Here are tips on public speaking from a failed comedian
How bombing made my presentations better and more effective
Telling a great story is an essential skill for every knowledge worker. A good story can sell a bad idea. And a bad story can absolutely tank a great idea. Stories are the oxygen in every business. It’s what keeps everything running. Whether it’s the junior employee trying to internally convince colleagues to jump on a project, the sales rep trying to literally sell something to a client or the CEO inspiring the troops during tough times.
It’s stories that get the job done.
A good story can sell a bad idea. And a bad story can absolutely tank a great idea.
So why should you listen to me? Well, once I discovered that my football skills lacked any form of professional potential and my acting talent wasn’t going to land me that Oscar-winning Netflix-gig, I started a career (lol) as a standup comic. For six years I paid my rent doing standup all across the country in restaurants, theatres and basically any place that would have me. Was I any good? No. I was average at best. But keep on reading.
I bombed on numerous stages, both big and small. And as a comedian that’s part of the process. One has to absolutely ruin numerous evenings for lots of people with terrible jokes before being able to get a chuckle out of an audience. It’s a steep but essential learning curve.
One has to absolutely ruin numerous evenings for lots of people with terrible jokes before being able to get a chuckle out of an audience.
There’s nothing worse than shooting off your carefully crafted jokes at an audience that doesn’t seem to share your sense of funny. Standing in front of a crowd of people that collectively hates your guts and thinks you’re the most untalented creature ever to hold a microphone is one of the worst feelings in the world. A feeling that, being an average comedian, I endured many times.
But those horrible experiences brought me something valuable. A sense of invulnerability. There’s absolutely nothing that scares me now about public speaking. I gained enough experience and mastered enough tricks to fight myself out of any tough presentation-situation.
I discovered that the same tricks I used during my brief standup career are extremely effective when telling stories in a professional context. In my current non-comedy job I give a lot of presentations to a lot of different types of audiences. And I discovered that being an average comedian basically makes you Eddie Murphy (Raw Eddie; not Norbit Eddie) in the world of offices and Powerpoint.
So I decided to write up a list of pointers, tips and tricks to help any office worker encountering stage fright or any other form of uncomfortable feelings when speaking in public.
1. Stand up
This may sound like a no-brainer but in my experience standing up when presenting is often overlooked. Especially during internal meetings among colleagues ideas tend to be explained and presented sitting down.
By standing up you’re literally placing yourself above the audience. You will immediately gain the attention of your audience and people will take your story seriously. Standing up also has the added advantage of offering a little bit more protection from pesky hecklers asking tough questions. An audience listening to a standing speaker, tends to respect its silent role. Apart from your colleague Bob who always seems to have some stupid nitty gritty feedback. Shut up, Bob.
2. Wait for attention. Don’t ask for it.
Okay, you’re standing up now and the audience is still a bit rowdy. Talking among each other discussing a previous meeting. Playing around with their phone because the last keynote speaker drove them into an endless pit of Instagram-fueled boredom. Obviously, they’re not ready to start listening to your brilliant fresh idea.
It’s tempting at this point to ‘ask for attention’. It’s also one of the worst ways to greet a crowd. It will slingshot all of the audience members back to high school and you’ll transform into the nervous substitute teacher dodging paper planes while trying to explain mister McTeachy is out sick and you’re starting on page 4.
Instead of asking for attention, try waiting for it. Stand in front of the audience. And just stand still. Smile. Look around. Try to make eye contact with a few people in the first rows. These people will probably nudge the rest of the room into an obedient silence. Nobody likes to be disrespectful or better yet; nobody likes to be put in a disrespectful group. Activating some of those first rowers as your own personal crowd police will gently but surely silence your crowd. It’s basically a Jedi Mind Trick for office warriors.
3. Tell them what you’re going to tell them. And why
You know you’re a brilliant little unicorn with ideas worth spreading (Hi TED). But the audience isn’t yet aware of your unique capabilities. This is why it’s essential that you make your intentions clear from the get-go. What are you going to tell them and why?
“At the end of this presentation you will understand why using hamsters in our R&D department will immediately increase direct sales.”
“Today I will give all of you a few examples of why I think we could benefit from throwing all of our Macbooks out of a driving car and replacing them with hamsters.”
If the promise isn’t clear, the audience won’t know why they should pay attention.
This is what I like to call the ‘promise of your story’. It’s a deal you’re making with the audience. You’ll give them some valuable info on hamsters, they will give you their attention. If the promise isn’t clear at the very beginning of your presentation, the audience won’t know why they should pay attention. Important detail concerning the promise: Make sure your promise is actually realistic and kept. Don’t start yapping about butterflies when you promised a story on hamsters.
4. Listen to your audience
There’s nothing worse than a presenter riveting through a story without any consideration of audience feedback. Just speeding through slide after slide without truly listening to your audience can alienate you completely from the room. That’s why ‘reading the room’ is essential when presenting, especially when presenting to a relatively smaller crowd.
You have to keep all of the audience members in your little story boat, so to speak. They get out, they drown. And the more you’ll lose the tougher it gets to keep the others in the boat. Distraction is a contagious disease that will quickly conquer any crowd. So keep your eyes on the audience and pay close attention so you’ll notice when you’re losing them. And if you notice that some audience members drift off, try getting them back into the boat by asking some questions.
“Does this resemble any of the challenges you’re facing?”
“Are there any questions so far?”
“Am I talking out of my ass?”
Questions will function as a gentle slap in the face. It will break down the fourth wall and expose the audience. Suddenly they’re an active element instead of a passive one. And you’ll probably see the audience adapt itself to that new status.
5. Change your tone and style to the state the audience is in
You can tell a story in a million different ways. Fast, slow, a lot of crowd interaction, no interaction, a slick deck spiked with funny GIFs or no presentation deck at all.
Each individual crowd can be tamed using a specific version of your story. So don’t be afraid to alter your story to the state your audience is in. Have they’ve had a long day? Is the crowd aware of the bigger context in which your presentation is to be understood? Was the previous speaker a flashy performer? All elements that can influence the effectiveness of your story.
A funny example concerns the number of jokes or personal anekdotes you put in your talk. Lacing your talk with jokes can work like a charm at 4 PM when a crowd is fed up with the day and in need of some unconventional comic relief. Whereas being the funny guy/gal during a morning meeting can backfire. In the morning people tend to be sharp and mindful of their schedule. Giving your audience the idea that you’re wasting their time by not getting to the freaking point surely can’t be your goal. So alter the way you present to the state the audience is in.
6. Talk with your hands. Or don’t.
Decide. If you like to give emphasis to your sentences with gestures; go right ahead and commit to it. But if you’re not sure what to do with your hands, keep them in one place. Behind your back, in front of you, basically anywhere but up. Be aware of your hands and the way they move. Don’t fiddle with them. It’s distracting the audience from your brilliant pitch.
7. Look at the entire audience.
Scan the room while you talk. Make eye contact if possible. Involve everybody even when you know you’re selling something to that one important person in the room. You want to make a good impression on everyone. Not just the one person with the wallet. Because you’ll never know who in the room influences the wallet-wielding-person.
8. Believe your own story
If you don’t believe you then why should your audience? It’s your presentation and it’s great. Even if it isn’t. It’s the one thing a lot of people tend to forget. Especially when selling a story internally.
“It’s not entirely finished.”
“This will get better in the final version.”
When giving such disclaimers you’re basically telling the audience that they won’t have to pay attention. The work is gonna get better anyway so why bother looking at this shitty version, right? Lose those disclaimers and let the audience critique your work. It’s fine. Really.
“It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.” Yes. That’s true. But I think that in the end public speaking ironically enough is more about listening than speaking. It’s about listening to yourself and your audience, seeing if and how they’re responding to what you say and setting yourself ánd your presentation up to counter any unforseen altercations.
I hope this article helped you achieve just that.
Got any tips of your own concerning pubic speaking? Or are there tips in this list that you don’t agree with? Let me know in the comments.
