I watched a little bit of the Screen Actors Guild awards tonight. Pretty good show. Not a lot of blabber, no music performances, they just kinda get down to business.
But here’s one thing I’ve never understood about pretty much all the awards shows. Grammys, Emmys, Oscars, all of them.
As you’re looking at the tv, the winner of the award is in the center of the stage giving the acceptance speech, while the celebrity introducers along with a Vanna White type person are standing off to the left politely listening.
Why do Vanna and the celebs stand off to the left when the exit for the stage is to the right?
There’s always a confused moment when the winner of the award is finished with their speech, they walk toward the gang on stage only to be turned around awkwardly to exit the proper side. It’s weird. It doesn’t flow.
Now, every once and a while the winner knows the exit is to the right and when they finish their speech, they walk that way.
They thought they could avoid the confusion.
Well, they may have escaped the confusion but they didn’t escape the slight awkwardness.
Since the winner knew where to walk and he/she just headed that way, it looks like they’re abandoning the rest of the gang on stage because Vanna and everyone are chasing the winner from behind.
It’s a lose/lose.
And it’s such an easy fix if someone would pay attention. Put Vanna on whatever side you want the winner to walk toward. That’s the most natural thing for everyone.
There’s a natural flow for the stage. There’s a set of norms and expectations that performers and the audience are used to seeing and experiencing.
Pay close attention and investigate what easy little tweaks you can make. These things make a big difference and are sitting right under your nose. They don’t take any skill at all, just a realization.
