amega Global is a business which requires action and effort to build – it is no ‘get-rich-quick scheme’! However, you can take it as a given that you will be handsomely rewarded for your sales and recruitment efforts.

Marketing.

Being a health and wellness company, it’s not surprising that the only mention of growing your business is through sharing the product with friends, family and associates.

Amega Global has proprietary technology and innovative life-changing products that are in high demand and are not available from any other company – there is no direct competition! The products, such as the AM Wand, are easily demonstrateable and the benefits (pain relief, increased strength & mobility, and an improved sense of wellbeing) can be quickly observed in many cases. Business Associates find that presenting the products and sharing their own personal results is hugely rewarding and enjoyable – this aspect of ‘the job’ often takes members by surprise!

Warm market promoting methods will bring you results and have worked for decades, however the company doesn’t offer any support to associates wanting to build their businesses online. The techniques used for offline marketing cannot be implemented in today’s online world. It’s too bad that the company doesn’t offer any type of lead generating or follow-up system that I can see.

For anyone looking to build their Amega Global business online, they must understand that personal branding is the key to finding true success. Sharing magic bracelets and wands will bring you some money but will not build massive organizations or strong teams online. This can only be achieved by providing true value and displaying strong leadership abilities.

The best choice would be for each individual to do some reading and serching and then make your own decision on whether or not you would chose to use and promote these products. I am certain in saying that the company, as a whole, is not a scam. You have a potential to make good money if you master the simple art of attraction marketing on the internet. If you take advantage of the fully developed system that provides customized capture pages and a complete sales funnel to market your business and yourself, you can greatly speed up the success that you wish to realize.

Remember, the most important thing in the MLM industry is to improve your personal skill set. The more skilled and able you become, the fastes your income will grow. There is a beautiful connection between self-development and business development in the Network Marketing field. The claim that Amega Global is a scam is unfounded, and if you believe in the products and like the company, then go for it! Put your blinders on and build yourself a legacy...
Your ultimate goal as a business associate of Amega Global should be to create long lasting residual income and you want to be assured that the company is dedicated to operations within the Network Marketing industry for many years to come. To expand your knowledge on network marketing, clik on the above links and receive free training.

Success Through The Eyes Of A Child

As I was driving home last week, I noticed a little boy and his mother by the side of the road. They had stopped walking and the mother was adjusting a toy crossbow to fit more comfortably over the boy’s shoulder. I realized that at that moment in the heart and mind of that small boy, he was not on a sidewalk by a busy road. Perhaps he was hunting in a forest, or was an intrepid explorer of the unknown, ready to pull out his bow and arrows at the slightest hint of danger. In his imagination he was a hero, confident, skilled, and brave. He was alert, prepared, with the expectation of overcoming danger or threat with his skill and swift reflexes.

For a child involved in imaginative play, there is very little distinction between fantasy and reality. Children live and play out their dreams totally in the moment.

There are many principles of success that can be learned by looking through the eyes of a child. Children’s eyes see with clarity and perception and reflect the reality of who they are. Children are uncluttered by training, brainwashing, and by living according to the unwritten rules and etiquette that have assailed the adult mind. For a child life has limitless possibilities that have not been squashed by logic, common sense, or limiting expectations that become part of the adult mind.

What principle of success can be drawn from the little boy with his bow and arrow?

One of the most powerful and yet unused principles of success is the process of visualization. Visualization is the act of creating compelling and vivid pictures in your mind. This is just what the little boy was doing. He was “that hero”; he acted like him, dressed like him, and could picture himself in another time and another place. For him, it seemed like reality. This is a spontaneous, natural process for a child.

Researchers have found that visualization accelerates achievement in powerful ways. It has been proved by research that when performing any task in life the brain uses the same identical processes that it would if you were only vividly visualizing that activity. The brain sees no difference at all between visualizing something and actually doing it.

This principle also is applicable when a person is learning something new. Visualization makes the brain achieve more. In a study by researchers at Harvard University, it was found that students who visualized in advance were able to perform tasks with nearly 100 percent accuracy. Students who performed tasks without using visualization only achieved 55 percent accuracy.

Visualization is frequently used by Olympic and professional athletes to improve performance.
Jack Nicklaus, a legend in the golfing world, once described how he uses visualization. “I never hit a shot, not even in practice, without having a very sharp in-focus picture of it in my head. It’s like a color movie. First I “see” where I want it to finish, nice and white and sitting high on the bright green grass. Then the scene quickly changes, and I “see” the ball going there: its path, trajectory, and shape, even its behaviour on landing. Then there’s a sort of fade out, and the next scene shows me making the kind of swing that will turn the previous images into reality.” The results of the power of visualization for Jack Nicklaus are convincing: he has won over 100 tournaments earning over 5.7 million in the process.

For a child a high proportion of time is spent in visualization. Adults may say, “He’s only playing” and not see the potential power for success that the child is practicing. Visualization is a process that is naturally strong in the learning and formative years of the child. Research now confirms that visualization activates the creative powers of the subconscious mind. It focuses the brain by programming its reticular activating system (RAS) to notice available resources that were always there but previously unnoticed. Visualization, incredibly, also magnetizes and attracts you to the people, resources, and opportunities you need to achieve your goal.

Next time you see children playing, pause to watch visualization in its purest form. What can you learn and apply to your own life to accelerate and achieve greater success using the principle of visualization?

Barbara White, an experienced educator and parent of three teenagers, speaks with humor, insight, and passion to both teachers and parents on the subject of learning and personality styles. Her latest presentation “Learning Through the Eyes of a Child” is both entertaining and inspirational. For more articles and information visit her websites www.livingbeyondbetter.com