Chapter 58 opens with a so-called humorous story

Ironically, beginners in public speaking often think that they should be a very interesting person.By nature he felt that he should be as broad and profound as an encyclopedia, and when he stood up to give a speech, he imagined that he could have the style of Mark Twain, especially when the speech was given after dinner, he hoped Start with a humorous story.However, the result was not as good as expected: the so-called humorous story and the rhetorical way of speaking can only make the speaker appear superficial; Boring, trite, flat, meaningless". If a similar situation happens several times, the speaker will no longer be welcomed by everyone, and some audiences will even boo him or shout "Go away!" With compassion, they will deliberately echo a few times, although they are also deeply unhappy and disappointed deep in their hearts.Haven't we experienced such similar scenes too often?So what is more precious and rare in public speaking than the ability to make people laugh?Humor is just a means, the real thing is the quality of human personality.

We should understand that very few stories are very interesting in their own right, and that the key to successful use of stories in presentations is the way they are told.If the same story that made Mark Twain famous had been told by someone else, ninety-nine percent of them would fail.You might as well read to your family in private, in front of your family, the stories that Lincoln retold in the inn of the Eighth District of Illinois; ; read aloud stories that are said to be "emotional and overwhelming" and see if you can get them to laugh with your presentation.Here is a story that Lincoln told with great success, and you might as well try the above method:

A recently deceased traveler had the misfortune of being caught in a heavy rain on his way home through the Illinois prairies.At that time, the night was so dark that it was difficult to see five fingers; the heavy rain poured down like a burst of the Milky Way;In the end, the traveler fell to his knees, the only catastrophe the traveler had ever seen.He even lost the desire and urge to pray to God, just panting and muttering to himself: "Oh, God, please give me a ray of light and reduce the sound of roaring." Perhaps, you are one of the lucky ones with a God-given gift for humor.If that's the case, you'll have to dig and cultivate it anyway.But if your talent lies elsewhere, and you try to imitate Chancery Depoew, it's only folly, because you're betraying who you really are.If you have studied the speeches of Charnce Depoew, Lincoln, and Job Hedges, you may be surprised at how little story they used in their speeches, especially in the beginning.Edwin James Chittle once confided to me that he never told a funny story just for the sake of humor.If a story is to be told, it should be relevant to the speech, and should serve to illustrate and demonstrate a point.

Humor can only play the role of the ice cream on the cake or the chocolate between the layers of the cake, never the cake itself.It has become an unwritten rule of Strickland Goreland, one of the funniest speakers in the United States of America, to never tell a story in the first three minutes of his speech. Why not learn from his approach? So, should the opening part of the speech be dull and serious?But it is not.You can enliven your audience with local news, events from the scene, or comments from other speakers, and you can deliberately exaggerate observed discord more than banal jokes. sense of humor.

Of all the ways, perhaps the easiest way to create a festive atmosphere is by making fun of yourself.You can describe your own absurdities and embarrassing situations, which often get to the bottom of the humor.We all know how to laugh when we see someone chasing their hat or slipping on a banana peel? By throwing together a bunch of unrelated things, almost everyone can make the audience laugh. Here's the beginning of Rudyard Kipling's political speeches in England, and notice how he makes people laugh.Here, instead of inventing anecdotes, he relates his own experience and puts together irrelevant things with great humor:

ladies and gentlemen: I worked in India when I was young.My job at the time was to cover criminal cases for a newspaper, which was really interesting because it brought me into contact with perjury, embezzlers, murderers, and similarly adventurous sportsmen. (laughter) I would often visit these friends in prison after reporting on their trials. (Laughter.) Among these friends, I remember a man sentenced for murder who was a very intelligent and talkative man who told his life story this way: "When people's normal lives changed because of me, When things get rough, they will realize my existence, and then isolate me from the crowd, and then people will resume their normal lives." (Laughter) Yes, as he said, our Prison is a tool for isolating people like them. (laughter and applause)

Using the same method, William Howard Daft created a humorous atmosphere at the annual meeting of managers of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, and at the same time he greeted the audience with kindness. The highlights of his speech are as follows: Dear Chairman and gentlemen present here: Nine months ago, I returned to my hometown.There, I heard an evening lecture, delivered with some trepidation.He told everyone that before the speech, he had consulted a friend with rich experience in evening speeches on how to make a speech after the dinner. The friend told him that the best audience for evening speeches were those who were smart, well-educated and moderate. Relaxed people. (Laughter and applause.) Now, I must say, you gentlemen here are the best audience I've ever seen, because you have the factor that my friend asked for. (Applause) And I think this is exactly the spirit of Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. (long applause)