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15463. Magoseph - 6/14/2005 12:29:45 PM Who's Nikita, Mac? 15464. PelleNilsson - 6/14/2005 12:53:03 PM He was the leader of a big country. His last name begins with C. I will say no more. 15465. Marc-Albert - 6/14/2005 1:05:45 PM Or with K in a number of languages, including French. 15466. thoughtful - 6/14/2005 1:15:40 PM Pound the podium with my shoe! What a great idea! Hadn't thought of that one.
It's a work crowd where I'm supposed to talk about work-related things and my boss will be in the audience.
I remember hearing an after-dinner speaker once who mixed this wonderful blend of good points he made with some very dry, very funny statements that made it a thoroughly enjoyable experience. That would be the ideal.
My problem is though, I'm funniest when I don't try to be and not very funny when I make the attempt. I'm thinking of contacting my old boss who has had success with humorous speeches ... wonder if he can mentor me some... 15467. Magoseph - 6/14/2005 4:40:27 PM Or with K in a number of languages, including French.
Merci, Marc, ce sacré Pelle, il peut être parfois plutôt enquiquinant.
thoughtful, it's a good idea to ask your boss for some pointers. I wish Arky would come in--I'm sure she could come up with some good ideas. 15468. PelleNilsson - 6/14/2005 5:29:35 PM French language exercise:
enquiquinant (adjectif). [familier] Qui importune, qui ennuie, qui embête. Synonymes : ennuyeux , pénible , déplaisant , agaçant , importun , fâcheux , désagréable , rébarbatif...
15469. arkymalarky - 6/14/2005 5:36:54 PM Borrow some of Laura Bush's stuff, Thoughtful! 15470. arkymalarky - 6/14/2005 5:45:29 PM I've spoken on a number of occasions, but few were very formal and only a few times at dinners and they were mostly senior banquets, so that really doesn't count. I had to speak several times this last year. In the fall I spoke to a group of administrators, but I was one of several people, including a couple of politicians who are VERY long winded, and I just cut to the chase to make the points I needed to make. It was the same when we spoke at the capitol last year to the press, legislators, and administrators. I also spoke as part of a panel presentation at the national conference I went to in WV this spring. I always feel like I need to hurry through those because everyone else is so crapping long-winded or there are too many others speaking. And I absolutely detest people telling me to be sure to keep it short, which happens all the time at those things--and of course it's usually the ones who hem-haw around the most when they're up there, speak first, and leave everyone else about 30 seconds each to say what they need to say.
How many are speaking at this event? Where do you fall in the line? If you're the only one, that's great, imo, and you could really have some fun with it. Also if you're first. Last, of course, is the worst. 15471. Magoseph - 6/14/2005 5:57:32 PM I would say, Pelle, the sense of the adjective I used is 'agaçant' rather than any of the others. I mean, think about it--you put Nikita C. I felt like a fool googling it, so that makes you 'embêtant', if not 'emmerdant'. One more thing, I never insult people and now, you made certain that everyone knows that I can be as 'déplaisante' as some people I won't name. I could just cry if I still knew how to do that. 15472. Magoseph - 6/14/2005 5:59:39 PM Pelle, :-) 15473. PelleNilsson - 6/14/2005 6:10:57 PM This is work-related you say? So people know you? In that case you cannot deviate too much from your normal personality. Do you have a message? If so start with some seemingly outrageous statement, then meander about for a bit and finish with some sensible and upbeat conclusion/advice (check Friedman's columns for this technigue). If you will do jokes do not introduce them with "have you heard the one about ..". Fall silent for a few seconds, adopt a vacant look as if you were searching your memory and say "that reminds me of ...".
Very important but also difficult: don't rush the delivery, don't sound and look as if you want to get it over with. 15474. thoughtful - 6/14/2005 6:47:57 PM Thanks for the advice Pelle & Arky.
I'm to be the last speaker of the day at dinner...after a full day of everyone sitting around listening to other speakers. That's why I feel a need to keep it light and entertaining, though useful as it is work-related.
I do a lot of presenting, so not rushing it is not a problem. But most of my presenting is done in a classroom setting where I can run the gamut of being light to expounding to Q&A and all. Emoting is key and I have no trouble doing that. But an after dinner speech is something quite different and something I've not done before.
I like the advice of being friedman-esque. That would be a good approach. I'm usually better at telling anecdotes that are pointed rather than funny. That would certainly fit better with that style. And yet over the years, there have been a few presentations I've given where I managed to be quite light and quite funny which the audience has really appreciated...but for some reason, those usually coincide with my being ill and on medication!
There was one talk I gave with my boss in the audience in Minnesota. Happened to be the start of duck hunting season there. So I told this story about 2 easterners going to minnesota to go duck hunting...hours go by and they were completely unsuccessful. So one turns to the other and says, "I don't know...do you think we're doing something wrong?" and I turned to my boss and said, "I don't know...maybe we're not throwing the dog high enough." The whole room roared. 15475. thoughtful - 6/14/2005 7:11:05 PM Ah yes, laura bush...how is it she got away with making a reference to the president and beastiality? And her and other well known govt women attending a strip joint? Can you imagine the outrage if it were the dems making such jokes? The gopers would've been on the house floor demanding censure and the fcc censors would've been threating to fine the DNC. They would've dug up some xtian rw parent who said he was using the opportunity for his son to hear the president speak and then he had to try to explain what women do with dollar bills at the chippendale club. Horrors! 15476. PelleNilsson - 6/14/2005 7:56:24 PM Sorry if I came acroos as disparaging, thoughtful. I wasn't aware that you are used to give presentations.
15477. PelleNilsson - 6/14/2005 7:56:50 PM mago
:) me too. 15478. arkymalarky - 6/14/2005 8:13:38 PM ...there have been a few presentations I've given where I managed to be quite light and quite funny which the audience has really appreciated...but for some reason, those usually coincide with my being ill and on medication!
Then I'd scrounge around the back of my medicine cabinet. ;-)
15479. thoughtful - 6/14/2005 8:18:20 PM No you didn't come across as disparaging Pelle...in fact I appreciated the advice and the reminder. You're right about not speaking too quickly. It is a common mistake.
I'm one of those who like to roam about and if I can burn off some of my excess energy and use my body to communicate, I'm much more comfortable. But after dinner talks tend to be up at a table stuck behind a podium...a far more difficult situation. I tend to feel more formal and as a result come across very stiff. Not a good thing.
I'm also well practiced using slides for speaking to, and I have a feeling this would be a talk without slides, so certainly need to be something more practiced as, at our firm, one never ever ever brings a piece of paper to a talk.
Paul Craig Roberts has a style about him that is very easy to listen to...though I almost always disagree with him. He has a very quiet, laid-back way of speaking like a low-key preacher that keeps you listening. Very different from my style, but would work well behind a podium. 15480. arkymalarky - 6/14/2005 8:19:33 PM How long do you think you'll be speaking? 15481. arkymalarky - 6/14/2005 8:25:06 PM Looking at your boss while telling your joke about throwing the dog in the air is a good way to pull people in. If you remark on a few people in the audience with a humorous line or two, I've seen that done to good responses here. Ray Simon (who is now with the US Dept of Ed and, due to the Peter Principle, is moving up fairly quickly) was very unpopular for the job he did at the AR Dept of Ed, but his ability to pull in individuals with a humorous anecdote or line was always very disarming. People generally liked him personally and listened to what he had to say because of that, even though they'd be kicking themselves later for not getting answers to important issues from him. 15482. thoughtful - 6/14/2005 8:26:08 PM There was a tribute show on c-span paid to the guy who was the impetus behind bringing news to npr...can't remember his name. He was also part of the mcgovern campaign. Anyway, all these people were telling funny and touching and interesting stories about him. There was one that was too much...though as I'm sure you can tell, I don't remember all the details well.
Seems on the Mcgovern campaign, it was one of those days where he had 6 stops 3 states in one day or some such thing...far through the campaign so he was very tired and he had the flu besides. On his way to his next stop some person stopped him to bug him about something that people had been harping on him and he'd had it. He replied, "Kiss my ass." He didn't think there'd be consequences, but the remark was overheard by a member of the press and it became quite a public brouhaha. So there are the top leaders of the campaign discussing how mcg should handle this...deny, apologize, explain... and so on. Finally, very late at night, the NPR guy says, why don't you let me handle it. I'll come up with something by morning.
So the next morning they held a press conference and he got up and said, "As you all know, George McGovern is the democratic candidate for president, so what did you expect him to say? Kiss my elephant?" At which point the press all laughed and that ended that.
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