Take a moment and provide your evaluation of President Barack Obama’s acceptance speech.

The most effective acceptance speeches follow a seven step process that insures success. One of those seven steps is to tell a short story about the people who helped make your award possible. This is where you have an opportunity to demonstrate your appreciation with a sense of humor.

One of the really great things about giving an acceptance speech is that the audience does not expect you to be funny, but they are pleasantly surprised when you leave them laughing. No need to tell a joke that could fall flat and look contrived when another much more powerful humor element is easily available to you.

People love to laugh with people who can laugh at themselves. This is your key to a memorable and witty speech. Think about your most embarrassing moment on your quest to winning the award. What was the situation? Who was present? How did they react? How did you react? And most importantly, what lesson did you learn from the experience?

It’s always much funnier if you tell a story that includes one or more people in the audience particularly if the other people in the audience know them too. And here’s the best part. You’re story doesn’t have to be particularly funny to generate a sincere laugh. People love to hear stores when they’re included in the story and they will look for any opportunity to release their laugh. It’s really that simple.

Years ago our company was awarded the Quality Supplier of the Year award from the United States Postal Service and I was invited to fly to Washington, DC and give an acceptance speech on behalf or our company. I knew many of the USPS executes personally due to the work we did, and this made for great fodder for my presentation.

During my talk I was able to publicly thank four or five of the executives by name. In doing so I was able to convey to the audience how much I appreciated everything these people did to help us achieve our goals and win the award. Then came the fun part.

Next I told funny or moving stories where each of these people were included in the story either as observers, participants or teachers. Never did I make them the butt of my stories, but rather as people who looked on in wonder as I made a fool of myself in their presence. When something embarrassing happened, it happened to me. When something wonderful happened, it happened because of them. If you follow this rule, your speech will always be welcome.

When you give an acceptance speech it’s important to remember that the speech is not about you, it’s about the people in the audience who made it possible for you to acquire the award. When you tell stories about the people in the audience and let them know publicly how they’ve impacted your life in a positive way, you win big. Better yet, these same people will look for ways to insure that you win the award again next year.