BEHIND THE MIKE

IPart 1 of 4

have had the good fortune to be in professional speaking since 1974 when I delivered my first paid speech for a fee of $25 to a local civic club.

To be honest, I had no idea there was such a thing as “a professional speaker.” I found my way into the business quite by accident when a client asked me to join him at his local Toastmasters Club in Cayce.

Toastmasters International addresses the “art” of speaking. Other organizations like the National Speakers Association can help you with the “business” of speaking.

When I have been asked to mentor or coach others who want to enter the speaking profession, I require them to join both groups, not for my sake but for theirs. Some newbie’s simply do not know what they do not know and, therefore, do not even know the right questions to ask.

In this series of columns, we want to focus on the so called “tricks of the speaking trade,” a common question posed by many new speakers. I actually prefer to refer to these as the tools in your toolbox of ideas.

HUMOR

My old friend and mentor Bill Gove, CSP, CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame, used to say “You do not have to use humor in your speech unless you want to get paid.”

Another great orator Paul Harvey, CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame, once told me he makes it a point to incorporate humor at least every seven minutes in his presentation.

Humor is the tool that greases the wheel. If your topic is serious, you must use relevant humor. Telling a joke is not humor. People who take an old story and try to make it something that happened to them are making a terrible mistake.

Immediately, they lose credibility. There is no new humor. It has all happened before. The best humor one can use is self-deprecation involving you and/or your family. My kids were always a source of endless humor, but you must be constantly observant.

Jeannie Robertson, CSP, CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame, has built an entire career on the platform observing others and keeping copious notes in a journal she carries everywhere with her.

My grandfather Elias S. Mack Sr., once mayor of Lexington, gave me my first journal when I was 10 years old and I have been making notes since. I now have over 250 of these priceless books packed full of notes I have made since I was a child.

Humor is a must for every presentation. The best eulogies I have ever witnessed over the years have a centerpiece of humor incorporated into them. The point is simple-you must have a system in place for chronicling these “funny” moments, many of which are born out of tragedy and spontaneity. Secondly, you must find a relevant way to incorporate the humor and it should make a point.

Finally, about 72% of my speaking business over the years was repeat business. You should make meticulous notes of each of your presentations so that you do not duplicate the same stories or points you made in previous presentations.

This is particularly challenging to rabbis, priests and ministers because they face the same audience each and every week. Many have their own systems of recording the history of their presentations.

The best way for gathering and retaining good notes for me was with handwritten journals. I always made it a point to identify the circumstance, the date of the entry and the significance of the event.

In reviewing my journals over the years, I have never found a way to incorporate 85-95% of the material I collected. That suggests to me that only one of every ten “ideas” you may have are significant enough to be used. It is important that you collect the other nine in order to find the best in the group.

Spoken differently, it is more important to know what “not” to use in a presentation than what to use.

(Next week: Part 2 of The Tricks of the Speaking Trade)

Michael Aun, CSP, CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame, is a contributing author to Chicken Soup for the Soul, Living the “Catholic Faith.”