How to Give a Good Thank You Speech
Being the center of attention after achieving your goals and accumulating successes is a form of recognition. If you have received an award or a prize or tribute you must not forget to be grateful. But how? Pay close attention to the following tips. In OneHowTo.com we explain how to give a good thank you speech. You will learn to write and deliver a speech in front of an audience.
Write up a list of people you should thank. Add to the list all the people who have helped you reach your goals. From those who have given you moral support to those who have worked for it. Remember, many of your accomplishments are not only yours. Do not forget to include the people you love and those who, out of politeness, must feature among your thank yous.
To make it easier to structure the text, write beside each name in the list a keyword that indicates the reason for your gratitude (inspiration, support, financing...). Like so it will be easier to group names or give them more or less importance in your speech.
Give more prominence to the most important people. No matter if you start or end with them, the key point is that they have more time and space in the acknowledgements. Remember that the speech has a limited time and that you can not name everyone around you. So limit your list to the most important people and divide your time based on them.
Before you start to write the text for your speech think about how much time you have. This will help better distribute the speech and properly organize its structure. If you feel you do not have much time and there are many names that you have to thank make a final list to read out containing several names. This will help you avoid forgetting people, naming them will be enough.
The introduction. As in any text, in a speech the structure is very important. Start with a general appreciation or personal reflection. Explain how you reached your accomplishment, goals or dreams. Briefly explain your story or use an anecdote or quote, this will make the speech more enjoyable.
After the brief introduction, begin with the acknowledgements. Remember the key words written previously in your list and start writing up the speech keeping these in mind. If you wish you can add short stories or anecdotes regarding the most important people: your parents, siblings, spouses, friends, bosses...
Take note of the following guidelines to manage the speech:
- Remember to spend more time on the people who are more important.
- Manage your speech time. Do not focus only on one person as this will limit the time you devote to others later on.
- If the speech is short make it a personal thanks.
Another method that can help is grouping people according to the keywords you have listed. So your family and friends will be in one section and your boss and co-workers in another, and so on.
Before you attend the event, rehearse. You can time how long your speech is. To do this, we recommend reading at an average speed. If at the end you see that it was very long edit and and omit some information. Otherwise, if it is short, you will be in time to add some more details or make a more elaborate speech end.
If you do not feel safe and you want to take your speech written down on paper, underline the most important parts. If you go blank you will be able to check the paper and pick up the thread of the speech.
Feel confident and calm. The more confident you feel the more natural the message of the speech will seem.
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