Archive for the 'Speaking Tips' Category

Hecklers and Other Annoying Creatures

Thursday, June 15th, 2006

Avoid the temptation to give in to hecklers. Fortunately most speakers don’t have to contend with hecklers like comedians do. Nevertheless, every once in a while you might come across a heckler and if you do, resist the temptation to respond. I have seen professional comedians make this mistake. They respond to the heckler and then the heckler takes hat as his cue to continue and be part of the act. You have now become a double act and are no longer in control. You have lost the audience.

 

With speakers it may not always be a heckler. Your obstacle might be someone who monopolizes your presentation with questions after question and no one else is getting a chance to ask one. Make sure that you control the floor and ensure that everyone has the opportunity to ask questions.

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Don’t Overdue Humor When You Are On Stage

Tuesday, June 13th, 2006

I just watched a very funny video clip of Steve Martin on the Tonight Show. His routine was entitled “The Great Flydini.” He spoofed traditional magicians by making objects appear out of his pants; scarf’s, eggs, a lit cigarette, glass of wine, and even a telephone. The routine was funny because it was original, but also because Steve Martin didn’t overact the part of the magician. I like the humor of Steve Martin but he often goes too far and overacts when he is doing stand-up comedy.

His characters that he portrays on stage tend to be too ridiculous for me sometimes. I never could get into his “wild and crazy guy” routine, but “The Great Flydini” was brilliant because it was underplayed. He didn’t say one word during the four plus minutes he was on stage. He didn’t make any ridiculous facial expressions to kill the humor. He just acted like any bad magician performing.

When performing humor especially mocking a group of people it is important to get the mannerisms down. Usually if you nail the mannerisms you don’t have to try to be too funny. It will be. My parents made a very good living spoofing acrobats. They didn’t put acrobats down by overacting. They played their parts serious, and let their actions get the laughs. Had they overacted, the act wouldn’t have been believable and they would have only received a few laughs rather than the thunderous laughter that they received every night. They would have been recognized as a second class act and wouldn’t have played the top notch theatres of their time, like the London Palladium.

Many acrobats would complain that my parents didn’t do any tricks in their act. They would wonder why they were so popular and got top billing. The acrobats would say we do a triple axle or some impressive stunt and my parents didn’t do anything how come we have to open for them. Occasionally an act would insist on following my parents and they would always pay the price. After seeing my parents the audience wasn’t impressed with the other act.

Quite often comedians make the mistake of telegraphing the punchline. They start to overact, laugh, and do something that says to the audience I am trying to be funny. When you send that message out many times the audiences says you’re not funny by not laughing. When doing physical humor play it straight and let the situation be funny.

Posted in Humor, Speaking Tips, Steve Martin, The Tonight Show, Humor Tips | No Comments »

Dress to Kill (With Laughter)

Thursday, June 8th, 2006

Many speakers today make the mistake of believing dress is not important. Not dressing appropriately can send a subtle message to the audience that they don’t matter. While you don’t want to be extremely over or under dressed, the norm for any speech is to dress just a little bit better than your audience. If you show up in casual attire to a black tie event, it shows a lack of respect for the audience who in turn is not going to respect you as a speaker.

 

It is also important not to dress funnier than your speech. I know of a comedian who came out in a pink tuxedo with pink shorts. The audience laughed for five minutes but the rest of his presentation flopped because no matter what he said he could not top his appearance.

I have seen speakers make this same mistake. They feel they have to come out in a funny costume or crazy hat to be funny. This looks amateurish. It might get a chuckle or two but usually detracts from the overall message the presenter is trying to make. If a funny costume is appropriate for you presentation, make sure the speech can top it.

 

 

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4 Steps to Taming the Stage Fright Demons

Wednesday, June 7th, 2006

Everyone gets a little nervous before they speak. It’s normal. When you are about to go on stage you adrenaline starts pumping, you start feeling butterflies in your stomach, sweaty palms, dry throat, etc. In order to be funny you can’t let those feelings take over your body. So, how do you control that fear of getting on stage?

First – Preparation

The more you prepare your presentation the more relaxed you will be. When you have done your homework and know your material thoroughly it makes it easier to concentrate when the pressure is on. Think about those times in school when you didn’t study for an exam and made it much harder to concentrate. Speaking and doing humor is not much different.

Second – Stage Time

Nothing beats the jitters as much as getting up in front of an audience whenever you can. The more you subject yourself to an audience the easier it becomes. Think about something you tried it the easier it got. Speaking is the same. First time nerves tend to go away with experience. That’s why adrenaline junkies have to keep trying new and dangerous challenges. They are continually searching for that nervous rush (I guess some people enjoy that feeling.)

Third – Know Your Audience

I talked earlier about the importance of knowing your audience when preparing your humor. The more you know your audience, then the more your humor ill connect with them, and the easier it will be to get up in front of them.

Fourth – Relaxation Techniques

As you get up in front of an audience more you will start to develop your own techniques for relaxing. For some, taking deep breathes calms them. For others, alternating clenching and releasing their muscles does the trick. I tend to pace to get rid of nervous energy. Although, as an after dinner speaker, that can be difficult sometimes. Quite often I am sitting up at the head table and can’t excuse myself to go and pace. The good news is as long as I am prepared and have done my homework I don’t have the need to pace as much. And even though I tend to get nervous before I go on, once I am in front of the audience I start to relax.

When doing humor it is important to show a certain amount of confidence. In comedy clubs the audience can sense when a new comic is nervous and they react negatively. As a speaker you most likely won’t be heckled because you are nervous but an obvious lack of confidence makes it tougher to win the audience over and get them to laugh at your jokes.

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Professional Speakers Take Control of the Audience

Wednesday, May 3rd, 2006

A friend of mine called me the other day asking for some help with her contest speech. She is competing in Toastmasters “International Speech Contest.” An annual contest that is world wide starting in January and culminating at the World Championship in August.

She has made it to the District level which is all of Southern Nevada and all of Central California. If she wins District she will move on to the Region and then possibly the World Championship of Public Speaking in Washington D.C. Everyone from her home club has told her she has a great speech, but she needs “to learn to take control of the room before she starts her presentation like George does.”

I have competed many times in the past and others have observed that I get the audiences attention before I start to speak even before I am introduced. This is what entertainers call stage presence. Anyone can stand up in-front of an audience and tell jokes, give a speech, sing a song, but to be a professional entertainer, comedian, or speaker you have to have stage presence. This is what separates the amateurs from the professionals. Many call it the “it” factor. Do they have “it?” The question now is, is stage presence something that you can develop or are you born with it. Can Stage presence be taught? I believe yes and no.

I believe that you have to have “it” in you to begin with, but many need to be taught how to bring “it” out of them. When I first started I didn’t have stage presence, but I believe I had it in me. I was too nervous and inhibited, but I knew if I was going to make it in humor I would have to get over my nervousness and inhibitions.

The first step in developing stage presence is to get up in-front of an audience as often as possible. There is no substitution for stage time. You have to overcome stage freight. You have to overcome what comedians and entertainers refer to as “Flop Sweat.” This is that feeling you get when you are performing on stage and the audience is not responding to anything you are doing and you break out into a cold sweat. You may always be a little nervous on stage but you have to get it under control. The only way you can control nervousness on stage is by more “stage time.” If I go through a period of time where I haven’t been on stage as much as I am used to, I tend to feel more nervousness.

The second step is to know your material. If you are too busy trying to remember what you are trying to say you cannot possible have stage presence.  Knowing your material gives you the opportunity to concentrate on your delivery.

The third step is to dress just a little nicer than your audience. You want to be the focus of attention on stage. This goes back to dressing for success. If you are dressed too casually, the audience isn’t going to focus on you. I should say you don’t want to overdress either. Many entertainers wear a lot of flashy sequined outfits and that is ok for entertainers, but not for speakers. My friend Steve Pavlina who has a personal development blog also owned a computer game software company and when he would speak at computer conferences he said the audience wouldn’t listen to you if you were dressed in a suit and tie. There it is was better to wear a t-shirt and jeans, but for the most part you should dress just a little nicer than the audience

After you get over stage freight and you know your material then you can really learn how to develop your personality so that you can take control of the room. When I competed I liked to sit near the back near the exit. I would get nervous before a contest and want to pace or go to the bathroom. I didn’t want the audience seeing me get up a lot. I didn’t want to appear to the audience and especially the judges that I was nervous before I got up to speak.

Just before it was my turn to compete I would go over to get miked up, I would smile stand-up straight and walk with confidence. This is where I would start to settle down. I knew the audience shouldn’t see me looking nervous so I had to get my nerves under control. Taking a couple of deep breaths and standing up straight can help with that.

When the master of ceremonies (toastmaster) would start to introduce me, I would take one last sip of water so as to not have dry mouth when I spoke. When I was introduced I would walk a little faster than my normal walk with a big smile and look like I couldn’t wait to get up and speak. I walked and spoke with purpose. I would almost jump on the stage. Shake the toastmasters hand and then stand in front of the audience smile and make eye contact. One of the toughest things for most speakers is to just stand in front of the audience without saying anything. I would just stand there and let the applause die down. Only after the applause died would I go into my introduction. Standing in-front of the audience with out speaking shows confidence. It lets the audience get to know you. You want to make a good first impression. You want the impression to be of having fun and that you are confident. In the wild an animal can smell fear. The audience can also detect fear in a speaker. This can hurt your presentation. The audience isn’t going to listen to you, respect you if you appear too nervous. When I was doing stand-up comedy I noticed that the most successful comedians didn’t always have the best material, but the had the best delivery. If the comedian was confident the audience usually laughed, but if the comedian was nervous the audience didn’t laugh and even occasionally the comedian would get heckled.

I recently tried to give this advice to another competitor in the same contest. And she said her speech was too serious that she didn’t want the audience to think she was having fun. She lost. You can still give a very serious speech and show the audience that you enjoy speaking. You don’t have to be a grinning idiot just let the audience know you enjoy what you do.

Choreography is important. You don’t want to pace too much or just stand in one position the whole time you want to move with meaning. The trick is to make it look natural. I see too many speakers that are too choreographed and they don’t look natural when speaking. Their movements are stiff and it appears that they are thinking “when I say this, I will move my arm this way.” When I was in theater class the teacher would say a good set design is one where the audience doesn’t notice it. The same applies to your choreography, if the audience notices your gestures it may detract from your presentation.

The overall goal of taking control of the room is to be confident enough to be yourself in front of the audience, so that they focus on you and what you have to say.

Posted in Positive Thinking, Speaking, Professional Speaker, Personal Development, Speaking Tips | 2 Comments »

How to tell a humorous Story

Thursday, April 27th, 2006

The most effective form of humor to use in a speech is the HUMOROUS STORY or ANECDOTE. These forms of humor are easiest to perform because you don’t have to be a comedian to tell a story. You don’t have to tell a joke. You are relating a story that happened to you to make a point, and if it gets a laugh that is an extra benefit.

It is important to remember that the story you are relating to your audience has to pertain to the subject you are speaking about. There is nothing worse than a speaker telling a story that has no connection to the speech. The audience doesn’t want to sit there and hear about the time you …made a fool out of yourself, or what ever it was that you did unless there is a moral to the story. You will lose your audience if you get off the subject.

We all have had humorous experiences that we can use in a presentation. The trick to relaying it to your audience is to sit down and compose the experience just as you would the rest of your speech. Just because you lived the story doesn’t mean you are ready to deliver it. Write it and re-write it so that it has a beginning, middle, and an end and makes a point. You might even compose a punch line for your story to add to the humor. You can even take a little creative license to it as long as the facts are correct in order to make it entertaining. Composing your story helps you focus on how to tell it. I have seen speakers get up and stumble because they couldn’t remember important details that the audience needed to know in order for the story to make any sense. This also helps to get rid of audible pauses such as: Ah’s, you know, right. These words can detract from your overall presentation.

When telling a humorous story don’t ruin it by laughing at your own story. Some speakers remember what is coming and they start laughing in the middle of the story. The audience wasn’t there when the story occurred and they don’t know why you broke out in laughter and they start to lose interest and you start to lose credibility as a speaker.

The best part of telling your own story is that you don’t have to worry about another speaker telling the same story. You lived it. You own the story. Many speakers tell stories that have made the rounds. I have heard many speakers tell the “Starfish Story.”(The starfish story is about a child walking the beech at low tide throwing stranded starfish back in to the water. A man walks up to the child and says, “There are so many star fish you can’t possibly make a difference.” The child picks up another starfish and throws it back in the ocean. The child says, “I made a difference to that one.”) Meeting planners and speakers bureaus don’t want to hire speakers telling the same stories. What would happen if the speaker on the podium before you told the same story? Would you be able to tell a different story?

When funny things happen to you make a point of writing them down. Note all the facts and why it was funny. Sometimes when something funny happens we don’t take note of it right away and then we can’t remember why it was funny. Start thinking about how you can tell the story immediately so that you develop your humor writing skills. This will also help you develop your observational humor skills so that you can start to think funny. The minute you say “Someday we’re going to laugh at this.” Is the minute you should be trying to figure out how to relay it to an audience.

The world is full of funny stories. It is your job as a speaker to recognize the humor and value of the story as it occurs.

For more information on how to use humor in speaking check out Humorspeak.com and its blog Humor Speaking Tips

Posted in Speaking, Humor, Professional Speaker, Personal Development, Speaking Tips, story telling | 1 Comment »

From Stand-up to Stand-Out - Know Your Audience

Tuesday, April 25th, 2006

Different audiences process information differently. Bob Hope was known for his machine gun style delivery, where he would talk very fast telling joke after joke. This worked for him usually, but in different parts of the country he didn’t do so well when he first started because the audience couldn’t keep up with his fast pace. In the biography “Bob Hope A Tribute” by Raymond Strait Bob had a tough time in Texas.

Bob Hope did so poorly he told the unit manager, “Get me the hell out of here on the first train. I want to go back to the United States.”

Bob O’Donnell, an unpretentious guy who seemed to hang around the wings while the acts were performing, came back to the dressing room and asked Hope, “Hey fancy pants, what’s the problem?”

If I wanted to play to foreigners I’d go to Africa. I’m not for these people. That’s what’s the matter!”

O’Donnell laughed out loud. “Son,” he said, ‘you’re in Texas. Don’t talk so fast. These folks can’t understand a word you say. Relax. It’s summertime. Ain’t nobody goin’ anywhere. So take your time. You’ll be all right.”

Bob O’Donnell was the head of the International Vaudeville Circuit.

“O’Donnell taught him a very critical lesson in comedy. “Know your audience. Sometimes it don’t pay to rush things. Don’t be in such a hurry,” he said, “Let the audience catch up to you.”

Bob Hope took his advice and the second show was much more successful.

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From Stand-up to Stand-Out

Monday, April 17th, 2006

Notes for Tonights workshop on putting humor in presentations. 

1.    The difference between stand-up comedy and speaking is you use humor in comedy to get the laughs. In speaking you use humor to get the Audience.
 

2.    When using humor in a comedy routine or a speech it is very important to find humor that will fit Your Personality. Humor that doesn’t fit Your Personality is like you trying to be something that your not.
 

3.    Don’t step on your Laughs. Don’t start speaking again until the laughter dies down.
 

4.    When speaking it is important to check the room. Test the microphones___, walk around on the stage or platform. If possible check the lighting in the room.
 

5.    In order to improve your writing and delivery you need stage times.

6.    There is no substitute for speaking in front of an audience.
 

7.    No matter how good you are you still need a place to be bad.

Types of Jokes 

1.    The Power of Three
The audience expects order. The laugh comes when something is unexpectedly out of order. The power of three gets a laugh when the third is out of context with the first two.
 

Example:
 Smile, eyes, assets
 

My wife says there were three things that made her fall in love with me. My smile, my eyes, and my assets.
 

2.    PUNS AND PLAY ON WORDS
  A Pun is a classic play on words using two words (or phrases) that sound alike but have different meanings. The Play on Words uses one word (or phrase) that has two meanings. You use the word as if you are suing the first definition of the word and then the punch lie uses the second definition.
 “Time flies like an arrow, but fruit flies like a banana.” Groucho Marks


  3.    Stating the Obvious
  Life is funny. The humor is plain to see as long as you look for it. The funniest things are often those that are so obvious the audience catches on to the punch line before you even say it or they say, “Why didn’t I think of that?”
 “I stepped out for a walk. My girlfriend asked how long I would be out. I said, ‘The whole time’.” Steven Wright
 4.    THE UNEXPECTED TWIST
 

This type of joke has the audience thinking you’re going in one direction and then for the punch line you take a detour and go off in an unexpected direction.
 

“I’ve got two wonderful children – and two out of five isn’t bad” Henny Youngman

5.    Self-deprecating
 Humor where you put yourself down. Be careful not to use this too much.


 6.    Theme Jokes  The theme jokes are all on the same subject and formatted similarly (like Jeff Foxworthy’s “You might be a redneck if…”). Another form of a theme joke is to use exaggeration (it’s so cold…, I’m so dumb…, Yo-mama….).
 7.    Humorous stories and anecdotes
  Humorous stories that happened to you or someone you know. These are the best because they are true and original.

Posted in Speaking, Humor, Jokes, Speaking Tips | 2 Comments »

Mistakes Speakers Make

Monday, April 3rd, 2006

When using humor in a speech the goal is to make the humor enhance the presentation and not detract. I recently saw a speaker trying too hard to be funny. He was injecting humor just for the sake of being funny and not trying to fit it to the subject. It was as if he wrote the jokes and then wrote the speech as an afterthought. Some of the humor was about people in the audience and I felt uncomfortable because it was embarrassing for those members in the audience to be singled out. This wasn’t a roast or a comedy club.

When a comedian singles out people in the audience it can be funny. Don Rickles has made a career of picking on the audience and to some even that can be offensive. But the difference is that people know there is a chance to be picked on when you go to see a comedian like Don Rickles perform. But when you are watching a speaker it can be shocking. I should say the speaker didn’t verbally attack audience members like Don Rickles, but still it was inappropriate.

The next mistake the speaker made was he killed the joke by laughing during the jokes setup. You knew he was trying to tell a joke. Most humor, not all but most humor, gets a laugh when the audience doesn’t know its coming. The surprise is what makes it funny. Will Ferell once said, “The way I approach comedy, is you have to commit to everything as if it’s a dramatic role, meaning you play it straight.” By laughing at his own jokes the speaker wasn’t playing it straight.

Laughing while telling the joke also kills a laugh because the audience couldn’t understand the speaker. He spoke while laughing. The only thing worse than speaking while laughing, my mother would say, is speaking while your mouth is full. In order to be funny the audience has to hear the set-up line and the punch line. If they can’t you are not going to get a laugh. No matter how funny the joke is.

Make sure your humor is appropriate to the speech and the audience. Humor can make a dull, dry, boring speech interesting and even entertaining. Don’t joke about an audience member just for the sake of getting a laugh, especially if the joke might embarrass the person you are speaking about.

In one of my after-dinner speeches, I am not introduced as George Gilbert, but to the audience as “Dr. George Willoughby” a psychologist who recently wrote a book entitled, “How to Laugh at Your Neuroses.” This is intended to be a spoof of an after dinner speaker. Before I speak, I send out a questionnaire to the organization that I am speaking to. I try to find out as much about the organization as I can. I ask them about what might be sensitive so I know to stay away from those subjects. The last thing I want to talk about is something that is going to upset or offend the audience. I ask them to think about some funny things that have happened to them at their jobs that I might use in my presentation. I also ask for three names of people that I can contact to get more information. When I do joke about someone in the audience, I approach them before I speak and ask them if they would mind if I poked a little fun at them. I would never want to embarrass or shock that person because the audience will always side with one of their members and resent me.

When portraying “Doctor Willoughby” I stay in character, if I were to start to laugh at my jokes they would fail to get a laugh. I am supposed to be a renowned serious psychologist. Make sure you stay in character even if that character is you. Don’t try to be someone else. Lucille Ball probably said it best, “I think knowing what you cannot do is more important than knowing what you can do. In fact, that’s good taste.”

Posted in Speaking, Humor, Professional Speaker, Jokes, Personal Development, Speaking Tips | 1 Comment »