It's easier than you think !
Toastmaster Magazine, November 2008
Abracadabra! Hocus pocus! While the entire audience strains to watch his every move, Kif Anderson magically transforms a jar of pebbles into a handful of diamonds. How does he do it? More importantly, how does he get his audience to hang on his every word in the process?
Anderson has the uncanny ability to blend magic tricks with public speaking. It’s that mixture of magic and mirth, spells and speaking, trickery and talk that – like alchemy – converts the presentations of this Toastmaster Gold into real gold.
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Tricks of the Trade
So far, I’ve learned to perform several tricks that would have stumped me as an audience member. Each one has its own poetic name: Three Ropes, Afghan Bands (aka Elephant Zipper or Mobius Strip), Cut and Restored String, Flippin’, and tricks with equipment such as change bags. We’ve learned card tricks that challenge the beginner’s mind. I especially enjoy seeing how the magicians in the group react to each kind of trick – and everyone does have some sort of preference.
For Victor Broski, the preference is not so much in the type of magic trick as in the thought process that goes with it. He explains, “At the Magic Club, it’s not just the magic – we learn how the audience thinks. That is, what catches their attention, what distracts them and how to best work with their attention span.” Broski and the rest of us have been learning to think like illusionists – to capture our audiences’ imagination.
Broski adds, “Speaking takes on a whole new perspective. It becomes more audience focused. What is the audience thinking about right this second? In magic, you almost know more about what the audience is thinking than the actual audience member. You have to in order to make the magic work.”
So to make the magic work we’re learning how to read the thoughts of our audiences. I’ve been picturing the real magic of speaking to an audience under those conditions, with or without the use of anything that pops, poofs or sparks. For all the fun of the magic, it appears that the true goal we’re nearing is the ability to build a deeper bond with our listeners.
Magical Patter
The magician’s code prevents me from giving away any magical secrets here, except perhaps the best secret of all: the patter. We’ve been able to watch as the same trick is performed by several different people, and each time it looks new and different. The secret is because each presenter is using the effect to augment a speech of his or her own choosing. So a rope trick can illustrate a talk about buying medical insurance, making friends or creating world peace.
And as much fun as the magic stunts are, they really do rely on the speaking ability of the presenter. It’s a delicate balance between the trick and the talk. “I’ve learned that the magic is not the trick itself, but what goes before it: the setup, the story, and finally the illusion. Many times the bare trick is rather uneventful,” says Broski.
Brian Ballard, a magician member of the club who works for CareMore Medical, says the speaking and the magic go hand in hand. To illustrate, he holds three ropes of various lengths. Focusing on the short one, he says, “Some medical plans come up short,” but when the ropes magically grow to equal lengths, he shows each off and quips, “At our company, you get full service, full benefits and full care.” Without the entertainment of the rope trick, it would be just another insurance commercial. So while it’s true that the topic makes the trick…it’s also true that a good trick can make a topic.
For information on how to visit Club 100, click the “Find” button on www.toastmasters.org.
Beth Black, CC, is an associate editor at the Toastmaster magazine and a member of two Toastmasters clubs: Club 100 in Westminster, California, and Rancho Speech Masters in Rancho Santa Margarita, California.
March 1, 2007
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Excerpt
Taking the next step
For those interested in taking their presentation skills to the next level, The Founder’s District Speaker’s Bureau offers a venue a step up from Toastmasters. “We get a lot of Toastmasters who want to be pushed a little more,” says Victor Broski, chair of the Speaker’s Bureau. “Toastmasters is a safe, nurturing environment but doesn’t really ready you for the demands of a paying audience. The Speaker’s Bureau critique is considerably more advanced.”
Established in 1997, The Speaker’s Bureau meets on the second Wednesday of each month at the Crystal Cathedral and attracts approximately 35 people each month, although the bureau’s newsletter lists 200. Currently, the organization does not charge a membership fee, but members are encouraged to give a 20-minute “qualifying speech.” The qualifying speech isn’t necessary to join, but it lets us know whether or not you’re at a level where we can send you out,” Broski says, referring to the companies who often contact the bureau when they’re in need of speakers for events or meetings.
As a speech coach, Broski conducts one-on-one coaching for individuals and often helps those preparing for their qualifying speech. He offers the following advice to those who seek to improve their speaking skills:
• Thorough preparation is crucial, and is often overlooked. Rehearse thoroughly and you’ll be much more relaxed.
• Know who will be in your audience, why they’re there (voluntarily or as a requirement) and what they want out of you: what do you want them to walk away with?
• Use humor with caution, practice your delivery and use funny stories rather than jokes from a book.
• Get to the meeting site well ahead of time to familiarize yourself with the room; where you’ll be standing and the location of audience members.
• Meet the people as they enter the room, introduce yourself and ask their names.
• Try to incorporate their names and anything you may have discussed in your speech. • Use notes as a guide, but don’t read from them.
• Walk into the audience, if possible, but not so far that they have to turn around in their chairs.
• Speak to the audience members who smile at you and nod their heads and avoid those who look disinterested.
Ask Michele: All work and no play can lead to very dull work
Humor in the workplace can help reduce stress and make mistakes more tolerable.
October 8, 2001
By MICHELE HIMMELBERG
The Orange County Register
Q: Our company merged with another last year and, after layoffs, we have fewer people doing the same amount of work. Most of us have had to adjust to new bosses, with less guidance and feedback. Some days it's almost depressing to come to work. I've tried to generate a little levity, but whenever I do this, my boss never laughs. Am I out of line, or are managers taught to have no sense of humor?
- Happy to have a job, sort of
A: Funny you should ask. Victor Broski and Kif Anderson were just talking about this topic, "Humor at Work," for Orange County members of the American Society of Training and Development. They agree with you wholeheartedly: A stressful work environment results in more frustration, tension, sick days and dull work.
A little humor, on the other hand, can make for a pleasant, more productive day.
While work will always be work, they say, it can be more enjoyable.
The trick is how to be playful without crossing that line of professionalism. I'm not sure how you added "a little levity" at your office, but hopefully it wasn't with pranks that made the boss look bad, or a joke that embarrassed a co-worker.
Better to pick on yourself if you're going down that kind of a humor highway. Better yet, tie the humor to something topical, Anderson said. Rather than griping about the computer system that always crashes at 4:49 p.m., make a joke about it. Everyone empathizes, and you help them blow off steam by laughing rather than by kicking the CPU.
Or try something silly to crack the tension of a long day. Keep a small toy at your desk for people to play with, like a Slinky, an Etch-a-Sketch or a squeeze ball. They can increase smiles and decrease stress.
Here's one of Broski's favorites: Put an empty fish bowl in a common area with a sign that reads, "Feeding time 2 p.m." Watch what happens. Post a cartoon on your bulletin board and change it frequently. This can mean a five-minute break with chuckles.
Look for low-cost or no-cost ways to motivate employees, such as starting a "fun award" that recognizes workers for a job well done. As you can see, you're not out of line in your desire for more humor.
As for your question about managers and humor, sometimes they just don't see the benefits. They might equate fun and toys with goofing off.
"Most people are afraid to be humorous," Anderson said. "They think you have to be serious or you won't be perceived as adept at what you do."
And yet, studies prove that employees value fun because it's a pleasant way to help them become more successful. In a study conducted by Interim Services (now Spherion), nearly three out of four employees said that promoting fun and closer workplace relationships would make their jobs more attractive and reduce turnover.
Today's managers and leaders already are "in a state of vertigo," warns Warren Bennis, professor of business administration at the University of Southern California. They need a diverse set of skills that includes not only intelligence and an ability to motivate, but flexibility, spontaneity and a team mindset that looks out for the needs of the individual. Bosses who can make quick, sound decisions in a fast-changing environment will be more successful if they can use humor to balance the intensity of today's workplace.
That doesn't mean reviving the workplace playgrounds of the dot-com heyday, where Foosball, jukeboxes and Friday barbecues helped workers escape the grind. In the long run, toys and diversions were nice, but they couldn't replace the security of a traditional workplace - such as going home at 6 p.m. trusting that the company still would be there the next day.
Employees have a basic need for structure and stability, which managers must provide. Once you have that, humor becomes the grease that keeps all the gears and balls rolling. "If you can get them to laugh, you can get them to follow you," Broski said. "Humor is a way of establishing leadership." But what if you're not a funny person or you can't tell jokes? No worries, he says.
Broski is an aficionado of fun, but he didn't start out that way. If you were like him - studious, serious and the last person his classmates would have voted to become a humorist - take heart. Humor is a "practiced behavior," he says.
Try this exercise, he says. Mistakes happen all the time. The next time you make one, or the next time you say something foolish, quickly confess and slap a $20 bill on the table with this challenge: "OK, that's for anyone who can top my blunder."
In that scenario, humor allows people to focus on how they felt instead of focusing on the mistake, Broski said. The person may have felt embarrassed, but then relieved. Vulnerable, yet determined to do better.
If you're still skeptical, Broski has a list of reasons why managers should allow people to have a sense of humor at work:
When word gets out that your company is a fun place to work, it attracts top-level employees.
It also helps you keep the great employees you've got. Humor reduces stress and burnout.
Laughter can lower blood pressure.
Humor diffuses anger, and it's immediate (unlike that 3-mile run at the end of the day).
Humor makes mistakes more tolerable.
Humor can bridge the gaps you might have in your workplace, from age to background to experience.
Humor opens lines of communication and can help resolve conflicts.
Laughter helps you deal with everyday challenges and disappointments.
Fun and humor have become a mini-industry in the human-resources field, spawning books and seminars and instructional guides. Dave Hemsath, who wrote "301 More Ways to have Fun at Work" (Berrett-Koehler, $15.95), says this is no passing fancy. "It is no longer enough to use fun to help organizations to achieve extraordinary results," Hemsath said. "Today, organizations must use fun as a strategic weapon to help people become extraordinary individuals."
So go ahead. Have some fun. Giggle and smile.
"If you can laugh at work," Broski says, "you know there's some way you can get through all this."
