By Pam Lontos
Every business needs a cost-effective way to keep their name, their products or their services in front of their prospects and customers. For many business owners, publicity is the key to such recognition and awareness. When done correctly, publicity develops your name recognition, gives your business instant credibility, and ultimately leads to increased sales. And best of all, publicity is absolutely free.
Read More...I am often asked what fee CEO’s and business executives should charge. Many have expertise, or have run a good business, and would like to gain national media attention and exposure. Recently I was asked, ” Is there a national list or organization that posts that type of info? ”
Read More...Anytime you’re giving a speech, always remember it’s a conversation. Sometimes we fall into the trap of thinking we’re presenting a monologue. It’s easy to think of a speaker as the vehicle delivering a load of wisdom. In reality, every speech is a conversation. A two-way conversation with the audience.
It’s important to remember that this dialogue is not with the audience as a group, but rather a one-on-one conversation with each person. You’re speaking individually to each person in the audience. For example, you’re making eye contact with one person at a time. When you find your self mechanically spraying the audience with eye contact, you are actually NOT making eye contact with anyone.
Read More...Bill Gates spoke in Las Vegas on January 7, 2007. Arriving almost four hours early guaranteed me a seat about 100 yards from the speaking platform. Thank goodness for big-screen projection. The crowd and the lines were something like a Rolling Stones concert. Except there were more geeks. About an hour from the start of the program I doubted they’d be able to get everyone into their seats… but magically they did. And the speech started pretty much on time.
As the start of the keynote presentation for the 40th Anniversary Consumer Electronic Show approached, I wondered how much humor, if any, Bill Gates would use. I expected that he would use humor in some way to open his talk. As I watched him speak it was obvious that, although brilliant, he is not a comedian. In fact his use of humor from the platform was minimal, but he made it obvious to me that he does have a good sense of humor. Remember that a sense of humor is more than just telling jokes. And even in a speech that is far from an award-winning example of humor from the platform, there are some good lessons to be learned.
Read More...Fellow students of humor, stand up and make ’em laugh! I say “fellow students” because through teaching others and making techniques and concepts graspable I, too, gain more clarity. I’m still on my own ever-changing path of humor mastery.
Many of you have heard me speak in person. One of the favorite things that I like to teach is the Rule of Three – with a humor twist. Some of you may be aware that in professional presentations a “list of three” is often used to illustrate examples. For instance, in my observations about happiness, I talk about the excuses we all make. We would be happier IF: “If I just had a little more money… If I just had a little more time… If the kids were just a little older.”
Read More...Twenty to thirty years ago, humor was commonly used to sell low-priced products. We remember Mr. Whipple squeezing the Charmin and Clara Peller asking “Where’s the beef?” Today, when you watch TV, you’re likely to see humor being used to sell automobiles. Over the years, advertisers have gained a greater appreciation of the value of humor for feeling good, building relationships and selling products. And so have speakers come to appreciate the more sophisticated value of humor for selling their message.
Read More...Every year the World Championship contest is an amazing event. Lance, the 2005 World Champion, was wonderful! He connected with the audience and executed his speech perfectly. Lance’s message was simple and crystal clear. And a speech well worth studying!
My favorite line, however, came from one of the other contestants, Rowena Romero. During her interview she talked about how previous winners were all known for something. Rowena said, “David Brooks is known for his blue Jeans—Darren LaCroix is known for his fall on his face, I’ll be know for my stool.” (Rowena stood atop a footstool during her speech.)
Read More...by John Kinde
The eyes of your audience are fixed on you. You deliver your best new humor line. They stare at you in silence.
It has happened to all of us. It will happen again. What do you do?
The conventional wisdom from experienced professional speakers is valid. Pretend you were serious. Humor, properly delivered, should be a surprise. If you told them a joke was coming (telegraphed your punchline), you probably did it wrong. Delivered properly, since it was a surprise, they didn’t know it was supposed to be funny. So don’t let them know that YOU thought it was funny. The “look of expectation” is what gives you away. It’s that look on your face which begs for a laugh. Begging is not a gesture that connects you with your audience!
Read More...An article on public speaking and presentations by John Kinde and Patricia Fripp
As one of my humorist speaker friends John Kinde, well-known for his Humor Power newsletter says, “Great speaking skills give you the illusion of competence. The flip side: Poor speaking skills give you the illusion of incompetence! If your presentation skills are weak, you will probably appear less than competent even if you happen to be a master of the subject matter.”
Read More...If there’s one thing I’ve learned in 30 years of studying humor, it’s this. You CAN learn to be funny. Some people think you need to be born funny, the class clown. I’m a laid-back, serious, Norwegian from North Dakota and I’ve won humorous speech contests at the Toastmasters District level four times and three trophies at the Regional level representing the funniest of 10,000 people. If I can do it, you can do it. And if you don’t look funny or have a reputation for being funny…great! You’ll take advantage of the element of surprise, one of the basic elements that makes humor tick.
In this special report I’ll refer to some activities in Toastmasters Clubs that are relevant to both Toastmasters and non-Toastmasters. If you’re not a member, consider checking our a club in your local area. Visit the Toastmasters’ website: http://www.toastmasters.org
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