One of the toughest kind of speeches to make is an after-dinner speech since everyone will be feeling sleepy after their meal. And worse, they may not even give you their full attention. There are many things that can go wrong and as an after-dinner keynote speaker, there are a couple of things you have to observe in order to be successful or at the very least, to sit down without feeling embarassed.

1. Find an appropriate topic

Share This

We are all experts at playing the role of the audience, thanks to the countless presentations that we have sit through. Quite frankly, we have seen it all! I thought it would be interesting to give you my list of ten things a presenter can do to piss me off. See if this tallies with yours!

Starting from the bottom…

Share This

Most of us don’t really have the luxury of creating speeches weeks in advance. And even if we do, we tend to leave it till the very last minute. I’m definitely guilty of that. This entry talks about how you can create a speech in less than 10 mins that is equally effective and to-the-point (without all the fluff!)

1. Start with the conclusion!

Share This

It has been a while since I play the role of the audience. Last night was one such opportunity. The presenter was an intern from Shanghai and he flew in with his boss to States. His presentation was titled “Life in China” with the aim of sharing with us his experiences. He did relatively well but hit several boo-boo which I thought reduce the effects of his presentation. And these boo-boo weren’t really new. Speech coaches and Public Speaking books/e-books/blogs have warned us against committing these seemingly innocent crimes, at the expense of losing your audience. But you know what, people still do it. All the time. Instead of reinterating the points, I shall get you into the head of the audience (since I was one yesterday) and perhaps illustrate why you should avoid these boo-boos.

Share This

Let me repeat. If you want to be a successful speaker on stage, be extremely lazy! And I am not the only wacko that says so. Fred Gratzon, a successful entrepreneur who founded the Great Midwestern Ice Cream Company and a telecommunications company Telegroup that went public in 1997 proved that theory. He even wrote an e-book that convincingly argued how we can do nothing and accomplish everything!

You can download a sample of the book from here!

Central to Fred book is his personal axiom:

Share This

Humor is a double edge sword. Use it well and be marveled at. Use it badly and be disapproved of. Where exactly is the fine line between being a funny comedian and being an insensitive prick?

One of the common advices most of us have received was to avoid ALL political, racial and religion based jokes, no matter how tempting they may be. As long as we stay away from them, we have a shot at being funny without offending anyone. However recently two men with solid steel balls – a standup comedian and a well-respected chief constable – went ahead to break the norms. One did exceptionally well and became an overnight Internet sensation. The other – sadly – was ridiculed by the media.

Share This

I recently received a very interesting question and I would like to take some time to answer it here.

“Can you share with me on… how to make small talks with people of higher authority? (for eg, after attending a talk, there’re many people worth saying hi to…how to do tt without feeling out of place? what to say? how to start? )”

There are two parts to the question:
1. How do I make small talks
2. How do I make small talks with people of higher authority?

Share This