It’s hard to write a good acceptance speech. There are so many questions to consider. Here are just a few:
Who do you thank, and who do you leave out? Do you err on the side of inclusion, or of not boring your audience?
Do you talk at length about your own accomplishments — which are, after all, the reason you got the award? And if so, can you avoid sounding like an asshole?
Some questions have obvious answers: Don’t use the occasion as an opportunity to settle old scores. That sort of thing works only if you are a corrupt narcissistic man-child who likes to starve Americans while shamelessly lining his pockets. But I digress.
How do you start your speech? How do you end it?
My sense is that the most important thing is to create the feeling of a narrative arc. Your speech should convey some important lesson, but not too obviously.
And this is important: The take-away lesson should not be about yourself. It should be about some larger principle.
Oh, and one more thing. If you really must tell a joke, make sure it is actually funny. 🙂