Making Public Speaking FUN! Part 7
Hey, let’s pull a few more responses from our HARO e-mail bag. Several weeks ago we posed the question: What do you, as a public speaker, do to make Public Speaking FUN for both you and the audience? Our goal was to sprinkle several ideas throughout our blog and to compile them all into a book.
Ami Simms of Flint, Michigan, says “I travel around the US and sometimes internationally to speak. Groups range in size from 30 in a church basement to 400+ in a hotel ballroom or convention center. I get to lecture about twice a month. It’s WAY FUN!” She offers a pair of ways that work for her…
1. After I thank the person who just introduced me and tell the audience how happy I am to be wherever it is I am, I deadpan, “Any questions so far?” Always gets a laugh.
2. Later, when I seriously want people to ask questions, if I don’t get a hand up immediately, I say, “Have I mentioned that I’m wearing hand-dyed underwear?” This always gets a room full of giggle and breaks the ice. I get loads of questions, and not just related to the how and the why of the underwear. Helps that I speak predominantly to female quilters and crafters who actually would consider hand-dying their underwear. (No, I don’t show them my underwear. They have to go to my web site for that.)
For Robert Galinsky of Boom Consulting, having several personalities – er, uh, characters – helps break the ice and invite his audience into his world:
1. When I am introduced and enter a room or onto a stage I will make upwards to five separate entrances, each an absolutely different character, each only about 15 seconds long. The audience loves it and is shocked to see the levity and intensity. They wonder which is the real me. I emerge as the 5th or 6th character as me and then I can refer back to the original 5 characters throughout my presentation and develop and connect learning points with a vivid characterization.
2. I use tennis balls to wake people up and talk about communication, multi-tasking and focus. I start with one ball and get upwards to ten going at one time. People love to play.
However, Reinvention Expert Ann Fry of New York does show that if you effectively use the skills you have, you can do just about anything:
As a professional speaker, I’ve tried many things, but here’s a couple I love:
1. Whenever training a small group, inside a company, I take toys for the table (so they can play and open up their creative channels) and I pour chocolate candies all over the table. The choc tastes yummy and puts them in a more fun place.
2. When I do a Keynote, at the end, I invite them to come up and get a “kiss” for their business cards so I can sign them up for follow ups. The Kiss, of course, is a candy kiss, but they love it.
Now we get into an area where most of us may not be able to go: being a psychic. However, Psychic Messenger Terri Jay of Nevada says it works for her:
Tim, I am a psychic, medium and pet psychic and my favorite thing to do when I do public speaking is answer a person’s question before they have asked it. I call on them and they are just getting ready to take a breath to start asking it and I am answering it. So much fun!!!!
A simple technique can also be used to have fun, as shown by author and speaker Jan Cullinane, co-author, The New Retirement: The Ultimate Guide to the Rest of Your Life (Rodale 2007):
I can talk backwards fluently, so use that as an attention grabber! (I’m an author – see below) and speak on the non-financial aspects of retirement.
Finally, Dr. Ray Lauk of La Grange Park, Illinois reaches back to one of his previously developed skills (sense a theme going here?): improvisational comedy.
When I am speaking on my “FUEL for Growth” or “FUEL for Learning” program, I always incorporate Improv comedy techniques that I learned at the Second City Theater in Chicago. These techniques get people up, moving around, engaged, laughing—and the games ALWAYS illustrate the points in my speech.
I love it! These are all great ideas. They may be suited specifically to each person, but you can certainly use the ideas as stepping stones to pull out an element of your life and skills to incorporate into your speaking gigs. Are you a musician? Outdoorsman? Acupuncturist? It doesn’t matter – if you put your mind to it, you can find a way to incorporate your skill into your public presentations.
And if you have an idea you want to share, just leave a comment.
