A little public speaking help?

[livendive 8]

So apparently my little skydiving thing at our company Christmas party last year went over a little too well. The VP responsible for our project asked someone to get me to emcee this year's. I said, something like "yeah, maybe, if I have some notice and suggestions" and that was the last I heard. All normal venues ended up being too small for how big our project has grown, so instead of a Christmas party, it became a "Year in review" or "Year looking forward" thing at the nearest convention center. It's this Thursday (day after tomorrow for the international folks), and I found out late today that I'm actually the emcee. I've been promised an agenda of some sort by tomorrow evening.

Sooo...unknown venue (all I've seen is it's trade show layout), unknown agenda, an audience of several hundred, and 4ish hours of trying to make it as painless as possible. I don't even really know our org chart, much less the personal quirks of all the managers so I can poke fun at them in a manner their staff would laugh at.

Any suggestions?

Blues,
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

[yardhippie 0]

Call me, PM me, or whatever.

This is what I do.

I get adults to listen to speaches and feel better about thinking my ideas are theirs or at least ok.

FYI: right now Im not much help.

Goddam dirty hippies piss me off! ~GFD
"What do I get for closing your rig?" ~ me
"Anything you want." ~ female skydiver
Mohoso Rodriguez #865

[livendive 8]

PM me your number and I'll call ya tomorrow. It'd be easier if I was getting up to give a speech on something I'm knowledgeable about, but I'm not!

Blues,
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

[ACMESkydiver 0]

The best advice I ever received when I was speaking to large audiences on a regular basis was simple, but tough: NEVER allow yourself to say 'um' or 'uh'. It is far better to remain silent while you collect your next thought. waiting to hear your next word and it helps to keep them with you.

Two more things that helped were: audience participation, i.e., "How many of you have ever had to tell a client 'no'?" [people raise their hands]. Even that simple bit of crowd involvement keeps them focused and awake .

Drawing the crowd in -'making it personal', like you said you were going to do. If you know somebody's silly habit is to tap their pencil on their desk and it's widely known, I'd say something like, "...and then there are other ways to relieve stress. Some of us tap our pencil constantly, don't we, John?"
Another technique to keep the whole audience in is asking a response-intended question, even in a big crowd: "So what are some of the things you think we did well this year? Shout them out."

"Sales"

"Customer service"

"Bonuses"

"The Holiday party!"

Repeat the good answers as they come in over the mic, as that's one pet peeve I have of public speakers: when they ask a question of the audience, but then don't repeat back the answer into the mic so everyone can get the benefit of it.

I have volumes of this stuff from years of instruction.

I'm sure you have no problem with your smile and enthusiasm!

I always have 2-3 amusing stories or anecdotes to bring up should I need to fill time. I also mark in my notes things that can be cut out if we're running behind.

I'm not sure how long your whole day will be for this, but I always try to go through my entire presentation, allowing time for audience participation, and I write on the top of each section how long it should take. Then I figure what time we're starting and ending, and I figure out at what time I should begin each section and write it on my notes. That way I'm keeping track as I go if I need to allow more audience participation or cut them off. I also keep an extra watch or a small timer or clock on the podium so I don't have to be looking down [very obviously] at my watch the whole time.

If you're going to be talking/presenting for more than an hour and a half, have the audience stand up for some reason and sit back down. The mind can only absorb wat the tushy can endure. Man I used to have a whole bunch of 'stand up games' that I'd throw in there to keep people's blood flowing...dang if I can't remember any right now, sorry.

If you need another audience participation demo that will take about 2 minutes and demonstrates 'focus', PM me. I'm rambling off far too much already, and I'm sure hippie is a far better resource than I.

~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

[popsjumper 2]

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...If you're going to be talking/presenting for more than an hour and a half, have the audience stand up for some reason and sit back down. The mind can only absorb wat the tushy can endure. nMan I used to have a whole bunch of 'stand up games' that I'd throw in there to keep people's blood flowig...dang if I can't remember any right now, sorry.

BRAIN FLASH!

If there's lots of women wearing low-cut dresses, a good jumping game could be fun.


Dave, I'd be careful with the "roasting" at a corp event...sometimes it can come back to haunt you if the guy's an asshole.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[skymama 37]

All I know is that if you get nervous, you're supposed to imagine the people naked.

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[wmw999 2,541]

Quote

All I know is that if you get nervous, you're supposed to imagine the people naked.

In the eighth grade, we had to give short reports on current events. I was incredibly shy at the time, and found even that level of public speaking to be very difficult. So I imagined myself sticking my tongue out at them. During the after-talk critique (one guy would announce the number of times the speaker said "um"), someone said "I realize this is going to sound ridiculous, but it looked like she wanted to stick her tongue out at me the whole time." I laughed along with everyone else, but dang! Maybe I'm psychic.

That said, if you want a theme to tie it together (generally a good idea), build a framework of a first jump class; give them visuals to focus on, and remember to have them do arch and PLF practice . Remind them that if they don't pay attention they can bounce.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[livendive 8]

Quote

All I know is that if you get nervous, you're supposed to imagine the people naked.

Is that how you get through all the posts you make here?

Blues,
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

[BillyVance 34]

Quote

All I know is that if you get nervous, you're supposed to imagine the people naked.

Yeah, or do that little "you're my bitch!" imaging trick from the movie Waterboy.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[cocheese 0]

Short speech = Long prep.
long speech = short or no prep.

[DavidB 0]

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All I know is that if you get nervous, you're supposed to imagine the people naked.

Tried that when I was about 15 or 16... Got a hard-on... That didn't help things at all...

When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.