Craig Valentine's "Edge of Their Seats" Public Speaking Blog!

2 Delivery Tools to Uncover Humor in Your Speech

Obviously content and structure are important for uncovering humor. However, so is delivery. Here are 2 delivery tools you can use to make your speeches more humorous.

Humorous Delivery Tool #1: The Look before the Line

As you probably know, you should never add humor to a speech, you should uncover humor within it. It's already there. Where? It's in your story. More specifically it's in your characters' dialogue with each other. However, here's what can turn a chuckle into a full-blown laugh.

Many speakers spend so much time trying to create humorous content when, in reality, a change in delivery can make their already-existing content funny. Here's an example of The Look before the Line.

I have a story where I go to a KFC drive-through and place an order. I say the following:

I drove up to the intercom and the lady said, "Welcome to KFC, may I help you?" I said, "Yes, I would like to order three thighs." She said, "Small or large?" Right here is where I pause and look confused. Why? Think about it. If she said this to you, what would you be thinking? Well, whatever you are thinking, show it before you say it.

In this case, I was thinking, "What? Is there a difference in the sizes of chicken thighs?" The look I show on my face is what creates the humor at this point. Then, after I give the look, I say the following: And before I could even comprehend what she said I unfortunately blurted out, "Do you have large thighs?" Now, once I say this line and realize how crude of a question that can be, what do you think I was thinking? "Uh oh" is right! However, instead of saying "Uh oh," I show it with my face. So it's the look before the line and the look after the line that makes the line more humorous.

Unfortunately far too often speakers just give the lines. They give one line of dialogue and then the other character responds with another line of dialogue. The secret to the effectiveness of the dialogue is the look between those lines.

The Key to tool #1

The key to tool #1 is to always ask yourself, "What am I thinking or feeling after that line of dialogue?" Then, once you know the answer, show it on your face before you say it from your lips. And, if you are truly under the influence of your character's emotions, the look should automatically come.

Humorous Delivery Tool #2: Stop on a Dime

So much is said during a speech and it's easy for the audience to tune some of it out. However, delivery gives us a way to make sure some of our content jumps out to be remembered. This tool helps add to the twist we make in some of our content. For example, I used to say the following in my speeches:

Write down your perfect day. Everything I wrote down years ago has come to pass. I said I wanted to be a professional speaker; I'm a professional speaker. I said I wanted to own my own business; I own my own business. I said I wanted a white Mercedes Benz Convertible; I have a white Honda Accord...I'm getting there!"

In the past, the content itself carried the laugh. However, overtime I realized a delivery tool that can help. Anytime you have a twist in your content, you can use this tool. As I go through all the things I wrote down in my perfect day, I walk continously in one direction. Then, when I get to the twist in the content (i.e. White Honda Accord), I physically stop and look back in the direction from whence I just came. The physical stop along with the twist in content makes the twist more dramatic and more humorous. What was the result? The laughs got louder.

This Stop on a Dime tool works great with drama as well as humor. For example, I have a story where I go to visit a bookstore to try to find a lady who encouraged me many years beforehand. I say the following:

I walked out of my car just as I did years ago, walked up to the...

It's at that moment that I stop on a dime. Guess what my audience knows based on that delivery move? They know that the bookstore is gone. In fact, I can literally hear them say it as soon as I stop. It's not the content that tells them, it's the delivery. The Stop on a Dime tool is awesome for making the humorous more funny and the dramatic more heartfelt. Use it.

The Key to Using the Stop on a Dime Tool

Figure out what content you have that gives any kind of twist. Then, when you get to the twist part, physically stop as you give your twist line.

These tools will help you uncover the humor in your speeches.

10 Ways to Improve your Speech Delivery

Below are some well-known and some not-so-well-known tips for delivering your speech. The key is not whether you know these tips; it's whether you put them into practice. 

1. Don’t forget about your face. Your facial expressions are more important than all your arm and hand movements combined. The eyes are indeed the windows to the soul. What you do with them can make or break your entire speech.

2. Use your character’s gestures. Keep in mind that speaking involves utilizing captivating stories to make your unforgettable points. Each story has its own characters and each character probably has his or her own way of gesturing. When you take on the role and persona of that character, you should use his or her gestures. While rehearsing your speech, consistently ask yourself, "How would this character say this?"

3. Let the emotions drive. The emotions in your story and in your point will drive your movements. If you are intoxicated with your emotions while telling your story or making your point, the appropriate gestures will come. It will be effortless. When you’re really angry at someone or something, do you have to think about what gestures to use? No, they come automatically. If you build the emotion, the gestures will come.

4. Gesture 360 Degrees. Many speakers gesture in front of them and on the side. World Class Speakers realize there is an entire area around them and they utilize it. Feel free to gesture down for the lower dimension. For example, when I speak about a swamp tour my wife and I took, I talk about the alligators that surrounded the boat. At that point I gesture downwards with the open hand. Then I describe the trees that were hanging down as if they were trying to grab onto us. At that point I gesture upwards to the upper dimension using my hands to emulate how the trees hung and swayed. At times I point behind me to the back of the stage or in front of me out into the audience. I might point to my right to signify the past and point to my left to signify the future as I use the stage as a timeline. The key is to go up, down, back, forth, and side to side in order to paint a whole (surround-sense) scene for your audience in order to invite them into it.

5. Don’t use the same gesture over and over again. This is evidence of a habit and most likely distracts from your presentation.

6. Watch out for your resting position. This is the position your hands fall to when you’re not using a gesture. For example, my hands used to fall together in front of me with my fingers interlocking. It was distracting.

7. Don’t move all the time. If you are always moving then no movement will be meaningful. Your audience will never know what’s most important. Move with a purpose. When there is no reason to move, don’t.

8. Use an open hand. It’s better to point to your audience with an open hand rather than an index finger. It’s less threatening and more inviting. The open hand is also effective when calling back to spots on the floor as you revisit the points, characters, and stories you previously used.

9. Use bigger gestures for bigger audiences. Don’t mismatch the size of your audience with the size of your gestures.

10. Smile.

Final thoughts:

You can have all the storytelling tools and speech structure strategies in the world, but if you can't delivery them with impact, they are all for naught. For 40 of the most advanced delivery tools, visit http://www.dynamicdeliverydevices.com/

3 Tools for Greater Interaction and a Deeper Connection

 

In this lesson, you will pick up 3 tools to keep your audiences on the edge of their seats using the fine, and sometimes scary, art of audience interaction. As a result, you will be able to interact in ways that will keep the energy high no matter how long your presentation lasts. The 3 tools are:

 

1.                  Options for answers

2.                  Discuss and debrief

3.                  Audience Dialog

 

1. Options for Answers

You can best utilize this tool when you want to ask your audience a question that needs an actual (not rhetorical) response. Instead of asking everyone, you can walk out to one person, ask him the question, and then wait for his response. However, the key is to anticipate his response so that you will be ready with a handy comeback. Here's an example from one of my speeches:

 

"Raise your hand if you have ever been an athlete [pause]. Raise your hand if you thought you were [pause for laughter]." [I walk out and address a single person in my audience] "What sport did you play?" If he says, "I played soccer," I look at my entire audience and say, "Did anyone play any real sports?" This draws a huge laugh (especially from the person who gave the answer).

 

Then I say, "Don't worry, whatever your response was, I was going to say that. So seriously let me ask you, did you ever visualize yourself on the field before you got out there?" If he says, "No," I immediately say, "See, that's why you're no longer playing." That draws a laugh. If he say "Yes," which they normally do, I say, "And what did it do for you?" He goes on to describe the positive psychological effects that visualization had on his game. Afterwards, I can easily transition into my point about using that same visualization process to bring success into business, relationships, and life.

 

The key to the Options for Answers method of audience interaction is to anticipate what their answers will be and have a few options ready in response to those answers. For example, regardless of what sport they say they play, I have an option to use as a comeback. Then, regardless of whether they say yes or no to visualization, I have an option ready for the comeback. Anticipate their answers and plan responses. This gets much easier over time when you get more and more responses from your various audiences around the globe. You will rarely be caught off-guard.

 

Why Does It Work?

This works extremely well for me and it will for you too. Why is it worth doing and why will it do wonders for your speech? These 3 reasons are just the tip of the iceberg.  

 

a.                   Even though you physically walk out into the audience, the audience mentally comes to you. This is because they temporarily live vicariously through this one person. Therefore, even though you talk to a singular audience member, the rest of the audience thinks about what their own responses would be if they were asked. This way, you continue to draw them in.

 

b.                  It raises their energy due to the group dynamics of you going into the audience combined with the laughter that occurs with the back and forth conversation you have with your audience member.  

 

c.                   It makes someone else the star of your speech.

 

Be careful How You Do This

However, it is very important to build enough trust with your audience so they know you are on their side and you are only kidding around with your responses. Therefore, this is not something you should do towards the beginning of your speech. Wait until later.

 

Another key is to only choose people who seem to be good sports. Usually you can tell because they are the first to raise their hands and offer themselves up as volunteers. Then, it is in good taste to offer them something as a reward for diving into the unknown with you. I usually give an audio CD or something else that is valuable. Again, be playful but not cruel. There is a fine line between having fun and making fun of someone. As long as it is playful, it will work wonders and the person you chose will really appreciate you for giving them that experience.

 

Using the Options for Answers tool is great if you are not afraid to stray from a fixed script and you are courageous enough to physically go out into the middle of your audience. I strongly suggest that you use this tool somewhere within any speeches you give that exceed 30 minutes.

 

Your preparation for the Options for Answers is four-fold

1.                  Think about what questions you can step out into your audience and ask to one individual

2.                  Write down the answers you are likely to get

3.                  Write down what your response will be for each of those answers

4.                  Scope out people who look like they want to be involved in your speech. They are usually pretty easy to find but it does require you to watch your watchers.

 

2. Discuss and Debrief

If you want to quickly raise the energy of your audience, get them to remember and buy into your message, and break the monotony of you simply standing there speaking, use the Discuss and Debrief method. Most speakers ask their entire audience questions like, "What are some important factors to successfully undergoing change in your organization?" Chances are the audience will initially struggle to respond and the speaker will face an awkward silence.

 

The solution is to give them oil by loosening up their minds in the following way: "For 45 seconds, I want you to turn and talk to two neighbors of yours and discuss what you feel are some of the most important factors to undergo a successful change in your organization. You have 45 seconds. Ready? Go." This is the Discuss part of the Discuss and Debrief method.

 

Immediately the energy rises as bodies move and people start communicating. The modality changes from you speaking to them speaking, thinking, and listening to each other. Remember, your audience wants to be heard too and this is a great way to accomplish that. Finally, after the 45 seconds are up, you say something like the following: "Okay, please turn back around up front. Let's hear what you had to say. What are some of the most important factors for having a successful change?"

 

At that point, it might even surprise you how rapidly and effortlessly they shoot out responses. This is because they have loosened up their minds. They have gone from listening mode (when they listened to you) to thinking mode and their responses will most likely align with your point. Therein lies the genius of this method. If you get them to say it, rather than simply saying it yourself, they end up buying into your message much more fully and quickly. Plus, they have fun doing so. This is the Debrief part of the Discuss and Debrief method.

 

Why Does this Work? These are 4 Reasons to use This Method

1. It loosens up their minds so they can easily give answers during the Debrief section
2. It breaks up the speech and changes the modality
3. It facilitates movement into a more kinesthetic experience, which is how some people learn best
4. It raises their energy

 

3. Giving Your Audience Dialog

Now that you have the Options for Answers and the Discuss and Debrief tools, it is time to pick up one of my all-time favorites. Many speakers do not usually think of this next tool as interaction but it absolutely is because you actually interact with the audience members' minds and you cannot get much closer to them than that. I call it giving the audience dialog.

 

You might have heard me say that the heart of a story is dialog, because dialog pumps life into it. However, have you ever thought of the following point?

 

Your audience is a character

 

That is correct, your audience is a character in your story.  Therefore, from time to time, you should give them dialog. Here is an example of how I do this in the middle of an activity:

 

I say to my entire audience, "I want you right now to stand up and change 12 things about your own appearance." Then I walk over to one person and say, "Janet, you are looking at me as if to say, 'But Craig, I don't have 12 things on! I did not know it was that kind of workshop.'" That gets a big laugh.

 

Remember, she does not physically say it; I give her the dialog. In other words, I say it as if she is saying it to me. Here are some other lines I use when giving the audience dialog:

 

• "Your looking at me like, 'Come on Craig, what do you know about stepping on a scale; you're built like a greek statue.'"

• "At what point did you get intrigued by that story? [I then look at one person]. You've got that look like, 'Who said I was intrigued?'"

Here is the key that you absolutely must remember in order to make this work:

 

If they think it, you say it.

 

I usually give my audience dialog at least 4 times during a 45-minute speech. Here are 3 steps to making this work:

 

Step 1: Anticipate what the audience is thinking

Step 2: Tell the audience what they are thinking

Step 3: Feel free to exaggerate what they are thinking (i.e. "I didn't know it was that kind of workshop!")

 

Three things will happen when you tell your audience what they think and use their own dialog to do it.

 

1.                  You will make them laugh

2.                  You will make them think

3.                  You will deepen your connection with them. Why? Because they will think, “Wow, he is reading my mind!” That gets you closer and closer to them and it feels great.

 

Final Thoughts

You just picked up 3 tools for greater interaction for a greater connection. Options for Answers; Discuss and Debrief; and Audience dialog. Now, speaking of audience dialog, I will give you the last word. Hopefully you are saying, “Craig, I can use these tools in my very next speech!" 

Use the Stage to Make your Points

Many speakers give absolutely no thought to how they use the stage. They are missing out on a grand opportunity to pull on the audience's emotions, clarify their message, and paint a lasting picture in the minds of their audience members.

Here's a quick solution:

Designate a spot on the stage for each story you tell within your speech. Then, when you get to the end of the speech, you can call back to those stories while physically calling back to those spots on the stage. For example, at the end of my speech, while I say, "...and just like Jermaine Williams Jr. would not let go of his old ways..." I also hand-gesture to the spot on the floor where I originally told that story. When you do this, you'll evoke much more emotion in your audience because they can still "see" the story (happening in that spot on the stage) in their mind.

How else can you use the stage?

• If you have 3 major points, you can designate a spot on the stage for each point
• If you have a problem/solution speech, one side of the stage should be the problem and the other should represent the solution
• If you have a past vs. future speech, you can split up the stage
• If you have a good behavior vs bad behavior, you can split up the stage

I'm sure you get the point by now. It's up to you how you use the stage, but just don't forget to use it intentionally!