The Call-Back: A Comedy Technique for Speeches
Would you like a simple speech technique that will create a closer connection with your audience, help them remember your material, and possibly get a laugh? Try using the “call-back.” The call-back is a stand-up comedy term that means to refer to an earlier joke that got a laugh. For example, at a recent Humor […]
7 Days, 42+ Speeches: Differentiate or Die
Differentiate or Die. With all the speakers out there, you need to be different to stand out and be remembered. Ideally, you would have a unique presentation on a unique topic. That’s the number one thing I learned last week when I listened to 42+ speeches in 7 days. Live. And, I analyzed and wrote […]
Killer Keynote Speech Structure
Want a solid way to structure a keynote presentation that will be memorable and get you asked to come back? Click this link for a pdf of the diagram below: Killer Keynote Structure Do you need to create a presentation in a hurry? Do you want a repeatable method for presentation creation. Sign up for […]
Bookending Your Speech: Tying the Introduction to the Conclusion
Bookends are designed to “buttress, or to support an upright row of books.” Usually, bookends also are a matched, mirror image set, providing visual balance. Bookending your speech means that your speech introduction and conclusion support your speech in a way that provides balance. You “close the circle” for your audience, wrapping up your speech […]
Grab Your Audience! 3 P’s of Speech Introductions
Do you want to hook your audience right at the start of your speech? Do you want to have them leaning forward with interest? Do you want to have an approach to introductions that you can apply to many speeches? Today you will learn an effective, time-tested pattern for speech introductions that will grab your […]
Opening and Closing your Speech with Jokes
Wouldn’t you love to get your audience laughing at the start of your speech or leave them laughing at the end? Jokes can do the job, but use them with caution! If you are using someone else’s material, you need to give credit. The joke needs to be relevant to your presentation (I hate it […]
Stories: Opening and Closing Your Speech with a Story
Stories are my personal favorite way to open a speech. Stories touch our emotions and linger in our mind. Stories are a powerful way to captivate and connect. Stories captivate us because we think in stories. We can’t help it! “Stories fill our lives in the way that water fills the lives of fish.”~Steve Denning […]
How to Use Quotes and Poems to Open and Close Your Speech
The audience gazed in anticipation as I stood before them holding a large black cloth draped over my arm. Then I threw the black cloth over my head. After a brief pause, I quoted the opening lines of an Emily Dickinson poem: “I’m nobody. Who are you? Are you nobody, too?” I then paused, and […]
Wake Up Your Audience with Startling Statements
Bambi vs. Jaws. No contest on which is deadlier, right? It’s . . . Bambi. A deer is 20 times more likely to kill you than a shark. Every year in the United States, deer-car collisions kill more than 200 people. The above startling statement, especially if accompanied by a visual, could open a presentation […]
How to Engage Your Audience with Questions
Why start and sometimes end your speech with questions? Questions engage your audience by causing them to think. Questions can tap into prior knowledge. Questions can challenge assumptions. Questions can be used as a bridge to the next segment of your presentation. Questions take your audience from passive listeners to engaged participants. Here’s the top […]