May 26
Whenever you’re due to speak at an event take the opportunity to listen to the other speakers. There are two reasons to do this; the first is by listening to other speakers you may discover that they actually cover the same points as you’re planning to cover in your speech.
If that happens you have two choices: Continue reading
May 18
Here’s another installment in my mini series, Secret Comedy Writing Techniques. In this one I’m going to cover Freudian slips. And no I don’t mean the Austrian psychiatrist’s female undergarment. Cheap these laughs are, what can I tell ya?
So on to business! Continue reading
May 16
There are many different terms in the public speaking industry. Sometimes they are straight forward and easy to understand. Othertimes, a certain amount of head-scratching’s required. To reduce those times, I have compiled my own glossary. (Please note spelling’s are in English not American-English).
Ad-lib – spontaneous remark or comment said in the moment during a speech or presentation
Advanced Communicator Status – In Toastmasters International once the basic 10 speech modules of the Competent Communicator manual have been completed, a speaker can graduate to their first Advanced award. They must complete another 10 speeches which results in Advanced Communicator Bronze (ACB); another 10 is Advanced Communicator Silver with a final 10 being Advanced Communicator Gold.
May 06
The American author and humorist E.B. White (who wrote Charlotte’s Webb and Stuart Little) once said:
“Analyzing humour is like dissecting a frog. Few people are interested and the frog dies of it”.
In my on-going mini series Secret Comedy Writing Techniques, I try not to analyse why something’s funny. I don’t want to talk about a cathartic release or whatever. Continue reading
May 04
“How Do You Know if Your Comedy is Quantifiable?”, “How do you know you’re being funny?” and “How do you measure comedy?” These were just some of the questions I was asked recently.
I responded: “yes, comedy is measureable. If somebody laughs, it’s comedy. If no-one laughs it isn’t. But if you get no laughs, that doesn’t automatically make it tragic. It’s just comedy that doesn’t work”.
Comedy is also subjective and a matter of taste. If you watch the films of Charlie Chaplin and you don’t laugh, does that mean to say that he wasn’t funny? Or that it wasn’t comedy? Of course not. Continue reading
