Merritt Wever: Make Your Big Moment Count

There are big moments. And then there are big moments. Why it’s important to shine your brightest when the lights are on, and more, in today’s Lunchtime Links.

Best speech ever? If you caught the Emmy Awards last night on CBS, you might have seen Nurse Jackie star Merritt Wever accept the award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. If not, you’ll want to stop what you are doing right now and watch it on the internet  (opens in a new tab). After hearing her name announced as the winner, Wever came to the stage to deliver one of the shortest, and perhaps most peculiar, acceptance speeches in memory. Looking nervous, Wever thanked the audience, leaned into the mic, and said, “Um, I gotta go. Bye.” It was a strange and awkward moment in the telecast, especially for an actress who’s stood under her share of bright lights. Of course, this morning, Wever’s speech is all the pundits can talk about. But did she live for the moment, or are people talking about her for all the wrong reasons? Association leaders are no strangers to public speaking gigs. What strategies do you use to shine brightest in your biggest moments?

More than a smile: It no secret that a lot of organizations struggle with customer service. Companies and associations alike invest a lot of time and money teaching their employees how to work better with their customers or their members. But as service consultant and speaker Micah Solomon writes for Forbes, just being nice is hardly enough  (opens in a new tab). These days, organizations must anticipate the needs of their constituents and go above and beyond to meet them. Solomon describes an experience he had recently with Southwest Airlines. After a flight he was on came in late, the company anticipated his need to rebook and sent an attendant to meet him on the tarmac with a ticket for the next available flight. “The reason Southwest was able to pull this off wasn’t that an empathetic gate agent spontaneously decided to print out these boarding passes,” explains Solomon. “It happened because empathetic people working at Southwest realized that 99+% of the people on the late-arriving plane would want to be rebooked on the next flight out of there.” What does your organization do to anticipate the needs of its members?

Designed for success: Few product designers have achieved the level of fame and notoriety of Apple’s Jony Ive. As the man behind the revolutionary iPod and iPhone product designs, Ive and his intuitive, minimalist style have helped Apple achieve that unmistakable look and feel. Writing for Inc.com, Abigail Tracy highlights an interview between Ive and fellow designer Craig Federighi  (opens in a new tab). Ive, who rarely gives interviews, talks with Federighi about the importance of simplicity in design and creating products that are intended to help customers address problems—even if they aren’t aware they have them. “I think a lot of people see simplicity as the lack of clutter,” said Ive in the interview, which first appeared in USA Today. “And that’s not the case at all. True simplicity is, well, you just keep on going and going until you get to the point where you go, ‘Yeah, well, of course.’ Where there’s no rational alternative.”

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Emmy winner Merritt Wever kept things … uh, brief during her acceptance speech Sunday. (YouTube screenshot)