Public speaking, media training, presentation training, crisis communications
Posts Tagged Humor
Should You Use Humor in VC Pitch?
Posted by TJ Walker in Analysis, CEOs/Financial, Communications, Humor, Pitching, Video on March 17, 2011
its important to be professional and not misuse humor in your financial elevator pitch.
Ann Coulter, Sound Bite Queen
Posted by TJ Walker in Analysis, Best Speaker of the Day, blogging, Body Language, celebrities, Government & Politics, Politics on February 14, 2011
Once again Ann Coulter stole the show at the annual conservative gathering in Washington known as CPAC. 10,000 conservative activists listened to dozens of presidential candidates and pundits. Here’s an example of what made Coulter so popular:
“[President Obama] turned over our entire healthcare system to the Department of Motor Vehicles. You know those interminable lines at the DMV. Now imagine you’re standing in one of those lines, but this time you’re in a hospital gown that’s open in back. That’s Obamacare.”
Eliminate Your Fear of Public Speaking
Posted by TJ Walker in Analysis, celebrities, Communications, Fear of Speaking, Help, Humor, Public Speaking Skills, Video on January 18, 2011
TJ walker gives advise on how to rid yourself of public speaking fears, communicate more intimately with audiences and to be wary of humor!
Larry King Makes Standup Debut
Posted by TJ Walker in Analysis, celebrities, Communications, Humor, public relations, Video on December 21, 2010
Donald Trump to be Roasted on Comedy Central
Posted by TJ Walker in celebrities, Humor, Public Speaking Skills, reputation management on December 21, 2010
Clinton jokes about WikiLeaks—does it take the sting out?
Posted by TJ Walker in celebrities, Government & Politics, Humor, Presentation Skills Training, Professional Speakers, public relations, reputation management on December 5, 2010
Yes, if you can joke about it, you can own it. Though Bush’s joking about trying to find WWMDs behind furniture at a DC humor dinner several years ago didn’t help him in the long run. Clinton was at an event last night with Oprah and Paul McCartney. Clinton said she was overwhelmed at the luminaries present and that she is “writing a cable about it, which I’m sure you’ll find soon on your closest website.” More at Yahoo
How will Conan O’Brien do with his new show on TBS?
Posted by TJ Walker in celebrities, Humor, Media on November 8, 2010
Will Conan be the Fox News Channel of comedy, meaning he can get higher ratings on cable than his competitors on traditional broadcast? Or will he be Martha Stewart, someone who seemed like a media powerhouse, but when she moved from Broadcast to Cable, saw her audience shrink from 2 million to a mere 200,000?
Sure, next to Leno and letterman, Conan is still young and hip, in relative terms. But as a baby boomer who is only a couple of years shy of 50 (ouch, me too!), is he going to be cutting edge enough to reach 18-34 year olds who are used to really raunchy YouTube videos?
How to speak with theatrical flair with Wendy Scharfman
Posted by TJ Walker in Analysis, Body Language, CEOs/Financial, Communications, Professional Speakers, Public Speaking Skills, Technology, Training Community, Video, Voice, Workplace on September 22, 2010
by TJ Walker
Why the Twitterverse Turned on Bieber
By Evann Gastaldo
Twitter—or at least all the teenage girls on Twitter—loves (really, really loves) Justin Bieber. Until he goes and gets himself photographed making out in the back of a car.
Can athletes Tweet their way to fortune? $$$
by TJ Walker
Reasons to use humor in most speeches-Tom Antion
Posted by TJ Walker in Help, Humor, Keynote Speaking, Presentation Skills Training, Professional Speakers, Public Speaking Skills on September 16, 2010
7 lessons to learn from Obama’s humor speeches
Posted by TJ Walker in Government & Politics, Humor, Keynote Speaking, Politics, Public Speaking Skills on May 15, 2009
President Obama was masterful in his speech at the White House Correspondents’ dinner last week. I would urge you to watch the whole speech here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB1olxLwBWI
So what, exactly, did Obama do well that we can all learn from for our own humorous speeches?
I thought it was a good idea for Obama to go on Leno. Turns out, I was WRONG
Posted by TJ Walker in Debate Central, Government & Politics, Humor, Media Training, Politics, Presentation Skills Training, Public Speaking Skills, Social Speaking on March 20, 2009
Yes, the few million people who saw President Obama on the Tonight Show would judge him to be charming, savvy and likeable. BUT, the hundreds of millions of people who didn’t see the show and only saw news reports of the appearance were greeted with this headline:
“Obama insults the Disabled”
Should I play it safe by avoiding humor?
Posted by TJ Walker in Humor, Keynote Speaking, PowerPoint, Presentation Skills Training, Professional Speakers, Public Speaking Skills on March 4, 2008
The following comes from TJ Walker’s upcoming book “The Wisdom of Your Audienceâ€. Consistently, the worst advice speakers and presenters get, comes from everyone who is NOT your audience. The following gives examples of some of the WORST advice people are often given. It is followed by the advice of your audience. Listen to them. They are your true judge and jury.
Should I play it safe by avoiding humor?
Power of the humorous Pause
Posted by TJ Walker in Humor, Presentation Skills Training, Professional Speakers, Public Speaking Skills on January 3, 2008
I have written a lot about pausing in the past. Here are some additional insights about the pause as it relates to humor from well-know speaking expert Tom Antion.
“In joke telling, a pause just before and just after your punch line sets it apart from the setup of the joke and gives the audience a chance to laugh. Absolutely do not continue to talk when laughter is expected. Laughter is hard to get and easy to discourage. Hold eye contact a little bit longer than you think you should when delivering punch lines because time is hard to judge when you are pumped-up for a presentation.
The size of your audience will affect your timing. Your presentation will take less time to deliver to smaller audiences. Smaller audiences should mean quicker laughter. Conversely, presentations will take longer for extremely large crowds. Your pauses will be longer to compensate for the wave effect created because of the physical distance between you and the back row of the audience.” from Wake ‘em Up Business Presentations
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