You won! Awesome. Goal achieved. As we discussed in ‘#Winning: Comma or Period?’ the work has just begun. More immediately however is your speech. Typically the winner will have an opportunity to offer remarks immediately after winning an auctioneer championship. Prior preparation will prevent a poor performance. Here are five suggestions for your victory speech:

1. Gratitude – A heartfelt and honest THANK YOU to individuals and institutions that helped you on your journey to the championship is always appreciated and appropriate. The list often grows long however and an effective championship address will focus on those people who were and are true centers of gravity for your life and career.
2. Acknowledgement – Appreciation for the the organization that hosted the event as well as a the paid staff and volunteers who worked on the contest or championship is well placed praise. Without their efforts the stage would not have been set for your accomplishment.
3. Composure – A key benefit of thinking about and preparing this speech is composure. Winning a championship is a huge achievement and it might well have been a very long term goal. Suddenly achieving the goal will likely be emotional.Some emotion is good, appropriate and will be well received. Uncontrolled emotion will result in a missed oppertunity to connect with the audience. Keeping your composure is critical.
4. Message – As champion you have the attention and admiration of the crowd. Take this oppertunity to deliver a message. It need not be long (and probably should not be) but it can be impactful if your prepare. You may wish to deliver a message of faith, perseverance, thanksgiving, motivation, inspiration, the list goes one. Whatever the message, having thought about even a broad outline ahead of time will yield a much better speech than letting the movement move you.
5. Brevity – All the above will likely be forgotten or ignored if delivered in long form. Our culture values brevity. Delivering a short, compact and high impact speech is what is called for and likely the most successful. Short. High impact and short.

The content matters as much as the delivery. Compose your victory speech. Think about it and practice it. Preparing and practicing your victory speech is a great method for developing a championship mindset and attitude. Take the unique and rare oppertunity afforded you as the champion and make the most of it.

This blog post accompanies “How to Win an Auctioneer Contest: Part 9 – #Winning” and is offered in partnership with the Fast Talking Podcast and IACInsider.com.

Thank you to the series sponsor: