Michael Bay Speaks in Vegas

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View Michael Bay speaking at the Consume Electronics Show (CES 2014):

“Michael Bay Speaks in Vegas”

If I were given the opportunity to speak with Michael Bay I would ask him two questions. The first question would be, “Who owns the burden of success for your movies?”  According to IMDb.com, Michael Bay has produced 37 movies, and directed 19. Michael Bay is most recognized for the Transformers series.  Box Office Mojo.com, reports that Michael Bay is second only to Steven Spielberg for box office earnings.  Michael Bay’s last 11 films averaged $194.9 million each, and Transformers II, made $402.10 million making the film, the second grossing of all time, first being E.T.  On July 28, 2011, Michael Bay told USA Today, “‘I’ make movies that audiences like, that ‘I’d’ want to see.” With Michael Bay’s words considered, specifically his emphasis on “I,” I think it is safe to assume that Michael Bay would agree that, “he owns the burden for success for his films.” The second question I would ask Michael Bay would be, “Who owns the burden of success for your speeches?”

A speaker must always own the burden of success for their speeches.

Speaker-success must be owned on three levels: level 1, a speaker must own the burden of success before taking the stage, level 2, a speaker must own the burden of success while on stage, and level 3, a speaker must own the burden of success when they exit the stage.

Level 1, Owning the burden of success before taking the stage simply means being prepared on all levels. Following Bay’s presentation the Washington Post, January 20, 2014, responded, “You cannot help but squirm when viewing the video. It is impossible not to feel badly for Bay.  But the teleprompter is not to blame. Bay committed a major communication sin when he took the stage. He was unprepared.” When viewing the video, it is clear Bay was not prepared to manage his anxiety, and he was not prepared to manage his words. He looked physically disheveled and unfamiliar with his stage, his room, and his technology (teleprompter). Speaker-success is all about preparation; and often a speaker’s preparation will be tested while on stage regardless of how prepared they are beforehand.

Level 2, Owning the burden of success while on stage means being prepared for everything including the unexpected. Basic communication theory posits there is a sender and a receiver. The sender is the speaker. The receiver is the audience. The speaker is the one responsible for the success of the communication process because they are the origin of the message! Regardless of what happens during the presentation the speaker is the one whom the audience holds responsible for the success or failure of the message. This truth demands that that the speaker be ready — prepared — for anything and everything that will happen. The speaker must be mentally prepared for people walking in late, people walking out early, phones ringing and vibrating, people texting, computer, audio and visual challenges, and yes teleprompter issues. The speaker must have back up plans, and be ready always to improvise. For Bay it could have been as simple as having note cards in his pocket! If Bay had owned the burden of success while on stage, his exit could have been graceful rather than humbling.

Level 3, Owning the burden of success when you exit the stage means celebrating what worked, and learning from your failures. In college forensics, competition speech, student speakers fully celebrate this crucial truth, the successful speakers that is!  In speech competition each time a speaker delivers a presentation he/she is critically judged. At the end of the tournament all of the participating speakers are presented with ballots to review and learn from. Ballots provide the speaker with all of the good, the bad, and sometimes the ugly feedback. The successful competitors — discerning competitors — embrace the criticisms as a way to mature their speeches and improve their performances. The collegiate forensics season spans September-April, and culminates with a hand full of national championship tournaments around the country where thousands of students from around the nation gather to celebrate speech. Speakers will attend, and speak at 10-15 preliminary tournaments through out the year. In between tournaments speakers critically evaluate the judges feedback and apply it to their presentations; often rewriting, or  sometimes even completely scrapping a presentation based on what the judges — the audiences — are saying. Hence, the competitive speakers that go the distance, are the ones that most seriously own their burden when they exit the stage. Following Michael Bay’s presentation in Las Vegas, he was critically evaluated by hundreds of newspaper and journal articles detailing his failure. Hopefully he learned something…?

Owning the burden of success when you exit the stage is perhaps the most important  component of the three levels, because practicing this is the key to learning and improving!   It’s also the most challenging level. While owning success is easy, owning one’s failures demands humility.   Only by owning one’s failures can a speaker step up and do what needs to be done to improve their public speaking.

A speaker must always own the burden of success for their speeches.

Speaker-success is owned on three levels: level 1, a speaker must own the burden of success before taking the stage, level 2, a speaker must own the burden of success while on stage, and level 3, a speaker must own the burden of success when they exit the stage.

And… owning the burden of success not only applies to speech… but also to everything in life.

About

I’m speech coach Duane Smith. I have served groups and individuals in the corporate and academic areas develop and improve their public speaking skills. I'm also a tenured public speaking professor at Los Angeles Valley College.

156 Comments on “Michael Bay Speaks in Vegas”

  1. Training beats Talent when Talent doesn’t Train

    You would think that a director would know how to direct his own speech, right? Working on set for a living, a very lucrative, exciting and inspiring living, must be very similar to teaching a class, guiding your crew to the idea of what the movie should be. I believe that Michael Bay probably got a little cocky. Queue the explosions. He got ahead of himself and thought that he could walk in and present a speech to the world with out preparation because he is Michael Bay. The Commercial Electronics Show is one of, if not the, biggest exposition of media and its technologies providing a stage that many would love to stand on and present their ideas and projects. No one was more responsible for his failure than Michael Bay himself. As the director of a movie and of his presentation, preparation would have been the key to success.
    The article is correct in owning the burden of success. No one is more responsible for their own actions than the person themselves. There will always be noise before, during and after the action, whether it is physical, physiological, or psychological. A speech is important to be responsible for because it is important activity to represent yourself with. The quality behind a speech shows the quality of work that you are capable of presenting, empowering the credibility of anything and everything you have to say. Walking into a scheduled presentation with no preparation should not be tolerable and is easily avoidable. Even the smallest amount of dedication is still better than none. A draft provides the idea that you can work with and one revision can tune that idea in a better direction. Seeing or at least finding out about the environment the speech will be in already gives an idea of what to work with on the day of. The little things can be the difference between a good speech and a bad one. The burden is not so bad to be honest.

  2. “Why can’t we learn from other peoples mistakes”
    My thoughts on this topic is probably similar to yours. He definitely had the time and money to practice for this speech, since I’m sure Samsung paid him to do the speech. He could have at least put a little effort into preparing something for them. He was unprepared and probably full of himself. He is very famous, and sometimes, I think, that very famous people think that just because they have all this fame perhaps they can do stuff like give a speech while winging it. He needed to practice practice practice. He needed to write and memorize a decent outline because I’m sure that Samsung gave him a list of questions to be prepared to answer, since they were paying him to be there to answer those questions. He might have prepared a speech or perhaps even Samsung might have prepared a speech for him but it definitely sounds like he didn’t practice if they or he did.

    I think the article hit the funny bone when it comes to giving a good speech and how Mr. Bay did the exact opposite. Bay needed to own the burden of success before during and at the end of his speech. But he could not. The article was quite interesting in the way that it helps understand exactly where Bay’s problems arose from. But this is all expected from an exceptional speech professor. I found the article interesting in the way that it was clear throughout. It showed how one can own the burden of success before during and at the end of a speech. This could come in handy in all aspects of life, I agree. It will definitely come in handy in speech class, that is sure. I know that if Bay had Duane Smith as his speech coach or just as a friend he would have done much better.

  3. “Someone’s hungover”
    I think all levels are equally important, whether it’s level one, two or three. The first level consists of being prepared and if you’re not prepared, it’s all just going to go downhill from there on.level two you have to catch the audience’s attention and keep them tuned in until the end. If you didn’t do level one correctly then chances are level two is probably not gonna work out as well. This is just like the idea of Abraham Lincoln’s 4-5 minutes speech, because he succeeded in level two. In the long run level III might be the most important but in short term, because you learn from your own mistakes, but in the short run level two is where it’s at. There is multiple aspects to a speech being successful or not and these levels cover most of it.
    I can’t help but to feel bad for Michael Bay, although it is very funny to me and yet embarrassing at the same time. I think it’s time somebody calls Professor Smith to get some pointers and private lessons for public speaking. The worst part of it is people have their weaknesses and they know about their weaknesses, yet they seem to do nothing about it until things go bad. Throughout the video we saw Michael Bay repeat multiple times, “i’m just gonna wing it”. If that’s not a sure sign of someone not being prepared then i don’t know what is. I hope he takes advantage of the situation and learns from his mistake. If not he might just need to sign up to LAVC and take some comm 101 classes. Its a lot easier to handle public speaking when you’re not the only one to give a speech. I kind off wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt and say he might have been too hungover, and it caught up to him at the time of his speech. After all, this incident did happen in Sin City.

  4. From what I got out of this is that Michael Bay can be forgiven if her owns the burden of his success. As long as he analyzes what he did wrong to better prepare himself the next time, all should be well because every time you publicly speak it is a learning opportunity. I know it is embarrassing, but have not not all been in a similar position before? We all need the constant reminder of how to better hold ourselves together to make it through a tough situation. Sometimes it involves failing sadly. It is also great to learn from his mistake, so I do not make the same ones also. To own everything from your success to your failures it great because you essentially taking responsibility. That is a great attribute to have in my opinion.

  5. I believe this video goes to show that once you get on that stage you best be prepared. No one individual has a greater voice because of his or her success and so forth. Preparation is the key to being successful while giving a speech. I also do believe one should have a little bit of anxiety when going on stage. To me it seems Michael Bay was over confident, he believed since he directed these films he would not need to prepare to speak. He is although immediately proven wrong when he stumbles for words. However in his blog Michael Bay stated that since he was “too excited” to speak he skipped the VP’s into and then the teleprompter got lost. Nevertheless many others and I find that not to be the case of his freak out.

  6. In my opinion Michael suffered from performance anxiety. Public speaking is not an easy feat, and even presenting in front of a small crowd can give the average people stage fright. Michael Bay’s speech was horrible and awkward, you can see right from the time Mr. Bay got to the stage and started speaking that he was anxious. It could be that he had higher anxiety or lower anxiety that led to his poor performance. No matter how professional you are in giving public speeches it’s still hard because you have to get up and be the only one talking amd doijg all the explaining, it also is hard because a lot comes from the audience too for example if i was given a speech to do in class and i felt nervous around certain people no matter how much i study i would still have hard time giving the speech, i do not blame Michael giving speech is never easy no matter how long you’ve been in the industry or how long you study. I can not blame Michael for this speech you really don’t know what he was going through that day maybe he had family problems or health problems that stipped him from giving the proper speech.

    • I agree with you Elmira. We do not know what was the hindering factor that caused him such of a stumble, but it appears that he did not control his anxiety. It he learned to handle his anxiety to a moderate level, he could have stayed in control of the whole situation. That might have helped everything play out a little bit better.

  7. Wow, this is the epitome of stage fright. This video of Michael Bay shows what will happen if you take the stage unprepared. A class such as this one would be very useful for anyone, no matter what level of success they are at. You don’t want to be flabbergasted when a teleprompter fails or you lose your place in your speech. You could tell Bay was awkward the moment he took the stage. From the first handshake, his leg did an uncomfortable kick in the air—it soon became apparent that he was nervous. It serves everyone, no matter the job field, to be confident in your ability to convey messages to crowds.

  8. In order to perform anything successfully with confidence, you might need to practice over and over until you have nearly perfected it. Obviously he wasn’t prepared to talk in front of a crowd and he had to walk off stage. That was very unprofessional of him, being that he’s a movie director and producer. He even blamed it on the teleprompter. But it goes to show that even the famous get nervous when speaking to an audience, and they can’t just “wing it” like we all think we can, because a well prepared speech takes time and effort and practice.

  9. Its amazing yet sad to know how even the most successful people still have a fear for public speaking. I have never thought of it that way, how one most be totally prepared for absolutely anything. This proves how not everyone is perfect and everyone always has something to improve to better themselves. I did not entirely believe Professor Smith when he said that public speaking is everyones’ number 1 fear, but after seeing this video proved me otherwise. I will defifnelty work harder to improve my skill.

    • I agree how even famous people don’t show up prepared for a huge event like this, but did he really think he could just “wing it” ? He seemed very nervous and anxious. I hope he learned his lesson to always practice for a big speech because it becomes nerve wracking and our brains tend to shut down when we are nervous. So if he were to practice it before hand, his nervousness wouldn’t had led him to walk off stage. I also have improvements to work on and watching this video made me realize that speeches take great effort to capture the audience and leave an outstanding impression on everyone listening.

  10. When you showed the class this clip in Summer 2015 term in LAVC, I was surprised that he left the stage and I wanted to laugh and realized why he did that. It was because you said, “He wasn’t prepared.” I truly believe that in the bottom of my heart, it is like saying if you don’t practice what you need to study then you will FAIL. Some people tell me they passed the class/test with a grade they didn’t accept to get. Morley negatives and complaining. In how I see it is that, the more you complain the less things you accomplish in life. I myself complain about lots of things, but I get my things straightened out/organize them and put it to place or try. In any case, Michael shouldn’t have rely on anybody but himself since he is giving a presentation about his work. It was just really a real embarrassment of him to walk out with a full crowd. That clip will be a laugh through my timeline.

    • You are very right. The old adage is true, “practice makes perfect”. If Michael Bay had gone over what he was going to say before he walked on stage, he would have handled that situation a million times better. Instead, he relied to heavily on a teleprompter and didn’t take the burden of failing upon himself.

    • I full heartily agree with you, I believe that one should not rely heavily on a variable such as a teleprompter to deliver a speech, if he was truly prepared for what he was discussing it would have not been a problem for him to go on without the teleprompter. Instead he decides to blame the teleprompter for his lack of ability to come prepared to give a speech.

  11. This was harder to watch after you showed it in class last week. You would never expect someone so successful to make such a basic error and completely crumble in front of all these people. Preparation really is the key to everything. If you do not prepare for what you have to do whether it is a speech, interview, test, etc. you will drown in your own excuses. There are twenty four hours in a day you can fit preparation in there just like how we fit eating and sleeping. Lastly and most importantly don’t let your success give you too much comfort otherwise you might wing it and do what Mr. Bay did.

  12. as succesful as he is, he did not prepare just like all of us who dont study for the next test or even personally the informative speech that i have coming up which i have been working on. Honestly if i were that successfull id love to speak in front of thousands of people. That seems like a lot of pressure but hey, public speaking gets you really far in life, i got to take advantage of it

    • Yeah he should’ve prepared for the speech. He should’ve thought that the teleprompter can malfunction and if anything have a backup prompt. you think being that wealthy you couldn’t spend a couple more dollars to ensure your success. He shook in his boots in front of so many people. Big mistake for Mr. Bay because he probably just lost respect and support from so many meaningful people.

  13. I directly thought Michael’s speech was dreadful. When you express the “burden of success” in your article, I think Bay only figured out the burden part and not the success. I am personally not a big fan of his movies either. However, The most interesting part of this situation was a TMZ interview after. In the interview, Michael stated that he was obviously not prepared to sell the device, however, there was still a spike in sales for the Samsung Curve TV. Goes to show, any publicity is good publicity!

    From watching Bay’s performance most people, including myself, could not even begin to say what his speech was about. There was no direction and he began rambling about himself and his dream about Hollywood, not intertwining it with the TV. I think it made it more uncomfortable that Michael stated that the teleprompter was down and that he was going to wing the speech. He then proceeded, after making this statement, to walk of the stage. I my view that was not only tacky but he went back on his word of winging it. My favorite part of the whole speech was when the announcer stood there awkwardly when Bay left the stage. The host probably was thinking, what the heck just happened, but he still went with it. THE HOST DID A BETTER JOB WINGING IT THAN BAY! He needs speech 101.

  14. The Speech That Changed it All
    1) Sadly, I thought Michael Bay’s speech was a disaster. Being nervous or having anxiety before speaking in front of a crowd, whether it is a small or large crowd is expected. However, this is where practice and time management come into play. It doesn’t appear that he knew anything about his speech except for perhaps the first two or three lines. It was really disheartening to witness him speak about the business and doing what he loves in such a way that he seems to have no knowledge about the topic at hand. Working in the television industry, I see glitches such as teleprompter mishaps occur, however when this happens others also wing it, but because they have rehearsed for hours their speeches turn out wonderfully.
    2) I think the article is spot-on. You as the writer and speaker must own up to every aspect of what took place. If you gave an impeccable speech because you took the time and exerted the effort to do so, own that. If you gave a mediocre speech simply because you wanted to just get it over with and get a grade, own that. Anyone can state an opinion, but those who are truly trying to improve their communications skill set are going to be open to or receptive to all criticism whether it’s good or bad. Improvement requires listening to others and making changes to progress.
    3) All three points equally apply to my performance in class. The first, being that preparation is key to everything in life. Before I walked up to the class to give a speech, I knew that I was going to have to be prepared. While speaking, I knew that whether or not I was prepared was going to exude throughout my performance and if I didn’t do well, I had no one to blame but myself. Once I completed my speech, I had to be ready to receive the criticism. However, I was open to the criticism because I would like to improve in every aspect of my life.

  15. 1. What did you think of Michael Bay’s speech? Minimum 100 words.

    His speech was terrible. He only relied on the teleprompter to do everything. He sounded almost arrogant in getting frustrated in the fact that the teleprompter didn’t work. Had he taken the event more seriously, Bay would have been able to pull off a decent speech even with the teleprompter not working. He sounded like he had an idea of what he wanted to say when he got on stage however the teleprompter not working threw him off too much. He should have been more centered and focused, and had an idea of what to do if his electronics didn’t work.
    2. What did you think of the article? Minimum 100 words.

    I believe the article is absolutely correct in saying that you must own the burden of success. You must be able to take it upon yourself to make success happen for you – or not. Michael Bay was quick to blame many things for his mistake in his speech, however he takes credit for his movies, which turn out well. He owns up to what he does right – yet fails to have the humility to own up to the mistakes he makes. It sets a double standard that is very immature. I find his stage freight to be relatable, yet the way he handled it was out of line and immature.
    3. How do the three levels from the article apply to your performance in class? Minimum of 100 words

    The first level is being prepared before you go on stage. You must be able to know what you are saying and have good practice before you go up. It is on you to make it the best possible speech so it is important to practice as much as you can. Not practicing is the easiest way to mess up the speech. Secondly, you must be able to own the burden of success during your speech. If something happens unexpected, you need to be able to adapt to that and make it work. If you cannot do that you are not taking responsibility for yourself. Lastly, after you make your speech you must own the burden of accepting what you did. If you messed up, then you must own that burden and try better next time. If you do well then it is because you have tried hard and worked hard, and you must own that burden as well.

    • I found you post to be quite interesting. I thought it was interesting that you felt he sounded arrogant when the teleprompter wasn’t working. Personally, I thought he was just extremely frustrated and came to the realization then and there that he was not prepared whatsoever to give his speech. However, I completely agree that he should have been centered, focused, and had an idea as to what he was trying to relay to the audience. I don’t believe that anyone should be relying on the teleprompter because the teleprompter is simply an aid or a tool used to help during a speech. Ultimately, the teleprompter will not make the speech a great one, the speaker will.

  16. The Importance of Being Prepared

    1. What did you think of Michael Bay’s speech? Minimum 100 words.
    This really helped me understand the importance of being prepared and the importance of practicing ones speech to manage anxiety. Michael Bay was noticeably nervous, but had he practiced and been more prepared he may have been able to manage his anxiety better in spite of his nervousness. It was really scary to see that even though it is known that he or anyone may know and understand their business, in order to verbally convey those thoughts and ideas from our minds, we need structure. Which as I understand now, in taking this communications class, is what happens when we prepare a speech in the formats provided. The structure of the formats helps to organize our thoughts so that we can carry a message about whatever it is we are speaking about.
    2. What did you think of the article? Minimum 100 words.
    I thought the article was a really good way of explaining the importance of taking ownership of what we put out there from beginning to end. The definition of the word burden is “that which is carried; load or that which is borne with difficulty; obligation; onus; This article to me was all about taking responsible for the job we do whether it is good or bad. I also felt really bad for Michael Bay and sympathetic because I understand his fear and anxiety. I have had the feeling that I would rather drop a class or leave a meeting than have to speak in front of people. It goes to show that it doesn’t matter how successful you are or how good you are at your job, everyone needs to prepare.
    3. How do the three levels from the article apply to your performance in class? Minimum of 100 words
    Prepare, prepare, prepare! This was also one of the main things stressed in the text for the class and by the Professor. I have felt prepared in the past but learned that being prepared is much more than I thought it was. The good news is there are tools to help us with this such as an outline, note cards, looking sharp to build confidence and most of all repetition is key. I was like Michael Bay where I thought that knowing your subject was all you needed but as I have learned that is not nearly enough and a recipe for disaster. I am very glad Iearned this now and not while giving a presentation to my colleagues as he did. I am hoping to learn from his mistake and to take more time preparing going forward. I also appreciated how level 3 talked about learning from your performance and making a note of the take aways, in example, what went well, where is there room for a pat on the back, where is there room for improvement, what can I learn from my mistakes? It makes for a much more positive experience in that every performance is a learning opportunity. Being open to feed back from peers and the instructor is important as well. It was also helpful to know to try to account for the things that are unexpected and all the distractions that can happen while giving a speech.

    • This really helped me understand the importance of preparation as well. I thought it was crazy to see a man who has been in this business for so long and who has amassed so much money in this industry get on stage and completely choke up like that. I think you made an awesome point when you spoke about no matter how successful one is everyone needs to prepare. I don’t think that point could have been driven home anymore than with this speech. Being one of the top producers in the world doesn’t mean that you don’t need to rehearse or prepare for a speech.

  17. Michael Bay’s Crash and Burn

    1. What did you think of Michael Bay’s speech?
    I did not expect Michael Bay to be at a loss of words when it came to talking about his amazing work and answering what his inspiration was. I would have expected him to have so much to say, but that just shows how much preparation is key when speaking in front of an audience. I’m sure he would have had a great response and speech had he prepared and given time to formulate his words, or maybe it was just nerves and he went blank. If he was able to get the questions beforehand and knew what kind of audience he was speaking to, I think he wouldn’t have had to “wing it” and deprive the audience of his experience.
    2. What did you think of the article?
    The article talks about owning the burden of success, which is necessary in being able to represent your success and work when speaking to the public. I think that when one becomes highly successful in their craft, it is inevitable to have to speak in public and share your work. Owning the burden of success to me means that you have to be on top of your game all the time in order to stay successful. If Michael Bay applied the 3 levels as stated in the article, he would have been prepared before entering the stage and he would have been able to “wing it” when unexpected questions or situations came up. Level 3 is important because it means he would have learned what made him fail during that speech and to improve on that.
    3. How do the three levels from the article apply to your performance in class?
    The 3 levels from the article can definitely be applied to the performance success in class. Level 1 is about being prepared before a speech so that you basically don’t go up sounding like a fool. If you know what you are saying, you will be more confident and it will reflect on the audience. When nervousness hits me, I am more likely to blank out on what I would want to say, but if I had memorized my speech, I would more likely remember the words and be able to continue on. Level 2 is owning the burden of success while on stage. This is important for me in class because being on stage is the moment of truth, the most difficult part of all and the part that I need to get through. This level can be accomplished by having note cards to go off of if I draw a blank. The key again is to be prepared for Level 3 is also important and can be applied when I learn from what I did that helped reduce the anxiety level and make changes to what failed.

  18. 1. What did you think of Michael Bay’s speech? Minimum 100 words.
    I did not expect Michael Bay to be at a loss of words when it came to talking about his amazing work and answering what his inspiration was. I would have expected him to have so much to say, but that just shows how much preparation is key when speaking in front of an audience. I’m sure he would have had a great response and speech had he prepared and given time to formulate his words, or maybe it was just nerves and he went blank. If he was able to get the questions beforehand and knew what kind of audience he was speaking to, I think he wouldn’t have had to “wing it” and deprive the audience of his experience.
    2. What did you think of the article? Minimum 100 words.
    The article talks about owning the burden of success, which is necessary in being able to represent your success and work when speaking to the public. I think that when one becomes highly successful in their craft, it is inevitable to have to speak in public and share your work. Owning the burden of success to me means that you have to be on top of your game all the time in order to stay successful. If Michael Bay applied the 3 levels as stated in the article, he would have been prepared before entering the stage and he would have been able to “wing it” when unexpected questions or situations came up. Level 3 is important because it means he would have learned what made him fail during that speech and to improve on that.
    3. How do the three levels from the article apply to your performance in class? Minimum of 100 words
    The 3 levels from the article can definitely be applied to the performance success in class. Level 1 is about being prepared before a speech so that you basically don’t go up sounding like a fool. If you know what you are saying, you will be more confident and it will reflect on the audience. When nervousness hits me, I am more likely to blank out on what I would want to say, but if I had memorized my speech, I would more likely remember the words and be able to continue on. Level 2 is owning the burden of success while on stage. This is important for me in class because being on stage is the moment of truth, the most difficult part of all and the part that I need to get through. This level can be accomplished by having note cards to go off of if I draw a blank. The key again is to be prepared for Level 3 is also important and can be applied when I learn from what I did that helped reduce the anxiety level and make changes to what failed.

  19. Title : Be cool
    1- Michael Bay is a director of action films known for big explosions, but when Samsung chose him to promote its bendy televisions he was not supposed to bomb on stage.

    He strode into the spotlight of the Consumer Electronics Show on Monday to praise the company’s ultra-high definition curved TVs as a technology whose time had come.Hundreds of journalists and industry professionals, gathered in a Las Vegas hall for the world’s biggest gadget expo, watched Bay take his position in front of a 105-in screen with bright, hyper-sharp images.An excruciating silence descended before Stinziano, marooned, asked for the audience to applaud. A few clapped. Then the executive resumed the presentation solo.More charitable souls expressed sympathy, saying Bay suffered stage fright, if not an anxiety attack.
    2-It’s too bad. I think it looked worse for Michael Bay than it did for Samsung.The Transformers director walked off stage during a presentation for Samsung’s new curved high definition TV sets, after the auto-cue broke and he felt uncomfortable with “winging it”.He later wrote on his blog that he had “embarrassed himself” and that live shows weren’t his “thing”, but did not make a formal apology.Not everything in the day went according to plan. Technical gremlins can strike any presentation, but they happened to pick on Samsung, just when film director Michael Bay was on stage to lend his support to a massive 105in widescreen TV which was concave. The curved screen wasn’t the only non-flatscreen of the day, but it drew extra attention because of Mr Bay. When the autocue went awry rather than “winging it” as he said he would, the movie director went into meltdown when asked why a curved TV would make his films look better. The answer – that a curved screen can provide a more immersive viewing experience – eluded him and he fled the stage, to general bewilderment. He later apologised in a blog, saying he’s embarrassed himself but that the product was “stellar”.
    3-The basic thesis for the presentation is the following. Students base their study practices on their beliefs about how people (specifically themselves) learn best. These beliefs determine choices such as whether or not they need to go to class and how they study. The more accurate these beliefs, which are often implicit, the more effectively the students learn. The more flawed the beliefs, the less effectively the students will learn. Unfortunately, the beliefs most students possess about learning are based on biases, untested intuitions, and erroneous assumptions.
    It obviously is not possible to cover all the relevant concepts in a single 4 minute presentation. I focus on issues where I perceive students have the most counterproductive misconceptions. Specifically, I address mistaken student beliefs that are related to poor classroom performance, metacognition, and the levels of processing framework.
    In the presentation, I start with the following list of “Beliefs about my cultures:”
    1- Being good at a subject is a matter of inborn talent rather than hard work.
    2- Learning is fast.
    3-Knowledge is composed of independent facts.
    I’m really good at multi-tasking, especially during class or studying.

  20. Prepare for the unexpected

    When I heard Michael Bay’s name, the first thing that came to mind is the movie Transformers. I was a big fan of the movies when they were coming out and thought they were really good. Then when this video was played on our class, I expected an interview like all the other ones I’ve seen in TV before with actors, directors and producers. I had never put in so much thought of how important it is to prepare for your speech until I saw this video. I stop to think of how horrible things can go without preparation, and honestly made me think twice about preparing for mine.

    I felt this article really helpful. It was something I was showing my family and coworkers that I feel that it will benefit them sometime in their life. It shows us that preparation is a major key in trying to deliver a great speech to an audience. To know when and how long you should talk for, know the answers to the questions you might be asked. One could go up and think you got this without preparing, but this video was a great example of why it is important to prepare so at the last minute you can take the stage with great confidence.

    I find that once we learn to own three levels is what will help us succeed in the class and in everything in life. We never know when we will have opportunities come our way. And when it does we should know how to prepare for it. Owning the burden of success before we take the stage, getting familiarize. The second level when we prepare even for the unexpected. And even the third level when we look at everything we accomplished and even our failures. Huge lesson that will forever take part in our lives.

    • I agree with you I also believe preperation is key to giving a great speech. My jaw dropped when I saw this video because I was expecting a great speech. Especially since it was in Vegas I simply thought he was going to talk about something that Samsung has came up with. This will definitely be a great reminder of mine when it comes to telling a speech in front of many people!

  21. Title: Fame Knows Naught of the Art of Speech

    What did you think of Michael Bay’s speech? Minimum 100 words.
    I was really surprised that this big name producer couldn’t deliver a big speech. You really would think he would waltz out and just start talking and talking about his projects and movies, his ideas and future plans. Nobody would even guess that that would happen. Not Michael Bay! He’s so famous as a producer of very well-known movies. Most avid movie watchers knows his name and his works. I wouldn’t say I am a fan of his, but I do appreciate his movies. So to see his frozen stance and then to walk away in humiliation, proves that fame does not know the art of speech.

    What did you think of the article? Minimum 100 words.
    I think the article is great; it defines what we need to do in order to deliver a good speech. Being prepared is the most important feature in anything in life. Prepping, planning, having goals, searching, researching, having the resources you need on hand for the speech, etc. These are the foundations of a good speech. Nobody will actually do the work for you. You have to be ready, be ready mentally for the impossible. It’s like going out with kids. As a mother, you don’t just take the basic essentials. I always have to have an extra outfit in the bag and there are extra diapers in the trunk of the car for those emergencies. Life is full of surprises. And once you’re done, you sit back and relax. Or you celebrate as the article mentions. Failing is just another way to improve yourself. I liked the article because it applies to life in general. Not just for speech class.

    How do the three levels from the article apply to your performance in class? Minimum of 100 words
    For me, I made a mistake. At the beginning, I had a hard time choosing a topic. My entire spring break was focused on looking for a topic. I have a few that I would like to talk about in class. So what I did was prepare and researched on both topics. My reason is because I really liked both topics, yet I had a hard time choosing. By the end, now, I had decided to choose at a late time, thinking I can change speech dates. But I have decided to stick to the original speech date but the topic changed. No worries. I have already done the work. It was a matter of deciding for me. That is my downfall. And I also did this extra credit blog q&a pretty late. Reading this article, I sort of mentally criticized myself for not making a firm decision and stick with it. This article is a great prepping tool and guidance, in my opinion.

    • His biggest career disaster so far is the execrable Pearl Harbor.
      But Michael Bay is surely even more embarrassed at storming off a Las Vegas stage on in the middle of a presentation on Monday after losing his lines in a teleprompter.
      The Transformers director accidentally skipped ahead in the script and, much like a Decepticon world domination plot, things unravelled from there during his showpiece moment at the Consumer Electronics Show.

    • I definitely agree that choosing a topic is not easy. This time constraint and deadlines force you to commit to something and that’s a big part of being prepared. Once you choose, you have the rest of the time to plan, research, write, re-write, memorize etc. Michael Bay’s performance, or lack of once, really surprised me too. I guess when we see him as a professional and successful man, we assume he’s a natural, but I think no one is really. Every one has to practice and prepare to some level and that really is the key to delivering a memorable speech.

  22. If you’re not prepared for your speech, you’re going to have a bad time

    What did you think of Michael Bay’s speech?
    When I think about Michael bay I think about action, block buster movies, success. When i see the video of him attempting to deliver a speech I just can’t help but feel super uncomfortable. He seems so frail and weak. That feeling of apprehension, not only for him but as an audience member, trying comprehend what might be going through his mind is just unsettling for me. He may have been prepared and had everything set up for his delivery and even though the teleprompter “malfunctioned” I still can’t believe he walked away like that. He could have at least mustered up something about himself and his movies or maybe just answered questions from the audience, but to walk away like that and display the type of distress he was in was just very weak display for a man who is commanding in the film industry.
    What did you think of the article?
    The article is clear and concise in guiding the speaker setting up for his or her speech. It allows for the dissection of Michael bays awkwardly anxiety filled moment on stage. I never really understood what it meant to own the burden of success but Mr. Bay definitely helped to illustrate the point. The burden was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Knowing that the audience does hold the speaker responsible, I feel that ultimately he should have at least had some kind of backup plan or even some notes on some paper. Having to own failure is a disheartening thing for anyone and is something that I have had to own quite a few times but it does help as a learning experience and helps to improve a person in the future.
    How do the three levels from the article apply to your performance in class?
    Simply put, on the day that I go up and give my informative speech, I will have to own that day, regardless of success or failure. I will have to own up to everything leading prior to the speech. I will have to own my actions during the speech itself, which will allow my audience to analyze me, and while holding me accountable, see me succeed or fail and see me own it as I walk away when I leave the front of the class. Reflecting on my first speech I gave in class I can see that what I felt after winging it was a mixture of success and failure. Success because I got it out of the way and failure because I winged it, was unprepared, went passed the time limit and owned the failure of not preparing. I will learn from that.

  23. The number one fear, even for the most successful!
    Watching Michael Bay, one of the most successful producers and directors in Hollywood, run off stage during his speech reminds me, how preparation is key to delivering a good speech to your audience. You must always remain humble and not allow yourself to become over confident because as we can see even the most successful individuals can have an anxiety episode when delivering a speech due to being cocky and not preparing enough. I expected more from Michael Bay, it never crossed my mind that he would literally run off stage, and go to the extent of blaming the teleprompter for his bad performance. It just made me feel bad for him. I believe if he would’ve done his homework and gotten familiar with his stage and equipment (teleprompter), and if he would’ve thought of all the possible things that could go wrong during a speech, he would’ve been better prepared and delivered a great speech.
    I think the article gives great advice to delivering a successful speech. It is true we own the burden of our success in every instance of our lives, therefore it is our responsibility to be prepared for anything that comes our way. When it comes to overcoming speech anxiety, I believe that being prepared is one of the most helpful things we can do for ourselves, because it gives us confidence that we have all the tools we need to give a good performance. When you don’t prepare before giving a speech, when the time comes, not only will you be anxious about facing your audience, but you will also, be nervous because you know you’re not ready and you don’t have all the information you need to present to your audience, and that leads to a poor performance.
    The three levels mentioned in the article can be applied to my performance in class, to help me deliver better speeches. Number one is to own the burden of my success before taking the stage, which helps me remember that it is my responsibility to be prepared at all levels before my speech, that I need to make sure I have all the tools/ information I need to give a successful performance. Number two, Owning the burden of success while on stage, reminds me that I need to also be prepared for anything that may go wrong during my performance, for instance, even though I may memorize a speech, it is always a good idea to have back up flash cards in case I forget something, and it also serves to help me have confidence and not feel nervous about forgetting my lines since I know that I have back up. Lastly, owning the burden of my success when leaving the stage, means I can learn from my mistakes and understand what I need to work on, as well, as looking at the positive things that did work and I can continue to implement during my performances. Applying these 3 levels to a performance are a great guide to give a successful speech.

    • Your response made me think a lot of my responses. I’ve seen so many interviews on TV about all these actors, producers and directors, were it seems like having a simple interview was never a problem. I had never put so much thought in how preparing would be such an issue on situations like this. I would had never pictured anybody in the entertainment business have an interview go so wrong, I felt bad for him and he doesn’t even know I exits. I would only picture what all the people thought as he left the stage. Being prepared is the best we can do , therefore even if we fail we will know how to get back up and not walk away.

    • I agree. I think that it is important to note that even people who are successful make bad mistakes. It really all boils down to the question of if you prepared or not. I think Bay’s biggest problem was getting cocky and maybe forgetting that even though he is successful, hes not invincible and he can still look like an idiot in front of people. I feel like people who make a lot of money like him often equate money and power to knowledge and experience and there is obviously a divide.

    • Yes, I feel bad for him but like you stated he did not do his homework. In a TMZ video after he stated “I am only human.” He is human but I think he was not prepared because he thought well I am a big movie director and everyone loves me. I personally had not even heard of him before. I know about the Transformer movies but I never put two and two together. With that being said there is a saying “your first impression is your last impression.” For me his first impression sucked.

  24. Speechless on Stage

    What is there to think about a speech that Micahael Bay didn’t deliver. He obviously was not prepared and honestly watching the video made me feel kind of bad for him. It’s embarrassing to go in front of an audience and to just crumble like a stale cookie. This is going to be a learning lesson for me because I don’t ever want to feel the way he did in front of anybody. Michael Bay is extremely talented in making box office hits. His movies average 194.9 million each. His main focus is obviously making hit films which he has proven on many occasions, and his weak point is obviously doing speeches in front of an audience. We all have things that we are extremely good at and we also have things that we need a lot of help with. Micahael Bay’s net worth is 430 million dollars according to celebritynetworth.com. With that kind of money and fame I’m sure he has to go for interviews, and make speeches in front of crowds pretty frequently. I understand that things don’t go the way you want at times; especially with failed teleprompters, but I just want to know why doesn’t he have a speech coach on speed dial? He should always be prepared no matter what goes wrong and especially with a failed teleprompter.

    I believe the article is well written and it explains all the necessities that a person needs to be a great speaker. It talks about the three levels of owning the burden of success and after reading that article I will definitely apply that to anything that I do in life. I wish I had this knowledge before I did my first speech in class but I know how I did and I know I could have done a better speech. Anything can happen while delivering a speech and this article gives several examples of what can happen. I never thought of all these unexpected things that can happen, but this article is so helpful to the things that I should be prepared for so that I can be a great speaker. I’ve learned from my failures and I’m sure a lot of the students judge me based off of the cultural narrative speech that I did. That’s why I feel like this article is a great tool that will help me deliver better speeches in the future.

    The three levels of owning the burden of success is a great tool that I will be using so that I can perform well in my communication class. I didn’t have the knowledge I have now about preparing for a speech so I am taking mental notes about everything I am learning so that I can apply that to my speeches in class and to also take that knowledge and apply it to the real world that I am living in now. Preparation is so important because you never know what can happen. Everything can go so smoothly and with a split of a second the unexpected happens. With the proper preparation I will be prepared to deliver a great speech when I take the stage, while I’m on stage and while I exit the stage.

    • I agree with you, Michael Bay has all the tools he could possibly need to make sure he is always prepared to deliver a good speech, like having his own speech coach, so teleprompter failures shouldn’t be an excuse for him to run off stage. I feel the same way, if I would’ve had this information, I believe I would’ve done better on my cultural narrative speech as well, but using the mistakes we made during our first speech, as lessons that we can apply to our informative presentations will help us do much better, and it’s also great that these tools are something we can apply to any situation we face in life.

    • This article really was well written. I can’t begin to explain how much it has helped me think about being prepared. I have really bad stage fright, I freeze, I stutter, I sweat. I am having the biggest fear going up for my informative speech, reading the levels of how to prepare makes me feel like it’s helping me in a big way. Might be different when I go up in front of the class but as right now I have a different view for it. I hope the way reading this article the way I am understanding it today will be the same way I will feel when I go up for my speech.

  25. Even Though Professionalism is there, weaknesses as well.

    1. What did you think of Michael Bay’s speech?
    I think is quite understandable on the way how reacted in front of his audience. As he mentioned in the video , he stated an important key word that relates the reason why he’s reacted that, and the audience obviously captured it. He mentioned “emotional ride”. He said to his audience that he’s sorry and that he’s in the or is having an emotional ride. Therefore his outbreak in front of his audience describe as that he’s not as in the position in speaking to them cause that his weakness. It can be fix, of course, but easily. Some can deal this easily, and others can’t. So far nobody is perfect and unexpectedly things won’t always turn as good as you expect them to be. Although he’s a really good producer who created the movie of Transformer into one of the bestselling high rank chart that represents Bay’s reputation as professionalism. Each person is characterized by their own individual skills. He’s good at producing tremendous movies but he’s not god at public speaking because anxiety attacks him. As a matter of fact, he said “excuse me” after walking off the stage. That does not demonstrate him to the audience and viewers unprofessional. It would’ve been unprofessional if he just walked off by not saying anything. Others, would’ve done that disrespectfully. Since he actually said “sorry” and “excuse me” that makes it understandable to his audience of his behavior indicating the weaknesses he have even though he has a big creativity, which is he’s skill. Speaking in front it isn’t, like others have the power. This message indicates imperfections towards professionalism. The life of strengthens and weaknesses. Like Michael Bay, and everyone else. Moreover, it does relies to the point that he is a well recognizable professional and that he should have done better, but that can be fix by him finding a way to overcome it successfully. By that he would learn his key points to get there. Through those actions,independently, he will reflect to them and as a result will learn from them. In this life, you learn things that results as a way of understanding yourself. Nothing in this world is easy, and not even if you are in the “professional” level. Speaking if front of many can be easy to some and to others a nightmare.What make this unique is that everyone have their own skills to do something in life. When you’re not good as something, abilities can be develop.

    2. What did you think of the article?
    I think that article is well descriptive that is very informative and handful. The three main points are well written for you to understand the formality of how to to a better job at speaking if front of many people without having a big weight on your shoulders. Some are easy handlers, without feeling a burden on their shoulder. Although then article main key points are Level 1, 2, and 3. Additionally, those levels are well written in a way of demonstrating and visualizing that they are necessary to accomplish your speaking skills to the audience and as well to yourself. The only person can override the three levels, as mentioned in the article, is yourself by owning your mind and speaking. Furthermore, applying to negativity into different forms it implies your reflections in feeling you are better and there’s no need to be absorbing those vibes, that can cause darkness, and accepting them could be an option, but your acknowledgement is more necessary when it comes to negativity from people or things. Emotionally and physically owning these main levels causes an excellence in overcoming it because it all does make sense when reading it and analyzing yourself through these viewpoints. I tend to be that preparation is always important and it’s the main key from all of the three levels. AS indicated in the article, practice and preparation gives you results from doing an outstanding work. Lastly, is very informative to anyone that helps you by understanding this keys and main points for success to speak. Understanding these concepts leads to good intentions.Viewing the video of Bay’s reaction as speaking, and then reading the article gives you a better comprehension in doing better. It very understandable and easy to follow, to start of, because it explains everything the way that everyone can actually relate to and adopt that into their own way of speaking in front of an audience.

    3. How do the three levels from the article apply to your performance in class?
    I’m a big freak when speaking in front of people or when doing a presentation. It always been like that. Sometimes I’ll be okay , and then the next day of presentation day I’ll be panicking in a way of like what I’m going to say? What I’m going to do? How would this turn out? These questions ted to appear and I end up not thinking well and forget what I had in mind cause of my nervousness. I think through all my years, I realized that my biggest fear is when you got the attention by the audience and you’re the focus and that’s very critical to me because you don’t know what’s on their mind. From the main viewpoints of levels I can relate to level three because every time i start speaking in front of an audience I just want to finish as soon as as possible and just exit. From what I learned , either from the video or article, I learn that all three levels are very important in order to give an outstanding presentation to your audience. If you want to impress, and make your audience be interested into your topic or what your speech is about then you follow those three levels to make it successful. Along with that, preparation and practice is definitely needed, in order to be able to give less, and to receive more.

    • Very true, everyone has different strengths and weaknesses, and although you would expect someone like Michael Bay to delivery an outstanding presentation, we are all human and make mistakes. I can relate to this because even though I can plan a great presentation and have all the tools I may need, my biggest problem is overcoming my anxiety when it comes to standing in front of a crowd and having all eyes on me. I become very nervous and shy and tend to rush through my presentation and forget my lines, and that is something I need to work on to be able to deliver the work I prepare for.

    • About the third part of your post I have to say this is a truly fact of the speech.If you are like most teachers, it probably is a common practice for you to devise some sort of test to determine whether a previously taught concept has been learned before introducing something new to your students. Probably, this will be either a completion or multiple choice test. However, it is difficult to write completion or multiple choice tests that go beyond the recall level. For example, the results of an English test may indicate that a student knows each story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. However, these results do not guarantee that a student will write a story with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Because of this, educators have advocated the use of performance-based assessments.Performance-based assessments “represent a set of strategies for the . . . application of knowledge, skills, and work habits through the performance of tasks that are meaningful and engaging to students”

  26. Michael Bay’s Walk of Shame

    1) I thought Michael Bay’s speech was unprofessional. Based on the video, he clearly did not come prepared. When he said “the type is all off, it’s ok I’ll just wing this,” displayed how unprepared he really was. To have to depend on a teleprompter for him to be able to deliver is speech, is ridiculous. When asked to just tell the audience what he thinks, he could not even deliver a direct expression of his own thoughts. Due to him depending on the teleprompter, he probably was taken off guard and just completely panicked that lead him to blank out. On top of that, he completely failed when he decided to just walk off the stage and abandon the audience which was unprofessional.

    2) I thought the article presented key points on the process of delivering a speech and owning up to it whatever the feedback may be. I do believe the statement, “a speaker must always own the burden of success for their speeches.” Speakers should always come prepared as well as being prepared for the unexpected. An unexpected could be that the teleprompter was typed all wrong. As a prepared deliverer, you as the speaker should be able to take it as it is, and do the best of your ability. Depending on the teleprompter and not being able to deliver a speech through your own thoughts, displays how unprepared the speaker is. The article also mentioned about “owning the burden of success when you exit the stage.” This is considered the most important level because no matter what the outcome may be, the speaker should be able to accept it whether it is a negative or a positive one.

    3) The three levels from the article applies to my performance in class. The first level which stated “owning the burden of success before taking the stage,” simply means coming prepared. This does apply to how well I deliver my speech to the class. For instance, when I delivered my first speech to the class, it went out smoothly. That is because I came well prepared for it. The second level that stated, “owning the burden of success while on stage,” simply means being prepared for the unexpected. During my first speech, I had a moment of blank thought and so I simply spoke out whatever it was in my mind that was completely different from what I was suppose to be saying in the first place before I lost my organized train of thought. The third level, “owning the burden of success when you exit the stage,” is taking in the outcome. After delivering my first speech, I felt relieved and accepted whatever the outcome was. These three levels leads to one that defines a successful speaker.

    • Michael Bay was clearly not prepared mentally or physically to deliver a speech to his audience. Many celebrities or anyone who is in the public eye uses a teleprompter to help them deliver words to their audiences. I have a fear of speaking in front of an audience so I would definitely use a teleprompter if I had access to one. You said it was ridiculous for him to depend on his teleprompter, but at the end of the day we are all human and I’m sure he won’t make that same mistake again. He also was asked to just tell the audience what he thinks, and your right he wasn’t able to express his own thoughts. I thought that was even more embarrassing because he wasn’t able to talk about his own brand. Walking off the stage was probably the best decision he made in the short period of time. I’d rather be ridiculed for walking off the stage than to make a complete fool of myself with people starring at me from a distance.

    • I like how you explained everything. Thorough and concise. Hitting all the point’s in a well and organized fashion. I definitely agree with you that Michael Bay was unprepared and without excuse. He pretty much went up there and when he walked off he basically owned a big fat awkward F right on his forehead, but I’m sure that is obvious to anyone watching the video of him. I felt kind of the same way after giving my first speech. I didn’t realize the importance of preparation that a person should take when getting ready to deliver a public speech.

  27. Practice Michael, practice….

    I’m not a pro and do not have a lot of experience in speaking on public, but as a listener and particular audience member I found a lot of unforgivable mistakes in Bay’s speech ( if we can call it a speech ). First I think that he started with unnecessary statement of what his job is, for everyone already know who he was from the introduction on screen. Also, blaming teleprompter instead of blaming himself for the issue…he could turn the situation into humor and do not take it so serious, what would make his audience feel more comfortable. Finally, he should not just leave the stage, without even thank the audience for taking its time and joining your “horrible” presentation.

    I found the article very helpful, for it teaches the most important think that speaker’s success is relay only on how prepared speaker is. Michael Bay was not prepared. It is obvious that he did not take enough time to know what he was supposed to speak about. Not knowing your subject, just like not knowing your audience are one of biggest mistakes that most speakers can make while coming to the stage to deliver their speech I also agree with author on that “For Bay it could have been as simple as having note cards in his pocket!” That simple….

    I have to tell that I myself have been in the same situation a while ago, at that time I failed my speech just like Michael Bay did. Although I thought that I was prepared enough, I failed to manage my time. I did not have my note cards with me. Eventually my 4 minute culture narrative speech turned to a 1 minute 47 seconds quick introduction. Talking about owning the burden of success when you exit the stage, I have to tell that I learned a lesson from my first “grande” failure so now I know what should be done to bring my upcoming informative speech to the highest possible level. So now “practice Ana, practice”.

    • I totally understand your viewpoint from him not able to respectfully say thank you to his audience, but at some point it seemed that his anxiety really took him over and went blank. By observing the clip, you can actually see that he wasn’t able to think and that he was having a very hard time to control it , since he didn’t have many options ahead on what to do next, rather he walked away. Although, there are circumstances that he said “sorry” and before walking away he said “excuse me”. Personally, if I was the audience sitting there, I would’ve have relate to his reaction because some can deal with it and to others it can be a big deal. I think if he didn’t say excuse me it would’ve have been a different point of view. As a matter of fact, it seems like instead of looking the positive side, we generally observing the negative side of him. I mean who knows? He may have skills which is what his work demonstrate, but did you see the weakness? Yes, his weakness is speaking in front of people, as far as the debate can go , each have each own opinions for his actions, but I think he wasn’t disrespectful or unprofessional. I think that his anxiety overtook him, and he didn’t know how to overcome it, and the blame should not be put easily without good interpretations.

    • I also took particular notice that he blamed the teleprompter for his messing up on his “speech”. Diverting his problems towards others was a sure sign he was embarrassed and needed a scapegoat for his mistakes. I am pretty sure he was super humiliated. And that also should have taught him that he shouldn’t rely on other people to make a speech. He is the one that people look forward to hearing his speech. If only he stumbled upon Duane’s blog here. I am being funny, but actually true. The article made great points to prepare. He clearly wasn’t. Anyway, I’d still watch his movies though 😉

  28. Michael Bay, What Do You Have To Say?

    1) I felt as though Michael Bay’s speech was too structured. Everything featured in the video was choreographed as though Mr. Bay was in a movie: from the entrance movie clips to the speech on the teleprompter. I feel as though the reasoning why he was so unprepared was due to a false sense of security he had with the idea of an overly choreographed presentation. Ironically, the overly staged performance is what led to its negative outcome. If there was more initial freedom for error, I feel as though Michael would have been able to recover once the moderator attempted to give him some help with improvisation.
    2) The article focuses on owning ones burden throughout the entire process of speech giving. I agree with the idea that one must be thoroughly prepared before and during public speaking, as well as solely accepting the resulting outcome (either negative, neutral, or positive). I view both negative and neutral reviews as constructive criticism. One can always strive to make a presentation better and more effective. What I also enjoyed about the article is the information about speech team and speech competitions. I do believe that Michael Bay will never forget that day and the way he felt throughout the entire process.
    3) The first level: a speaker must own the burden of success before taking the stage, relates to myself in class because preparing for a presentation and the moments before entering the stage is when I get the most anxiety. My imagination runs wild about everything that could go wrong and my insecurities about what the audience is thinking makes me panic. The second level relates because I feel as though once I begin my speech, I naturally have an adrenaline rush that allows me to get passionate with what I am presenting. The third stage relates because I am used to “pushing people’s buttons”; I love receiving criticism, opinions, and creating reactions from my audience.

    • After reading your comment I’m able to look at the video clip in a different way. I can totally see now how he’s probably so used to having everything about his speech set up for him that he is completely relying on everything and everyone else for the burden of his success. It’s still his failure and he will ultimately own it but looking back to how he was reacting at the malfunctioning teleprompter and the way he ran off stage you can tell that he was in now way prepared and had probably made light of the event until it was at hand and he had to scurry of the stage with only weak apologies and an awkward silence.

  29. 1) Either he got really nervous once he got in front of the crowd and forgot what he was going to say or did not just fully prepared. Not sure which one it is but I can for sure say he was not prepared cause he forgot what he was going to say. He decided to wing it but could not even do that either. He did seem kind of nervous in the beginning, it seem as his voice was a little shaky. It was rude of him to walk away though but I guess it was better than just standing there and saying nothing. How do you even continue after that. Must of been awkward for the host.
    2)The article is pretty much the guidelines you should follow before giving a speech. You should 100% prepare for a speech and practice. The more you are prepared the more confident you are when you are up in the stage. You should respect your audience just as how they are respecting you when you are giving a speech. Respecting your audience means being prepared and showing up. Then after giving your speech you either feel relief and satisfied or you learn from it and improve on the next speech. I think people should follow these guidelines if they are about to give a speech but then there are different factors that can get in the way such as anxiety and such.
    3) I think in general and not just for a speech you should always prepare. In school for any subject you should prepare before taking a test or giving a speech. How do you expect to do good if you don’t prepare. Everything wont magically get to you once you begin taking your test or speech. Even though I prepare and prepare for a speech my anxiety begin to kick in like a few minutes before. Once I step up to the stage I just choke and forget everything I was going to say. Its something I picked up a year ago and I dont know why but I have to deal with it now and adjust to it.

    • Good points. I believe it is true what he said about respecting your audience while making a speech. When you are not giving it your all, you are in a sense disrespecting your audience. Michael Bay seems so arrogant that he disrespects his audience in being so cocky to ignore to prepare. He seems to think its not an important event. You must respect who you are speaking to, and truly show the respect in your speech by performing at your very best. Had Bay shown more respect and taken the event seriously, maybe he wouldn’t have stumbled so bad.

  30. MICHAEL BAY MUST TRANSFORM INTO A BETTER PUBLIC SPEAKER

    With all due respect, I thought Mr. Bay’s speech was positively shameful. While I have supported Mr. Bay in his many artistic endeavors, this is the first opportunity I have had to actually see him before a live audience. I can’t imagine an audience, anywhere, expecting anything other than Bay simply being the commensurate artist and professional we have supported ten-fold over the years. I feel that I am personally responsible for a small portion of his success and would expect that he mark his calendar and prepare to greet me the same as I mark my calendar, prepare and budget to see his films on opening weekend. Mr. Bay is a privileged human being and at the very least, should care enough to either prepare for or seek training and assistance before speaking to his fans in any arena, as I am sure he can afford the very best tutelage available.

    I thought the article explaining the speakers’ responsibility and burden to prepare, deliver and close was most informative and quite appreciated. It is a serious issue for most people to expose themselves to possible criticism and ridicule. However, as this class is proving, nothing ventured is nothing gained in the BIG picture of it all. I believe we owe it to ourselves to try to rise to the occasion of lifting our voices. Should I meet Mr. Bay in person, I will not be at a loss for words. Perhaps by then, I may even be in a position to offer a few words of wisdom.

    The three levels of burden mentioned in the article simply outline my duty when acting in the role of public speaker. In preparing, I must think about my audience and the material well in advance. I must anticipate meeting and holding my audience’s attention such that I am able to effect a successful communication, having shared information either learned or experienced. Even successful speeches have room for improvement. Hopefully each of us want to be effective public speakers should the need or opportunity arise. I believe that exiting the stage, having done your personal best and respected your audience in the process, is an achievement in its own right.

    • I like your title, it made me laugh. I do agree that he should of asked for some assistance or maybe should of just asked someone else to go speak for him if he doesn’t like speaking (not sure if he does or not). I agree that it is a serious issue for most people to expose themselves to possible criticism and ridicule. It is hard for many people and for some it is probably the reason why they are afraid to speak in front of an audience. But if you do your best and prepared, then i do think its an achievement because you conquered your fear and was able to give speach.

  31. With all due respect, I thought Mr. Bay’s speech was positively shameful. While I have supported Mr. Bay in his many artistic endeavors, this is the first opportunity I have had to actually see him before a live audience. I can’t imagine an audience, anywhere, expecting anything other than Bay simply being the commensurate artist and professional we have supported ten-fold over the years. I feel that I am personally responsible for a small portion of his success and would expect that he mark his calendar and prepare to greet me the same as I mark my calendar, prepare and budget to see his films on opening weekend. Mr. Bay is a privileged human being and at the very least, should care enough to either prepare for or seek training and assistance before speaking to his fans in any arena, as I am sure he can afford the very best tutelage available.

    I thought the article explaining the speakers’ responsibility and burden to prepare, deliver and close was most informative and quite appreciated. It is a serious issue for most people to expose themselves to possible criticism and ridicule. However, as this class is proving, nothing ventured is nothing gained in the BIG picture of it all. I believe we owe it to ourselves to try to rise to the occasion of lifting our voices. Should I meet Mr. Bay in person, I will not be at a loss for words. Perhaps by then, I may even be in a position to offer a few words of wisdom.

    The three levels of burden mentioned in the article simply outline my duty when acting in the role of public speaker. In preparing, I must think about my audience and the material well in advance. I must anticipate meeting and holding my audience’s attention such that I am able to effect a successful communication, having shared information either learned or experienced. Even successful speeches have room for improvement. Hopefully each of us want to be effective public speakers should the need or opportunity arise. I believe that exiting the stage, having done your personal best and respected your audience in the process, is an achievement in its own right.

    • I do not necessarily agree with what you said in regards to Michael Bay. Indeed, his speech was definitely shameful, but that does not coincide with his artistic endeavors. He was not prepared for his speech therefore, the outcome of his entire speech led him to just walk away. This exhibited a not so professional matter. I agree with you that he should at least care enough to prepare for his speech or seek some training that will polish his public speaking skills. Though we do not know what the exact reason is behind the not so good of a deliverance of his speech, being able to take it as it is, is a much better option than to just walk away from it.

  32. STEPS TO DELIVER

    1) First off, I love Michael Bay’s films. I would have expected a speech from him to be more different. But when he got up there and faced his audience he just went blank. He is a professional. Someone who was thought to be deserved to be heard, and he just walked away. It must of been hard for him to do so; but knowing his social status and knowing he was giving a speech in the first place should have encouraged himself to be prepared. Preparation is essential prior to giving any form of speech.

    2) The article on “burden of success” is pretty simple and true. The first two steps described in the article were mainly about preparation above and behind. being prepared helps a person deliver what they will speak about; it gives a person mental strength to overcome any anxiety they may feel when being in front of their audience. A speaker must take under consideration that others may be rude, and you must ignore that and stand in front, be professional and deliver. If Bay would have practiced he would have actually been able to at least say a couple sentences, instead of just starring and leaving.

    3) The three levels from the article apply to my performance because it talks about preparing for a speech. Well for my first speech I did not prepare enough; I forgot what I was going to say and got nervous. Once I stood up to talk, everything felt silent. Everyone was looking and i just did not want to talk. I do not know if I am shy, but for some reason this is the only thing I can actually find hard to overcome. I can practice at home, but once I am there I prefer doing what Michael Bay did, maybe I am just super shy as a person. Any who, maybe if I used my time more efficiently or if I knew exactly what to say I would have a different reaction. But at the moment I have not prepared for my persuasive speech either. I can not come up with a topic I can find good enough. Just knowing I have to show up to class with something I wrote my thoughts into to recite in front of classmates, who i do not know personally, is kind of nerve wrecking for me. Owning it all, the main concept of this article, it is the key, in my opinion, to any speech given. But I can not figure how to own it. Being in this class has made me realize that going up on stage and being the center of attention is something I have avoided most of my life because I dislike it so much.

    • Hello, I totally and definitely agree with you! That’s what exactly I had in mind. Yes he was brave enough to really stand in there on stage. Although he was having difficulties in controlling his reactions and behavior. That made me visualize that even though he’s highly recognizable by the media , press, and obviously by us, it tends to show us that he has his downsides just like any other human. As a matter of fact, things can turn out unexpected when you least expect it. Things can’t be that easily even though you’re in the professional field. That doesn’t matter. What it matters is that what he was feeling, he wasn’t expecting that, and wasn’t prepared enough to give a good speech. His reactions demonstrated the audience that even though he’s famous, he also makes mistakes just like everyone else. That message is really outbreaking to his audience and obviously reporters and the press. Unfortunately, instead of visualizing the positive side, most tend to look at the negative side first, or just look and the negative side, and not mind looking at the bright side. His actions and professionalism does come with many comments ahead because of his fame. Somehow, that could be fix, like you said preparation and practice is needed to override this problem.

    • I can relate to this so well. I get incredible nervous just before going to speak and feel as if everything I had in my brain has just disappeared. I can practice at home or in front of friends and feel relaxed, but in front of a class or setting where I am being evaluated, I feel as if I am not in control. I can have something memorized, but once I am up there I fear I will forget anyways. I do believe that practice makes perfect and with speeches I can see that it requires a lot of time and commitment to perfect. I think the hardest part at times is to choose a topic, because once you finally do it’s all about practicing it over and over.

  33. 1) I think Michael Bay’s speech was disrespecting to his audience. First, he began his speech by saying,” hi everyone,” this showed how unprepared he was. His physical piston also showed how he had no control over his anxiety, he wasn’t relaxed on stage. He turned his back on his audience, and also the way he held his hands together showed that he was comfortable. The standing posture showed that he had no idea of what his audience is and they wanted from him. He then suddenly exited the stage without giving heads up to his audience which showed absolute disrespect to his audience.
    2) I really like the article. It shows how to be a good public speaker. Unlike Michael, he wasn’t ready to give his speech, he didn’t own the burden of success for his speech. That’s why he suddenly exited the stage because he wasn’t prepared and anxiety over took his presence on stage. I like the article because it also mentions that there are many inevitable disturbances or distraction that may occur when one is giving a speech, like cellphone ringing, people looking at their gadgets sometimes door opening, etc. but a good public speaker should always improvise and make sure that they deliver the best speech. And that one should also know their audience and should speak to them without holding back.
    3) All the levels apply to my performance in class. Level one, I must get ready with all my researches and be prepared to give a good speech before getting on the stage. I must keep on practicing my speech before the final day. Level two, I should own the burden of a success on stage. I should know how to control my anxiety, and also know my audience so I can deliver without holding back. And in case of any distraction, is should have a backup plan so that I still deliver a good speech. Level three, when I exit the stage. I should celebrate the success of ny speech, and I shouldn’t exit like how Michael Bay did.

    • I don’t believe Michael was intentionally disrespecting his audience with his mannerisms. I believe he was merely overwhelmed with confusion, personal frustration, adrenaline, embarrassment, and fear to focus on how he was moving his body. I feel as though he subconsciously turned his back and held his hands together/moved his thumbs as a result of wanting to hide. He went back to the natural instincts of “fight or flee” and in this case he ran (almost literally).

    • Totally agree with every point that You have made about him being very disrespecting to his audience. Speaker’s number one concern is always an audience. Bay failed to know his audience, just as he failed to know the subject on which he was invited to talk. Also, exiting the stage in a way he did it showed total disrespect to everyone in a room. I’m not even talking about saying “Thank You” to the audience…turning his face to them would be enough in his case…that is what I think.

    • I agree with what you said about how Michael Bay was disrespectful to the audience. He is a professional, and as a professional, he should have came prepared. His “walk of shame” totally failed level three about owning the burden of success when exiting. Due to his “caught off guard” moment in regards to the teleprompter, he became anxious and started to blank out because he could not even express his own thoughts about what was being asked. As a speaker, he should have expected the unexpected, take in whatever is being thrown out at him, and own up to his mistakes. Walking off the stage clearly displayed him as just giving up and not wanting to pick up all the pieces.

    • What I think is that he wasn’t really disrespecting his audience. I think because he is such a big name in Hollywood, his mistakes can be dumped onto somebody else, like the teleprompter. He blamed them for his failures. He really should be the one to point his fingers at himSELF. It was his failure, meaning he was not well prepared for the day. I am sure he has gone on many conferences and this one time, a technical mistake happened and there goes his reliance. He relied too much on others to do the work for him. Had he cared enough to prepare himself for the worst case scenario, which can and does happen in life, he probably could have made a speech without the teleprompter functioning properly. Who knows…

  34. Michael Bay’s Failures: Opportunities for Redemption

    1) Michael Bay’s speech performance at the “Consume Electronics Show” was viscerally painful for me to watch. In fact, I watched it at least five times so that I could distance myself enough from the experience in order to evaluate it more objectively. Initially, the challenge for me in being objective was that I relate very well with his performance (if even in my worst nightmare!), and my immediate response is therefore defensiveness. The litany of excuses I concocted did not hold any ground by the fifth time I watched it; an unrespectable performance can never be redefined, only redeemed by the opportunity to perform again in a respectable manner. What I remember most from Michael Bay’s performance is how he disrespected his audience by completely turning his back on them twice, even though it was unintentional. Michael Bay’s speech reflects a great lack in preparation. Supposing he did not even have the incredible intelligence he possesses or the experience that affords him so much credibility, preparation would still have been the key to the successful completion of his speech.

    2) The article on Michael Bay’s speech performance offered a fairly accurate assessment of what, or who, was to blame for Bay’s speech failure: himself. The premise of this article’s assessment is that it is the speaker’s responsibility to ensure the success of his speech. After experiencing many of my own speech failures and successes, I believe this is indeed true. At times I have put to the burden of success on my audience and partially blamed them for the failure of my speech. I have even “winged” it to see how much fate could achieve in spite of my lack of preparation. In both cases, I was not respecting the audience or myself and the speech was rarely, if ever, a success. Furthermore, as this article poignantly suggests, any speech successes were mine to own through the medium of diligent preparation. In truth, this is an easy principal mostly because it is something I have control over.

    3) The three levels of speaker-success that this article discusses can be applied to my own performance in class. Level one is about owning the burden of success by being fully prepared in advance. I can be prepared on all levels by being prepared with the information I will be speaking about, ensuring that the information is as comprehensible to myself as I wish to make it known to my audience. As this article discusses, the second level of owning the burden of success of my performance on stage involves “being prepared for everything, including the unexpected.” I can be prepared for the unexpected by having accounted for the possibility of disruptions or spontaneous changes in the course of plans while I am on stage. Essentially, this requires flexibility which is a skill that should be fostered beforehand, especially if it does not come naturally. Besides incorporating the possibility for these disruptions at home when I practice beforehand, note cards could be particularly useful while I am on stage and still learning public speech in class. The third level that the article discloses is about owning the burden of success when one leaves the stage. As applied to my own performance in class, it involves me being objective about my performance, allowing myself to be open to the criticism of my audience, and finding ways to improve my speech skills based on their input.

    • I had to watch Michael’s Bay’s (speechless) speech several of times as well and I felt better about my cultural narrative speech because I didn’t walk away! I just couldn’t believe how successful he is as director with his last eleven movies averaging 194.9 million each, and that he would fail miserably to deliver a simple speech that talks about films that he directs. He definitely wasn’t prepared for his speech, and yes he did turn his back to the audience twice. I also do agree with you because I don’t think it was unintentional I believe he was just nervous and the lack of preparation was definitely there.

  35. “Quelle Horreur”
    1. What did you think of Michael Bay’s speech?
    Michael Bay begins his speech by saying that his job is that he “gets to dream for a living.” Well unfortunately, this was a very, very bad dream.
    I would have to assume that he was “hired” (and well compensated) by Samsung, to give this promotional speech. This was a scheduled, paid appearance, he was not ambushed by a bunch of adoring fans.
    It is amazing that someone who is a fairly public figure could be that unprepared for what he was about to do. I realize that the teleprompter was not working properly, but, OMG, he couldn’t even tell people what his job was. Maybe he doesn’t know what his job is and had to have someone else write the speech for him to read.
    I mean, the bar was even set very low. The moderator was trying desperately to help him, asking what he thought about the curve (of the new TV he was there to promote) and what effect that would have on the viewing experience for people watching his films. He just couldn’t get it together.
    I hope that Samsung got their money back.
    Actually, Harvey Levin on TMZ said that Samsung must be overjoyed. They are getting so much great publicity out of this. Had Michael’s speech gone well, no one would be talking about the new curved Samsung TV. Since the speech was such a monumental disaster, they are getting a whole lot of press. Good for them, bad for Michael.

    2. What did you think of the article?
    I think that Michael Bay would be wise to speak with you. He didn’t own the burden of success for any part of this monumental debacle. 1) He didn’t own the burden of success before he walked on the stage- he was completely and utterly unprepared. 2) He didn’t own the burden of success while he was on the stage- he blamed the teleprompter and other factors- then he slunk off in shame. 3) He didn’t even own the burden of success after leaving the stage. In the interview I saw that he did with TMZ the following day he picked up where he left off- blaming everything and everybody else for his ineptitude- the prompter, they kept rewriting the script until the last minute, the room, on and on. It brings to mind the old adage, “A poor craftsman blames his tools.” That certainly applies here.

    3. How do the three levels from the article apply to your performance in class?
    I will always show up prepared with my speech well-written and well-rehearsed. I will always show up in plenty of time- running late increases my level of stress dramatically. I will always try to accept constructive criticism and learn from it. And possibly the most important thing of all, no matter how badly I feel that it’s going at that very moment, remember that no one died, and by the end of the week I will be able to laugh about it. If there is one thing that my dyslexia has taught me, it’s that you have to have a sense of humor for those moments when you do fall flat on your sword. And I guess that is the gift of dyslexia right there.

    • I am very impressed that you did not attempt to excuse Mr. Bay from his epic failure. I have often wondered why wealthy, successful persons are often relieved of shame and criticism by regular folk simply because they are of a different social class than the majority of us. If you ask me, Mr. Bay’s burden should be increased, as he has absolutely no excuse for being unconcerned with his audience and having to rely on a teleprompter to speak to us – his fans (not money, not access to the best instructors, not baby-sitter issues – none of it). I do hope Mr. Bay reads our blog and telephones Professor Smith forthwith! Please Professor Smith, do tell us if you get that call! (Smile)

    • Your first paragraph about the gig being a way of marketing hits the nail on the head! Everything was completely over-staged and Michael Bay was only there to market the new Samsung curve. I was surprised at how uncomfortable he was with being in front of a large audience; considering the fact that he has been to many movie premiers, directs hundreds of people as a living, and is very experienced with public relations, marketing, and interviews. Viewing it from Samsung’s marketing team though: any press is good press, especially when it comes to “negative” press from a high profile director!

  36. Million Dollar Bashfulness
    1. When I saw Micheal walk out of the stage I was shocked. I can’t believe that someone that makes million dollars movies can’t give a simple speech when he most of had giving speeches about his job at some point in his career. It seemed that when he was asked a question he had to pause for way too long to look for the right words to answer the question he was being asked to. It was obvious he wasn’t prepared for what was coming towards him and it showed very unprofessionally. As we all know public speaking is a very huge fear for most people and that fear of making a mistake publicly can be brutal and shut down some people out and just run out off the stage like Micheal Bay did but others can embrace it and keep going and using that mistake in their speech by throwing a joke to the audience.
    2. I believe Micheal failed in the first step to the burden success which it mislead him from that point on. Maybe if he had some sort of flash cards to help him with his speech which he could’ve of pulled off the speech and walk out confident. But sometimes even when you are prepared as much you could freeze in front of many people that assume you to be familiar with giving speeches due to his work. Micheal is very strong as a director but just like all of us humans being we can fear public speaking sometimes when a lot is expected from you. However blaming the other guy for his unpreparedness was pathetic of him. Maybe next time he takes the time do his homework and prepared his speech and expect to be asked any question that could can make feel uncomfortable.
    3. As I learning in public speaking is that you need to do a lot of research but not only that but know how to put down your ideas in a way the audience could stay focus on your speech and can enjoy it as well but also learn from it. I think a speech can have a sense of humor as well because some speeches can get boring real quick as well and that’s something to take to knowledge. I usually plan everything in my head when I’m about to give a speech but once I’m up there my nerves start to kick in so I take a deep breath and exhale and get confident real quick. I also like to perform my speech to friends to get their feedbacks to know where I’m lacking and where I stand strong in my speech. Being unprepared in the first step of the owning burden success can throw your speech off immediately. In my cultural speech the only thing I believe I failed at was the abstract object we had to take because I totally forgot that part but it was my fault for not reading the instructions or paying attention when it was said to us. I have a long way to go when it comes to having a great speech that I don’t get to lose the audience along my speech. For me getting comfortable in room full of stranger is tough because I notice that us as adults don’t like making mistake and some don’t take it well either. However feedback to me it is very important because that how you know which are the areas you need improvement in.

  37. Wow, that was so painful to watch.

    Wow, I really don’ t feel so bad about my own speech because everyone even a big time famous director that makes billions of dollars making movies can have stage fright and freeze in front of people. Speaking in public is very scary, it can make you sick. Just to watch him freeze like that was very painful for me to watch. I think that it would have been better if they just had him sit down on a chair and let him know of the questions before would be easier. Also, I think that when you are nervous like that it is good to tell the audience you feel scared it will make it less uncomfortable.

    This article was a good example of even though you are famous and successful there are things that you still cannot do. Many people can work great and be a genius in a small group but when it comes to having all the eyes on you, listening to your every word, and being quiet it can make you freak out. It was so hard to watch this because I can relate to his experience. It feels like your brain is not working and you want to run. This article serves as a good evidence to show that being afraid and shutting down in front of a crowd can happen to anyone. The man that interviewed him was so calm and handled it perfectly.

    This is exactly how I feel when it comes to my speech. I cannot feel comfortable because English is not my first language. I hardly can speak very well as it is and when I have to say something in front of other people it makes me so uncomfortable and very shy. I would rather write things down so I can have a chance to use dictionary and proofread what I want to say. Sometimes I like to dictate what I want to say and type it up and read rather than speak from memory. It’s hard to make my brain work when I’m scared. It is also an Asian characteristic to not speak in front of others. In my culture it is not a normal thing.

    • It is very true that it was hard to watch, but how amazing that it helped you to feel more comfortable about the speech you gave. I remember as a child being paralyzed by my fear, unable to speak even with my closest friends, to say nothing about standing there in front of the world, not to mention the TV cameras and cell phone videos going on in that room. The moderator was trying everything he could to throw him a life buoy, and Michael wouldn’t even take a breath long enough to let himself be helped. It is one of the egocentricities of fame, that you must never appear vulnerable, and never accept help from another person.

    • At least now before giving a speech you can say, I cant possibly do any worst than Michael Bay. Hopefully that can calm some people down before going up. But that might not work for others such as me. I have to same problem once I stand up in front of a crowd. I kind of freak out and I just blank out usually. I also agree that I would rather read off of a paper that I wrote rather then just giving out a speech from memory. But I think with practice and finding ways to control yourself, you could over come being scared in front of a crowd.

  38. “ Can Relate to Unpreparedness”
    1. The audience must have had high expectations towards him, being who he is as a director. Time is important in a speech same way as preparation. If Michael Bay would of not relied on the screen giving him what to say and prepared a speech the same way he prepares to direct a movie then he would have an amazing speech. Him as a director he from all the people should know that there is no rushing. That moment he walked out off stage must have been the hardest thing for him to do, knowing how he had failed his audience.
    2. The article of three levels of success was created in a very good way. Preparation and time is very important in a speech especially when the speaker owns his or her own burden. Agreeing that when you are to perform a speech you should be very confident but most importantly be crystal clear.
    3. The three levels from the article actually apply to the performance I give towards my class. The levels show how the key to a successful presentation is being able to have the sufficient amount of time to prepare for speech, having it finish ahead of tome is good in timing in order to give you extra time to go over it and youll be confident on what youll be giving to your audience. Presenting a speech can be very terrifying especially for a very shy person, but as well even if your not shy and very outgoing once your up there in front of an audience they can get some stage fright. This is known from experience ,I am very good at talking to people even in a group but for some reason being in front of the group where everyone is just starring at you gives me the necessity of needing to read my index cards and not want to look up. As the article stated exit is an important role in a speech performance either you can walk out like Michael Bay did: un-ashamed and unprepared. As for myself next time I need to present any other speech or presentation I will know I will as myself “who is the audience? What does my audience want to hear? and How will I give my audience what they want?”, in order to deliver a great speech to my audience.

    • I also agree with you that Michael wasn’t prepared with his speech and he disappointed his audience. He thought it would be easy to deliver a speech because he is a good movie director and screen were playing his moves, so he didn’t take any imitative to be prepared. When he stepped on the stage, he was unfamiliar with his audience and didn’t know what to say. He turned his back against his audience. He later exited the stage, because of the too much pressure and he couldn’t handle. I felt sorry for him when he left because that showed that he let his anxiety get control of him.

  39. Title: The Embarrasment of a Lifetime
    1. This video was pretty scary because I cannot help but think this can happen to me in this class or in future classes. It is kind of unbelievable to find an excuse for this very famous and successful director. It has been confirmed that he has succeed in the out bringing of his films, so I would think that he would at least be informed of what he was going to be asked and prepared to give a speech of a lifetime. He seemed completely lost and without any preparation, and like professor Smith has declared, “preparation is the key to a successful speech.” Unfortunately he did not believe in preparing for this presentation and that is why he crashed and burned horribly. Therefore, for future speeches he should prepare a lot more and practice creating a catch phrase as well as reassuring himself who he is and how successful he has become.
    2. The article makes great points, such as being prepared before a speech. I do believe in preparation being the key for a successful speech, it seems like if Bay did not though. Additionally being prepared for anything that could happen is also key because during a speech especially if it long, so many things can happen. Walking into classrooms when there is a speech going is rude and phones going on too, but sometimes things just happen and we have to learn to keep going and not lose focus. To learn from mistakes is difficult especially if you are not humble, yet it can help us get through a future speech a lot smoother.
    3. The article applies to my overall performance in class in a way that it makes me feel kinda bad because i feel like if I did not use my preparation time as I was supposed to. Time management is big in preparing your speech, and I am not so smart in managing my time. This article proves the point that I should learn how to manage my time better and not procrastinate. When I did my informative speech I was not very prepared because I thought nothing out of the ordinary was going to happen, but I had a person walk in while I spoke and that did kind of distracted. I did not stop though and maybe it was because I was just reading off my flash without really thinking or improvising anything. For my last speech I am determined to walk around a lot more and not stay stiffed the whole time, also to make eye contact. Preparation is key and there is just no way around it.

    • Hi Cynthia,

      I agree with your assertion that Michael Bay did not believe in preparing for his presentation. If he did, the outcome would likely have been quite different. Belief in what one is doing is the driving force behind the motivation necessary in being prepared. It is possible that he had never had such a dramatic “crash and burn” experience before, as you put it. Instead of being motivated positively by the desire to communicate effectively with his audience for their benefit, he may be more driven in the future to prepare out of a fear to never experience the embarrassment he suffered in this speech performance. Either way, he likely believes in the power of preparation now as a determinant in the success of his speeches. It is never too late to improve because an outward reaction is not necessarily a correct reflection of who one is. Hence, there is no need to be ashamed, only awakened to the need for improvement. I hope this was the case for Michael Bay.

  40. Title: The unprepared
    1.What I thought about Michael Bays speech is hilarious and embarrassing, but then again I’m pretty sure we all get to that point. It was pretty much embarrassing how he just stayed there on stage for like a minute and then ran out of words on what to say. To me it was pretty funny as well because how can a producer like him not be able to talk about how he creates his movies. I mean if this is something he loves he should just say what comes out of his heart it shouldn’t be that hard for him.

    2.In the article the professor talks about three burden levels he mentions that the first level that the speaker must be prepared before talking the stage. I absolutely agree with him, because how can you just take a stage in front of so many people and not being prepared on what you will talk about. The second level is preparing for the unexpected. This to me comes out as a shock, why because it is true you can’t really expect how a speech will actually turn out to be. The third level comes out to be learning from your failures and celebrating your success. The professor mentions that in this reason for example a speech competitor gets their feedback while being judged basically meaning that they learned from where they went bad to where they were good.

    3.The three levels of the article applied to my performance as a helping hand and thought me from where I really have to focus my attention to when I perform a speech. Starting from the first level of burden I can apply my focus towards this level by understanding that I shall always be prepared to speak and know my audience and my place where I stand. It also shows me that that to become familiar with my stage and become familiar with my speech. As for the level two I can I apply that no matter what I should always be prepared to expect the unexpected. Because sometimes just because you are prepared doesn’t mean that it will always go the way you expected to go. Sometimes the juice is mad another way and can totally throw you off your game. And something like that can make you freak out and make you forget what you prepared yourself for. Something like a scene of Michael bay can happen to us. Finally the third level comes out to be learning from your failures and celebrating from your success. I think all can relate to this level why because we are all in professor smiths class. And as we can see we have all given speeches and at the end of the speeches he grades us in such a form that I like and grades us from what we did wrong according to his list, what we might have forgotten during our speech presentation, but in the end he always writes a comment with what we did excellent and I think we can all learn from that.

    • Aracely, I couldn’t agree with you more. The thing that I thought was the most unbelievable part of the whole appearance, is that how many of us wouldn’t kill for a forum to talk about something that we love doing, that we have that kind of passion about. Granted, it is hard to speak in front of an audience, but he isn’t a newbie at this game. I am sure that he has had to go in front of large audiences, some much more intimidating, asking for money to make one of his mega-blockbusters. I mean, this is supposedly his passion, and he can’t even get through the basic part about why he does what he does, and why it is such a magical opportunity that he has. I’m sure that he is feeling sorry for himself all the way to the bank.

  41. How to transform yourself into a Douche

    1) I think much about Micheal Bay’s disaster of an attempt at a speech. When I think about his failure I can’t help but ask myself what was he thinking? I empathize with anyone who makes themselves look dumb, but I can’t in any good nature give Mr. Bay any benefit of the doubt. He had no clue what was going on, I suppose he knew ahead of time, tat he had to speak, but as far as preparation and thoughtfulness towards the audience scores an absolute goose egg. He had no thought for the audience prior to being on that stage and that lack of preparation shined through.When any Hollywood Insider interviews Mr. bay, I’m sure they only lob him questions that he already approved the answers for. On the fly when the teleprompter goes out and you have to shine on your own. You shouldn’t rely to heavily on anyone but yourself.
    2) My thoughts on the article are mainly pity and remorse. I understand that a speaker should own the bulk of responsibility and not blame anyone else. but I feel Mr. bay may have been unjustly demonized by the media following his debacle. I kind of feel that this article is sort of “Monday morning armchair quaterbacking” Micheal after the fact. From a speech instructional standpoint it gives a vivid view into the extreme possibilities that are out there if you do not live up to the expectations of your audience. The resulting media backlash was not kind nor did it need to be to Mr Bay, because of his prestigious honors in film production an in the excellence that he normally puts out there for the consumer was not to be found that day in Vegas.
    3)How the three levels of the article apply to my performance is really simple, but I’ll do my best to stretch it out to beyond 300 words. Owning the responsibility prior is the most arduous thing for me to accomplish. I feel I already know how to talk, and I’ve been doing it since I learned how to which (for those of you keeping score) was a little bit before I could walk. When I walk I do not need glowing footprints on the floor telling me where to put my feet before I step, so I don’t see why I should ever need to “prepare or study up” on getting ready to do any sort of public presentation is far beyond my comprehension sometimes. But it works, I’ve learned that now, but it took some time and little bit of practice and I’m still not a toastmaster yet.
    The second level is more about rehearsal, rehearsals must have scripts, and scripts need to be written and fully edited before proper rehearsals and timed performances can take place and be monitored. This all takes a good solid amount of time. Not all people have this luxury of time to spend in one sitting and the yet the work must be done in order to correctly prepare. Management of the schedule on which your time to complete the speech should be much earlier than the day of the speech. Starting a stopwatch and reading your (while not paying attention to your stop watch) to know how long your speech is, is very important because time management is not done in the mind of a speaker, but a practiced person can know that a certain amount of speaking requires so much time once they’ve had a chance to rehearse. If Micheal Bay had rehearsed, do you think he would have had the same result?
    The last level on owning the result I guess to myself, this has brought back some simple basics that I had been over looking for a while. Sometimes you just have to do the assignment and do the work. Perhaps artistic showmanship is appreciated, but only when asked and even then you are still trying to deliver what someone else needs from you. Communication is as simple and as fascinating as and giving someone else the response, performance, or action that they want or need. It doesn’t need to be complicated to be convincing, on the contrary it is the simple messages that seem to transmit most broadest.

    • I agree with you that Mr. Bay wasn’t prepared with his speech, he disappointed his audience, and also made a fool of himself. Off course they tell them months before their performance, but because he is a good movie director and screen were playing his moves. He didn’t take time to prepare his speech. Everything looked strange to him when he stepped on the stage. His physical position showed how nervous and uncomfortable he was. And didn’t know what to say. When the anxiety got best of him, he turned his back against his audience. He then abruptly left the stage which was disrespecting to his audience.

  42. “Lack Of Preparation Hit Michael in The Face”

    1. Michael Bay’s speech is a great example of why no one, not even someone with a resume like his, should take a presentation/ speech lightly. It’s apparent that Michael Bay was feeling too confident that morning and thought that by just reading off the teleprompter he was going to be fine. Michael was not expecting a malfunction to occur, which resulted in his meltdown and his lack of preparation was evident. When reality hit Michael in the face and he realized what his lack of preparation had caused, he decided to walk away instead of manning up and improvising. When speaking in front of an audience you better show humility and preparation if not what happened to Michael Bay can happen to any of us.

    2. This article does a good job explaining what a speaker must do and how he or she must be prepared in all levels. If a speaker embraces these three things it is very likely that he/she will be successful while presenting. In the article it says that one of the most important things to do is “owning the burden of success”, which I completely agree with because by doing so you will learn from your mistakes and actually become a better speaker. I can imagine the pressure and stress the speakers must go through at competitions knowing they will be critiqued and graded by the judges.

    3. The three levels from the article apply to my performance in class in all aspects. When I present in class I feel my hands shaking and my voice cracking, but I try to calm my nerves down, by reminding myself that I am prepared and that I will do just fine. I consider myself my biggest critique because as soon as I’m done presenting, I tell myself “dam it! I shouldn’t have done this, or I should’ve done more of this”, and right away I start evaluating myself and actually thinking of ways of to improve for my next speech in class and that’s where I practice the level of owning the burden of success, by critiquing myself and admitting and realizing what I need to work on. I feel that my nerves are my biggest obstacle in giving a good speech, and the day I finally learn how to control them is the day that I will become a better speaker. Preparation is definitely the biggest thing in a speech, because if you try to come up with something to talk about on the day before your presentation you will definitely stumble. Even though I am not a great speaker I feel lot more confident in front of class by actually preparing myself in advance. Going over what I have I come up with, reading it a loud a few times, and trying to remember some of it, makes me feel more comfortable with my speech and at least I know that I won’t just be saying non sense. The audience does not care if you prepared yourself or not, you are expected to give a speech with no excuses and only you are held accountable for anything that goes wrong, owning the burden of success is crucial in a speech and the way you present if front of an audience defines how well you prepared yourself and how serious you take the assignment.

    • Jorje, your assessment of Michael Bay’s speech performance exit in this video is very accurate; it was a great display of his lack of humility. Had he only “improvised” and “manned up”, as you stated, his overconfidence in a teleprompter to direct his speech might have gone unnoticed when the teleprompter failed. His speech is a great testament to how the three levels of speaker-success were not appropriately applied; that is, while the three levels assert that the sole responsibility of success is on the speaker, Bay chose for the success of his speech to be the responsibility of a machine which failed him when he depended on it the most. Perhaps the greatest degree of preparation he could have made before giving his speech was in ensuring that he could deliver it without any reliance on any other means, but himself.

  43. 1- I think the speech Michael Bay but is a famous directing films that will be seen in theaters wide world was not easy to speak or sponsor a brand television because I think it will complicate what I had prepared for the audience at the time.

    2- I think the article is that you feel secure when we stand before a hearing to be sure of ourselves and express what we have prepared and give us to understand about what we’re talking about.

    3- the three articles can apply the class to ever be prepared for each of my speeches to an audience is treated confidentially and feel to talk and have no doubt that I’m giving me to understand about what this speaking at the currently facing the audience because assertiveness has to be one of the main elements that have to apply for our discourse is clearly; that safely talking point the audience can understand about what I want them to understand me and not let myself feel sure that everything will be fine and that my speech is being heard and understood.

  44. One way to learn is to fail!!
    1.What did I think of Michel Bay’s speech!! I must admit, I felt sorry: sorry for the great director and famous person in movie industry who makes million dollars out of each movie he is directing or producing. This is a great example of public speaking being the greatest fear for majority of people. it is simply obvious that he was not ready for the speech, he did not knew the stage, the audience and most of all he was not able to manage his anxiety. He learned hard way, by criticism of hundreds of magazines and newspapers that reviled the details of his failure on the stage.
    2. The article is very educational. It simply instructs and teaches you the most important parts for public specking success. The same things we learn at the class from Professor Duane: how preparedness is the most important step to success, how to manage the anxiety by knowing the audience, how to deliver crystal cleat message, how to catch their attention and keep them going trough out the whole speech, and finally how to learn from own mistakes. In the words it seems so simple, but when it comes to action then we face the greatest fear of our life: Public speaking.
    3.The three levels of speaker success applies in my performance in class directly, it reflects on my performance and me as a speaker who tries to deliver a message to the audience, I am the one who carries the responsibility of my actions, whether the outcome is good or bad. The first level simply applies of being prepared. I myself experienced the importance of being prepared. On my first speech I was prepared and performed good front of the class, I was able to manage my anxiety in moderate levels and deliver the message to my audience without difficulties. My professor wrote very encouraging words on my paper. I felt that I owned the burden of success when exiting the stage. I learned my lesson in a hard way on my second presentation. Even though I spend long hours for my research finding articles and summaries, for some reasons I was not prepared on the day of my informative speech, I was very disappointed with myself for not doing well, and it all because I wasn’t prepared. When it says be prepared it means prepared in all levels, means be ready to improvise if you forget the word, or miss the line in your note cards, when got destructed by the looks of your audience or by the ring of someone’s cell phone. While speaking front of public, anything can happen, and if you are prepared you will own your burden of success. While on stage, we must be prepared for unexpected. In everyday life we don’t experience anxiety when talking to each other, or making a point in the classroom, or express our opinions at workplace, however most of us get very anxious at the stage, our brains black out and we can’t think or remember what we are speaking about. Being prepared is the only way to overcome these ordeals and fears of public speaking.

    • So as I read what your wrote form the last question the professor gave us is that you were very confident when it came to the first speech and when it came to the second speech also known as the informative speech you said you learned from your failures somehow you felt you didn’t do good as the first speech. As I can relate to what you mean with what you went through at that moment I guess we both can learn we didn’t do as good time but this can help us next time for example out persuasive speech.

  45. 1. What did I think of Michel Bay’s speech!! I must admit, I felt sorry: sorry for the great director and famous person in movie industry who makes million dollars out of each movie he is directing or producing. This is a great example of public speaking being the greatest fear for majority of people. it is simply obvious that he was not ready for the speech, he did not knew the stage, the audience and most of all he was not able to manage his anxiety. He learned hard way, by criticism of hundreds of magazines and newspapers that reviled the details of his failure on the stage.
    2. The article is very educational. It simply instructs and teaches you the most important parts for public specking success. The same things we learn at the class from Professor Duane: how preparedness is the most important step to success, how to manage the anxiety by knowing the audience, how to deliver crystal cleat message, how to catch their attention and keep them going trough out the whole speech, and finally how to learn from own mistakes. In the words it seems so simple, but when it comes to action then we face the greatest fear of our life: Public speaking.
    3. The three levels of speaker success applies in my performance in class directly, it reflects on my performance and me as a speaker who tries to deliver a message to the audience, I am the one who carries the responsibility of my actions, whether the outcome is good or bad. The first level simply applies of being prepared. I myself experienced the importance of being prepared. On my first speech I was prepared and performed good front of the class, I was able to manage my anxiety in moderate levels and deliver the message to my audience without difficulties. My professor wrote very encouraging words on my paper. I felt that I owned the burden of success when exiting the stage. I learned my lesson in a hard way on my second presentation. Even though I spend long hours for my research finding articles and summaries, for some reasons I was not prepared on the day of my informative speech, I was very disappointed with myself for not doing well, and it all because I wasn’t prepared. When it says be prepared it means prepared in all levels, means be ready to improvise if you forget the word, or miss the line in your note cards, when got destructed by the looks of your audience or by the ring of someone’s cell phone. While speaking front of public, anything can happen, and if you are prepared you will own your burden of success. While on stage, we must be prepared for unexpected. In everyday life we don’t experience anxiety when talking to each other, or making a point in the classroom, or express our opinions at workplace, however most of us get very anxious at the stage, our brains black out and we can’t think or remember what we are speaking about. Being prepared is the only way to overcome these ordeals and fears of public speaking.

    • I agree with your comment completely. Sometimes when you are over confident and not prepared you will have a reaction like this. It’s so sad for the reporters and articles to expose his fear which many people have. I hope that with his millions of dollars he can pay for speech classes like the ones we have to take. I think that being in the movie business you have to learn to speak in front of audience. At least be able to answer questions with confidence. It is a skill that you need to learn and be confident about and not freak out.

  46. Of course its the teleprompters fault…

    1.Michael Bay’s films, I would say are good. I would not have expected this from a guy that is famous like him. I would assume that they are used to this. They already know what to do, how to handle those situation and how to prepare for those things. When I saw that clip, my first reaction was I was in shocked. Made me think and question about his movies like does he really deserve the credits he got from those movies. I would expected a good speech from him. But he did not even start it right, like we say in class, “Preparation is the key to a successful presentation”. First minute, first second, the way he was, it was way too obvious he was not prepared. I thought he was just really nervous like everyone that do public speaking but that was just really a disaster.

    2.I definitely agree with the article. The article speaks a true point. The three levels are simple and everyone would agree and will follow, especially those people that would want to have a successful public speaking presentation. The level that stick to me the most is the first one. I think if you did not accomplished the first level correctly, there is no way you can accomplish the next two levels. Like I said in the number one and like we’ve learned from class, “Preparation is the key to a successful presentation.”

    3.The three level will indeed help me not just in class but in the future. Following those level will make me a better speaker, for sure. Remembering this not just this semester, but for the rest of my life, and making those as my habit and bringing those in my career life will definitely help me achieve my goals in a better way. But those levels will me right now in class by just simply following them. I know it is easy to say but definitely hard to do. Especially when all I can feel are people looking at me from head to toe and me being so nervous, and all I can hear is my heart beating fast like it will about to explode. But I’ve learned in class that we should control our anxiety. We did two speeches in class, I was ready for both speeches. I did better with the first one than the second one, maybe because the first one is a lot easier to talk about than the second one. I was scared in the second one that I will messed up my information. I was uttering, kept pausing in the beginning but I knew I was prepared and that put me back up the track. This class made me realized that nothing is scary about speaking in public, being on stage. You just have to be prepared before, during and after the speech. And I just need to learn more about how to control my anxiety.

    • Denisse as you mention in your last answer I read that you said that this levels are not only going to help you right now but also in the future. You also mentioned that it will also help you more if you actually follow the three levels of burden success and its true I honestly agree with you because I think this can help not only us but many people for example “Michael Bay.” You said that it is really easy to understand but hard to do, yes it I can agree sometimes we can understand something just like that but it is so hard to play it out.

  47. STEPS TO DELIVER

    1) First off, I love Michael Bay’s films. I would have expected a speech from him to be more different. But when he got up there and faced his audience he just went blank. He is a professional. Someone who was thought to be deserved to be heard, and he just walked away. It must of been hard for him to do so; but knowing his social status and knowing he was giving a speech in the first place should have encouraged himself to be prepared. Preparation is essential prior to giving any form of speech.

    2) The article on “burden of success” is pretty simple and true. The first two steps described in the article were mainly about preparation above and behind. being prepared helps a person deliver what they will speak about; it gives a person mental strength to overcome any anxiety they may feel when being in front of their audience. A speaker must take under consideration that others may be rude, and you must ignore that and stand in front, be professional and deliver. If Bay would have practiced he would have actually been able to at least say a couple sentences, instead of just starring and leaving.

    3) The three levels from the article apply to my performance because it talks about preparing for a speech. Well for my first speech I did not prepare enough; I forgot what I was going to say and got nervous. Once I stood up to talk, everything felt silent. Everyone was looking and i just did not want to talk. I do not know if I am shy, but for some reason this is the only thing I can actually find hard to overcome. I can practice at home, but once I am there I prefer doing what Michael Bay did, maybe I am just super shy as a person. Any who, maybe if I used my time more efficiently or if I knew exactly what to say I would have a different reaction. But at the moment I have not prepared for my persuasive speech either. I can not come up with a topic I can find good enough. Just knowing I have to show up to class with something I wrote my thoughts into to recite in front of classmates, who i do not know personally, is kind of nerve wrecking for me. Owning it all, the main concept of this article, it is the key, in my opinion, to any speech given. But I can not figure how to own it. Being in this class has made me realize that going up on stage and being the center of attention is something I have avoided most of my life because I dislike it so much.

    • I don’t consider myself a very shy person, but when it comes to public speaking, things change. I know that I have to be professional and take it serious because I am in school and I am receiving a grade for giving a speech, but it is still very hard for me. I get what you said about not being prepared, or picking a topic because for my Informative speech, I picked a topic the day before I was assigned to deliver my speech. I don’t think you should worry too much about boring the class because you can probably pick an extremely dull topic but it all depends on what you have to say and how you say it. Staying calm and confident really helps, though.

  48. “ Will the audience forgive…”

    (1) Not only did Michael Bay look unprofessional; the audience must have had high expectations towards him, being who he is as a director. Time is very important in a speech, just as important as preparation. If Michael Bay had taken the time to prepare for the speech he would have had a amazing speech. He is a director he of all people should know that there is no rushing anything, specially when you got a audience that wants the most potential out of you. The audience knows what he is capable of doing behind the camera therefore they thought they were going to receive a amazing speech. That moment he walked off the stage must have been the hardest thing for him to do; knowing he failed his audience.

    (2) The article about the three levels of success was put together very good; preparation and time are very important in order to have a successful speech. It is said the speaker should own the burden. I agree with this you must be very confident in order to step into a audience and deliver the best speech possible. But delivering a speech is not successful with out being prepared for it. I believe that knowing your surroundings ahead of time is a great way of preparation as well. I think the article states just how to correctly prepare you for a speech.

    (3) These three levels from the article apply to my performance in class. The levels show how the key to a successful presentation is by preparing for it and giving yourself the enough time to prepare for it. Speech being a huge fear scares me; if people that are not shy and are outgoing to keep conversations going have some kind of fear saying a speech, how am I suppose to go up in front of a class and do the number one fear? The problem that I have is I will get nervous and just start reading off my index card. When I do start to get nervous and read off my index card I am not giving my audience the maximum attention. Not only am I jus reading information to my audience but also I am causing them to lose interest in my speech. Being prepared for the unexpected is a key to success when it comes to speaking to your audience, luckily I did not have anyone walk during my speech but if someone would have walked in during my speech; I would have kept doing what I am doing not only because it is a key to a successful speech but my audience is already distracted by the walking person therefore if I get distracted as well the center of attention would be the person walking in; and would just throw everything off. As stated in the article the exit is very important, you can either walk out like Bay did; ashamed, and unprepared. After a successful speech you should feel relief and proud of yourself. For my previous speeches I felt that I could have gave my audience a better presentation. I now know that the key to a successful speech is time and preparation, therefore for my next speech I will ask myself “ Who is the audience? What does my audience want? And How will I give my audience what they want?”, and will deliver a great speech to my audience.

    • Good title! On your question “Will the audience forgive”? my answer will be “No”, for as you see we are still talking about his failure. He failed to know his audience, failed to know his subject, failed to take at least some time for preparation before getting on stage, failed to show respect to the people in that room. I hope Bay took something from that lesson, for another one like this audience definitely will not forgive.

  49. Practice Avoids Panic

    Michael Bay’s speech reminds me of my worst nightmare. Every so often, when I am stressed, I have this nightmare where I am falling from the sky, but I never seem to land on the ground. I get never ending butterflies in my stomach. I think that’s what happened to Michael Bay. He jumped, but did not know where to land. Preparation is essential in speech and that is something he lacked. He definitely did not know his audience, what his audience wanted, or how he was going to give them what they wanted. I don’t think he had practiced for his speech. He was probably just there doing what he was being paid to do and not as interested in the most important aspect; his audience. Although I feel empathy for Michael Bay, I am also disappointed that a man of such status would have failed so miserably. You’d think he’d have it all figured out. Just goes to show you, no matter how much money you make, we’re all human. All in all, I hope he learned to be prepared the next time he decides to take a speaking gig.

    I thought the article was very interesting. We think of success as something desired by all people. However, we never think of the burden of success. The responsibilities attached to success. I think if Michael Bay would have realized before-hand just how important the Consumer Electronics Show was, he would have been better prepared. Every time you go hear someone speak, you as the audience expect the speaker to be someone who knows what they are talking about. Especially when you hear that Michael Bay is going to be the speaker. He should have realized that from the get-go. I mean, if you are getting paid big bucks to speak, you know it’s important. I think the article clearly establishes how to be prepared for a speech. If Michael would have been prepared before-hand, expected the unexpected, and acknowledged the possible outcome, he would have had a pretty decent speech. He needed to own the burden of success. Having prepared before- hand would have enabled him to improvise when the teleprompter did not work. He would have OWNED the burden of success.

    The three levels from the article definitely apply to my performance in class. The levels give a clear structure on how one must prepare for a speech. The first level says a speaker must own the burden of success before taking the stage. Which means being prepared on all levels. I learned that preparation is key to success. Generally I am not a shy person, but when I get in front of the audience to speak I get horrible anxiety. I practiced for my informative speech and thought that would be enough to get rid of my anxiety, but it wasn’t. I had to find a way to control my anxiety & emotions when giving my speech. So I would take pauses and try to ground myself during my speech.

    The second level states that a speaker must own the burden of success while on stage. “Being prepared for everything, including the unexpected.” That is so true, I thought by practicing my speech, I would have no trouble performing it. I had memorized most of my speech, yet I found myself reading from my note cards. It’s hard not to get distracted by the audience. It’s even harder to find friendly faces in the crowd. You want to do your best and engage with people, but some people don’t even acknowledge your existence. So I found myself reading from my notes because I would get lost looking at everyone around me. I also used visuals to clear the attention from me, and give life to the speech itself. I found that using my tools definitely got some people’s attention. Even if the topic is interesting, people always want to see some action going on. I think preparing and practicing allowed me to successfully give my speech, without my tools and notecards I would’ve failed like Michael Bay.

    Finally, level three states that a speaker must own the burden of success when exiting the stage. Which means that one must own their successes and failures. After every speech, I look over my evaluation form to see what I need to work on. It’s definitely interesting to see that my biggest mistake is time management. I always seem to pass my time which is funny because while I’m timing myself at home, I always hit the clock on the dot. Which goes back to my anxiety in front of the audience. Somehow, I need to learn to integrate my pauses into my speech. Constructive criticism is essential when trying to become a better speaker.

    • I like the title, practice avoid panic. That title itself says it all. “Practice. Practice. Practice”. If only Michael Bay knows about this, he would have nailed that performance. Like Ingrid, I find the article very interesting. When I read the article and it says “burden of success” I thought of the Spiderman movie, “Great power comes great responsibility.” If one is chosen to speak to such thing like that in Michael Bay, it means that he got something to be chosen. Of course he knows that he will be speaking for a known product, Samsung. He should have thought things better,he could of took it in a better way, he could have spend time to prepare. Whether there are only 10 people in the room, or 100 people. He should made an effort of knowing how the situation will flow.

    • Response to Ingrid Salazar.
      Is this coincidental that I share the same nightmare with you? However it has been a long while since I haven’t had one of those nightmares. I agree with you that success comes with lots of responsibilities and we have to be aware of them, otherwise we are the one who will end up paying the price by our own failure. I couldn’t agree more that Michel Bay would have success in his speech and own his audience, if he was prepared, if he knew what his audience wants and if he could anticipate what would be the given questions.

  50. Michael Bay’s speech reminds me of my worst nightmare. Every so often, when I am stressed, I have this nightmare where I am falling from the sky, but I never seem to land on the ground. I get never ending butterflies in my stomach. I think that’s what happened to Michael Bay. He jumped, but did not know where to land. Preparation is essential in speech and that is something he lacked. He definitely did not know his audience, what his audience wanted, or how he was going to give them what they wanted. I don’t think he had practiced for his speech. He was probably just there doing what he was being paid to do and not as interested in the most important aspect; his audience. Although I feel empathy for Michael Bay, I am also disappointed that a man of such status would have failed so miserably. You’d think he’d have it all figured out. Just goes to show you, no matter how much money you make, we’re all human. All in all, I hope he learned to be prepared the next time he decides to take a speaking gig.

    I thought the article was very interesting. We think of success as something desired by all people. However, we never think of the burden of success. The responsibilities attached to success. I think if Michael Bay would have realized before-hand just how important the Consumer Electronics Show was, he would have been better prepared. Every time you go hear someone speak, you as the audience expect the speaker to be someone who knows what they are talking about. Especially when you hear that Michael Bay is going to be the speaker. He should have realized that from the get-go. I mean, if you are getting paid big bucks to speak, you know it’s important. I think the article clearly establishes how to be prepared for a speech. If Michael would have been prepared before-hand, expected the unexpected, and acknowledged the possible outcome, he would have had a pretty decent speech. He needed to own the burden of success. Having prepared before- hand would have enabled him to improvise when the teleprompter did not work. He would have OWNED the burden of success.

    The three levels from the article definitely apply to my performance in class. The levels give a clear structure on how one must prepare for a speech. The first level says a speaker must own the burden of success before taking the stage. Which means being prepared on all levels. I learned that preparation is key to success. Generally I am not a shy person, but when I get in front of the audience to speak I get horrible anxiety. I practiced for my informative speech and thought that would be enough to get rid of my anxiety, but it wasn’t. I had to find a way to control my anxiety & emotions when giving my speech. So I would take pauses and try to ground myself during my speech.

    The second level states that a speaker must own the burden of success while on stage. “Being prepared for everything, including the unexpected.” That is so true, I thought by practicing my speech, I would have no trouble performing it. I had memorized most of my speech, yet I found myself reading from my note cards. It’s hard not to get distracted by the audience. It’s even harder to find friendly faces in the crowd. You want to do your best and engage with people, but some people don’t even acknowledge your existence. So I found myself reading from my notes because I would get lost looking at everyone around me. I also used visuals to clear the attention from me, and give life to the speech itself. I found that using my tools definitely got some people’s attention. Even if the topic is interesting, people always want to see some action going on. I think preparing and practicing allowed me to successfully give my speech, without my tools and notecards I would’ve failed like Michael Bay.

    Finally, level three states that a speaker must own the burden of success when exiting the stage. Which means that one must own their successes and failures. After every speech, I look over my evaluation form to see what I need to work on. It’s definitely interesting to see that my biggest mistake is time management. I always seem to pass my time which is funny because while I’m timing myself at home, I always hit the clock on the dot. Which goes back to my anxiety in front of the audience. Somehow, I need to learn to integrate my pauses into my speech. Constructive criticism is essential when trying to become a better speaker.

    • I agree with your response regarding the second level of owning the burden of success because having a similar reaction to the audience, I too, read from my notecards. I think I would be able to deliver a decent speech without such high anxiety. I can practice as much as I want and still go up on stage and be incredibly nervous. I wouldn’t necessarily say public speaking is my number one fear, but it definitely is a fear of mine. I believe anyone can accept their anxiety when giving a speech. In my opinion, accepting your anxiety and controlling it is something that only practicing in front of an audience will help. Once you get used to having all eyes on you, you can allow yourself to stay calm and collected.

  51. This article buttress the fact preparation is the key to a successful speech. Michael Bay failed because he did not take the time to prepare for his speech. The article states that he ought to have prepared for every possible distraction that was to come his way. In other words, the article is great on shedding more light on the things a speaker is supposed to do before giving his/her speech. The fact that every speaker should own the burden of success. It has made everything to be crystal clear on preparing for the speech. I believe and see the article as a key point to the success of public speaking.
    The three levels of owning the burden of success.
    1. Owning the burden of success before the mounting the stage: This applies to me in many ways. I always have these sentence playing in my head every time I have a speech to give in class “If they (fellow students) can do it I can do it; I must not be different at not being able to deliver my speech.” Based on the fact that I have this hunger for a successful speech in me the burden is all up in my mind that this must be a success. That drive makes it easier for me to execute my speech. I remember when I had my first speech, I was scared at facing the class, but when I got used to the class more by knowing my room and seeing other students doing their thing the rest was history.
    2. Owning the burden of success while on stage: When speaking on the stage, I believe that is the most difficult part of the affair of speech, this because why speaking if you are not prepared for the worse of all distraction that could happen you are doomed. Basically, when I am on stage, I cannot wait to finish and leave the stage. Also, I try to be very focused and at the same relaxed. I do not let anxiety take over me on the stage. I have moderate anxiety and I say to myself. I cannot afford to back down, this speech must be a success. All these are possible because preparation has been made in all aspect that is needed.
    3. Owning the burden of success when exiting the stage. When you are on stage you could tell if your audience are into what you are telling them or not. This could derail you from the track because some people could criticize you right there and now, but it is just one of the ways for you to do better at your speech. You have that burden of success when exiting the stage wondering if you did well or not. Be confidence till the end of the speech.

    • I agree with your last comment, owning the speech until the very end. I remember for my own speech I tried to own it until the end, but right when I finished my presentation I ran to my seat. It’s pretty scary wondering if you did well or not. Especially when you have so many eyes staring at you. I have a bit high anxiety so I wanted to leave the stage as soon as possible. You’re right though, once you are up there, delivering the speech should be easy. Why back down when you have already come so far? Confidence is definitely key in delivering a successful speech.

  52. Anxiety Overload

    1. I thought Michael Bay’s speech had a lot of potential. Being such a known director/producer in Hollywood, I am sure he had lots to say. I feel that if he had actually practiced and memorized most of his speech, he could have easily nailed it brilliantly. It is obvious that Michael was unable to allow himself to channel his fear/anxiety into positive energy into his speech. Therefore, Michael walked off stage and apologized because he simply did not practice. With practice, his speech could have easily became strong and he could have stressed key points he believes would have made up his speech. Ultimately, I believe Michael Bay’s speech showed nothing more than his lack of confidence in giving his presentation and also, how unprepared he was.

    2. Finding the article interesting enough, I do agree with the three levels of owning the burden of success. When Michael Bay attempted to give his speech at the Consumer Electronics Show, he failed to show his audience (and millions of people watching or who would eventually watch) that he could, indeed own the burden of his success. By being utterly unprepared and seeming uncomfortable, he showed lack of motivation to even make himself seem like he was prepared. By giving up completely and allowing his anxiety to take over, he blamed the teleprompter for his inability to say what he intended to. And lastly, by apologizing and leaving the stage awkwardly, he showed his audience that he could not own the burden of success. He could not accept that he had failed to give his speech and walked off stage, in a “get me out of here” manner. I believe the way he exited made an even bigger impact on his downhill presentation because his actions showed no desire to actually wanting to improve. This article made sense to me because I do agree that this is how anything in life should be seen as well. Being prepared for anything and everything is important in all aspects of our lives. The three levels of owning the burden of success applies to real life challenges and can improve building character.

    3. Even just the thought of public speaking has always given me anxiety. I knew what I was signing myself up for once I registered for COMM 101, and sure enough, my past speeches have showed for that. But fortunately, these three levels of owning the burden of success have changed the way I see public speaking. I failed my most recent Informative Speech for many reasons. For one, I wrote my speech at the very last minute. Two, I did not do enough research to support my main ideas and most importantly, three: I could not control my anxiety and the fact that I had not practiced.
    My most relatable experience to Michael Bay’s was the day I gave my Informative Speech Presentation. Unable to own the burden of success in level 1, I whispered my speech to myself while people before me aced their presentations, I sat and came up with horrifying daydreams of me babbling on about stuff I was clueless about and pictured myself “winging it”. When my turn came, I failed to get through level two. I could not become comfortable with my audience because I was just extremely nervous. I gave one to maybe three glances at a couple of classmates and decided to just read off of my notecards for the rest of my presentation. This was me being completely and totally unprepared. As I got closer to my conclusion and the ending of my presentation, I noticed I sounded boring and monotonous. At the end I decided to come up with a new conclusion and regretted it right after I did so. When I finished, I realized what a horrible presentation I had just attempted to give and wanted out of the class immediately. This was the result of level 3. Due to procrastinating terribly and not managing my time wisely, I received a very ugly grade in which I most definitely believe I deserved.

    Applying these three levels of success to future presentations, I believe I could get through anything I set my mind to. As a means to everyday life and real scenarios, these levels certainly apply.

    • I felt the same way about Michael’s speech. You would think that someone as brilliant as him would have a lot to say. You’re right, if he would have practiced the speech, he would have had some key points to make, even after the teleprompter went off. When the host asked him, “The curve. How do you think it’s going to impact how viewers experience your movies?” Right then and there he could have simply given his opinion. Not only was he unprepared, but he also lacked confidence. With a little preparation, he would have enough confidence to wing it.

  53. Practice Makes Perfect
    Speaking in a room filled with hundreds of people can be a challenge for anybody. Especially in a room where there are many cameras watching you. However, when a company choose you to talk about their product but then you ended up walking away from the stage in front of everybody and blame the teleprompter for your mistakes. I do not think that is right. I believed Michael Bay should have not only rely on the teleprompter. However, should have at least memorized on what he was going to say and spoke from experience. On a side note, when this incident happened he brought much attention to the convention and in some sense advertised it.The three levels of Success
    This article talks about 3 levels of success. The 1st level is about how you comfortable in the place where you are going to give the speech at. The 2nd level is all about that preparation. Also that the speaker hold the responsibility if anything good or bad happens. The Speaker should be prepare if anything bad happens like in Michael Bay case even the teleprompter. Finally the 3rd level is about how speaker should learn from his or her mistakes in speeches. I personally think people should learn how to fix their mistakes anything.
    When I apply the 3 levels of success in my performances. In general, I am not comfortable giving speeches but I find ways to deal or even fake it until I make it. For example in the last speech I gave in class I was really nervous. I get so nervous that I squeeze my hand into a ball. But when I was moving the table and podium recklessly. I felt better. Also I make up a saying in my head just for that speech. Every saying I make is unique for that speech. One of the saying I use is that “I will never see these people again”. That somehow gives enough motivation to say my speech without looking nervous. I normally pick my topics that I feel people should know and care about. By doing that somehow it gives me extra motivation in order to my speech successfully. I kind of prepare for my speech by using my anxiety in order to prepare, practice and over react. I do not like to use note cards in general because I feel like if I use those note cards. Also I know that I will rely on them by staring at my note card more than my audience. Plus if I hold them my hands. I will be shaking too much till the point where I can’t not read them property. If something happen to me during my speech I am responsible for it good or bad. I take full credit. I don’t follow the 3rd level of success as much as I should. When I make a mistake I normally let it go. I got lucky in this class because I didn’t make a major mistake but I should learn from my mistakes wherever I go. This is a model I should not use just in class but in life general.

    • i agree, practice makes perfect. If only Michael Bay could have made time to prepare, then he will BE PREPARED. He should have known better. Burden before the presentation, obviously he did not prepare for this. Because if he did, he would not blame any teleprompters for his failure. He can say he is winging it. Because many of us are so nervous in public speaking that we forgot our script, and says to ourselves to wing it. But he could have done it better, only if he made some effort to know what is coming on his way before getting up on that stage.

    • I agree with your comment completely. Instead of trying to come off confident and blame the teleprompter he should just try to answer the question calmly. He should have been prepared for this speech and get to know the audience and tell them that he was anxious and uncomfortable in speaking in public. I’m sure they will feel empathic for him. If he knew that he could not do it he should have prepare the event people and maybe make the stage less scary. At first I felt like he was acting like a child, I don’t like this so I’m going to run away. It was almost like having a tantrum.

  54. Responsibility Behind Success

    1. When looking at Mr. Bay’s Presentation I can only think of how nervous and embarrassed he must have felt, but Even though I cant feel bad for him because he ultimately knew that he was responsible for giving a speech. I also don’t feel bad for him because he should’ve been prepared to give this speech and I don’t see why it shouldn’t been much of a burden to write out some time of plan. He should’ve taken full responsibility for his performance like he did for his hit movies. I hope that Mr. Bay learned from his embarrassing performance and be better prepared for his future speeches if he doesn’t want to be known as a joke for not being able to deliver a simple speech.

    2. In my opinion the article about the three levels of success is very well put together in order to get the message out about delivering and preparing for a successful speech. The article states that a speaker must own the burden of his or her success by being prepared which I undoubtedly agree because if a speaker does not prepare for his or her speech in any way the only outcome is a terrible one. I also agree about the other parts that a speaker must be prepared for any unexpected challenges that come their way and the part about learning from your failures and successes.

    3. In my own experience I can undoubtedly relate all three levels of being prepared for delivering a speech from the article. The way that I relate to the first rule which is being prepared on all levels is because I applied this rule to my informative speech, even though I did prepare for my speech I can honestly say that I didn’t give my speech with great performance.The reason that I did not give my best performance is because I didn’t prepare for the most challenging part in my opinion about a presentation which, is practicing giving the speech. The second rule which is being prepared for unplanned events when delivering a speech to me is very important for me because I should ultimately be prepared if I get lost during my performance. I can honestly say that I have learned a great deal about this rule from this article and from my speech professor Mr. Duane Smith. Professor Smith has taught me and others about having some type of guide to rely on if I or anyone else should get into some type of trouble like forgetting your place in the performance. This directive indeed assisted me in my performance. The third directive or rule that this article highlights is owning your successes as well as your failures. This directive has given me a greater and more open mind in accepting my failures and I have applied this directive throughout my adolescent years in life as well as my speech. This rule has helped me accomplish many things in my life that without it I think I would’ve struggled much more than I have. As for applying it for my speech performance and the critique that I received from Professor Smith, I respect and will learn from my mistakes that I did on my last performance. But, I cant promise that I will learn quickly from my mistakes in my last performance but I can honestly say that I will try. Thank You, Professor Smith for all the help and direction that you have shared with me that I can say will help me in the future.

    • I agree with you Ruben. Mr. Bay cannot escape his burden by blaming the teleprompter or the consumers (his fans) for being there and expecting to see a successful movie director talk to them in person. I am curious to know if Samsung or the Consumer Electronics Show took any type of action or position after Mr. Bay’s non-performance or if the ‘teleprompter’ excuse actually qualified as a ‘deal-breaker’ entitling Michael to escape his obligations to the sponsor under contract. Either way, from the number of comments made in reaction to this episode, it is quite evident that my perception of Mr. Bay is at least flawed.

  55. Unprepared Micheal Bay

    1. Well spoken Professor Duane, Yes, A speaker must own burden of success

    before taking the stage, absolutely right, looking back at the directive number

    two, A public speaker’s number one concern his always his or her audience and

    we must consider – who they are, what does my audience want and how i can

    give my audience what the want, but unfortunately, me on my second

    informative speech and Micheal Bay a successive outstanding director of action

    films known for big explosions, but when Samsung chose him to promote its

    bendy televisions he was not supposed to bomb on stage. He strode into the

    spotlight of the Consumer Electronics Show on Monday to praise the company’s

    ultra-high definition curved TVs as a technology whose time had come.

    Hundreds of journalists and industry professionals, gathered in a Las Vegas hall

    for the world’s biggest gadget expo, watched Bay take his position in front of a

    105-in screen with bright, hyper-sharp images. Who better than the director of

    the Transformers franchise to convince us of the transformative power of a

    television designed to wow consumers and help safeguard Samsung’s future? but

    with is unpreparedness or possibly anxiety he blow it and that was ever regret of

    his life.

    2. Speaker holding the burden of success while on stage is crucial, directive

    number three – A public speaker preparation is the key to success that is, it’s

    important thing a public speaker does to ensure a successful presentation is

    preparation and its hard for me to believe a multiple award

    winner Mr Bay did that before he got to the podium meaning he lacks a speaker

    burden of success, He also lost his existence while he was on the stage, Bay

    quailed, hunched his shoulders and scuttled off stage. “Excuse me. I’m sorry. I’m

    sorry.” An excruciating silence descended before Stinziano, marooned, asked for

    the audience to applaud. A few clapped and that shows non existence, imagine

    someone we hoped to looked up to made this unforgettable error. The burden

    of success wasn’t exist for Micheal but the error he made will ever exist.

    3. Compare this articles once again to my two level of my performance, i can tell

    you my first presentation was well prepared even thou am extremely nervous

    unlike the informative speech because I lack the opportunity from my

    unpreparedness to watch myself as if i am a member of the audience. An

    improvements is necessary we pay attention to the details that will inspire

    motivation. making eye contact, using proper body language and sound natural

    and motivational will surely generates our existence on the stage.

    • Well done on how you incorporated Bay’s successful career and his undoubtedly unsuccessful speech deliverance in your response. I believe that it would have been a great opportunity for both Michael Bay and Samsung if this speech would have been a success. This shows us that not only did Mr. Bay make himself look bad but, he also made the company Samsung look bad because they took the risk on getting him to deliver a speech for their future product. I also agree that Mr. Bay should learn from his mistake and try to make people forget about his last speech which gave him fame for not being able to deliver a speech, although he is a very successful director.

      • I totally agree on Ruben Ortiz’s comment. Yes, Michael Bay is successful in Hollywood and ranked amongst the successful names in Hollywood. But it was a huge failure on his part for letting Samsung down in believing in his work. He was invited to give the speech, so he could inspire others. It was a total mess. The first time I watched the clip, I learnt that no matter how smart you think you are, if you are not prepared for your speech you will fail woefully. He should learn from his mistakes and know that the reason he failed was because he was not prepared. It was baffling to me how he stormed off the stage I shame.

  56. My thought on the articles – Unprepared Micheal Bay

    Of course always phenomena, well spoken, i learnt A speaker can talk about how

    to be successful, happy, fulfilled and engaged in better relationships. No topic is

    really off limits as long as what you say inspires people to do something. Think

    about our passions, and base our topic on something we feel strongly about. It

    will be hard to motivate others if we do not care much about what we are saying.

    that we have to understand the people we will target as audience members

    before we get too far into the development of your career. Different groups of

    people need to be communicated with in different ways. Our audience will

    expect us to know a lot about the subject of our motivational speech. Read,

    study and stay current in the field.

  57. My thought about Micheal Bay Speech .

    Unprepared Micheal Bay

    Michael Bay is a director of action films known for big explosions, but when

    Samsung chose him to promote its bendy televisions he was not supposed to

    bomb on stage. He strode into the spotlight of the Consumer Electronics Show

    on that day to praise the company’s ultra-high definition curved TVs as a

    technology whose time had come. Hundreds of journalists and industry

    professionals, gathered in a Las Vegas hall for the world’s biggest gadget expo,

    watched Bay take his position in front of a 105-in screen with bright, hyper

    sharp images. Who better than the director of the Transformers franchise to

    convince us of the transformative power of a television designed to wow

    consumers and help safeguard Samsung’s future? but with is unpreparedness he

    blew it and that was ever regret of his life.

  58. He could not care less about samsung TVs

    1. Michael Bay was obviously unprepared to take the stage, and most likely did not care about what he had to say. He was most likely paid a large amount of money by Samsung to promote their new product and this is something that did not interest him very much so he did not prepare and study. The proof of it is that when the teleprompter broke he was at a loss for words since he simply had nothing to say about the product. Samsung wrote his entire speech for him most likely and he obviously did not care enough to deliver it properly.

    2. The article is absolutely excellent because it describes exactly what it takes to be a great public speaker using Michael Bay’s hilarious failure as an entertaining example. The article through outlining what it takes to become a truly good public speaker gives excellent advice for anything anybody does in life, which is to take responsibility for ones actions and take pride in everything they do. Level 1 is to study and prepare, level 2 is being able to continue even is things go wrong, and level 3 is to always take good advice and know that listening to others is very important.

    3. The three levels of the article apply to my performance in the class directly because only I am responsible for what I do, and therefore must carry the burden for my actions alone. Depending on how much I study, depending on how prepared I am for when it is my turn to speak, and depending on whether or not I take the professors advice about my work will determine my success in the class. My grade is representative of these three levels or responsibility because if I don’t prepare my speech it will not be good, and if I don’t practice I will not deliver it well. If I do not take responsibility for what I do on stage for example forget my flash cards and forget my speech the only person responsible is me, if during my speech someone walks in or a phone goes off and I am not prepared It is I who will suffer. And most importantly If I do not do as the professor says I will not receive a grade that I consider desirable in the class. This means that if on an assignment I did not do as well as I hoped my first step is to ask the professor for advice on where I went wrong and make sure to not be upset but trust what he says is right and beneficial, because there is a reason that he is the professor. He knows what he is talking about. I must then make all the necessary improvements and do better next time. This will not only help me pass the class but is a recipe for success in my entire college career and of course a very good skill to have in life, because learning from the experience of others is wise.

  59. 1. Michael Bay was obviously unprepared to take the stage, and most likely did not care about what he had to say. He was most likely paid a large amount of money by Samsung to promote their new product and this is something that did not interest him very much so he did not prepare and study. The proof of it is that when the teleprompter broke he was at a loss for words since he simply had nothing to say about the product. Samsung wrote his entire speech for him most likely and he obviously did not care enough to deliver it properly.

    2. The article is absolutely excellent because it describes exactly what it takes to be a great public speaker using Michael Bay’s hilarious failure as an entertaining example. The article through outlining what it takes to become a truly good public speaker gives excellent advice for anything anybody does in life, which is to take responsibility for ones actions and take pride in everything they do. Level 1 is to study and prepare, level 2 is being able to continue even is things go wrong, and level 3 is to always take good advice and know that listening to others is very important.

    3. The three levels of the article apply to my performance in the class directly because only I am responsible for what I do, and therefore must carry the burden for my actions alone. Depending on how much I study, depending on how prepared I am for when it is my turn to speak, and depending on whether or not I take the professors advice about my work will determine my success in the class. My grade is representative of these three levels or responsibility because if I don’t prepare my speech it will not be good, and if I don’t practice I will not deliver it well. If I do not take responsibility for what I do on stage for example forget my flash cards and forget my speech the only person responsible is me, if during my speech someone walks in or a phone goes off and I am not prepared It is I who will suffer. And most importantly If I do not do as the professor says I will not receive a grade that I consider desirable in the class. This means that if on an assignment I did not do as well as I hoped my first step is to ask the professor for advice on where I went wrong and make sure to not be upset but trust what he says is right and beneficial, because there is a reason that he is the professor. He knows what he is talking about. I must then make all the necessary improvements and do better next time. This will not only help me pass the class but is a recipe for success in my entire college career and of course a very good skill to have in life, because learning from the experience of others is wise.

  60. Unspeakable Speech

    I think Michael Bay ought to have done better than that based on his caliber of a person, a well renowned movie director. I know that speech was not an impromptu, because he might have been informed beforehand. To me Michael Bay’s speech was a big disgrace. I have always believed that a failed speech is like picking your nose in public. If he was not able to prepare a speech for himself; he should have seek the assistance from experts in public speaking which is not too much for him to pay for.

    • I completely agree with aaron_ukponahiusi what he wrote in his post titled “Unspeakable Speech” is absolute correct. Michael Bay should have done a much better job preparing for the speech. He was speaking in front of hundreds in the audience plus the speech was recorded for millions to watch on TV. Not to mention that he was surely handsomely rewarded by Samsung to promote their new product, and by his performance not only did he fail to do this but also harmed the product by showing how little he cares for it, and that its not worth a few hours of his time.

    • Unprepared Micheal Bay

      Truly a speaker can talk about how to be successful, happy, fulfilled and

      engaged in better relationships, when he or she prepared. No topic is really off

      limits as long as what you say inspires people to do something. Think about our

      passions, and base our topic on something we feel strongly about. It will be hard

      to motivate others if we do not care much about what we are saying or the

      audience. Because we have to understand that the people we will target is the

      audience members before we get too far into or committing ourself to an

      unprepared speech . Different groups of people need to be communicated with

      in different ways. Our audience will expect us to know a lot about the subject of

      our motivational speech. Read, study and stay current in the field.

    • This article buttress the fact preparation is the key to a successful speech. Michael Bay failed because he did not take the time to prepare for his speech. The article states that he ought to have prepared for every possible distraction that was to come his way. In other words, the article is great on shedding more light on the things a speaker is supposed to do before giving his/her speech. The fact that every speaker should own the burden of success. It has made everything to be crystal clear on preparing for the speech. I believe and see the article as a key point to the success of public speaking.

  61. Money didn’t make him wise

    1. Being the center of attention can be very nerve wrecking, especially for those who are not prepared. No one ever thinks to themselves that they want to be a failure and in the case of Michael Bay I am assuming that he never even imagined that he may fail to answer a simple question like what he thinks about curve TV’s. As we learned in the beginning of the class managing anxiety level is one of the most important things that speaker should be able to control. Bay at first showed very low level of anxiety, which lead him to fail. Also, we learned that “preparation is the most important thing a public speaker does to ensure a successful presentation,” which Bay hadn’t done himself. Many articles and websites say, “ be prepared for the worse. ” I think Bay was only unprepared for the worst but he was unprepared at all.

    2. A great article for anyone who is thinking to give a speech in front of any audience in any manner. First two levels described in the article were pretty straight forward and were about preparation above and behind. The 3rd level described in the article made me reread entire article over again. In my mind I always thought once the speech is over and it didn’t go well I just needed to spend more time in order to improve my skills. However, now I understand how critique can help me in terms of applying the concept next time and be one more step closer to success.

    3. Hard “work” pays off in many situations. It doesn’t just pay the bills, tuition or give you money in the pocket, but when it is done properly, without any unnecessary usage of energy, it provides a positive balance in our life. Many people that are successful is not because just they are, but because they want to be successful and they work hard to achieve their goals. By now every one of us should be able comprehend one simple and most important key factor for successful speech. Preparation as it is described in the Directive 3 is the most important thing a public speaker does to ensure a successful presentation and it doesn’t apply only for level 1, which is owning the burden of success before taking the stage, but also for level 2 and level 3 which are the owning burden of success while in the stage and when we are exiting the stage. And I think preparation by itself needs to be done properly in order to work. Now I will discuss the ways that these 3 levels apply in my speech during class presentation. First and second levels of preparation for me are to prepare as early as I can. Many students, including my self until recent years thinking that studying night before the class or exam will help me to memorize most of the subject. After few failures I decided to listen to my friends advice and instead of staying up all night before the exam, I did my homework early and went to the bed very early the day before exam. The outcome was so appreciable that starting at that point I never studied the day of the exam. I think we should own the burden of success during the upcoming speech after having this much valuable instructions in our hands. And finally, like I disclosed on the second paragraph, I did not really think about my critics and owning burden of success while exiting the stage. However, now that I learned about this important step I will follow all advises and take consideration while exiting the stage.

    • 2. Sevak Chilingaryan’ response “Money didn’t make him wise” to question 3 was absolutely fantastic, because it brought home the idea that the three levels from the article not only apple to performing a speech but to ones entire college career. Each of them is very important especially preparation and taking the advice of others. When Sevak Chilingaryan began properly preparing for his exams is when he started seeing results. This happened after he took his friends advice which is basically level three since he examined himself after performing according to the advice of others. This also applies to life skills since that’s where the stakes are truly high.

      • Well i am no going to say money didn’t making him wise because he made

        all his money from is acting and that takes lots of talent, he’s a successive

        outstanding director of action films known for big explosions. He lacks

        preparation and that might be because of his lot of commitments due to his

        scope of job. I am sure he had learned this the hard way. He wouldn’t cook

        without assembling everything in advance and reading his instructions so in

        advance for weeks on the night (or day) before or for the next day. Not

        only does it make the day run smoother, it helps him or anyone get into bed

        with a relaxed mind because I am not trying to remember everything for the

        next day – it is already assembled and pulled together.

  62. Be admirable with preparation, and pitiful without it.

    1. What we saw in the video was one of the clearest visions of anxiety in public speech. It is not true that if a professional in a profession is capable in his own vocation, he will be necessarily professional in other fields as well. That’s why, the reputation of Michael Bay, as a topnotch movie maker, in cinema industry, couldn’t ensure his success in public speaking. Public speech, even in the area of the one’s profession, needs something, more than mere information. It needs extra practice for presenting the information as well, and this practice is as important as the information per se. The first thing I felt about Michael Bay in his speech, in Las Vegas, was not anything more than pity, and this feeling, that I’m sure is a common sense between most of the audiences, overshadows the sense of admiration about his magnificent talent in cinema industry.
    2. I am totally agreed with the article. I believe preparation and practicing are the key factors en route success. The more being prepared, the best presentation in any tasks will be achieved. About the levels of preparation, I think the first level ” Owning the burden of success before taking the stage simply means being prepared on all levels ” is as important as the third level ” Owning the burden of success when you exit the stage means celebrating what worked, and learning from your failures”, because I think they have mutual effects on each other. Being prepared in the first level that can lead the speech to the results that will cause positive reflections in the third level of preparation, and also the experiences we will got from the third one can help us to have a better first level preparation for our next speech.
    3. About my own experiences related to these three levels of preparation, I learnt many things from Dr Smith’s reflection about my first speech. My weak points, my straight points, time managements. These important factors, that I realized, were my third level preparation about my first speech, which had been ignored by me during my first level preparation. As an example, limiting the time of the first cultural speech to 4 minutes was one of the requirements to gain complete scores. During my first level preparation in my first speech, I didn’t seriously worked on time management, and put my time and effort mostly on my presentation and controlling my anxiety. Consequently, despite my good presentation, according to Dr smith’s self-opinion, I missed my scores for lacking of time-management. My speech exceeded 4 minutes and got finished in 5 minutes and 30 seconds. This experience, as the third level of preparation, made me aware of the importance of time management , at least for presenting an academic speech. Therefore, preparing my second speech, I considered time-management as an important factor, and beside all of my attention through my accurate presentation, I put my eye on stop watch as well. Therefore, in my next speech, I could finish my speech in the time, slightly more than its authorized time, for about 15 seconds more than 5 minutes. And I’m sure that for the next time I will do it in the exact time range.
    About my second level of preparation, I think it is really hard, specially for a novice speaker to control her/his attention and accuracy, during any haphazard distracting. I believe working on controlling attention, during speech, is somehow the hardest part of preparation. For me, any distractor in my first speech, like an student’s coughing, or entering to the class was like a nightmare. Even increasing 10 points to the speaker, due any distracting from students, as a relief motivator from Dr smith, was also an extra distractor for me. Because with any distraction, from students, during my speech, I spent a time, thinking about not being distracted, and keep going, and also put some extra time, thinking: Yeeeah I’ll have one more extra credit for this distraction.

    • I believe that most tasks that are worth learning how to do take time and effort to master. But I’m not so sure that novice speakers and competitive speakers can be grouped into different categories of expected performance. I believe that with enough rehearsal and practice that even novice speakers can become acquainted with any material well enough to be able to deliver what everyone would think of as an excellent speech. I do not know exactly how to prepare for interruptions however I do agree fully that having the point cushion barrier is kind of a wonderful protective little bubble. Bravo for the extra credit on you’re distraction as well.

  63. Bay Forgot His Toilet Paper
    1. Bay definitely forgot his roll of paper for the show. The teleprompter is not to blame for his failure but yet himself. Bay knew what he was getting himself into when he accepted to appear for the consumer electronics show. For someone who has been in the entertainment industry for many years the man could have been able to pull of something quickly, especially when it was about something that not only made him millions of bucks but yet something he had created. He should always carry note cards everywhere he goes even if it means having to repeat himself.

    2. This article points out the different ways Michael Bay could have prevented himself from getting embarrassed on the big screen. This is the key to help many speakers prepare so that they will not experience a Michael Bay blackout. To give your best performance you must use your time wisely and prepare yourself unless you want to make a fool out of yourself just like Bay did. Just because we know how to write a speech it doesn’t mean that we can go on any stage and just read it out loud. Practice, practice, practice and you will do great.

    3. -The three levels of success are great points because it helps a speaker on different notes. “A speaker must own the burden of success before taking the stage.” To give a successful speech we have to be physically and mentally ready. How you dress defines the way you feel about yourself. If you’re wearing something uncomfortable your speech will suck. Controlling your nervousness is something all speakers should control because that will either guide you smoothly through your presentation or it will bring you down. Preparing properly for a speech will help you the speaker own the burden of success.
    – “A speaker must own the burden of success while on stage.” Many speakers like myself can be very shy to speak in front of others but it’s up to us to find that comfort spot. Having the burden of success while being on stage is not only about controlling your level of anxiety or having a well written speech but it is also about becoming familiar with the objects and equipment that we might use. Having a plan b in case there are any complications while delivering our speeches or presenting something is another way to obtaining that burden of success.
    – “A speaker must own the burden of success when they exit the stage.” The best feeling every speaker has is that relief after they have delivered their speech. The only way you know you owned the burden of success when you exited the stage is when you ended with a positive note about yourself and you feel like you did a great job and did not just scrammed through your speech quickly. The key to owning all three levels of success in this speech class is properly preparing yourself not only physically and mentally but using your spare time wisely.

    • In respond to Maria Vargas
      Maria Vargas on her respond to the article has a many great points and she describes Mr. Bay situation very well. However, in my opinion she misinterpreted the last part where she talks about owning the burden of success when exiting the stage. According to the Maria the only way you know that you owned burden of success when you ending your speech with a positive note and you filling good about you presentation. In my understanding owning the burden of success when exiting the stage may be clearly reflected after failure while in the stage. As it stated in the original article owning the burden of success when you exit the stage means celebrating what worked, and learning from your failures…student speakers fully celebrate this crucial truth, the successful speakers that is!”

  64. 1) It is not for every one to get on stage and talk freely smoothly, and without nervousness in front of a crowed whether big or small they are some people who have the natural gift to get a up and speak any time about the subjects they like to talk about. They’re other kind of people who cannot speak fluently but they express themselves successfully in writing. It is a good idea to write the speech down and record it and listen to it as many time as needed till they know it by hart and practice it at home in front of a mirror this helps a person to eliminate the nervous moves one makes showing his weakness in front of the audience.

    2) The article about Michael Bay’s speech is a great educational piece that teaches about who carries the burden of the successes in all kinds of speeches in front of live audiences .The article talks about being well prepared prior to addressing the crowd and not blame the teleprompter the article also gives the idea of having note cards to use them in such a case he was in as we saw in the clip.
    The article also teaches the speakers how to embrace the criticisms as a way to maturing their speech abilities and improve their performances and mentions that the most important part of a speech season is leaving the stage triumphantly leaving a great impression of success on the audience that will be remembered for long.

    3) The article about Michael Bay’s speech has a great importance to me because learning from other peoples’ mistakes is a great way to eliminate them in my life I learned from this article that I must carry the burden of success and it is my responsibility to be prepared very well before getting on stage to talk to the audience. By Being well prepare we can also manage our moves our voice tones and not to have any signs of nervousness on the stage because uttering the words and showing signs of not being confortable in the situation will show our uncertainty handling our job which in turn will lead the performer to a total disaster which we saw in Michael Bay’s case in the short clip I also learned that The speaker must be mentally prepared for people walking in late, people walking out early, talking and whispering phones ringing and vibrating, people texting, computer, audio and visual challenges, and yes teleprompter issues.
    It is also very important to have very calm days prior to the event. We cannot think clearly and take fluently if our minds are congested with unnecessary thoughts, which will blur our thinking and our memory.
    The article also mentions a good idea to having note cards to remember a general notes to assure smooth transactions between passages I thank our professor for giving me this article to write about and to digest it fully, because as beginner I have to see the failures of even great and successful people and get vital experiences in order not to be scared and be very well prepared to avoid situations like Mr. Michael Bay’s was in I learned that the burden of the success is only on me when I get up on the stage and for this reason I must do three things to have a triumphant grand finally while leaving the stage with great impression on the audience and those three things are practice, practice and more practice.

    • As a respond to Anashe,
      It is true that some people are amazing in some tasks and show weakness in some others. Also, I am agree with you that being a good writer cannot necessarily ensure your talent in other aspects, But I also believe that even not talented people have shown amazing job after dedicating their time and efforts on it. In Michael Bay case, everyone knows that he had enough time to put on a simple preparation for his speech. And it is unjustifiable for him not to plan for this simple task. I think, even studying from a piece of speech paper was more bearable than leaving the stage like that and belittle the audiences and himself simultaneously.

    • I have really enjoyed your response to the article and I agree with your statement about how some people are gifted at different aspects and situations. I can honestly say that I’m a better and more gifted writer than I am a public speaker. I also agree with your method on how to possibly eliminate the nervousness that comes with public speaking and I’m going to give it a try. I also agree with what you said about learning from other individuals mistakes in order to avoid them in my life. Again I really enjoyed how you broke down the three rules given in this article.

    • Comment two. Response to Anashe Garibian
      In response to given questions Anashe has many great points. It is true that not everyone is gifted from nature, and not everyone can stand on the stage front of the big or small audience and do public speaking without any anxiety or nervousness. I liked the points and ideas that she makes regarding how to overcome that feelings by expressing themselves on writing. The idea of recording self performance and learning the speech by hart is also a good idea for the one who cannot perform front of the audience without anxiety. As we all agree, one thing we can do to perform smoothly, is the preparation. When you are prepared you are more confident!!

    • learning from other peoples mistake by observing is something that most people find it not to be true cause some people believe that in other for you to learn you have to experience it yourself but I agree with you by watching others commit mistake you learn what to change in other to improve your weak areas that someone else could have those weak areas as well and also by getting better outcomes from it. Research, practicing the performs, and having confidence in yourself could get you a great speech but it also helps getting feedback from friends to know exactly where you are lacking and where you stand strong in speech. Therefore I hope I don’t freeze up like Mr. Bay in my next speech.

  65. Levels To Success

    1. Michael Bay speech was definitely short. I am pretty sure he had someone write the speech for him so he could just learn it or familiarize with it. And it is obvious that he didn’t care much about practicing the speech. Which by doing that he violate the most important of the rules that makes a great speaker, and that is to practice. Although, it also important to bring to the table the fact that he is a very busy individual who decide to focus his time on something else instead of focusing on his speech that day, and doing that cost him a very big embarrassment.
    2. There are great points professor Duane bring on this article, as he describe “the three levels to speaker- success”. From preparing yourself before your speech to learning from mistakes, it is very important to follow this steps in order to deliver a great speech. As knowing your audience it is the number one rule for every speaker. It is key to know how you give them the information they are looking for, and preparing for it. This article is an eye opener and a tool for us as students to use and improve the way we give speeches. We can definitely take Michael Bay mistake as a lesson to learn and apply the three levels from Professor Duane to future class presentations.
    3. The three levels presented by Professor Duane on this article has been of great help not just on my presentations but for the entire class as well. Starting with the level one, “A speaker must own the burden of success before taking the stage” Preparation is the key to a great speech. There is no other way of putting it. If you prepare for an event that is coming then you most likely will do good or even excel at it. Regardless of what you want to accomplish, can be a sport competition to a job interview, if you focus on preparing yourself for it, then there is no doubt that you will accomplish it.
    Level two, “A speaker must own the burden of success while on stage”, on every presentation it is critical that as a speaker you prepare for the unexpected, because as life can be many times unfair, the same with a presentation or speech, many things can happen from having a tough audience to forgetting your own presentation. As we can see the way Michael Bay was not prepare for the unexpected and blame the teleprompter for his failure. It can also happen to anybody, and the only way to avoid this is by preparing yourself for the unexpected. Plan ahead what can happen and how you would deal with it. If you cover this step before any presentation then your confidence will prevail over your fears.
    And finally the level three, “A speaker must own the burden of success when they exit the stage”. Knowing how to react to the outcome of your presentation. Your reaction can determinate the level of professionalism you have. Because even though you prepare yourself for a presentation, there will be moments were you will not get the recognition you expected, and that is hard criticism, but there is a reason why that exist, and is for the purpose to learn from our mistakes even as little they might look for us, it is imperative that we take note of such and determinate to improve them. At the end, perfecting our skills will not get somebody else farther in life but ourselves.

    • Bay’s speech reminded me of my first day in communication class. I went in 10 minutes late and the second I stepped in I was told to stand in the middle of the class and Professor Smith hit me with the most random questions and all I did was say the first thing that popped unto my head and couldn’t believe what i had said. Learning all three levels of burden of success made me realize that I was nowhere close to preparation for speech class.86 The only difference was that I didn’t know what i was getting myself into.

    • Yes, I thing you are completly right regarding these 3 levels in order to own the burden of success. In your article you mentioned that preparation is the most important part of the speech before taking the stage. Also, in the second part of your article you talked about preparation for unexpected events, which is a great point for us as a new learners to overcame, because “the real life,” like says Prof. Duane Smith, is full of the unexpected surprises. Finally you talked about owning the burden of success when exiting the stage and afterward. As a student most important and dangerous part of the last level is not to get discouraged from hardhard criticism and take it as a good advise.

  66. In response to Soila Revera, i have done the same thing at work i would give my speech to my co-workers and they would listen to me. As i agreed with Josephine Athieno i also agree with you as well that practice makes it better. Even if its not giving a speech whatever we do in life when we practice it makes us a better person in what we are doing. I also had the same feeling right after my speech once i was done i had such confidence that i was proud of myself for even going up and speaking in front of a classroom and not being shy or stuttering. Preparation is the main key to becoming a successful person.

  67. Failure of Bays Speech

    1) Watching Michael Bay’s speech left me speechless and shocked. I would never think that a person like him who is a millionair wouldn’t know how to give a speech. If i never knew who he was and just watched the speech he gave at vegas i would thing that he is some type of uneducated person but then again its also vey nerve racking thing getting up and giving public speeches in front of so many people. It clearly shows that Michael Bay was not prepared for his
    speech at all because even tho that teleprompter wasn’t working he should of had a second back up plan on what he was going to say. Leaving the stage in that way and blaming the teleprompter was not professional on his behalf so imagine how shocked the audience were at that second.
    2) The article is very clear and helpful to understand about the three stages, burden of success. I agree that Michael Bay was not prepared and he didn’t know exactly how to control his own anxiety. Michael Bay should of really took his time and practiced before getting up on the stage him as a successful person should of at least took sometime and make sure all the computers and electronics were working properly. Being a successful person doesn’t mean that very thing is going to be easy and done for you just like how he thought he was prepared but when his teleprompter went down he just look very unprofessional for not even having a backup like another teleprompter or even flash cards.
    3) The three levels of this article give me more of an idea of how i should be a successful speaker. I have learned that being on time is one of the most important things of being a good speaker. But being prepared is one of the main keys of being a sucessful speaker because what out doing your reasearch and not having knowledge you will end up like Michael Bay and look bad in front of many people. Also I have learned from this article that know how to control your anxiety is another key to being a successful speaker. If you don’t know how to control your own self and your own anxiety it will make you become even more nerveous and by that you will forget what you have to present to people when your up on the stage. After giving my last speech which was the Informative speech i learned that i needed to practice more instead of reading if off my flash card. I also learned that following instructions is another thing that i need to work on because my last speech was a off topic speech i gave. Giving a speech in front of class is really hard and once you get up all the anxiety kicks in but seeing your classmates be respectful and them giving there 100 percent to you makes you feel much better and more confident to present your speech. Overall i have learned that if your are the speaker you should be prepared and own the stage, giving your hundred out there so people who was watching you should know that you are a sucessful person. By reading this article it has helped me and prepared me for my next speech know i know what to do to become a better speaking, overall this class has helped me a lot as because i was a type of person who doesn’t like to stand up in front of people and talk but now i can do it and i don’t have that fear in me anymore.

    • Well done by expressing your mistake on the last speech. By doing that you are applying the “level 3” provided by Professor Duane. You are submitting to direction, by learning from your mistakes and taking that learning to improve your future speeches. Having that mentality is what will make of your next speech a great one. Also it is important to learn from our classmates mistakes, because at the end we are all in class to learn and make ourselves better. Your emotional approach toward Michael Bay is well expressed. It definitely made people get an understanding of what was the problem he had on that dark moment. Once again, good job

  68. Performance Anxiety

    1. In my own view, Michael Bay suffered from performance anxiety. If you dread the thought of getting up in front of people and performing, you are not alone. Very many people across the globe suffer from performance anxiety, commonly known as stage fright. In fact, most people would rather do anything else than perform in front of people. Public speaking is no easy feat, and even presenting in front of a small crowd can give the average people stage fright. Michael Bay’s speech was horrible and awkward, you can see right from the time Mr. Bay got to the stage and started speaking that he was anxious. It could be that he had higher anxiety or lower anxiety that led to his poor performance. Bay walked jauntily on stage. All seemed fine, few minutes, he legs flips up front high behind him, an indication of anxiety. few minutes later, he started rubbing his hands then later a wavering voice that all shows high anxiety. This definitely shows that Bay was not prepared and he didn’t practice.

    2. I’m glad this article was written because this is what happens when you’re not prepared, and yes, on either end, a speaker should always prepare before he/she goes to the stage to perform. Our brain does not work the same when we’re in front of people and it’s the prepared mind that get our point across and who can roll with the punches when things goes wrong. when you’re not prepared and didn’t practice, you are more likely to experience performance anxiety just like what happened to Mr. Bay. In regards to the article it’s a lesson learned and it’s an experience to all of us, it actually tells us what will exactly happen to anybody who is preparing to speak in front of people that we should always prepare ourselves and practice our speech before performing in order to avoid having performance anxiety.

    3. The three levels that were mentioned in the article are all very useful when preparing for a speech. In my own opinion as regards to class performance, all the three levels are very important for a successful speech. I have realized that for me to deliver a successful speech that will leave the audience yarning for more, I will need all the three levels in order to deliver a good speech. First, before taking the stage, one need to fully prepare and practice at all cost, In this way you will be able to own the burden of success before you step on the stage without fear. secondly, when you are well prepared, meaning you have done everything need of you before you step on the stage, you will definitely be able to own that burden of success while on stage without trembling, not flip your legs up front, rub your hands or begin wavering like Mr. Bay because everything has disappeared from your memory. I Mr. Bay had fully prepared, he wouldn’t have embarrassed himself, he would have had a plan B just in case something fails such as having a note card with him would have helped him a lot. His exit would have been wonderful rather than humbling. It’s always good to have a back up plans so that you can be ready any time regardless of anything which Mr. Bay didn’t think about it. Constant preparation and practice before delivering a speech, will always lead to a better delivery of a speech while on the stage. Thirdly, owning the burden of success when exiting the stage is also very important as this is the point of time when a speaker is judged on how he/she has performed. A speaker should always celebrate for having the opportunity to speaker just as we learned from class. It’s always good to celebrate after the speech and learn what didn’t work out. According to my view, it is advisable for a speaker to always own all three levels for their speeches. A speaker must own the burden of success before taking the stage, while on stage, and when exiting the stage.

    Responses from Rigoberto Gutierrez and Soila Rivera

    In response to Rigoberto Gutierrez comment about Mr. Bay, I may not agree with him as such because being rich and talented does mean that a person must be a great speaker. I remember Professor Duane Smith giving us an example in class about some rich and well educated people who have asked him to help them with their speeches. In this, we can see that being rich or talented does not make one a good speaker. everybody can be a good speaker as long as you are willing to follow directions, i.e, preparation and practicing can be one ways of following directions. One should be willing to step up and do your best, you will always perform well no matter what. Every human being suffer from performance anxiety which we refers to as Stage fright, therefore, Bay suffered the same as everybody else, but his was worse because he didn’t prepare and he never practice at all.

    In response to Soila Rivera regarding Michael Bay’s speech, I agree with her. from the point Mr. Bay stepped on the stage, you actually see that he was nervous and unprepared, because if he had prepared enough in advance, though he had black out he would have carried with him a note card which would have helped him a lot. As soila said, it really shows from my point of view that he never even studied what he was going to present on as we can see when he was asked a question and he was not even able to answer, he was totally off topic.

    • In response to Josehine Athieno i agree with you on the fact that constant preparation is the best way to be successful and have confiendent in yourself. I was like that too on my first speech i gave i didn’t practice at all thinking that if i go up and talk i will do good but once i got up in front of the class i got so nervous that i totally forgot what i was going to talk about. I gave my speech but felt pretty stupid because i wasn’t prepared at all, so lesson learned now I try to get my paper done early and practice as much as i can in front of the mirror.

      • In response to Granush Yegoyan.
        As it occurred to anyone that it is one thing to be successful and another to be confident. Michael Bay to me was not confident of himself; from the moment he stepped on that stage I suspected it was going to be a failed speech because he could not compose himself properly, everything seemed strange to him even when he tuned to the screen with his blockbuster movie Transformer on. That left me wondering. What he should do next time is to get to know the room he is giving his speech at, know is audience, and how to give them what they want. These all sum up to preparation. That is the key to a successful

    • In her article Josephine Athtieno labels the failure of Michael Bay as performance anxiety which is a great term although we do not know that similar situations have happened with Mr. Bay every now and then or this was an isolated case, a grim situation that might happen to anyone of us at any given time. In the 2nd part of her article she gives us a good example to be very well prepared to face hard situations like this. In the 3rd part she says she wants the leave the stage after a speech with so good impression so the audience yarn for more which is a very inspiring point.

    • In respond to Josephine,
      I’m somehow agreeing with you. Performance anxiety is a common problem between most of the public speakers. Even professional ones, with too much time experiencing in public speech, can be potential victims of the performance anxiety . I think being a famous and reputed character can increase this phobia, because there will be an extra fear about the consequences of bad performance on business and reputation. About Michael Bay , with that much success in his resume, it would be harder to control his anxiety facing a live program, with too many eyes on him. Therefore, maybe despite his practicing and preparation, his fear from failure prevented him from presenting a successful speech.

    • from what I read from you response I agree with you with the statement you made that once where up and going on stage our brains just leaves us all on are own and that when the anxiety kicks in. However it also shows how micheal bay confidence blinded him way too much as well. Preparation is everything not just in speech but in many aspects of life as well. Also like you said having a plan b is a must just in case plan a fails at all cost. I think entering and exiting the stage should be strong but in micheal bay case his exit was just a walk of shame especially for man with such high status that has many open resources for him to nailed his speech.

  69. Soila makes a good point about paying attention while others are speaking because the audience owes it to the speaker. The speaker is owning the burden of success by sharing information of something he worked hard on to share with others. Although some subjects may not be of interest it is important to realize that one day it may be you up there begging for the attention you desire. If indeed it is you who is providing the boring speech then it is your turn to own the burden of success while on stage by adding a different dimension to your appearances and potentially improvising to give your audience what they want.

  70. The day Michael Bay stood still
    1)If I lived under a rock and did not know who Michael Bay was I would not believe if someone told me that this man was one of the most successful directors in the history of Hollywood. It is unbelievable how a man of such status can be so afraid of the spotlight. You would think that someone who has met some of the richest, most talented, and intimidating people in the world would be calm and collected. This goes to show how important preparation is. He may be able to outsmart some of the greatest minds in the industry but when it came down to say a few simple words in front of an audience he became no better than your average middle school speaker. Fortunately he is talented at what he does and this poor performance at a demonstration event will not affect his lifestyle as it would us if this was our job.
    2) The article is summed up very well by mentioning that owning the burden of success can relate to everything in life. Although Michael Bay doesn’t make a living off of these speeches it is important to acknowledge that his character has now taken a hit because people will now wonder how much effort he puts into his work. Obviously he is a great director but does anything else in life matter to him. As mentioned in the article, a set of flash cards would have made his appearance look much better because the viewer can relate to the mind block and also see that he actually cares about his performance. Hopefully Michael bay was able to own the burden of success when he exited the stage so that he can practice and be better prepared for any future speeches.
    3) After performing my cultural speech in front of the class I felt that I put forward a considerable amount of information along with a decent performance. Unfortunately I arrived late to class which was an automatic deduction in points. I quickly realized how important it was to be prepared because this time around it only cost me points in a class compared to it costing me a job in a real world scenario. I vowed to not be late and better prepare for future speeches. This was a good way to own my burden of success before my speech. In contrary belief to the article I feel that owning the burden of success before taking the stage is the most important aspect of the speech because you will only be as good as what you practiced. Michael Bay thought that he could “wing it” before he quickly realized that he had done no research on the material and was clueless as to what he was going to say. I too was at fault of this because I attempted to “wing” some of the information during my informative speech only to realize that I threw of the rhythm, tone, and timing of my speech. While performing my speech I realized how cliché some of my lines were. I continued without interruption and accepted my performance. As for owning the burden of my speech after exiting the stage, I was able to see where I needed some improvements. I was also deducted points that my nephew who is in the 2nd grade may have been able to achieve. Both of my speeches have been mediocre at best but fortunately I am able to see that as I stride to work harder and improve all of my speeches from this point on.

    • I agree that Michael Bays character has taken a hit because of him not preparing for this speech. When you think about a movie director, producer, actor etc. you think wow these people really take pride in their work and work hard for a living. Seeing his speech made him look careless, and not very responsible. I have to say I felt bad for him, because he did not feel it important to give his audience his best and take the time to deliver that. With the media commenting on his speech, I only hope that he will learn a valuable lesson and take the time next time.

    • Great job, you were able to come up with the three approaches Professor Duane have taught us in class. You gave in your comment a great emotional and logical perspective of the article, and doing that is what made of your comment credible. Also by accepting the bad experiences you had on your speeches, you are submitting to direction and receiving help. Learning from your past mistakes is critical for any future presentation, because you admit your error and find a way to solve it in order to improve at your performance. Overall your comment is well redacted and properly expressed. Once again, good job

    • Rigoberto Gutierrez has a very interesting title for his article about Michael Bay’s speech calling it “The day Michael Bay stood still” and he tells that having met with richest, most talented and intimidating people does not mean that you can’t face rough situation and those situations easily find you if you are not well prepared. And he makes another point saying that we know Mr. Michael Bay does not earn his money giving speeches but this failure will give a really big bad impact on him giving the impression on people that he lacks putting enough efforts in his other works too. And then he tells us that he will bear the burden of success on himself from now on.

    • As i think about this i feel like Bay could have saved his himself from this big embarrassment by practicing his speech the night before. C’mon its not like it was his first speech since birth. What he had to do was talk about the samsung tv and sell it. He could have just pretended that he was about to sell one of his big films and saved his butt from a bad world wide image. This experience should not only help Michael Bay prepare for next time but yet it would definitely help many individuals for future speech references.

    • I am glad that you can realize your mistakes that is very hard for many people including myself. I am impressed that you can relate our three levels of success to life and then relate them to real life situations.After your relate them you promise to yourself how you are going learn from your own mistakes in order to improve on yourself. An other thing i like in your comment is when you made Micheal Bay a famous director that has high status into a man that is not perfect like the rest of us and later talked about how if we messed up like him we will get fired but for Mr.Bay he has a second chance.

  71. Preparation is Key
    1) I could not help but feel bad for Michael Bay during his speech at the Consumer Electronics Show. It was obvious he was nervous and unprepared. To top it off he even blamed it on the teleprompter. But it goes to show that even the rich and famous get nervous when speaking to an audience. I feel that he could of at least tried to use note cards or studied some of the questions that were going to be given to him. It seemed as though he thought he could just show up and thought he would just wing it.
    2) The article on the how the speakers success is owned on three levels is very clear and useful. On level one owning the burden of success before taking the stage is basically saying you need to be prepared! You have to do the research, practice and practice some more. Level two, Own the burden of success while on stage is saying to be confident, own the stage and be ready for what ever comes at you. Level three, Own the burden of success when you exit the stage. Once you have finished your speech you must leave knowing that you gave your all, and that your hard work paid off.
    3) These three levels as explained in the article are very important when working on and delivering a speech. For me the first level is the most important one. In my speeches I have learned that by doing the research, and practicing my speech before presenting it really helps me be prepared. I have practiced in front of my peers at work, close friends even with my own kids at home which made it more fun. To me being prepared has helped me gain confidence knowing that I know what I am speaking about. This also helps me get to the second level, Own the burden of success while on stage. When my peers are giving their speech I give them my undivided attention, because it is so nerve wrecking to be up there in front of everyone. I want to make them feel that I am interested in what they are saying and make it more comfortable for them. There have been times when I am speaking and I will notice someone looking at their phone or not really being into what I am saying and I have to say it is very distracting. But because of that I have learned to draw their attention by incorporating some of their likes into my speech. As for the third level, Own the burden of success while exiting the stage, that’s when I feel accomplished. After I have prepared, practiced, gained confidence and delivered my speech I have accomplished and conquered my fear. I have also learned what worked and didn’t work and how I can improve myself. I can say that being in this class has truly helped me feel confident about myself, and know that all I have to do is believe in myself and work hard.

    • Dear Rivera,
      I agree with you a lot. I kind of got upset when Michael Bay blamed his stage fright on his teleprompter. Instead of blaming the teleprompter he should have blamed himself and have to learn from his mistake by having note cards. I later watched an interview on TMZ after the speech,during the interview he continues to blame the teleprompter and he wouldn’t omit that it was his own fault that he didn’t do well as he should. Also I believed that he should of have practice more. Also I am glad that you incorporate people ideas into your speech and making them your own.

    • I don’t feel too bad, teleprompters do have issues, and if you are not prepared for that then the end results could be disastrous. There is never any rally good reason for being unprepared in anything in life. He was very panic stricken and I do feel very empathetic for what M. Bay had to have felt. you can see it splattered across his face as he is running off stage, and just before he starts to implode and mutter that he is sorry he just glares at the audience and the eyes sink to the back of his head and you just help but feel for the dude. All at the same time realizing that he ultimately walked up there and was not thinking of his audience or trying to celebrate his opportunity to speak by going up there unprepared. It makes me think he may have been unprepared in other areas as well.

      • I see what you mean. Truthfully I find solace in accepting I would laugh looking back at a clip like this, if, 1) I was Michael Bay, and 2) I recovered my image by blowing the audience and press away in my next presentation. Thus, I don’t feel as guilty when, with a mixture cringing and laughter, I sit through this video; mostly it is his act of blaming the teleprompter which really elicits a good chuckle from me. However, after re-watching the video several times, it loses its humorous effect on me and the dread expressed on Michael’s face as he flees from the stage solidifies the gravity preparation has on a successful presentation. I also take solace in the fact that his obvious lack in this speech in no manner represents his approach to film making, if anything he severely underestimated the preparation required of a successful speech. I recommend a trademark explosion to end his next speech.

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