Chapter 16 Don't start with humor and an apology

In your first sentence, you need to say something that grabs the audience's interest.Not the second sentence, let alone the third sentence, but the first sentence! Never, never, I want you to remember that you don't have to grab the audience's attention all the time, but you must grab the attention that is beneficial to you.Note that I said "favorable" note.No reasonable person will insult his audience at the first opening, or say something that makes people hate and hate, so that they will rally against him and against his speech.However, speakers often use the following two methods to gain attention, which is very unwise.

For some ludicrous reason, a student of public speaking often feels that he has to be funny to be a good speaker.His nature can be as serious as an encyclopedia, without a sense of humor.Yet when he stood up to speak, he fancied that the spirit of Mark Twain was upon him.So he probably started with a humorous story.Especially on occasion after dinner.What will happen as a result?There is a twenty-to-one chance that his story, this temporary change of attitude, will create a dictionary-like gloomy atmosphere.Most likely his jokes won't "work".To quote Hamlet's immortal words, this just proves that such jokes are "stale, trite, flat and useless".

If an entertainer fails like this a few times in front of a paying audience, they'll pop open the soda and yell, "Blow him off!" Perhaps most of the audience is sympathetic, so, They usually try to laugh out of sheer compassion, but at the same time, deep down, they pity the quasi-humorous speaker for failing.They themselves also feel very uncomfortable.Don't you too often witness this horrid humor? In the extremely difficult field of giving a speech, what could be more difficult and rarer than the ability to make an audience laugh?Humor is a "trigger" thing that has a lot to do with a person's personality and characteristics.

Remember that all stories are seldom interesting in themselves, it is the way the storyteller tells them that keeps the listener interested.Ninety-nine out of 100 people will fail miserably when trying to tell the same story that made Mark Twain famous.Lincoln told many stories in his hotel in the Eighth Judicial District of Illinois, and people often traveled miles to hear them.People listened to his stories all night without getting tired.At the same time, according to some audience members who witnessed the scene at the time, his stories sometimes excited the local people to "yell loudly and jump off their chairs".Read these stories aloud to your family and see if you can bring a smile to their face?Here is a story that Lincoln used to tell, and he always succeeded in making his audience laugh every time he told it.Why don't you try it?But please try it in private - don't try it in front of an audience:

"A belated traveler, walking on the muddy roads of the Illinois prairie, anxious to get home, was caught in a storm. The night was black as ink; the rain poured down like a dam in heaven; the thunder roared , like a bomb exploded. The lightning knocked down several tall trees, and the thunder was deafening. At last, after a thunder so terrible as that the poor traveler had never heard in his life, he immediately fell to his knees. His prayer was very different from usual, he gasped and said: 'Oh God, if it makes no difference to you, please give me a little more sparkle and less thunder.'”

You may be the lucky one with an incredible sense of humor.If this is the case, you should definitely cultivate it with all your might.Wherever you go to speak, you will be popular for it, but if your talents are in other fields, you should not pretend to be humorous. If you study carefully the speeches of great speakers like Lincoln, you will be surprised to find that they rarely included humorous jokes in their speeches, especially in the opening remarks.The famous speaker Cattell told me that he never tells funny stories purely for the sake of humor.The humorous stories told by famous speakers must have some inspiration and point of view.Humor should be just the icing on the cake, just the chocolate between the layers, not the cake itself.Gullilan, the greatest humorous speaker in contemporary America, has a rule: "Never tell a joke in the first three minutes of a speech." Now that he has proved that this rule is very effective, I will say no more.

So, does the opening line have to be very dignified and utterly serious?Not like this either.If you can manage it, you can also make the audience laugh.You can talk about something related to the speaking occasion, or say a few words about the other speaker's point of view.Note that something is wrong and exaggerate it.This kind of joke is forty times more effective than the usual corny one about mother-in-laws or goats.Perhaps the easiest and most effective way to create a welcoming atmosphere is to laugh at yourself.Describe some ridiculous and embarrassing situations you have encountered yourself.This is the true essence of humor.

Jack Benny has used this technique for years.He was one of the first major comedians to "trick" himself on the radio.Jack Benny made himself a laughing stock, making fun of his violin skills, his pettiness, and his age.His witty words are like pearls, and he is both solemn and humorous, which keeps the ratings at a high level year after year.Audiences will naturally open their hearts to a speaker who is thoughtful, not arrogant, but humorous, and who does not deny his flaws and failures.On the other hand, creating an image of "bragging" or an all-knowing expert can only cause indifference and rejection from the audience.

Almost anyone can draw unrelated things together and make the audience laugh, such as a newspaper columnist who said he hated "children, tripe and Democrats" above all. When the famous writer Kipling gave a speech to a British political group, he told a joke in the opening remarks, which caused the audience to laugh out loud.I am quoting the opening line below so that you can see how cleverly he makes people laugh. "Chairman, ladies and gentlemen: "When I was young, I worked as a reporter in India, covering crime for a newspaper. It was an interesting job because it introduced me to some crooks. (Audience laughs) Sometimes, when I covered them After the trial, I would go to the prison to see these old friends who are serving sentences. (Audience laughs) I remember a guy who was sentenced to life in prison for murder. He was a smart, soft-spoken guy who called himself Tell me your 'life lessons'. He said, 'Take me as an example: Once a person has done dishonesty, he cannot help himself, and he keeps cheating one after another. Until finally, he will find , he has to get rid of someone to bring himself back to integrity'. (Laughter from the audience) Ha, that's the case with the current cabinet. (Laughter and cheers from the audience)"

He narrated not some old anecdote, but some of his own experience, and jokingly emphasized what was wrong with it, and this achieved gratifying effect. President Taft also used this method to create a lot of jokes at MetLife's annual executive reception.Most admirable of all: He not only made everyone laugh, but also gave his audience a big compliment: Gentlemen of the Metropolitan Insurance Company: About 9 months ago, I went back to my hometown for vacation.There I heard a gentleman give a speech after dinner.The gentleman said he felt a little apprehensive about giving such a speech.So I went to a friend who had a lot of experience giving speeches after dinner.So his friend suggested that the best audience for an after-dinner speaker is one that is intelligent, educated, and half-drunk. (Laughter and applause.) Now, all I can say is that I have the best audience I've ever seen.The situation just mentioned can no longer be seen here. (Applause.) I must also say that this is the spirit of MetLife. (The applause lasted for a long time)

The second common mistake beginner speakers make in their opening remarks is that he apologizes to the audience. "I'm not a good speaker...I wasn't going to give a speech...I didn't have anything to talk about." no!Absolutely not!The first line of a poem written by Kipling reads: "It's no use going on any longer." That's the audience's attitude toward a speaker who apologizes at the outset. If you don't prepare ahead of time, some in the audience will soon realize that you don't need to tell them.Others might not notice, so why bother getting their attention?Why insult your audience? —for by saying so you are suggesting to them that you do not think them worth your preparation, and that some material which you overhear by the fireside will suffice for them.No, no, the audience doesn't want to hear you say sorry.We gather to hear new news and opinions that pique our interest.You have to keep this latter point in mind. When you first arrive in front of an audience, it is natural and inevitable that our attention be drawn to you.It is not difficult to maintain our attention on you for the next five seconds, but it is very difficult to maintain this attention for the next five minutes.Once you lose your audience's attention, it's much harder to win it back.Therefore, in your first sentence, you need to say something that grabs your audience's interest.Not the second sentence, let alone the third sentence, but the first sentence!first sentence!