Talk is Not Cheap

DECEMBER 3 – When you watch awards shows like the Oscars, the Grammys or the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series banquet, do you ever wonder how “prepared” those prepared speeches really are?

The answer is both a lot, and a little.

Speech practice for the drivers, sponsors, celebrities and NASCAR industry spokespeople begins in the middle of Champions Week, but the real work begins long before that.

The speech rehearsal room is one of the suites at the Waldorf=Astoria hotel, but you’d never recognize it as such. Headed in that direction, the only reminder that you’re in the one of the most famous hotels in one of the most glamorous cities in the world comes when you spot movie star Leonardo DiCaprio strolling through the corridor, on his way to a press conference promoting one of his new films.

Yes, really.

But then, you enter the rehearsal room itself. It looks more like the control room of the starship Enterprise than a fancy hotel suite, full of wires and cables and screens and monitors and the like. At any moment, Captain Kirk could come strolling in to demand that Scotty beam him up somewhere – and with the high tech equipment in this room, you actually believe it could happen – while Bones reminds Kirk that he’s a doctor, not a race car driver.

Sometimes, the superstar drivers of NASCAR garner a little negative feedback when they speak. Critics claim it sounds as if the words of others are placed in their mouths to come perfectly spilling back out at the appropriate moment. Even victory lane speeches, some people say, can be so predictable they sound as if they’re scripted.

This is where I begin to take issue. I mean, most of are still lucky enough to have jobs, right? But how many of us just show up at work in the morning and wing it? And how much job security would we have if we did?

Life is about preparation. Primary school prepares us for high school, which in turn prepares us for college, or for entering the work force. We make preparations when we take a vacation, or get married, or have a baby. Even the girls among us (my hand is up) have embraced the tenet of the Boy Scouts of America : Be prepared.

So, if this is the rule we apply to our own lives, why would we criticize others for doing exactly the same thing? Doesn’t that seem kind of two-faced?

Enter the ultimate professional, four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon.

Gordon arrived right on time for his speech rehearsal. He ran through his remarks, which he had prepared –there’s that word again – and practiced in advance, with nary a hitch, altering a word here and there so things would sound more natural. He was concerned that his sponsors, his team and anyone else who had contributed to his once again earning a spot in the top 10 driver standings be duly acknowledged.

Wow. Someone very recognizable in corporate America and in NASCAR who makes a point of giving credit where credit is due. What a concept. Who could be critical of that?

After Gordon came Chad Knaus, the only crew chief in history to pilot his driver to three consecutive Cup Series championships. Earlier in the week, Knaus had considered a speech based on bullet points and extemporization, but instead showed up for rehearsal with prepared remarks. They were entertaining, riveting, heartfelt and funny all at once. Knaus explained that he feared being overcome by emotion during his live speech, and felt a written version would give him more focus.

Any father who ever made a toast at his daughter’s wedding, or shared a dance with her, probably knows exactly how Knaus felt.

The most highly lauded, Tony Award-winning Broadway plays have regular dress rehearsals, where the kinks are ironed out and any wrinkles removed in order to present a beautiful, unmarred face to the public when the lights go on, the curtain rises and show time comes at last.

There are two important things to note about perfect worlds, however. One, they don’t exist, and two, even if they did, they couldn’t be perfect, because nothing ever can.

Thank goodness for that. It allows us mere mortals the luxury of feeling just a tiny bit better about ourselves.

So when the time comes to publicly thank all the appropriate people and organizations and sponsors for their support during generally troublesome times, who wouldn’t want to be prepared? Who wouldn’t feel the need to go the extra mile, or show up at the extra speech rehearsal, to make sure everything was just right?

Sometimes, talk isn’t cheap at all. In some instances, it can be worth several million bucks.

That’s something you would definitely want to be prepared for.

- Cathy Elliott, LIVE from New York City