Who helped you become the person you are today? Who offered you the most encouragement? What specific contributions are you thanking people for? Who gave you the time of day when you really needed help? Who offered valuable expertise at crucial moments?
For instance, under the category expertise, you could rank individuals from most to least important contributions of expertise to the project or award you are giving the speech for.
For instance, a ‘thank you’ speech at a wedding should be no longer than three minutes long.
In 1985, Sally Field spoke from the heart in her Oscar thank you speech. She said, “I can’t deny the fact that you like me, right now you like me!” In 1970, at the age of 61, John Wayne was genuine about how long it took him to win, upon accepting the award for best actor for the role of one-eyed Rooster Cogburn. He said, “Wow! If I’d known that, I would have put the patch on 35 years ago. ”
For instance, you could say: “I am so humbled by this honor. ” You could also use humor. For instance, when George Clooney won best supporting actor in 2006 but lost the best director award, he drew on his self-deprecating humor. He said, “Well, it looks like I’m not winning best director…”
If it is a short ‘thank you’ speech, it is often best to skip the intro entirely. The audience will know why you are giving the speech, so follow the example of Abraham Lincoln who always skipped the introduction. [11] X Research source
Once you have written about the most important individuals, you can always edit the speech later for concision. Budget your time for each person. Remember that if you spend too much time on any one person, you may not be able to get to others who still really need to be thanked. If your speech needs to be really short, you could say: “I would like to thank Charley, my wonderful husband for supporting me through the long nights. I couldn’t have done it without you. Thanks to my beautiful daughters, Kiera and Emily. Mommy can play more now. To Jeff Goldstein of Caracas, for feeding my crew; to Jake, Mindy, Paul, and Gwen for staying up so late, so we could get it right. . . "
To recognize people by function, you could say, “I also want to thank everyone who brightened up this long journey with good humor, such as John, Johnny, Arjen, Peter, Ann, Zoe, etc. ” So, for example, you might say: “And for the catering, thanks to Joe, Mike, Mindy, and Jeanette. "
“If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, “thank you,” that would suffice (Meister Eckhart) “We cannot do great things on this Earth, only small things with great love” (Mother Teresa) “I can no other answer make, but, thanks, and thanks” (William Shakespeare)
You could try using online script timers to get a rough sense of your speech time. However, you should still practice with a real timer because everyone speaks at a slightly different pace. [15] X Research source
You could dress up in the clothes you will be wearing at the event. Try practicing the speech at the event location to get more comfortable.
