Participating in a speech contest is hard.
And that too in a humorous Speech contest is definitely scary.
The first time is always difficult. Few years ago, I had the opportunity to participate in a humorous speech contest from my home club in India.
Even though, I was working in US, I got a chance to come back to India right at the neck of the moment before the contest season started.
People’s expectation was high as I was a past contestant who had done fairly well (reached finals at India – Sri Lanka level).
I wanted to participate.
Why?
1) It makes you a better speaker
2) It will give you an exact picture of where you stand
But I had this pressure mounting on me.
I had to come up with a killer speech. I heard from sources that other contestants were taking it hard on them to win the contest!
I had some great speeches that were used in earlier contests.
Would it be good to use one of those?
That sounds like a brilliant idea.
Do you know what I did?
I did the opposite. I wrote a fresh speech from scratch.
You see, this is the idea of speech contests. It is a pathway for you to come up with something great, something creative and some hair loss (rule of three in action).
If I had not used a fresh speech, I would not have learned some new techniques.
I would not have forced my creative juices to flow.
Now let me tell you what all I did to come up with the humorous speech.
I wrote down my current life situation as it is. I did not trying to create any humor.
Judy carter in her book The Comedy Bible says, “Write down your pains and create humor. It is better and cheaper than therapy”.
I wrote down about my current situation. It was my thoughts and interpretations of marriage.
Instead of focusing on winning the contest, I wanted the audience to enjoy my speech. I wrote down the draft script on my way to India in the flight.
The contest was on Wednesday.
I made a night out on Monday to frame a proper structure of the speech.
This time, I tried a different approach, which I learned from Lance Miller: 2005 World Champion of Public Speaking.
I started drilling down the speech, as I would say in the contest. This helped me avoid certain words or phrases, which sounded literary.
Then I kept saying the speech like a conversation with my imaginary audience.
Someone said, “Public Speaking is like an amplified conversation.”
I say, “Humorous Speeches are amplified dialogues. You speak and the audience responds by laughing.”
The next day, I went to see the room where the contest was going to be held.
I think this has been one of my secrets: Visiting the venue before your speech. If you get a chance, practice your speech at the venue.
On Tuesday evening (D-day eve), I didn’t stay up too long. I slept off early so that I am fresh and upbeat the next day.
I practiced my speech in the morning. I was clocking 10 to 11 minutes. That is bad. I should get it well within 7 minutes. I practiced and practiced till I got it below 7.
At 5 pm in the evening: the contest started.
For some reason, I started feeling nervous. Not a good sign.
I used my age-old technique: Rub your left hand palm with your right hand and vice versa. My heartbeat became normal.
I also had the 4 Questions card that I learnt from Darren Lacroix. I think this helped me immensely. Anyway coming to our situation, the 4 questions that need to be answered:
- What is your intent?
- Am I present?
- Will I have fun?
- How will you give this presentation if this is your last presentation?
I delivered the presentation.
People laughed at me, which was is a good thing for a humorous speech contest.
They loved it. I loved it. And the by-product was I winning the contest..!
If you are serious about learning humor, please check out my book “Connect Using Humor and Story.”
