45 Seconds to Shine: What the Emmys Can Teach Us About Public Speaking

For my money, there were only two types of Emmy winners this year: those who prepared their speech and those who didn’t.  

Now, the few that didn’t were generally sweet about it - self-effacingly saying something along the lines of “there was no way I was winning against the great XYZ” or “I’m terribly superstitious.”  But that’s where the glory generally ended for them.*

Because what happens when you’re up on stage in front of a bazillion people, your heart is racing, and you’re overwhelmed by this pinnacle moment?

You forget what you need to say. And then you ramble. And worst of all: you waste your precious 45 seconds telling us about how you didn’t prepare for this precious 45 seconds instead of using your time to uplift your message or genuinely thank your assistant or tell us why art matters.

If you’ve worked with me either as an actor or a client, you’ve undoubtedly heard me say the phrase “within structure, there is freedom.” 

This Emmy speech situation is the perfect example of that. When you prepare the right amount, you have the ability to stand in front of this room and deal with all the things that are out of your control. Who’s in the front row, the noise, the lights, that the people who just handed you this statue are standing weirdly close to you, and - most prominently - your own emotions and nervous system.

So what’s the right amount of preparation? That’s different for each person. But my general rule of thumb is “enough so you can be like bamboo: grounded, confident, yet flexible.”  

If someone shouts at you during your speech, it’s ok to answer back. If you trip on your dress, you can recover. If the mic is at the wrong height,** you can take a moment to remember all the things you know about microphones, specifically that you don’t have to hunch over to be heard. 

Point being: you can deal with all the unknowns, because you’ve taken care of the knowns. ***

So I’m curious. What’s your favorite acceptance speech of all time? Will you comment and let me know?  Let’s take a look together and see if it was prepared or not, memorized or improved, and whether they got “played off” or managed to nail the punchline.

* The exception to this was the brilliant Liza Colón-Zayas who somehow managed to give a genuine nod to Meryl Streep, thank all the people, and lift up the Latinx community. And she sai she didn’t prepare. But as one of the most grounded performers I’ve ever seen on television, I’d argue she’s been preparing for this for a very long time. (And maybe she thought about what she was going to say… just a little…)

** Do you know who was in charge of the mic height? If so, I have some WORDS for them.

*** Need some help with preparing just the right amount? Reach out for a coaching session or two and we’ll get you ready to rock.