[Music]
[Applause]
imagine if you can live where you want
to live do what you want to do and spend
time with people that you love the most
maybe it’s about getting the next job
promotion getting the next big sale or
spending time with someone you love
finding that true love in your life now
raise your hand if you want to
experience this next positive
life-changing opportunity of course me
too but it’s not easy when I was growing
up I tried many different things I
played many different sports from
baseball to basketball to ping pong only
competed in a local blockbuster video
game competition only to finish sixth
place and nowhere close to becoming a
champion in high school I competed in a
math and science trivia competition my
team and I made it to the big lights
then my brain froze up I let my team
down and finish fourth place now you’re
probably thinking to yourself how do I
even get the idea that I could become a
champion one day when I was studying for
UC Berkeley’s civil engineering I saw a
poster for a school talent show at the
Clark Kerr dormitories I figured why not
there’s nothing to lose and I sang my
favorite song
she banks by Ricky Martin I had no
expectations but to my great surprise I
won the grand prize was
our DVD player that gave me the
confidence to try out for American Idol
I feel nice later on how I heard on Fox
News that American Idol auditions will
be coming over to San Francisco I knew I
wanted to audition but I couldn’t tell
anyone especially my Asian parents could
you guess why what did you think my
Asian parents want me to be a doctor an
engineer a lawyer
anything but an entertainer fortunately
the solution was simple don’t tell don’t
tell my parents don’t let them know I
secretly went to audition in front of
3,000 other people at a huge baseball
park I was thinking to myself I had no
chance at all as I was waiting in line I
saw how hundreds of people only got 15
to 30 seconds to sing before they were
told to go home but somehow they let me
sing over the mint over a minute and
they let me through they told me to come
back the next day the next day I did the
same thing for our producers and they
let me through again by the time I got
to see Randy
Paul and Simon there’s only about a
hundred people left now you might have
witnessed my experience from the comfort
of your own living room
murderuss on TV or the internet the
three judges where Randy Jackson was
Paula Abdul you look beautiful tonight
and Simon cow that was the worst thing I
ever heard seriously I didn’t know what
to expect from this audition as soon as
I began my audition Randy had a white
sheet of paper to cover up his face and
giggled throughout
anteye audition paula was smally
enjoying herself but Simon was frowning
I kept trying to entertain them she
bangs she bangs oh baby when she moves
she moves I go crazy but Simon stopped
me at the middle of my course and said
thank you thank you you can’t sing you
already gave my best I have no regrets
at all Paula said good for you that’s
the best attitude yet I said I had no
professional training and Simon goes now
this is a surprise at a century oh well
I thought that was the end of the road
and my life returned to normal
suddenly four months later I saw myself
on TV again
right after the night Fox broadcast at
my audition I got hundreds of emails for
performance and interview opportunities
unfortunately on that same night fast
news anchor John Pierce said William
Hung is the worst singer ever imagine if
you’re told that you’re the worst
performer ever the worst entrepreneur
the worst employee how would you find
the motivation to get up the next day
how do you give give it your best I had
a hard time the next day I just kept my
head down try to pretend nothing
happened and then towards the end of one
of my civil engineering classes my
professor decided to show my audition in
front of hundreds of students and the
students were like oh my god I saw this
guy last night where is he where is he
oh we gotta get to him
at the end of the class I was smart for
pictures and autographs and from that
day forward my life can never be normal
again but I still wasn’t sure if that
would create an entertainment career one
day I was invited to perform at a UC
berkeley’s men’s volleyball game right
after my performance while the staff
members from Koch records Priestley
walked up to me and gave me a $25,000
check for a record contract could you
believe it
now I know what you’re thinking how hard
can this be
take the money Paul but for me it wasn’t
easy at all you see I was aware that I
was made the laughingstock for Asians on
American Idol in my heart I felt like
they were magnetic forces pulling me in
different directions but these forces
gradually disappeared when I realized
that perhaps I have the power to bring
smiles to people’s faces I know I won’t
please everyone but perhaps I have the
power to bring joy to people through
entertainment and then I remember one of
my friends from Berkeley said if we
don’t take this opportunity you’ll
regret it for the rest of your life I
don’t want the regret for the rest of my
life
he’s right so I went for it so I travel
and perform everywhere and I recorded my
first album and somehow my first album
inspiration became the number one
independent on album on Billboard’s it’s
the over 200,000 copies I definitely
thought I was the luckiest guy in the
but if I gave up on myself that would
have never happened
looking back at all these experiences I
know that my success cannot be happening
by chance alone I believe there are
three keys you need to become a champion
and the first one is communication last
thing about my reaction I said I already
gave my best I have no regrets it came
from my heart
it wasn’t scripted and at the time what
people told me was many people when they
don’t make it to Hollywood they would
get angry upset and a few people will
even throw a water bottle at Simon
Cowell
[Music]
but I didn’t see the need to do that
That’s not me I just wanted to respond
positively and people asked me how you
get the idea and perhaps one of the
things was my mom taught me is okay to
fail as long as you tried your best
that’s where it came from and that’s
what happened so you could communicate
with empathy and there’s been a lot of
people speakers before us talking about
empathy and that’s what that means to me
it means that you we on this I
understand that those judges were just
playing the roles they’re not attacking
me it’s not personal and the second one
is context the big picture to me one of
my key values is freedom and the freedom
is the ability for us to make choices to
improve ourselves each and every day I
look back at this experience and I
realized I had a very difficult choice
because there was a lot of criticism
against me but then I told myself I had
a choice do I want to live my life with
courage or do I want to high
myself in fear and hope that people will
forget about me but hiding in fear why
terrible way to live and that’s why I
chose to take the high road
despite the risk despite the criticism
and finally the last part is connections
and it comes back to communication and
contacts because it’s hard to have
genuine connections with our
communication and context and I’m very
grateful for all the friends mentors and
coaches that supported me for all these
years and for you think about how you
can be truly successful for me I see
myself no one can succeed alone even for
myself it doesn’t work that way so I’m
very grateful and you can be too and
it’s like you could build those
connections just reach out to people
generally care about them and there you
have it
the three keys to becoming a champion
communication contacts and connections
it’s been 14 years since my American
Idol audition and recently my dream to
meet Ricky Martin finally came true one
of my friends heard on radio that Ricky
Martin wanted to bring me over to Las
Vegas on the Valentine’s morning show on
FM 104.3 I was surprised I wow you’ve
been mentioning me three or four times
in the past but this time it was real
because I reached out to the radio
station and then they connected me with
Ricky Martin’s managers oh my god so I
finally perform with him last Saturday
June 2nd 2018 the day that I would never
forget as you can see the choice is
yours so choose to become a champion and
change your destiny
today thank you [Applause]
[Applause]
imagine if you can live where you want
to live do what you want to do and spend
time with people that you love the most
maybe it’s about getting the next job
promotion getting the next big sale or
spending time with someone you love
finding that true love in your life now
raise your hand if you want to
experience this next positive
life-changing opportunity of course me
too but it’s not easy when I was growing
up I tried many different things I
played many different sports from
baseball to basketball to ping pong only
competed in a local blockbuster video
game competition only to finish sixth
place and nowhere close to becoming a
champion in high school I competed in a
math and science trivia competition my
team and I made it to the big lights
then my brain froze up I let my team
down and finish fourth place now you’re
probably thinking to yourself how do I
even get the idea that I could become a
champion one day when I was studying for
UC Berkeley’s civil engineering I saw a
poster for a school talent show at the
Clark Kerr dormitories I figured why not
there’s nothing to lose and I sang my
favorite song
she banks by Ricky Martin I had no
expectations but to my great surprise I
won the grand prize was
our DVD player that gave me the
confidence to try out for American Idol
I feel nice later on how I heard on Fox
News that American Idol auditions will
be coming over to San Francisco I knew I
wanted to audition but I couldn’t tell
anyone especially my Asian parents could
you guess why what did you think my
Asian parents want me to be a doctor an
engineer a lawyer
anything but an entertainer fortunately
the solution was simple don’t tell don’t
tell my parents don’t let them know I
secretly went to audition in front of
3,000 other people at a huge baseball
park I was thinking to myself I had no
chance at all as I was waiting in line I
saw how hundreds of people only got 15
to 30 seconds to sing before they were
told to go home but somehow they let me
sing over the mint over a minute and
they let me through they told me to come
back the next day the next day I did the
same thing for our producers and they
let me through again by the time I got
to see Randy
Paul and Simon there’s only about a
hundred people left now you might have
witnessed my experience from the comfort
of your own living room
murderuss on TV or the internet the
three judges where Randy Jackson was
Paula Abdul you look beautiful tonight
and Simon cow that was the worst thing I
ever heard seriously I didn’t know what
to expect from this audition as soon as
I began my audition Randy had a white
sheet of paper to cover up his face and
giggled throughout
anteye audition paula was smally
enjoying herself but Simon was frowning
I kept trying to entertain them she
bangs she bangs oh baby when she moves
she moves I go crazy but Simon stopped
me at the middle of my course and said
thank you thank you you can’t sing you
already gave my best I have no regrets
at all Paula said good for you that’s
the best attitude yet I said I had no
professional training and Simon goes now
this is a surprise at a century oh well
I thought that was the end of the road
and my life returned to normal
suddenly four months later I saw myself
on TV again
right after the night Fox broadcast at
my audition I got hundreds of emails for
performance and interview opportunities
unfortunately on that same night fast
news anchor John Pierce said William
Hung is the worst singer ever imagine if
you’re told that you’re the worst
performer ever the worst entrepreneur
the worst employee how would you find
the motivation to get up the next day
how do you give give it your best I had
a hard time the next day I just kept my
head down try to pretend nothing
happened and then towards the end of one
of my civil engineering classes my
professor decided to show my audition in
front of hundreds of students and the
students were like oh my god I saw this
guy last night where is he where is he
oh we gotta get to him
at the end of the class I was smart for
pictures and autographs and from that
day forward my life can never be normal
again but I still wasn’t sure if that
would create an entertainment career one
day I was invited to perform at a UC
berkeley’s men’s volleyball game right
after my performance while the staff
members from Koch records Priestley
walked up to me and gave me a $25,000
check for a record contract could you
believe it
now I know what you’re thinking how hard
can this be
take the money Paul but for me it wasn’t
easy at all you see I was aware that I
was made the laughingstock for Asians on
American Idol in my heart I felt like
they were magnetic forces pulling me in
different directions but these forces
gradually disappeared when I realized
that perhaps I have the power to bring
smiles to people’s faces I know I won’t
please everyone but perhaps I have the
power to bring joy to people through
entertainment and then I remember one of
my friends from Berkeley said if we
don’t take this opportunity you’ll
regret it for the rest of your life I
don’t want the regret for the rest of my
life
he’s right so I went for it so I travel
and perform everywhere and I recorded my
first album and somehow my first album
inspiration became the number one
independent on album on Billboard’s it’s
the over 200,000 copies I definitely
thought I was the luckiest guy in the
but if I gave up on myself that would
have never happened
looking back at all these experiences I
know that my success cannot be happening
by chance alone I believe there are
three keys you need to become a champion
and the first one is communication last
thing about my reaction I said I already
gave my best I have no regrets it came
from my heart
it wasn’t scripted and at the time what
people told me was many people when they
don’t make it to Hollywood they would
get angry upset and a few people will
even throw a water bottle at Simon
Cowell
[Music]
but I didn’t see the need to do that
That’s not me I just wanted to respond
positively and people asked me how you
get the idea and perhaps one of the
things was my mom taught me is okay to
fail as long as you tried your best
that’s where it came from and that’s
what happened so you could communicate
with empathy and there’s been a lot of
people speakers before us talking about
empathy and that’s what that means to me
it means that you we on this I
understand that those judges were just
playing the roles they’re not attacking
me it’s not personal and the second one
is context the big picture to me one of
my key values is freedom and the freedom
is the ability for us to make choices to
improve ourselves each and every day I
look back at this experience and I
realized I had a very difficult choice
because there was a lot of criticism
against me but then I told myself I had
a choice do I want to live my life with
courage or do I want to high
myself in fear and hope that people will
forget about me but hiding in fear why
terrible way to live and that’s why I
chose to take the high road
despite the risk despite the criticism
and finally the last part is connections
and it comes back to communication and
contacts because it’s hard to have
genuine connections with our
communication and context and I’m very
grateful for all the friends mentors and
coaches that supported me for all these
years and for you think about how you
can be truly successful for me I see
myself no one can succeed alone even for
myself it doesn’t work that way so I’m
very grateful and you can be too and
it’s like you could build those
connections just reach out to people
generally care about them and there you
have it
the three keys to becoming a champion
communication contacts and connections
it’s been 14 years since my American
Idol audition and recently my dream to
meet Ricky Martin finally came true one
of my friends heard on radio that Ricky
Martin wanted to bring me over to Las
Vegas on the Valentine’s morning show on
FM 104.3 I was surprised I wow you’ve
been mentioning me three or four times
in the past but this time it was real
because I reached out to the radio
station and then they connected me with
Ricky Martin’s managers oh my god so I
finally perform with him last Saturday
June 2nd 2018 the day that I would never
forget as you can see the choice is
yours so choose to become a champion and
change your destiny
today thank you [Applause]
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