I’ve just had a great long weekend in London. I took Friday off and went down on the train. Had a stroll on the embankment, visited the Tower of London and the highlight of the weekend… a visit to the Globe theatre to see A Midsummer Nights Dream.

The Globe theatre is constructed in the original Shakespearian style, circular on plan with an open air section in front of the stage. This is theatre as Shakespeare meant it to be – theatre in the raw.
The layout allows the actors to interact with the audience, to form a bond, to pull them into the play. Public Speakers call this interaction "Rapport" and that’s what this post is all about… Rapport.

A speech is not a monologue

As a Public Speaker you should never think of your speech as a monologue, a one way process. Although only one person speaks, a speech is still a two way process between the speaker and the audience. Your job is to establish and reinforce that interaction, to make the audience feel involved.

"A speech, even a boardroom presentation, is live theatre… More important, what makes a memorable speech is the same thing that makes a memorable stage play, the quality of the connection between the audience and the player."
Tony Carlson from his book The How of Wow

Let’s see how the actors make that connection and then see how you can do the same in your speeches and presentations.

How the actors create Rapport

The layout of the Globe theatre increases the interaction between the actors and the audience. The stage is low and the audience closest to the stage are standing. The actors aren’t performing to a blacked out theatre, they can touch the audience, they can sense their reactions, they can see the whites of their eyes. But Shakespeare used lots of other tricks to create rapport with the audience.

1. Humour – humour creates an immediate bond between the actors and the audience and the laughter of the audience is their way of taking part. Shakespeare could be described as the Max Miller of his day. Who’s Max Miller? Go ask your mum.
2. Physical interaction – the low stage of the Globe plus the standing section of the audience directly in front of the stage, allows the actors easy access to the audience. They can go into the audience, they can make an entrance through the audience, they can become part of the audience and they can bring audience members onto the stage.
3. Provoke a response from the audience – humour is the easiest way to provoke a response from the audience – you say something funny and the audience laugh – but there are other techniques that the actors use.
   • Spoof sympathy – you’ve seen this a thousand times. The actor comes to the front of the stage, looks at the audience and says something like… " I’m all alone, nobody loves me." and then pretends to cry. The audience know it’s a spoof but they still join in and say… Awwwww. That’s the response the actor is looking for.
   • Stun the audience into silence – sometimes the loudest response of all… can be silence. There are moments of great sadness in Shakespeare’s plays and at those moments, you can hear a pin drop.
4. Adlib responses to the audience – Elizabethan audiences showed no reverence for the Bard’s work. They shouted out whenever they felt like it. Audiences at the Globe are more subdued but they still shout out comments… and how they love it when the actor comes back with a reply. In the production I saw several of the actors came out of character and entered into the banter with the audience… went down an absolute storm.

"Books have been written about the power of theatre, but they all boil down to one thing: entertainment. Theatre engages our senses, our sensibilities. It makes us aware of the subtleties and ironies of life."
Tony Carlson from his book The How of Wow

That’s how the actors create rapport… now it’s your turn.

How you can add Rapport to your Speeches and Presentations

So what can you learn from Shakespeare? What can you steal to help you create rapport with your audience? Surprisingly… rather a lot. Here are a few techniques to get you started.

1. Eye contact – interaction with the audience starts with eye contact. The majority of the time you should be looking at the audience, not down at your notes.For a few pointers on maintaining good eye contact, take a look at my post – Eye Contact in Public Speaking.
2. Watch your I / You ratio – this is an idea from Patricia Fripp, she explains that to make sure that the audience feel included in your speech make sure that you use the word You more than you use the word I.
3. Humour – one of the easiest ways to build a bridge to your audience and get feedback. What’s the feedback? Laughter… or lack of it in my case. Don’t forget that humour in speeches is not about telling jokes it’s about making the points you want to make but in a humourous way. For ideas on adding humour to your speeches and presentations check out my post – Public speaking humour.
4. Ask a question – easy to get a response from the audience if you ask them a question. Two types of questions you can use are:
   • Real question – this is a question where you expect a reply, such as:
     "Has anybody bought a ticket for the 2012 Olympics?"
   • Rhetorical question – this is a question where you don’t expect a reply, such as.
     "Is the world such a bad place?"

   Whatever type of question you ask…… make sure that you pause, look at the audience, wait for the response and if appropriate, give a reply.

5. Provoke a response from the audience – you can use the Spoof Sympathy or Stun the audience into silence as the actors do or try the methods below:
   • Ask them to do something.
     "Put your hand up if you drove here tonight."
   • Ask them to think about something – this is the mental equivalent of asking them to do something.
     "Think about your first day at school. Were you happy? Were you sad? Did you cry for your mum?"
   • Pretend that you’ve forgotten something, hesitate and get the audience to shout out the answer.
     "That actress in Sex and the City, Sarah Jessica…….. " – if you scratch your head and pretend that you’ve forgotten the name, someone in the audience will shout out "Parker" and you can say "thank you sir / madam, I was having a senior moment."

   A great way to involve the audience…… provoke a responce.

6. Adlib – you don’t have to stick rigidly to your script. If something goes wrong, if someone says something, you can use the opportunity to throw in a few adlibs and interact with the audience.

"A speech is not about facts and numbers; it’s about story, meaning. A memorable speech rests on the quality of the connection between the speaker and the audience. Use techniques of theatre – plot, character, suspense – to connect."
Tony Carlson from his book The How of Wow

Take another look at the quote above, especially the bit that says "A memorable speech rests on the quality of the connection between the speaker and the audience." and make sure that in your next speech or presentation… you make that connection.

You are taking a risk whenever you use Rapport

Once you start interacting with the audience… you can’t predict what’s going to happen. So in that sense you’re taking a risk. To help reduce that risk make sure that you prepare. If you ask a question…. what responses might come back, if anything goes wrong… what will you say. It always helps… if you can prepare those great saver lines and adlibs.

Add Rapport to your Speeches and Presentations

Take a look at your own speeches. Are they monologues or do you include the audience? Take another look at the various techniques for creating rapport, pick out two or three for your next speech and don’t forget to leave me a comment and let me know which work for you.

Credits:
My thanks and gratitude to:

Francisco Rojas for Buckingham Palace / Guards photo on flickr
Kai Chan Vong for Tower Bridge photo on flickr
Graeme Weatherston for Millenium Bridge / St Pauls photo on free digital photos

Special thanks to the Globe Theatre for allowing me to use the top graphic "William Gaunt plays Worcester in Henry IV Part 1 at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. Copyright John Haynes 2010"
Particular thanks to Sian-Estelle Petty Communications Assistant at the Globe for her help, assistance and support.

A message from the Globe.
“Due to high box office demand Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre has extended the 2010 Kings and Rogues season with an additional 8 performances of Henry IV Part 1 and Henry IV Part 2. The season will now close on 9 October.”

If you’re planning a visit to London treat yourself to a fantastic evening at the Globe. Visit the Globe Theatre booking office and make a booking.

Did the graphic get your attention? Did it shock you? Did it make you stare? Did it make you pull a face?
Don’t worry it’s not me after a night on the town and it is paint not blood!
Point I’m making, is that pictures grab your attention, they provoke an emotional response. Powerful allies for any Public Speaker or Presenter.
In order to harness that power you have to turn your abstract ideas into concrete images using words not paint. You have to create word pictures.

Here’s an example.
At the end of his career, General Douglas MacArthur returned to West Point, to address the cadets. He spoke as a soldier of one era to the soldiers of another….

“The shadows are lengthening for me. The twilight is here. My days of old have vanished – tone and tints. They have gone glimmering through the dreams of things that were. Their memory is one of wondrous beauty, watered by tears and coaxed and caressed by the smiles of yesterday. I listen, then, but with thirsty ear, for the witching melody of faint bugles blowing reveille, of far drums beating the long roll.”

This is a great example because it uses two senses. We see the “wondrous beauty, watered by tears..” but we also hear the “faint bugles blowing reveille..”. If you read that and you aren’t moved… check your pulse!

A more well known example.
This is an exerpt from Reverend Martin Luther King Jr’s “I have a dream” speech.

“Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all God’s children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.”

A passage full of images that not only drive home the message, but make the message easy to remember.

In his book “Lend Me Your Ears” Professor Max Atkinson says…
“…. something all effective speakers have in common is a capacity to use imagery in interesting and imaginative ways.”

Good speakers know that people remember pictures far longer than words. They know the images will be remembered when the words are long forgotten. So let’s take a look at the various techniques you can use. Techniques that will make your words stand out… like a varicose vein in winter.

Similes

Similes make it clear that you are comparing something to something else. They use the words “like” or “as”. “Her smile lit up the room like a thousand suns” is a simile.
Muhammad Ali’s catchphrase is a great example of a couple of similes… “I’ll be floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee.”

You can use similes to make a serious point, add a touch of humour or add a few rhetorical flourishes to your speeches and presentations.

To make a serious point

The Archbishop George Carey used a simile, which he developed during his eulogy at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

“Like the sun, she bathed us in her warm glow. Now that the sun has set and the cool of the evening has come, some of the warmth we absorbed is flowing back to her.”

To add a touch of humour

Short sharp similes are a great way to add humour to your speeches and there are thousands to choose from.

“Paying alimony is like feeding hay to a dead horse.”
Groucho Marx

“He made a noise like a pig swallowing half a cabbage.”
P.G. Wodehouse

“Barbara Cartland’s eyes looked like two small crows that had crashed into a chalk cliff.”
Clive James

“Writing free verse is like playing tennis with the net down.”
Robert Frost

To form a three part list

The three part list is a common rhetorical device used by speakers (more on rhetorical devices in a later post). It is often used by politicians to trigger applause. For example… “I shall fight, fight and fight again to save the party I love.” Hugh Gaitskell.

“A hippie is someone who walks like Tarzan, looks like Jane and smells like Cheetah.” Ronald Reagan

To form a puzzle – solution sequence

A puzzle – solution sequence is another rhetorical device. In the first part, you pose a puzzle to the audience, in the second part you give them the answer. For example…
“Life can seem like a blunt pencil… pointless” Blackadder
Because of their two part structure similes are ideal for forming puzzle – solution sequences.

“John Donne’s poems are like the peace of God… they pass all understanding.”
King James I

Serious point, humorous point or a touch of rhetoric, spice up your speeches and presentations with a sprinkling of similes.

Metaphors

Metaphor doesn’t use the words “as” or “like” it leaves it to the listener to get the point for themselves. If you say “Your heart melted”, that’s a metaphor.
Lots of metaphors were used to describe Margaret Thatcher. She was known as “the iron lady”, “Atilla the Hen”, and the “imaculate misconception”.

Metaphors don’t have a two part structure and are therefore not as useful as similes for adding rhetoric. They do however add considerable power to your word pictures and even… a bit of humour.

Pour on the power

“There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires.”
Nelson Mandella

“Opportunity eagerly stretches out her arms to us. As we open our eyes each morning, she forgets and forgives any neglect of the past. Each night we burn the records of the day; at sunrise, every soul is born again.”
Cavett Robert

“Life is a narrow vale between the cold and barren peaks of two eternities. We strive in vain to look beyond the heights. We cry aloud and the only answer is the echo of our wailing cry”
Robert Green

A splash of humour

“… his whole tone was that of a disillusioned, sardonic philanderer who had drunk the wine-cup of illicit love to its dregs but was always ready to fill up again and have another.”
P.G. Wodehouse

Not as versatile but in many ways more powerful than similes look for opportunities to weave metaphors into your speeches and presentations.

Analogies

Analogies are extended similies and metaphors used to develop and flesh out a theme. For instance, you could say that business is like a game of football. You have to learn how to play as a team. You have to know when to attack and when to defend and you have to learn that you don’t always win. Of course if you’re an England supporter… you already know that.

Martin Luther King used the analogy of “Cashing a cheque at a bank” in his famous “I have a dream speech”. He developed it in a way that summed up the issues that had given rise to the civil rights movement.

“In a sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a cheque. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.
This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of colour are concerned…”

To give your speech a framework to hang your points on and to help the audience remember those points, try using an analogy.

Go easy on the adverbs and adjectives

When you first start adding “word pictures” to your speeches, you may be tempted to create them using adverbs and adjectives… resist at all costs.
In his book “On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction”
William Zinsser has a few things to say about Adverbs and Adjectives…

On Adverbs…
“Most adverbs are unnecessary.
Don’t tell us that the radio blared loudly – blare connotes loudness.
Don’t tell us that he clenched his teeth tightly – there is no other way to clench teeth.
The same applies to effortlessly easy, slightly spartan, totally flabbergasted.
Don’t use adverbs unless they do necessary work. Spare us the news that the winning athlete grinned widely.”

On adjectives…
“Most adjectives are also unnecessary.
Most writers sow adjectives almost unconsciously into the soil of their prose to make it more lush and pretty and the sentences become longer and longer as they fill up with stately elms, frisky kittens, hard bitten detectives, sleepy lagoons.
Not every oak has to be gnarled.”

This may be a book about writing well but the same is true for your speech script.

Let me know your favourite word pictures

Do you have any favourite similes and metaphors?
What similes and metaphors do the graphics on this post conjure up for you?
Let your comments flow… like fine wine at a feast.

Credits:
My thanks and gratitude to:
Dan for Bleeding man photo on flickr
EclecticBlogs for Sunrise photo on flickr
Seyed Mostafa Zamani for Melting heart photo on flickr
Vramak for Football photo on flickr

And the following authors whose books I have used as references and quoted throughout this article.

Professor Max Atkinson – Lend Me Your Ears: All You Need to Know About Making Speeches and Presentations
Rosemarie Jarski – The Funniest Thing You Never Said: The Ultimate Collection of Humorous Quotations
William Zinsser – On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction
P.G. Wodehouse – Wodehouse Nuggets: An Anthology
Robert Baldwin and Ruth Paris – Book of Similes

Please note – links to books are Amazon affiliate links

If you want to see humour used with surgical precision, look back to the 1984 US presidential campaign between Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale.
In response to Mondale’s comments about his age and his capacity to endure the gruelling demands of the presidency Ronald Reagan said…

“I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.“

Did that make you smile? Did it make you think that this man is someone worth listening to? Did it make you stop thinking about the “age thing” and start listening to the debate?
Sure, Ronald Reagon knew how to deliver a line and his team of speech writers would have been working on it for weeks, but do you see how humour can make a point, answer an unspoken question, grab your attention and amuse you, all at the same time?

An example from the world of showbiz.
The singer Helen Reddy, who is a well known champion of women’s rights used the following line when she accepted her statuette at an awards ceremony…

“I’d like to thank God.
I couldn’t have done it without her.“

How clever is that? No lecturing, no preaching, no moralising just a couple of short sentences garnished with a slice of humour and the point is made.

The examples above are classics and I’m not saying that you or I could have come up with them. What I am saying is that humour is such a poweful tool for your speeches and presentations, you really can’t ignore it.
So lets jump in, see what a serious business humour is and hopefully… have some fun along the way.

Why use humour in your Speech or Presentation?

So what’s the big deal? Why should you use humour in your speech? Why not just give the audience the facts and figures, give ‘em your point of view and let them go home…. job done.
Because as a Public Speaker your job is to bring meaning to the facts, make the figures come to life, to add drama and emotion to the whole event and watch the audience leave… feeling better than when they arrived.
No pressure then!

“Speakers are in show business, whether they admit it or not and because they like the sound of it, they admit it.”
Melvin Helitzer

Here are a few of the benefits of using humour in your speeches and presentations…

1. Makes you more likeable – this one is a no brainer. We all like people who make us laugh and believe me, you really do want the audience with you not against you.
2. Helps you connect with the audience – as the audience start to relax they start to see you as someone they know, a friend.
3. Arouses interest and keeps attention – if the audience are having a good time they want more, so they are more inclined to forget about their worries and listen.
4. Helps emphasise points and ideas – if you emphasise the main points of your speech with a little humour the audience will actually remember what you’ve said.
5. Disarms hostility – you won’t always be speaking to an audience who are on your side, but if you’ve made them laugh they will be more sympathetic.
6. Shows that you don’t take yourself too seriously – nobody likes listening to a stuffed shirt. A little self-effacing humour will let the audience know that you are just like them.
7. Makes information more memorable – if you illustrate the main points of your speech with a little humour, the audience are more likely to remember those points.
8. Lightens up heavy material – nobody wants to listen to a heavy message for twenty minutes but if you start with a little humour, hit the audience with your main message and then finish with something light hearted… they might last the distance.
9. It answers the question everyone wants to ask – when Abraham Lincoln was accused of being two faced, he answered with the now famous…
   “Friends, I ask you, if I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?“
10. Gives the audience some shuffle time – during the laughter the audience can shuffle around and get comfortable in their chairs.

Have I convinced you? I hope so because even a small amount of humour can turn a good speech into a great speech.

Where to use humour

You can use humour anywhere in your speech. You can use it at the beginning, you can use it at the end or you can sprinkle it throughout.
You can play with the audience’s emotions by grabbing their attention with humour and then hitting them with a heavy message – make them laugh, then make them cry.
Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Beginning of your speech

Use humour at the beginning of your speech to let the audience know that they are going to have a good time.
It will also help you relax by giving you what Peggy Noonan describes as “the quick victory of laughter“.

For an impromptu speech….
“ At the very start, let me say that we both have something in common.
You don’t know what I’m going to say… and neither do I.”
Robert Orben – Speaker’s Handbook of Humour

A speaker gave a speech to 2,000 prison inmates. He began……..
“ Now, gentlemen, there’s one big difference between all of you and me…..
you got caught.”

At the beginning of an acceptance speech….
“ I’m not one of those people who say I don’t really deserve this honour… because that would be duplication of effort.
I have a wife for that.”
Robert Orben – Speaker’s Handbook of Humour

Middle of your speech

The middle of your speech is where you present your main points and material to back up those points.
Use humour to make those points expressive, graphic and unforgettable.

A speaker talking about eliminating those people who won’t subscribe to the team spirit said…
“ We used to say on the farm that you can’t teach a pig to sing.
It wastes your time – and it irritates the hell out of the pig.”
Gene Perret – How to Hold your Audience with Humour

For a talk about the supernatural…
“ Would all of you who believe in telekinesis… please raise my hand.”
Rosemarie Jarski – The Funniest Thing You Never Said

In a speech about regulatory reform the speaker used an analogy…
“ Being a regulator these days is a lot like being the nearest fire hydrant to the dog pound. You know they’ll have to turn to you in an emergency, but it’s sure tough dealing with those daily indignities.”
Malcolm Kushner – Public Speaking for Dummies

End of your speech

The end of your speech is what the audience remember most. It’s the bit they take home with them, so why not leave them laughing?

“Ladies and gentlemen I leave you with a thought.
As you slide down the banister of life… may all the splinters be facing the right way.”

“Ladies and gentlemen you’ve no idea how it feels to come to the end of another brilliantly written and impeccably delivered speech.
Unfortunately… neither have I.”

“Ladies and gentlemen there are two types of speaker I can do without: those who never stop to think and those who never think to stop. I sincerely hope I haven’t been either.
Thank you and good night!”

Once you’ve delivered your final line, wait for the standing ovation to die down and return to your seat – bravo!

How to use humour when things go wrong

No matter how much you practise and prepare, check the visual aids, talk to the event organisers, something will go wrong. The microphone won’t work, one of the waiters will drop a tray during your talk or your magic marker will lose its magic.
When something like that happens you can ignore it and the audience will wonder why you’ve ignored it, or you can use one of your prepared adlibs.
Don’t worry, you don’t even have to prepare your own adlibs. In her book “What to Say When You’re Dying on the Platform” Lilly Walters gives you a humorous line to use in just about any situation.

1. You are given a terrible introduction – “Sometimes I wish I was one of those men (women) who need no introduction.” Roger Langley
2. You trip on the way to the lectern – “Like our LSD guru used to say: That was some trip.” Roger Langley
3. Your funny line or story bombs – (Pull out a pen and pretend to jot down a note) “I like to keep track of the jokes that go over really big.” John Nisbet
4. An audience member walks out during your speech – “Honest to God sir, I get better.” Gene Perret
5. There’s a sudden crash from outside the room – “You can’t scare me… I have children”

Take a look at Lilly’s book or write your own and have them ready!

Types of humour

What do you think of when you think of humour? I’m guessing that you think of jokes. Most of us do and when speakers start using humour in their speeches, they add jokes.
They give a bit of their speech, then tell a joke, then another bit of their speech, then another joke… and that’s what the result sounds like… speech. joke, speech, joke….
Forget jokes, look for humour that adds to your speech, makes a point or illustrates something you’re saying.
Here are a few types of humour that fit the bill.

1. Self – effacing humour – if you want to have a little fun at someone’s expense, make sure it’s at yours. As the speaker you should be big enough to take a little ribbing and the audience will admire you for it.
   I’m a Yorkshireman and Yorkshiremen have a reputation for being fiercly proud, loud and opinionated so this is an example I use occasionally.

   “Never ask a man if he’s from Yorkshire.
   If he is… he’ll have told you already and if he’s not… why embarass him?”
   Roy Hattersley

2. Personal anecdotes – we’ve all had humorous experiences or heard people say funny things, so weave them into your speeches.
   

   “My old boss used to say, there are only two things you need to know about life.
   Where there’s money there’s corruption and where there’s men and women… there’s hanky panky.“

3. Similes / metaphors – similies and metaphors are a great source of humour on any subject you can think of.
   

   “Life is rather like a tin of sardines – we’re all of us looking for the key.”
   Alan Bennett

4. Quotations – there are huge volumes of quotations out there just waiting to be used to illustrate your points and add humour to your speeches.
   

   “I’m a kind of paranoic in reverse – I suspect people are plotting to make me happy.”
   J.D. Salinger

5. Lists – whenever you use a list of at least three items you can inject a little humour. The first few items follow a pattern and the final item catches the audience by surprise.
   

   “It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience and the prudence never to practise either of them.”
   Mark Twain

6. Predictions – the pronouncements of experts have left us with a wealth of funny material.
   

   “Computers in the future will weigh no more than 1.5 tons.”
   Popular Mechanics, forecasting advance of science, 1949

7. One liners – I know I’ve told you not to tell jokes, but one liners are short enough not to interupt the flow of your speech.
   

   “Start every day with a smile… and get it over with.”
   W.C. Fields

So forget the jokes and start looking for humour that you can weave into your speeches…. without the audience seeing the join.

Pitfalls of Public Speaking Humour

I know I’ve waxed lyrical about using humour in your speeches and presentations but don’t overdo it. Here are a few tips to help you use humour to its best advantage.

You are not a stand up comedian

Although I’m advocating the use of humour, I’m not trying to turn you into a stand up comedian. A stand up comedian is there to make the audience laugh. Your job as a Public Speaker is to get your message across and make sure that people remember that message. For you as a speaker, humour is a tool, a means to an end.

“When the mouth is open for laughter, you may be able to shove in a little food for thought.”
Dr Virginia Trooper

Humour is the salt on the salad, the icing on the cake, the black velvet cloth that shows off the diamonds the…. sorry I got carried away.

All speeches should contain at least one serious point

You may be thinking …. the purpose of my speech is to entertain, so why do I need a serious point?
Even if your primary purpose is to entertain, you still need a serious idea to hang the humour on.

“Speeches that entertain, do more than entertain: They also create social cohesion by generating good feelings…….
Even when your main purpose is to be entertaining, you should still include at least one serious idea in your speech. Why? A speech that is all fluff can sometimes become tiresome and vacuous.”
Laurie Rozakis Ph.D.

Your serious message provides a contrast to your humour and both humour and message are more powerful because of that contrast.

Never use offensive humour

The pendulum of acceptability is forever swinging and whilst stand up comedians are there to challenge and push the boundaries, you aren’t. Don’t be tempted to use the verbal exhibitionism demonstrated by modern comedians – never use offensive humour.

“I’m beyond being shocked – but I’m not beyond being offended.”
Robert Orben

If you are in two minds about including a piece of humour remember… “if in doubt, leave it out.”

Don’t stop the audience laughing

When you say something funny the audience will laugh, hopefully. Don’t say another word until the laughter has died down.
If you interupt the laughter the audience won’t be able to hear you, but more importantly, you will be training the audience not to laugh!
During the laughter just look round the audience, shake your head or you can even laugh yourself.

Use bombproof humour

One of the reasons speakers don’t use humour is that they are afraid of not getting a laugh.
This is Malcolm Kushner’s advice…

“If you use humour to make a point, then you won’t bomb.
When you tell a joke that makes a point, people recognise that fact. So even if they don’t find the joke funny, they still realise that you’re making a point.”
Malcolm Kushner – Public Speaking for Dummies

So make sure that your humour serves a purpose… and you won’t bomb!

Final words… honest!

If you think that the topic of your speech is so serious that you couldn’t possibly use humour, this is what William Zinsser has to say about humour….

“One Catch-22 or Dr Strangelove is more powerful than all the books and movies that try to show war as it is. Joseph Heller and Stanley Kubrick heightened the truth about war just enough to catch its lunacy.
The joke is no joke.”
William Zinsser – On Writing Well

So maybe that’s it… The joke is no joke.
Still think your topic is too serious to include humour?

Let me have your thoughts

Let me know what you think and let me have your favourite humourous openings, closings and the bits in between.

Credits:
My thanks and gratitude to:
Sara of a sharing connection for mentioning the use of humour in one of her comments and prompting this post – thanks Sara.
Hannes Eichinger for Smiling lady photos on photoXpress
And the following authors whose books I have used as references and quoted throughout this article.
Malcolm Kushner – Public Speaking for Dummies
Lilly Walters – What to Say when You’re Dying on the Platform
Gene Perret – How to Hold your Audience with Humour
Robert Orben – Speaker’s Handbook of Humour
Melvin Helitzer – Comedy Writing Secrets
Tom Antion – Wake Em Up Business Presentations
Rosemarie Jarski – The Funniest Thing You Never Said

When I was young I wanted to be a good skier.
Not easy in England. We don’t have much snow and even fewer mountains. What to do?
I joined a ski club, which boasted the longest dry ski slope in England… a staggering 235m! I got to know all the best skiers in the club, had coaching, put in hours of practice, read books, watched videos and eventually I gave up my job and went out to the French Alps for a season.
For three years I worked in the UK during the summer and went out to the alps in the winter. Eventually I became a member of BASI, the British Association of Ski Instructors.

One day I was teaching a woman who was finding that skiing is not as easy as it looks. In her frustration she turned to me and said “it’s OK for you… you’re a natural”… I smiled.

“Everyone has the will to win; what is important is the will to prepare.”
Bobby Knight

So what’s the point of the story? The point is that we never look behind the final performance, we don’t see the hard work, the struggle, the soul searching, the self doubt. All we see is the final article.
When we see a professional public speaker, we can’t help but compare ourselves to them.
If you want to be good, you have to put in the time, you have to do the hard work… you have to practise.

Why you need to practise your speech

What’s the old saying? “It’ll be alright on the night.” Believe me, without practice it won’t be alright on the night.
The common reason we practise is to become familiar with the speech, the lectern and all the presentational elements of the speech, but there is another reason for practising… knowing that you have practised your speech will build up your confidence and help settle those nerves on the night.

“I only have stagefright when I did not adequately prepare. If I don’t take into account everything that could go wrong, I’m afraid that they will go wrong!”
Tom Ogden

Winging it will only increase your nerves… don’t do it.

Do Professional Speakers practise?

You bet they do, they practise like crazy.Tom Antion Professional Public Speaker and author of “Wake Em Up Business Presentations” gives us a feel for how much they do practise:

“I have a personal rule that I tell a story anywhere from 30 to 50 times before I tell it in a presentation. That applies to each part of my presentation whether it’s humorous or not.
When you practise parts of your talk that many times, a magical thing happens. All the ums and ahs disappear. Your volume and confidence increase. Your talk takes on a more conversational nature, which is exactly what you want.”

Take a look at that again, 30 to 50 times! You may not be a professional public speaker, but you do need to practise.

Getting ready to practise your speech…

Before you begin practising, there are a few things you need to prepare.

Your notes

This is not the post to talk about what form of notes you should use, but whatever notes you will use on the night… those are the notes you should practise with.

A lectern

On the night, you wll probably be using a lectern. Your notes will be on the lectern and your hands will be free, not holding your notes. So that’s how you practise.
OK buying a lectern is a bit much to ask… so buy a music stand with a solid top, about £30.
Make sure the angle and height of the stand can be altered so that you can find what works best for you.

How to practise your speech

You’ve got your notes, you’ve got a lectern… let’s get cracking.
Let’s start with the golden rule:
You need to practise your speech by simulating as near as possible the conditions you will encounter on the night.
If you can practise in the actual room using the lectern you’ll be using on the night… great. But that’s not likely, so you have to improvise.

Your notes

Put your notes on the lectern and stand back about an arms length.
Check out:

• Can you read your notes? is the text large enough?
• Is the lectern at the right height or do you have to drop your head to read your notes? Make sure that all you have to do to read your notes, is drop your eyes, not your head.
• Will you position your notes on the left and slide the finished sheet to the right? Practise and see what feels best.
• Are the sheets of paper sticking together because of the static? Do you need to roughen the sheets up a bit?
• Do you need to mark any pauses, gestures or changes in voice?

Don’t wait for the night… now’s the time to get your notes sorted!

Difficult words and consonant clusters

Are there any difficult words or combination of words that you struggle with?
If there are, get rid of them or change them to something easier.

Using your voice

Practise using your voice to add variety and interest to your speech.
If you make a statement, make it sound like a statement. If you ask a question, make it sound like a question.
Speed up, slow down, raise your voice, whisper.
Practise the voice music that keeps the audience interested and listening.

Pauses

If you ask a question you’ll want to pause for an answer, so when you practise… pause.
If the audience are laughing you’ll want to pause, so when you practise… pause.
You may want to add drama by pausing, so when you practise… pause.
I mark pauses on my notes with………
Try it, or use your own notation.

Gestures

Don’t forget your gestures.
They should fit naturally with the words, not look theatrical or mime like and they should add to the words or even replace words.

Eye contact

You probably won’t have an audience for your rehearsals but that’s not a problem. Practise looking round the room as though you did have an audience.
Deliver questions and punch lines to imaginary individuals in the audience. Get used to moving your head as you will for the actual performance.

Using props

Props can be a nightmare so I try not to use them, but if you are using props, practise using them.
Make sure you can get to them easily without interupting the flow of your speech and if the audience have to be able to see them…. make sure that they are big enough!

Give him a hand

With your notes on the lectern and you standing back… what will you do with your hands?
If you want to you can rest them lightly on the lectern, but that can give the impression that you are scared to let go of the lectern.
My advice? Stand back from the lectern and keep your hands in a neutral position, from that position you can make your gestures.
What’s a neutral position? Try and find one that works for you:

• Hands loose by your side.
• Both arms bent at the elbow and hands in front.
• One arm loose and one arm bent.

Practise until you find a position that looks natural and you are comfortable with.

After each practice

Can I suggest that during your practice, you don’t stop and alter your notes, get to the end and then revise your notes.
If you keep stopping it will interupt the flow of your speech.
What sounded wrong, which words did you struggle with… anything that comes to mind.
Then revise your notes ready for the next practice.
Don’t forget, there are no well written scripts only well rewritten scripts.

What about an audience?

Let’s face it… who wants to sit and listen to you practising your speech? Spouse? Kids? Maybe once maybe twice, but not every time.
My advice, get used to practising on your own and pretending you have an audience. You will soon become your own best judge of how the speech is going.
Perhaps when your speech is well polished you could ask some of the familly or friends to listen and give you some feedback, but not every time.

Time your speech

Even if you don’t have to speak to a given time, make sure that you time your speech. At some time in the future you will be asked to give a 15min or 20min speech, so get into the habit of timing all your speech practices.

Bottom line on practising your speech

That just about covers it for now. All you need to know about practising your speech.

A tourist stops a police officer on the street in Yew York City.
The tourist asks, “ How do you get to Carnegie Hall? ”
The officer says, “Practice, practice, practice.”

Bottom line?
The more you practise the more confident you will feel and the better your speech or presentation will be on the night. Don’t forget, to make it look easy… you have to work hard.

How do you practise your speeches?

Let us know how you practise your speeches. Leave us all your hints, tips and even your secrets in the comments below.
Look forward to hearing from you.

Credits:
My thanks and gratitude to Elana for her photo “Alice in waterland”

Whenever I visit Paris I always do my favourite walk… from the Louvre to the Arc de Triomphe via the Tuileries the Place de la Concorde and the Champs Elyssee.
I start from the Louvre, and the great thing about this walk, is that from the beginning, you know where you’re going. This walk has three parts… a beginning, a middle and an end, the same three parts that your speech should have, and hopefully… in that order. And throughout this walk, in the distance, you can just make out the Arc de Triomphe, this walk has a purpose, a final destination… just like your speech.

The purpose of your speech

Before you can start writing your speech, you need to have a clear purpose. What are you trying to achieve? If you can’t write your purpose in a single clear concise sentence… you will struggle with the rest of your speech.

“A man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder.” Robert Carlyle.

Your purpose could be anything:

• To inform people of the reasons for the Credit Crunch
• To entertain people at a social gathering
• To persuade people to vote for you

To clarify what you are trying to achieve, and to remind you when you start to wander, at the top of your script write… “The purpose of this speech is……………”
Everything you write should be written with your purpose in mind.

“The common knowledge divides presentations by various purposes. Traditionally, the big three are speeches to inform, speeches to entertain and speeches to persuade. The uncommon knowledge is that everything you say involves persuasion” – Malcolm Kushner

If the main purposes of a your speech is to entertain, don’t simply tell a string of jokes or funny stories. Leave that to the stand up comedians. Your speech should entertain but it should do more…..

“Speeches that entertain, do more than entertain: They also create social cohesion by generating good feelings…….
Even when your main purpose is to be entertaining, you should still include at least one serious idea in your speech. Why? A speech that is all fluff can sometimes become tiresome and vacuous.” – Laurie Rozakis Ph.D.

Beginning your Speech

Why do I start my walk from the Louvre? Because it has the greatest impact, it’s inspiring, dramatic and demands that you give it your full attention. You have the great glass pyramid reflecting in the sunlight, the water feature in front all set against the classical backdrop.
The beginning of your speech should be just like that. It should grab the audience and hold their attention and it has to do it from the beginning. OK you don’t have the grandeur of Paris to help you, but you can try some of these…

• Use a famous or unusual quotation – “Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees all others.”
• Ask a question – “Have you ever been in prison? I have.”
• Use a startling statistic or fact – “Children laugh about 400 times a day, while adults laugh on average only 15 times a day.”
• Relate a short story or anecdote – “While travelling down the Tigris and Euphrates rivers many years ago…..”
• Make a promise – “When you leave here today, you will have the solution to…..”
• Use humour – “I have always been short, but today I’ll be brief.”

Whatever method you use it has to grab the attention of the audience and make them listen.

Psychologists have shown that the first 30 seconds have the most impact. So don’t waste time. Don’t say, “Ladies and gentlemen, it’s a pleasure to be here.” Come out punching. – Patricia Fripp

What else should your beginning do?

Once you’ve grabbed the attention of the audience, you have to do a few other things before you dive into the body of your speech. Tradittionally the beginning of your speech should:

• Allow the audience to get used to your voice – make sure that you speak slowly
• Provide reasons for listening… what’s in it for the audience – describe the benefits
• Give the audience an idea what your speech is about and what you’ll cover – provide a route map

The middle of your Speech

This is the meat and potatoes oy your speech, and if it’s a good speech… you might throw in a few veg.
This is where you present your information, facts and figures, statistics, quotes to prove your point, humorous stories to illustrate a point,
Your speech should be arranged around a number of main points and these points should be arranged in a logical order.

How many main points should your speech have?

When you start to write your masterpiece, you’ll want to tell people everything. Don’t! Limit your main points to three, almost everyone agrees that three is the best number.

“I like to get my talk down to three “big hit” things that people can take home with them. Whenever a speaker starts off with “Here are 10 points I’m going to make…..” I go to snoozeville.” – Dr Ken Blanchard

You can add sub-points to your main points but limit your main points to the tried and trusted triad, stick to three.

Use a strong pattern to structure your speech

During my walk I can’t go wrong, because all my intermediate places of interest are in a straight line and follow on from each other. My order is the Tuileries the Place de la Concorde and the Champs Elyssee. No wavering or going off course, not even a detour to look at the Eiffel Tower. That’s for another walk, another speech.
In your speech it’s not so easy…. make sure that your main points are in a logical order. This helps the audience follow your speech and it helps you to remember.
Traditional patterns to structure your speech are:

• Numerical order eg. first point, second point, third point.
• Time related eg. past, present, future.
• Geography eg. in the UK, in Europe, in the USA.
• Problem, cause, solution.
• Extended metaphor e.g. like this article, which compares writing a speech to a walk in Paris.

Put your best material last

If your speech has three main points and you’re not sure what order to put them in, arrange them in ascending order of importance with your best material last.
The audience tend to remember your final point the most, so make it a good one.

Mix the facts with emotion

Don’t be afraid to use emotion in your speeches. Plain old facts and logic can only go so far, we often make our decisions using emotion and feelings. As the old saying goes… “Facts tell, feelings sell.”
The best speakers move us to action via our emotions.

Open with a laugh – close with a tear. – Dottie Walters

Ending your Speech

As I walk up the Champs Elyssee, I’m beginning to feel weary but I know that I’m coming to the end and my final destination will make it all worthwhile.
Same for your speech. Your ending has to be signalled and it can’t just peter out, it has to make all that listening worthwhile.

If the beginning of your speech has to grab the attention of the audience, the ending has to leave them with something memorable to do, to act on, to think about, to give them hope.
The ending is the part of your speech the audience will remember… no pressure there then!

It’s been said that a speech is like a love afair: Anyone can start one, but it takes a lot of skill to end one well.

The conclusion must do two things. It must remind the audience of your main points and it must satisfy the listeners, leaving them in the proper mood or frame of mind.

Use voice music to let us know it’s the end

When you deliver your final words, it should be obvious to the audience that you’ve finished… it’s the cue for the audience to applaud. If the audience don’t know that those were your final words, there is an embarrased silence and the speaker has to say “Thank you” to let the audience know it’s the end.
Dilwyn Scott the National Training Officer for the Association of Speakers Clubs talks about using “Voice Music” to let the audince know that you’ve finished. In other words, it’s not just what you say but how you say it that says to the audience “you can applaud now.”
Listen to the endings of famous speeches, and listen to the “Voice Music”.

Always end on a positive note

No matter how sad the occasion, how bleak your message, always leave the audience feeling good. Even if all you can do is give them hope for the future – motivate the audience to take action.

Use transitions to link your speech

Transitions are the phrases that tie the pieces of your speech together. They let the audience know that you are moving to a new section of the speech or to a new point. They’re the glue that holds the whole thing together.
Any short phrase can be used as a transition but here are a few to give you the idea:

• Let’s take a look at those points in turn…..
• Moving on to my second point……
• Another reason for…..
• Those are the arguments in favour, what about the arguments against……
• So what are people saying about…..
• That brings me to my final point…..

Don’t just change direction… use your indicators and let the audience know where you’re going!

Bonus Speech Writing tips

I know this has been a long post, and thanks for staying to the end. As a small reward here are a few bonus Speech Writing tips:

• Make sure that you write your speech to be spoken, not read.
• Use the showbiz formula – strong opening, strong close.
• To give your speech impact, cut out the adjectives and adverbs, use nouns and active verbs.
• Get the proportions of your speech right – The beginning should be about 10 to 15 percent of your speech, the ending should be about 5 to 10 percent.
• Write the introduction last – after you’ve written the body and conclusion, you’ll know what you’re introducing. Then write the introduction.
• For a great finish to your speech, tie it in to the beginning – by repeating at the end of your speech the idea, quotation, image or whatever you offered in the introduction, you give the audience the feeling of coming home again – this gives a wonderful sense of completeness to your speech.
• If you want to read more about speech construction, read Public Speaking for Dummies by Malcolm Kushner
• Work and rework your speech. All good speech writers will tell you that there’s no such thing a good writing, only good rewriting.
• Learn to judge the length of your speech by the number of words – after you have written and delivered a few speeches, you will be able to corrolate the number of words to the time taken.
• Give your speech an interesting and enigmatic title and don’t decide on your title until you have written your speech.

Credits:
My thanks to Innusa for the gorgeous image of Paris
And thanks to the following authors:
Malcolm Kushner – “Public Speaking for Dummies”
Lilly Walters – “Secrets of Successful Speakers”
Thomas Montalbo – “The Power of Eloquence”
Laurie Rozakis, Ph.D – “Idiot’s Guide to Public Speaking”

In his book “Great Speaking – Stage Techniques to Tame Those Butterflies” Hal Persons says……

“In verbal communication, your eyes are the most important organ”

Big statement, but is he right?… you bet he’s right.

Think about it, when you talk to someone in a normal conversation, you speak eyeball to eyeball and you have no problems doing it. In fact, not looking at someone sends out signals of not being interested or being nervous or even worse… not telling the truth.

Same in Public Speaking. The speaker has to create that eyeball to eyeball experience in order to make you feel that they are speaking to you. If they ain’t looking at you… they ain’t speaking to you, so you feel excluded and stop listening.

Eye Contact… how do you do it?

The old advice was to scan the audience in a letter W configuration, creating the impression that you are looking at people in the audience. Trouble is, that looks pretty artificial and the speaker doesn’t get any feedback from the audience.

My advice… actually look people in the eyes and speak to them. Look at someone in the front and speak to them, look at someone on the right and speak to them, look at someone at the back and speak to them… I could go on all day, but you get the idea.
When you ask a question, ask a single person and wait for their reaction, when you deliver a punchline, deliver it to a single person and wait for their reaction.
The audience will feel involved and you will get that all important feedback. You’ll notice frowns, smilling faces, nodding heads. You are interacting with the audience.

Practical things to improve eye contact

In an ideal world we would all speak off the cuff without notes and with our eyes fully on the audience. But for most of us, we will be using notes, and if you are looking at your notes… you ain’t looking at the audience. Don’t worry, there are a few practical things that you can do to improve your eye contact with the audience whilst taking the odd crafty glance at your notes:

• Use your notes wisely – whatever form of notes you use, make sure that the writing is big enough to read easily. Rehearse enough to allow you to take quick looks to remind you what’s coming next. And if your notes are on A4 sheets, only write on the top two thirds so you don’t have to lower your head to see the bottom of the sheet.
• Are your glasses up to the job? – if you wear bifocals or variofocals make sure that you can read your script easilly, through the bottom of your glasses. If you can only read your script through the top of your glasses, you will have to keep dropping your head. Keep your head still and drop your eyes to see your script.
• The lectern is your friend – make sure that the lectern is set at the correct height for you i.e. so that you don’t have to drop your head to see your notes. And stand about an arms length away from the lectern.

Never Speak to an Audience

I’ll finish where I started by going back to Hal Persons book. Having stressed that you must always speak “eyeball to eyeball” and never to an audience, he says……

“To accomplish this, you must eliminate from your very thinking that you ever talk to a group of people. Never talk to an audience. Never talk to a class. Never talk to a meeting. Never talk to a congregation. Never talk to the Kiwanis Club. Never talk to the PTA.
You talk to 1,000 people… one at a time.”

I’ve no idea what the Kiwanis Club is, but Hal’s solution sounds perfect to me. It cuts through all the theory and technique, you don’t have to remember or practise anything, all you have to do is what you do every day of your life… speak to real people, eyeball to eyeball.

Credits:
Thanks to Hal Persons for writing such a great book
Special thanks to Elena Snow for allowing us to use her stunning image