- Tell Stories - They say "Facts Tell, Stories Sell". Telling stories is the most powerful technique to keep your audience engaged. Almost ALL world championship speeches include stories or incidents from the speaker's life. It is easier for a speaker to include the story of Barack Obama or Mahatma Gandhi. However, those stories are heard by people 1000s of times and they wouldn't be as engaging as your personal stories. Also, do not pick any stories from the Internet. Thanks to social media - in today's connected world, people get to read most popular Internet stories via Whatsapp forwards. So, it is highly recommended to include a personal story. A personal story would be "fresh" - most people in the audience wouldn't have heard your personal story. So, they would be curious to listen to you. A story well told has 3Cs - Characters, Conflicts and Climax. So, spend adequate time in your speech to describe the characters, the settings, the conflict and the climax. If you don't have a story, you don't have a speech.
- Create a "foundational phrase" - The first time I heard this term "foundational phrase" was during Ovation 2011. Craig Valentine was one of our educational speakers and he shared with us a number of speaking tips. He told us about the importance of having a "foundational phrase" in our speeches. Foundational phrase is a crisp one line summary of the speech. It has typically less than 10 words and can be written in large fonts behind a business card (i.e., visiting card). For example, Dananjaya Hettiarachchi's "I see something in you", Ed Tate's "One of those days", Ramona Smith's "Still standing" are good "catchy" foundational phrases. These phrases get used again and again during the 5 - 7 minutes speech and helps in reiterating your "core message" to the audience.
- Add rhetorical devices - Rhetorical devices add more color to the speech. They help audience to visualize your thoughts. Rhetorical devices are also powerful tools for increasing the memorability of your speech. There are different rhetorical devices such as similes, metaphors, alliterations and triads. Once you are done writing your speech, see how / where you can add rhetorical devices in the speech, to maximize the impact. Read "Rhetorical Devices (Ideas & Examples" to learn more about rhetorical devices.
- Add Quotes - Brendan Behan, an Irish poet once said "A quotation in a speech, article or book is like a rifle in the hands of an infantryman. It speaks with authority". Quotes would spice up your speech, and it can explain what 1000 words cannot. Do not try to fill your speech with quotes. Add one or two quotes maximum for a 5 - 7 minutes speech. It is best to add them either at the Introduction or at the Conclusion of your speech. You can find quotes for any topic at https://www.brainyquote.com/.
- Include "conversations" in the speech - Having conversations and dialogues in your speech add variety to the speech. Conversations and dialogues also help you to recreate the incident / story from your life, thereby enabling the audience to visualize the incident/story, better. Having conversations in the speech also would help you to demonstrate some vocal variety. It is easy to bring-in some natural voice modulation during conversations than during third person narrations. For example, during a regular narration of an incident you would say "I scolded my friend nicely for taking my bike keys without asking me". You can recreate the incident through conversations. For example, you can say ... When my friend entered the house, I looked at him and shouted "How dare you take my bike keys without asking me? My friend looked at me and said "Sorry pal ! I wouldn't do it again". Refer to Vocal Variety - 4Ps of Voice for additional information on voice modulation.
- Add Humor - Most people think, WCPS speeches are serious speeches. However, if you watch the past WCPS speeches, almost ALL the world champions include humor generously in their speeches. Adding humor to the speech, is like the icing on the cake. It increases the engagement and connect with the audience. However, it is not an easy task to add humor in the speech. Don't worry! There are some techniques available to inject humor into the speech script. You can find them at Humorous Speech Writing Techniques. Ensure that you are making the audience laugh out loud at least 3 or 4 times in your 5 - 7 minutes speech. Be a little cautious when adding humor to your script - stay away from common pitfalls such as the ones captured in the blogpost 11 mistakes to avoid in a Humorous Speech Contest.
Showing posts with label Contest Preparation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Contest Preparation. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 6, 2019
Speech Crafting Checklist for International Speech Contests
Cracking the World Championship of Public Speaking (WCPS) Contest requires lots and lots of preparation, planning, practice and performance. During the contest season, our speakers scramble to find the "winning formula" to ace the International Speech Contests. The truth is "There is no winning formula". I always feel that the winning formula continuously changes or evolves, with time. We've quite a diverse set of speakers, who have won the WCPS contests in the last decade. If you find it difficult to come up with a speech topic for WCPS, you can look at the International Speech Contest Topics Selection Ideas or look at the past WCPS winning speeches. In this blog post, I've captured some techniques used by most WCPS champions to ace the WCPS contests.
International Speech Contests - What's your message?
“If you want to be a World Champion of Public Speaking, every speech of yours should be a world champion speech” said Dhananjay, District 82 winner of International Speech Contest. Isn't that true? You are not in the World Championship race, with a one trick pony approach. You are participating in the contest because you want to master the art of perfecting your speech. World Championship journey helps you to learn the art of perfecting your speech so that - your ordinary speech becomes an extraordinary speech, your simple speech becomes a star speech, your club class speech becomes a world class speech. The core of any World Championship speech is the "Message". This blogpost provides some tips about coming up with a message for your International Speech.
A few years back, I attended a workshop conducted by a fellow Toastmaster on "How to come up with topics for International Speech Contests". During the workshop the Toastmaster said, “If you are going to die tomorrow, what is that ONE message that you want to tell the world?” I thought it is an interesting tip. So, I noted it down immediately and used it in my next workshop. After the workshop, a 18 year old young Toastmaster came to me and said “Saro! Why are you talking so negatively? I’m still young and I don’t want to think about dying tomorrow… and I also don’t have any message to tell the world. What should I do?” That young Toastmaster added “I have not lost crores in business... I don’t have a mother or sister in wheel chair... and most of all, I haven’t gone through any alcohol rehabilitation". Now tell me, what should I talk about?
The moment you ask somebody to come up with a speech idea which has a message, they pick serious topics... like "Stop drinking alcohol", "Economic divide between the rich and poor", or "Why you should attend your club meetings regularly". Well, the last one was introduced to bring humor. Don't take it seriously.
You don't have to talk about serious subjects and make audience look for a kerchief when you finish your speech. I believe that if you can make the audience laugh and cry in the same speech, you've made the sale. The incidents need not be "larger than life" incidents. The incidents in your speech can be simple ones. However, the message that comes out of those examples should be powerful.
Let us look at some past World Championship winning speeches.
- Presiyan Vasilev, WCPS 2013 delivered a speech on “Reach out”. He told us how he wasted a lot of time pretending that he knew everything to fix a punctured tire. Finally, he was able to fix the tyre only by reaching out to a man in the nearby gas station. His message to the audience was to "Reach out" to people around them for help.
- Dananjaya Hettiarachchi, WCPS 2014 gave a speech on the topic "I see something". He shared examples from his life where great mentors discovered his true potential and transformed his life. His message to the audience was "Discover your true potential".
- Ramona Smith, WCPS 2018 gave a speech on the topic “Still Standing”. She told us how she faced setbacks in life and how she got up, bounced back into action and achieved success. Her message to the audience was to bounce back and stand up, when something knocks you down in life.
The good thing about International Speech Contests is, they don't give you a topic and force you to speak on that. They allow the participants to come up with their own speech topics. This provides a lot of flexibility to speakers, to pick any speech topic of their choice. Read: International Speech Contests - Topic Selection Ideas
When you are preparing for International Speech Contests, try to identify an interesting story or incident from your life, first. When you have the story ready, ask yourself... what message does the story bring out. Great speakers can do the opposite - you give them a topic or a message, and they can easily come up with a story or example to convey that message. However, for novice speakers, it is easier to come up with a story first and then look for the message.
A story without a message is like a car without wheels. It will not take you anywhere. If you are doubtful, deliver the story as a speech in front of your club members and ask them "What message do you infer from this story?" You would be surprised to hear their feedback. The same story can at times, convey more than one message. So, you'll have the option of picking the best message to share with the audience. Preferably, pick a message which most people in the audience can connect with or relate to. As a general practice, it is good to revise your script as you move from club to area to division to district to International - as the audience demographics change.
Mehmet Murat ildan, a famous author once said "There is no message valid for all times! Each message has a life span, sometimes a hundred years sometimes five thousand years, but ultimately the mission of each message ends! When you give people a message, you should know that even if your message is as bright as a sun, one day, like the sun, it will fade away!”. So, don't squeeze your brain and push yourself too hard to share a message that lasts forever. Look for a message which is relevant to share, today!.
[Also read: Speech Crafting Checklist for International Speech Contests]
When you are preparing for International Speech Contests, try to identify an interesting story or incident from your life, first. When you have the story ready, ask yourself... what message does the story bring out. Great speakers can do the opposite - you give them a topic or a message, and they can easily come up with a story or example to convey that message. However, for novice speakers, it is easier to come up with a story first and then look for the message.
A story without a message is like a car without wheels. It will not take you anywhere. If you are doubtful, deliver the story as a speech in front of your club members and ask them "What message do you infer from this story?" You would be surprised to hear their feedback. The same story can at times, convey more than one message. So, you'll have the option of picking the best message to share with the audience. Preferably, pick a message which most people in the audience can connect with or relate to. As a general practice, it is good to revise your script as you move from club to area to division to district to International - as the audience demographics change.
Mehmet Murat ildan, a famous author once said "There is no message valid for all times! Each message has a life span, sometimes a hundred years sometimes five thousand years, but ultimately the mission of each message ends! When you give people a message, you should know that even if your message is as bright as a sun, one day, like the sun, it will fade away!”. So, don't squeeze your brain and push yourself too hard to share a message that lasts forever. Look for a message which is relevant to share, today!.
[Also read: Speech Crafting Checklist for International Speech Contests]
Tuesday, March 5, 2019
World Championship Winning Speeches - Speech Title, Videos and Message
This blog post will serve as a quick index of various World Championship speeches. This compilation will help you to watch, observe and learn from the experts. I've captured the winning speech's Speech Title, Link to the Speech Video and the Message from the speaker.
(Also read: Tips for Contestants)
Year | Speaker | Speech Title (with link to Youtube Video) | Message |
2025 | Sabyasachi Sengupta | Just Nod | Unleash your inner performer and express yourself authentically, even if it means being different. By doing so, you can light up a room and potentially change someone's life |
2024 | Luisa Montalvo (lady on the wheelchair) | Life gives you a second chance, if you are ready to hit the RESET button. | |
2023 | Jocelyn Tyson | Life throws you situations where you’ll have to make tough decisions - "This one yes... that one No". You can be your biggest critic or you can be your biggest cheerleader. | |
2022 | Cyril Junior Dim | Start accepting yourself... the way you are. You are beautifully you... The only you... and no man can change it. (Ndini means “This is ME”) | |
2021 | Verity Price | Your life is a book, if you are not enjoying the read, write a different story and watch for a miracle Choosing to write a different story... can make difficult circumstances a lot easier to deal with. | |
2020 | Mike Carr | The victory is not in the results, victory is in the TRY (allow people to experiment and fail) | |
2019 | Aaron Beverly | Acceptance of people, despite differences is not an unbelievable story | |
2018 | Ramona J Smith | When life knocks you down, stay in the ring, look for the lifeline and stand back up. | |
2017 | Manoj Vasudevan | Give more and take less in relationships for it to last longer | |
2016 | Darren Tey | Handle inner bullies by acknowledging, standing up and fighting against it. | |
2015 | Mohammed Qahtani | How you can use words to make people believe, feel and to impact | |
2014 | Dananjaya Hettiarachchi | There is something special in each one of us and great mentors help in finding that “special in you” | |
2013 | Presiyan Vasilev | Reach out to others when you need help – don’t pretend that you can solve it yourself | |
2005 | Lance Miller | Do you validate (appreciate) others? When you appreciate others, you become important to them.
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2004 | Randy Harvey | Love people – not the material things. Love lasts for a life time.
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2003 | Jim Key | It is never too late to pursue your dreams
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2001 | Darren LaCroix | Bounce back. When you fall, fall forward and you would’ve made some progress
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2000 | Ed Tate | Never worry about bad times – eventually something good will happen
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Tuesday, January 14, 2014
7 ways to prepare for Table Topics Contests
"It usually takes me more than 3 weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech" said Mark Twain, the famous author. It is really true. Fluency in English alone is not enough for you to become a great impromptu speaker. When you get a topic during contests and if you don’t know what to speak, your brain will start spinning rigorously like an empty grinder... making a lot of noise without any useful output. You should feed the grinder with something to reduce the noise and to get useful output. How do you go about feeding the empty grinder? This article outlines some simple techniques that you can use to prepare for Table Topics contests.
(Also read: 9 ways to prepare for Table Topics & Impromptu Speaking)
1) Create a personal stories catalog – I’ve seen many people getting into the habit of writing blogs to document their life events. If you don't like to write and share your thoughts publicly through blogs, you can even begin the habit of writing diary. This will also help you to document your important moments & experiences which will eventually help you in creating stories from your own personal life. Diary will become your personal stories catalog.
2) Prepare for standard topics - Most of the table topics are around common subjects such as success, failure, most memorable event, greatest achievement, most happiest moment, leadership, hardwork, friendship, forgiving, happiness, sadness, goals, vacation, professional life, career, family, kids, education, determination. If you can prepare a short paragraph with some personal anecdotes on each of these subjects, you can easily talk about them in your speeches.
3) Read newspapers - Reading newspapers will help you to stay current with the day to day events that are happening in the country/world. Staying on top of current events will help you to relate to the audience and connect with them quickly. For ex., if you get a topic such as "Value of life in India", you can immediately relate back to the recent fire accidents happening in trains/buses because of not following norms.
4) Offline practice using Quotes – Most of the times, contest topics are quotes. So, take a printout of some 50 or 100 quotes from Internet. Cut the paper into smaller chits - each chit with one quote. Fold them, shuffle them and put them in a bowl. Now, take 1 chit from the bowl, open it and start talking about it for 2 minutes. Record what you speak. Then, play back and see how you could've handled the topic better. Be your own evaluator and write your "strengths" & "areas for improvement". Redo speaking on the same topic again, if you want to. Record it again and listen to it. Whenever you find time during the day or weekend, do this exercise. I have done this during my early days of Toastmastering and it has helped me to think instantly and talk on any subject. You can even play Table Topics (http://www.tabletopics.com/) games with your friends.
5) Treat it like a “mini” speech: Table Topics should also have a clear introduction, body and a memorable conclusion. You can use all the techniques that you normally use in the prepared speech for handling Table Topics – eye contact, vocal variety, structured thoughts, transitions, stories etc., Always end your Table Topic with a memorable or strong conclusion.
6) Tell a Story, don’t give a gyan – If you are a novice Table Topics speaker, you’ll start giving a gyan about the topic. For ex., if you get a topic such as “You booze, You cruise, You loose”… you can go on & on to talk about the effects of drinking liquor and driving. On the contrary, you can tell a story (even a fictions one) to convey the message. Personal incidents and stories help you to sustain the flow during Table Topics.
7) Volunteer for Table Topics - You cannot learn swimming by standing on the shore - you'll have to jump into the water to learn swimming. Similarly, you can sharpen your impromptu speaking skill by constantly participating in Table Topics sessions. Whenever the Table Topics master asks for a "Volunteer" to speak, raise your hand immediately without a second thought.
If you practice the suggestions given above, Table Topics contest will no more be a Terror Topics contest for you. Happy contesting.
(Also read: 9 ways to prepare for Table Topics & Impromptu Speaking)
1) Create a personal stories catalog – I’ve seen many people getting into the habit of writing blogs to document their life events. If you don't like to write and share your thoughts publicly through blogs, you can even begin the habit of writing diary. This will also help you to document your important moments & experiences which will eventually help you in creating stories from your own personal life. Diary will become your personal stories catalog.
2) Prepare for standard topics - Most of the table topics are around common subjects such as success, failure, most memorable event, greatest achievement, most happiest moment, leadership, hardwork, friendship, forgiving, happiness, sadness, goals, vacation, professional life, career, family, kids, education, determination. If you can prepare a short paragraph with some personal anecdotes on each of these subjects, you can easily talk about them in your speeches.
3) Read newspapers - Reading newspapers will help you to stay current with the day to day events that are happening in the country/world. Staying on top of current events will help you to relate to the audience and connect with them quickly. For ex., if you get a topic such as "Value of life in India", you can immediately relate back to the recent fire accidents happening in trains/buses because of not following norms.
4) Offline practice using Quotes – Most of the times, contest topics are quotes. So, take a printout of some 50 or 100 quotes from Internet. Cut the paper into smaller chits - each chit with one quote. Fold them, shuffle them and put them in a bowl. Now, take 1 chit from the bowl, open it and start talking about it for 2 minutes. Record what you speak. Then, play back and see how you could've handled the topic better. Be your own evaluator and write your "strengths" & "areas for improvement". Redo speaking on the same topic again, if you want to. Record it again and listen to it. Whenever you find time during the day or weekend, do this exercise. I have done this during my early days of Toastmastering and it has helped me to think instantly and talk on any subject. You can even play Table Topics (http://www.tabletopics.com/) games with your friends.
5) Treat it like a “mini” speech: Table Topics should also have a clear introduction, body and a memorable conclusion. You can use all the techniques that you normally use in the prepared speech for handling Table Topics – eye contact, vocal variety, structured thoughts, transitions, stories etc., Always end your Table Topic with a memorable or strong conclusion.
6) Tell a Story, don’t give a gyan – If you are a novice Table Topics speaker, you’ll start giving a gyan about the topic. For ex., if you get a topic such as “You booze, You cruise, You loose”… you can go on & on to talk about the effects of drinking liquor and driving. On the contrary, you can tell a story (even a fictions one) to convey the message. Personal incidents and stories help you to sustain the flow during Table Topics.
7) Volunteer for Table Topics - You cannot learn swimming by standing on the shore - you'll have to jump into the water to learn swimming. Similarly, you can sharpen your impromptu speaking skill by constantly participating in Table Topics sessions. Whenever the Table Topics master asks for a "Volunteer" to speak, raise your hand immediately without a second thought.
If you practice the suggestions given above, Table Topics contest will no more be a Terror Topics contest for you. Happy contesting.
Beyond the Speech Contest Rule Book
Hurrah! It is contest season, again. This is the time of the year when clubs, divisions and districts prepare their members to organize speech contests. Speech Contest rule book gives a broad framework to prepare for contests. This article provides some information which is not covered by the Speech Contest rule book and may help Toastmasters who are planning to organize contests.
Also read: 10 things that you should not do in Speech Contests
1. There is nothing Taboo
Sex, Religion & Politics are considered as Taboo in most of our clubs in District 82. However, some judges do not realize that they aren’t considered as Taboo in the context of speech contests. Technically, you cannot disqualify a person for touching upon such Taboo topics during the contest speech. But, you can definitely reduce the points for the speaker – if you think that the speaker used vulgar content which was not appropriate to the audience. Judging form has a section called “Appropriateness to Speech Purpose & Audience”. You can allocate lower scores to the speaker under that category.
2. Originality of the script
Speech contest rulebook says that the speeches should be substantially original – which means 25% or less of the speech can be from external sources. How do you go about calculating whether the speech script has exactly 25% or less from external sources? If the speaker has the written speech script handy, you can calculate it easily. In the absence of a written speech script, you can go by the time duration of the speech that is from external sources. As always, judges can jointly decide whether the speaker was within the 25% limit or not and give an opportunity to the speaker to express/substantiate his views.
3. Too much of drama isn’t great delivery
“Will the content of the speech appeal to a general audience? Will the speech delivery make ordinary people to enjoy the speaker’s performance”? When you carefully watch the videos of World Champion of Public Speaking contests, you’ll realize that the winning speeches would make an impact NOT only on Toastmasters but also on the average Joe. As judges, we shouldn’t get carried over when speeches are overdramatic and shouldn’t confuse them with great delivery.
4. 30 seconds grace time isn’t for audio or light failure
There is a common perception that speakers should be given an extra 30 seconds during a power failure. However, the speech contest rule book says “In the event of technical failure of the signal or timing equipment, a speaker is allowed 30 seconds extra overtime before being disqualified”. A humorous contest speaker even made fun of this statement, “if there is a timing equipment failure, how would you time the extra 30 seconds”. Well, the extra 30 seconds is used for switching from one timing device to another. The contest organizers are expected to give two timing devices (such as stopwatch) to the timers and they are available with the timers, handy.
Also read: 11 mistakes to avoid in Humorous Speech Contests
If you want to pick the right contestant as the winner, you need to have the right judges. Right judges are the ones who are trained and knowledgeable on the Speech Contest Judging rules. Together, let us pick the BEST contestant as winner, to represent District 82.
Also read: 10 things that you should not do in Speech Contests
1. There is nothing Taboo
Sex, Religion & Politics are considered as Taboo in most of our clubs in District 82. However, some judges do not realize that they aren’t considered as Taboo in the context of speech contests. Technically, you cannot disqualify a person for touching upon such Taboo topics during the contest speech. But, you can definitely reduce the points for the speaker – if you think that the speaker used vulgar content which was not appropriate to the audience. Judging form has a section called “Appropriateness to Speech Purpose & Audience”. You can allocate lower scores to the speaker under that category.
2. Originality of the script
Speech contest rulebook says that the speeches should be substantially original – which means 25% or less of the speech can be from external sources. How do you go about calculating whether the speech script has exactly 25% or less from external sources? If the speaker has the written speech script handy, you can calculate it easily. In the absence of a written speech script, you can go by the time duration of the speech that is from external sources. As always, judges can jointly decide whether the speaker was within the 25% limit or not and give an opportunity to the speaker to express/substantiate his views.
3. Too much of drama isn’t great delivery
“Will the content of the speech appeal to a general audience? Will the speech delivery make ordinary people to enjoy the speaker’s performance”? When you carefully watch the videos of World Champion of Public Speaking contests, you’ll realize that the winning speeches would make an impact NOT only on Toastmasters but also on the average Joe. As judges, we shouldn’t get carried over when speeches are overdramatic and shouldn’t confuse them with great delivery.
4. 30 seconds grace time isn’t for audio or light failure
There is a common perception that speakers should be given an extra 30 seconds during a power failure. However, the speech contest rule book says “In the event of technical failure of the signal or timing equipment, a speaker is allowed 30 seconds extra overtime before being disqualified”. A humorous contest speaker even made fun of this statement, “if there is a timing equipment failure, how would you time the extra 30 seconds”. Well, the extra 30 seconds is used for switching from one timing device to another. The contest organizers are expected to give two timing devices (such as stopwatch) to the timers and they are available with the timers, handy.
Also read: 11 mistakes to avoid in Humorous Speech Contests
If you want to pick the right contestant as the winner, you need to have the right judges. Right judges are the ones who are trained and knowledgeable on the Speech Contest Judging rules. Together, let us pick the BEST contestant as winner, to represent District 82.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
11 mistakes to avoid in Humorous Speech Contests
Why are some speeches more humorous than others? Why do some speakers make audience laugh, while others don't? What are the common mistakes done by our speakers in humorous speech contests?
Also read: How to spot a judge in a contest?
This is the contest season in Toastmasters. I see a number of new members participating in Humorous speech contests. Some of the contestants may be still wondering "Why am I not able to make audience laugh?" or "Why was my humorous speech not a winning speech?". I'm not an expert Humorous speaker, yet! I'm still trying to master the art by delivering humorous speeches. So, I cannot write an article on "How to make people laugh?". This article is a summary of my notes from the various Humorous Speech Contests that I attended recently. This article provides some insights about the common pitfalls to avoid when crafting and delivering a speech in humorous speech contests:
1. Don't forget to pause before the punch
Pause is a powerful tool used by great communicators to persuade the audience, to make them think and to arouse their curiosity. A pause when used effectively can bring in humor in your speeches - especially before delivering the punch line or before breaking the surprise.
"Take my wife .... please" is a classic example of "pause before the punch". Pause increases the curiosity and lets the audience's imagination buds to do some homework. Then you surprise the audience with the punch line. If you give away the surprise too fast without the pause, audience aren't going to laugh.
2. Don't make the audience to feel uneasy
Normally, speech contests are attended by at least 20 or more people. When you make it too uncomfortable for the audience, they aren't going to laugh for your jokes. Instead, they are going to be thinking "Why did this guy include this line in his speech? Can't he think of something better?" Speaking about things such as Farting, Sex and other vulgar/discriminating topics are going to create uneasy feelings for the audience. To give you an example, one of the speakers had this line "She had BIG eyes, She had a BIG smile, She had a BIG ... BIG... Car". This line didn't bring any humor. So, consider avoiding such phrases.
3. Don't laugh for your own jokes
I've seen novice contestants laughing for their own jokes. If you carefully observe stand-up comedians, they keep their face straight when cracking jokes. What happens when you laugh for your own jokes? You may be breaking the surprise for the audience too fast. Your face starts reacting even before the audience starts to laugh for your jokes.
4. Don't forget to use the right words/phrases, to bring in humor
You don't have to be an English professor to be a humorous speaker. However, at the same time, you should use the right words to bring humor. For ex., "One year into the married life... I realized, men are from mars, but my wife isn't from venus". If somebody delivers this line as "After a year of marriage, I realized men always come from mars and women always don't come from venus", the humor effect will be lost. There are some speakers who may not be good at English - I would recommend them to rehearse the speech/delivery several times until they get comfortable with the word choices. Even the champions of humor does that.
5. Don't get carried away by the laughs - Stay focused on the script
There are times when contestants get carried away by the audience's laughter. All of a sudden, they go out of the script and start doing a free flow speech. For example, I've seen one of the speakers doing this - the moment audience laugheed, he said "From your giggles I can make out what you understood" and he started to talk about things that were not planned in the script. Since he went out of the script, it became very difficult for him to come back to the mainstream flow. So, always stay within the script - especially if you are just beginning your humorously speaking career.
6. Don't pick Internet jokes
Facebooks and Googles have made jokes very accessible to users now. In addition, people get a zillion forwarded emails every day.
Today, most jokes are morphed, modified and massaged into several forms and it reduces the laughter quotient. There are multiple reasons why you shouldn't use Internet jokes - first of all, it is not your original content; second of all, the audience would've already heard/read the joke and hence, they wouldn't be surprised when you deliver the punch line.
7. Don't ask a question and lose control
One speaker started the speech with the question, "Do you hate cockroaches, lizards and rats". The immediate response from the audience was "No". However, the speaker expected a "Yes" response to follow-on with the speech and deliver a punch line. He wasn't prepared for a "No" response and he wasn't able to make audience laugh with the punch line.
(Also read: Beyond the Speech Contest Rule Book)
8. Don't miss to exaggerate real life incidents
Many speeches fail to bring in the humor, because situations aren't exaggerated. Speakers narrate incidents from their life as it happened. However, if you have to learn from the movie directors, they create incidents that are not "real" to increase the entertainment value.
Recently I delivered a speech about "Why you shouldn't be a Toastmaster". I exaggerated an incident to convey the point that "Toastmasters don't get to the point". Read the paragraph below:
A Club officer would go to the stage and make an announcement… “Imagine it is 24th Aug 2013… a bright sunny day… you are attending the Toastmasters International convention at Cincinnati, USA…. the finals of the World Champion of Public Speaking Contest… the hall is filled with people… people are busy talking to each other … you can smell the coffee brewing … your name gets called on the stage… Contestant #1, Rajeev Nambiar… Rajeev Nambiar, Contestant #1… the crowd starts to cheer… Rajeev… Rajeev. All of a sudden, the Chief Judge walks to the stage and stops you from talking “Rajeev… You are not eligible to contest. You haven’t paid your membership dues for this term”. Fellow members, if you don’t want to lose an amazing opportunity to participate in WCPS contest, pay your membership dues now”. All that the club officer wanted to say was “Dear Members… the last date for membership renewal is Mar 2013. Please pay your dues before that to be eligible to participate in the contests”
If I had just said "The club officer always goes to the stage and threatens us to do our renewals for us to participate in the contest", instead of the above paragraph it wouldn't have been humorous enough.
Sharing real world incidents as they unfolded in your life may bring-in some laughter at the club level because the club members know you very well and they can visualize the sequence better by putting you in that incident. When you move to the area/division/district level, your audience may not know you much and hence your simplistic narration may not bring much laughter.
9. Don't narrate incidents where you give feedback using "Toastmasters Evaluations" technique
This is a beaten to death technique in Toastmasters circle to bring humor - narrating incidents where you give feedback to people using Toastmasters Evaluation style. For ex., Husband giving feedback to wife, Boss giving feedback to team member, Boy friend giving feedback to girlfriend etc., To the extent possible, avoid such narrations. It may help you at the club level contests because you have extraordinary connection with your audience. However, it will fail to work at the area or division / district level contests where audience would've already heard 100s of such speeches.
10. Avoid too much drama
Again I would like to refer to stand-up comedians. They don't even move a single bit to make audience laugh. So, don't try to include artificial gestures or stage movements in your speech. One of the toastmasters drove a scooter "drrrr...." and he moved around the stage like a kid driving the scooter. It looked too dramatic at Area contests. I'm not saying that you should deliver the speech by standing in one location. However, use the stage when it is needed, use gestures when they are appropriate.
11. Get permission from people before you use their name
There are some characters (sorry people!) in Toastmasters community - where just mentioning their name would bring-in laughter. However, before using their name in your speech please do get their concurrence/permission. Even toastmasters who look jovial during the club meetings, do not take things lightly when you make fun of them on the stage. I've unknowingly offended people by referring them in my impromptu speeches, to bring-in humor. I had to face the heat, later-on :) You can use self-deprecating humor as much as possible. However, try not to make fun of others. Even if you are going to refer to someone, get their permission first.
Also read: How to spot a judge in a contest?
This is the contest season in Toastmasters. I see a number of new members participating in Humorous speech contests. Some of the contestants may be still wondering "Why am I not able to make audience laugh?" or "Why was my humorous speech not a winning speech?". I'm not an expert Humorous speaker, yet! I'm still trying to master the art by delivering humorous speeches. So, I cannot write an article on "How to make people laugh?". This article is a summary of my notes from the various Humorous Speech Contests that I attended recently. This article provides some insights about the common pitfalls to avoid when crafting and delivering a speech in humorous speech contests:
1. Don't forget to pause before the punch
Pause is a powerful tool used by great communicators to persuade the audience, to make them think and to arouse their curiosity. A pause when used effectively can bring in humor in your speeches - especially before delivering the punch line or before breaking the surprise.
"Take my wife .... please" is a classic example of "pause before the punch". Pause increases the curiosity and lets the audience's imagination buds to do some homework. Then you surprise the audience with the punch line. If you give away the surprise too fast without the pause, audience aren't going to laugh.
2. Don't make the audience to feel uneasy
Normally, speech contests are attended by at least 20 or more people. When you make it too uncomfortable for the audience, they aren't going to laugh for your jokes. Instead, they are going to be thinking "Why did this guy include this line in his speech? Can't he think of something better?" Speaking about things such as Farting, Sex and other vulgar/discriminating topics are going to create uneasy feelings for the audience. To give you an example, one of the speakers had this line "She had BIG eyes, She had a BIG smile, She had a BIG ... BIG... Car". This line didn't bring any humor. So, consider avoiding such phrases.
3. Don't laugh for your own jokes
I've seen novice contestants laughing for their own jokes. If you carefully observe stand-up comedians, they keep their face straight when cracking jokes. What happens when you laugh for your own jokes? You may be breaking the surprise for the audience too fast. Your face starts reacting even before the audience starts to laugh for your jokes.
4. Don't forget to use the right words/phrases, to bring in humor
You don't have to be an English professor to be a humorous speaker. However, at the same time, you should use the right words to bring humor. For ex., "One year into the married life... I realized, men are from mars, but my wife isn't from venus". If somebody delivers this line as "After a year of marriage, I realized men always come from mars and women always don't come from venus", the humor effect will be lost. There are some speakers who may not be good at English - I would recommend them to rehearse the speech/delivery several times until they get comfortable with the word choices. Even the champions of humor does that.
5. Don't get carried away by the laughs - Stay focused on the script
There are times when contestants get carried away by the audience's laughter. All of a sudden, they go out of the script and start doing a free flow speech. For example, I've seen one of the speakers doing this - the moment audience laugheed, he said "From your giggles I can make out what you understood" and he started to talk about things that were not planned in the script. Since he went out of the script, it became very difficult for him to come back to the mainstream flow. So, always stay within the script - especially if you are just beginning your humorously speaking career.
6. Don't pick Internet jokes
Facebooks and Googles have made jokes very accessible to users now. In addition, people get a zillion forwarded emails every day.
Today, most jokes are morphed, modified and massaged into several forms and it reduces the laughter quotient. There are multiple reasons why you shouldn't use Internet jokes - first of all, it is not your original content; second of all, the audience would've already heard/read the joke and hence, they wouldn't be surprised when you deliver the punch line.
7. Don't ask a question and lose control
One speaker started the speech with the question, "Do you hate cockroaches, lizards and rats". The immediate response from the audience was "No". However, the speaker expected a "Yes" response to follow-on with the speech and deliver a punch line. He wasn't prepared for a "No" response and he wasn't able to make audience laugh with the punch line.
(Also read: Beyond the Speech Contest Rule Book)
8. Don't miss to exaggerate real life incidents
Many speeches fail to bring in the humor, because situations aren't exaggerated. Speakers narrate incidents from their life as it happened. However, if you have to learn from the movie directors, they create incidents that are not "real" to increase the entertainment value.
Recently I delivered a speech about "Why you shouldn't be a Toastmaster". I exaggerated an incident to convey the point that "Toastmasters don't get to the point". Read the paragraph below:
A Club officer would go to the stage and make an announcement… “Imagine it is 24th Aug 2013… a bright sunny day… you are attending the Toastmasters International convention at Cincinnati, USA…. the finals of the World Champion of Public Speaking Contest… the hall is filled with people… people are busy talking to each other … you can smell the coffee brewing … your name gets called on the stage… Contestant #1, Rajeev Nambiar… Rajeev Nambiar, Contestant #1… the crowd starts to cheer… Rajeev… Rajeev. All of a sudden, the Chief Judge walks to the stage and stops you from talking “Rajeev… You are not eligible to contest. You haven’t paid your membership dues for this term”. Fellow members, if you don’t want to lose an amazing opportunity to participate in WCPS contest, pay your membership dues now”. All that the club officer wanted to say was “Dear Members… the last date for membership renewal is Mar 2013. Please pay your dues before that to be eligible to participate in the contests”
If I had just said "The club officer always goes to the stage and threatens us to do our renewals for us to participate in the contest", instead of the above paragraph it wouldn't have been humorous enough.
Sharing real world incidents as they unfolded in your life may bring-in some laughter at the club level because the club members know you very well and they can visualize the sequence better by putting you in that incident. When you move to the area/division/district level, your audience may not know you much and hence your simplistic narration may not bring much laughter.
9. Don't narrate incidents where you give feedback using "Toastmasters Evaluations" technique
This is a beaten to death technique in Toastmasters circle to bring humor - narrating incidents where you give feedback to people using Toastmasters Evaluation style. For ex., Husband giving feedback to wife, Boss giving feedback to team member, Boy friend giving feedback to girlfriend etc., To the extent possible, avoid such narrations. It may help you at the club level contests because you have extraordinary connection with your audience. However, it will fail to work at the area or division / district level contests where audience would've already heard 100s of such speeches.
10. Avoid too much drama
Again I would like to refer to stand-up comedians. They don't even move a single bit to make audience laugh. So, don't try to include artificial gestures or stage movements in your speech. One of the toastmasters drove a scooter "drrrr...." and he moved around the stage like a kid driving the scooter. It looked too dramatic at Area contests. I'm not saying that you should deliver the speech by standing in one location. However, use the stage when it is needed, use gestures when they are appropriate.
11. Get permission from people before you use their name
There are some characters (sorry people!) in Toastmasters community - where just mentioning their name would bring-in laughter. However, before using their name in your speech please do get their concurrence/permission. Even toastmasters who look jovial during the club meetings, do not take things lightly when you make fun of them on the stage. I've unknowingly offended people by referring them in my impromptu speeches, to bring-in humor. I had to face the heat, later-on :) You can use self-deprecating humor as much as possible. However, try not to make fun of others. Even if you are going to refer to someone, get their permission first.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
International Speech Contest Topics Selection Ideas !
One out of 3 phone calls that I attend these days are about "How do I come up with speech topics for International Speech Contests"? That reminded me... "Oh! The contest season has come". There is no magic bullet for selecting speech topics. However, here are some questions that you can ask yourself about selecting topics for International Speech Contests.
Also read: Speech Topic Selection Ideas
- What is my biggest achievement in life? Why?
- What is my biggest failure in life? Why?
- What is the most challenging situation that I handled in life? Why?
- What is one thing from my life that I would like to share with the entire world?
- What was the life changing moment for me? Why?
- What are some key principles / ideologies that I value in my life? Why? (For ex., "Small things make perfection, but perfection isn't a small thing" or "You don't have to be great to start, but you've to start to be great")
- What is the most unforgettable incident in my life? Why?
- What is something that I read in newspaper that moved me very much (for ex., the death of a gang rape victim, which happened recently in India)
- What is something that I saw in my friend's or neighbor's life that moved me very much?
- Who is my most favorite and inspiring person / personality? Why?
- If I have the option of changing the world, what is one change that I would like to change?
- What is a cause that I would like to fight for or already fighting for?
Also read: How to pick the right speech topic?
If the light bulb went off in you for any of the above questions, see if you can summarize that thought/message in one line. That will be the message that you would like to deliver to your audience and you can decide on the topic, based on that. Once you've decided the topic, you can expand that into a full blown speech by including stories, anecdotes, quotes etc.,
Contests are NOT meant to differentiate the bronze from the silver and the gold. Contests are meant to transform a golden ore into a golden ornament. So, I encourage all of you to participate in contests to go through that transformation, which will last forever.
Also read: Speech Crafting Checklist for International Speech Contests
Also read: Speech Crafting Checklist for International Speech Contests
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