A Great Acceptance Speech Example from Bruce Phipps, American Payroll Association 2011 Man of the Year. Every year I help the American Payroll Association’s Man and Woman of the Year prepare their speech to be delivered at the APA national convention called Congress. The Man and Woman of the Year deliver an eight-minute speech the […]
Read More...Create Clear, Concise, Creative Keynotes: 5 Ways to Make Every Word Count
1. Be conversational. A good speech, especially for today’s audiences, needs to sound conversational. However, there is a difference between a conversation and a speech that sounds conversational. An actual conversation involves back and forth. In a conversational speech, you imagine a crisp, concise conversation with your audience, avoiding unusually long pauses, run-on thoughts, and […]
Read More...Improve Public Speaking with Three Techniques for Better Storytelling
Improve Public Speaking with Three Techniques for Better Storytelling By Patricia Fripp, Presentation Skills Guru Everybody loves a good story. No matter what our culture, we grow up knowing that hearing a story is somehow a reward. Stories are how we learn values and our family’s legacy. When we go to school, we discover that […]
Read More...Public Speaking: Your Presentation Starts Before You Walk on Stage
Whenever you open your mouth, whether your audience is ten people or a thousand, you naturally want to get a specific message across. Whenever you set out to present, persuade, and propel with the spoken word you want to keep the audience engaged…from the moment you walk on stage or to the front of the […]
Read More...The Best Way to Open a Panel Discussion – Expert Advice
If you are a leader, manager, executive, professional speaker, Toastmaster, or ambitious professional, most likely you will have the opportunity to moderate a panel. If you believe there is nothing duller than a bad speech, may I suggest a dull panel is even worst? As with any great presentation, when opening a panel discussion, the […]
Read More...How To Organize a Speech
A frequently asked question on public speaking is “How Do I Organize My Speech?”
Here is a basic outline that work well for the beginning speaker.
1. THE PAST-PRESENT-JOURNEY FORMAT: This simple outline can help you tell the audience who you are and why you are qualified to speak on the topic you’ve chosen.
Read More...Las Vegas Humorist Looks Behind the Gervais Humor at Golden Globes
Gervais Humor at Golden Globes
When a comedian hosts an awards show, you can expect some roast-style humor. That’s why they hire the comic. A roast structure creates a vehicle to ensure the success of the jokes which follow. Before you start firing jokes at people in the audience, you need permission. This is usually received by making fun of yourself, which gives you permission to make fun of the boss or authority figures, which gives you permission to make fun of the honored guests.
Last night Ricky Gervais hosted the Golden Globe Awards for the third year. Some people were surprised he was chosen as this year’s emcee because many thought he was over-the-top offensive last year. But in his pre-show appearances, he made it clear that he was going to do some sharply-pointed humor this year, too. The anticipation of what he was going to say helped build the tension, which is an important trigger for humor.
Here are some bits from his monologue (not the whole monologue) and some observations:
So where was I?
(A transition from last year’s performance to this year’s. Sets the stage for “more of the same.”)
Nervous? Don’t be. This isn’t about you.
(He will start primarily with jokes about the sponsor of the event and himself.)
Hello, I’m Ricky Gervais and welcome to the 69th annual Golden Globe Awards live from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. Voted for by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
(His formal opening lines establish the fact that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association was an authority figure, a fact which may not have been well-known to the television viewing audience.)
Business leader, what do you charge for talks? Appropriate fees for business executives seeking engagements?
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...Telling a Joke–The Dialogue From The Platform
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 […]
Read More...The Richest Man in the World Speaks in Las Vegas
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 […]
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