Public Speaking: Tips for Television, Videotape, and Videoconferencing

Here are some things you should keep in mind when a television camera is trained on you:

Tie One On (for men only)

I got this tip many years ago from speaker Paul Radde. After shooting one of my first major videos, I noticed that my tie was crooked for most of the video. It looked bad in person, but it looked TERRIBLE on video...

Time of Day Matters

Public speaking has aspects related to time of day that you must know about. The first speaker of the day for an early morning (7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.) program should not expect hearty laughter. People are not conditioned to laugh a great deal in the early morning. Many won't even be awake yet. Use more information and less humor. I was asked by a sales speaker to open up an early morning public seminar. He said, 'I just want you to get them laughing before I start speaking.' I told him that it was not a good idea, but he insisted. I opened up the seminar with some sure-fire humor to test their responsiveness and got little response. I cut my material and brought the speaker on stage. He couldn't get them laughing either. I sat in the audience and watched. By 10:15 a.m. they were laughing at just about anything...

Public Speaking: Gimme Three Steps

Do you remember that song by Lynyrd Skynyrd? 'Gimme three steps, gimme three steps mister, gimme three steps towards the door.' I try to remember that song when I am moving on stage during a public speaking engagement.

Public Speaking: Bounce Around

When you have all managers or all executives, it is relatively easy to hone in on their interests and concerns...

Public Speaking: Self-Effacing Humor

Self-effacing humor, or making fun of yourself is quite a contrast. It is a very powerful form of humor that gets its strength from highlighting your weaknesses. It seems that people who have the ability to laugh at themselves in just the right amount during a public speaking engagement are perceived as secure, confident, strong, and likeable.

Public Speaking: Funny Question and Answer Sessions

Question-and-answer sessions are great opportunities to show off your sense of humor and get audience participation during a public speaking engagement. Let's see how we can have some fun with them.

Public Speaking: Places are Funny

Some places are simply funnier than others. Cleveland is funny. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, is funny. I live just off Goodluck Road. That's funny. My computer consultant used to live on Easy Street in Temple Hills, Maryland. That's funny. It was hard to find him because people were always stealing the sign, and it's not easy to steal an Easy Street sign.

Public Speaking: Malaprops

A malaprop is an absurd misuse of words. It can be from words that sound alike (sadistic and statistic) or from explanations that don't make any sense. You can use these on purpose as a humor technique during your public speaking engagements. Consider some of the classic examples below:

Public Speaking: Exaggeration

Expanding or diminishing proportions can be a fun way to create humor in a public speaking engagement. It's similar to a caricature artist that outrageously exaggerates the features of an individual, while still keeping the person recognizable.

Public Speaking: Comic Verse

Often a short poem will illustrate your point better than hours and hours of talk. Poems can be inspiring and motivating as well as funny, and they also add variety to your presentation. You must flawlessly memorize any poetry you use. Any stumbles will ruin the effect of the verse. If the verse is long, you may want to consider reading it, but total memorization will have more impact. Poetry, whether funny or not, should be used sparingly in any business presentation.

Public Speaking: Anachronisms

A person, place, or event that is placed in a time period in which it does not belong is called an anachronism. For instance, Paul Revere riding a motorcycle or George Washington sitting in front of a computer would be anachronisms. You see advertising strategies using anachronisms all the time, especially around Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays and Columbus Day. I saw an ad for fluorescent light bulbs that had Thomas Edison working on a phonograph. The caption read: 'If Thomas Edison wouldn't have wasted his time on this (incandescent bulb), his phonograph might have been a CD player.'

Public Speaking: Alliteration

When you are speaking in public, humor need not be knee slapping funny to be effective. Here is a mild form of humor to add to your public speaking engagements. Alliteration is the repetition of the same first sound or the same first letter in a group of words or line of poetry.

Public Speaking: Deadpan Expression

Yesterday I attended a professional public speaking meeting of the National Capital Area Speakers Association. The presenter was not funny, but got laughs from the crowd.

Public Speaking: Humor Placement

You are probably wondering how you decide where to put the humor you have so carefully selected to use in your presentation. You weren't wondering? Well, I'm going to tell you anyway. First of all, starting with a funny story or joke is expected and trite. You may want to postpone your story until the audience is resolved that you will be bestowing a rare case of sleeping sickness on them and then you surprise them with the humor. Don't be afraid to do the unexpected. Humor is one of the attention getting devices that can take your audience to the peaks of intensity.