================================================= Simply Speaking...Selling Yourself & Your Ideas E-Zine Volume 2, No 7, July, 1999 Copyright, 1999 ================================================= Published by Lenny Laskowski, International Professional Speaker President of LJL Seminars (tm) 106 Schoolhouse Road Newington, CT. 06111-4002 United States Of America (860) 666-4855 or Toll Free 1-800-606-4855 Web page: http://www.ljlseminars.com mailto:President@LJLSeminars.com ------------------------------------------------------------- In this issue: 1. Make 'em Laugh 2. Our NEW Simply Speaking Discussion Board 3. SalesAmerica.com - Your Site For Success! 4. Lenny's new program - How to Grow Your Business Using the Internet" to be provide at Columbia University Business School 5. Seminars, Workshops, Consultation services 6. Lenny's keynote speeches 7. Lenny's books, videotapes, audiotapes & booklets 8. How to request more information about Lenny's services 9. How to Subscribe / Unsubscribe -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * FREE Monthly Speaking Tips - July, 1999 * -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This month and occasionally in future issues I will be featuring articles from other professionals which I feel are a benefit to my subscribers and matches the focus of my newsletter. I have had several requests by people to include articles and I am willing to do so as I have done in this issues but they must be related to the topics of speaking, presentation skills and communication skills. Below is an article from a very good colleague and friend of mine, Tom Antion and is Part I of a two part series. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =================================================== 1. Make 'em Laugh - Part I =================================================== Make 'em Laugh: How To Use Humor in Presentations Part I by Tom Antion Delivering humorous speeches has a lot more to it than simply having good material. Take some time to incorporate these tips into your presentations and watch the fun and laughter factors rise. IN FUN Sigmund Freud wrote: "The most favorable condition for comic pleasure is a generally happy disposition in which one is in the mood for laughter." This concept is called "in fun." If you want your audience to laugh, they must be in fun. You, the speaker, must be in fun. The emcee or program coordinator must be in fun. The whole program should be designed in fun. Do anything you can to be sure your audience knows that it's OK to laugh. TIME OF DAY The first speaker of the day for an early morning program should not expect hearty laughter. People are not conditioned to laugh a great deal in the early morning. Many won't even be awake yet. Use more information and less humor. It's important for you to know when NOT to expect hearty laughter. It would be a waste of time to use your best material at a time when laughter normally wouldn't be expected. The poor response also brings your energy level down. Many consider brunch and lunch to be the best times of day to expect a responsive audience. In the afternoon people are starting to get tired so don't expect laughter to be as intense. MALE / FEMALE MAKEUP OF AUDIENCE All female audiences tend to laugh more easily and louder than all male audiences. Audiences that consist of more than 50 percent women are good too. The presence of the females provides a good buffer and makes it OK for the "big-ego" men to laugh. SIZE No, I'm not talking about how much you weigh today. I'm saying that the size of your audience has a direct effect on the types of humor which are most appropriate. Members of small business groups tend to be too self-conscious to laugh much. Use short one-liners. Don't use any long stories or jokes. In larger groups it's OK to stretch to jokes and short stories. PRE-PROGRAM RESEARCH The more you know about your audience the better able you will be to pick the humor that will get the greatest response. Your research before the program will also allow you to uncover the group's inside humor. SEATING The best seating arrangement for laughter is semicircular theater style. When audience members are seated close together on a curve, they can look to their left or right and see the faces of each person in the row. This togetherness allows laughter to pass immediately from one person to the other. CHOOSE FUNNIER WORDS Your word choice can be the key to creating a successful witty line or a dud. In particular, words with the "K" sound in them are funny. Cucumber is funnier than mushroom. Cupcake is funnier than pastry. Turkey is a funnier word than loser. DELIVER THE PUNCH Some humorists will disagree, but I say deliver your punch line to one person and make sure that person is going to laugh. You must punch the line out a little harder and with a slightly different voice than the rest of the joke. Lean into the microphone and say it louder and more clearly than you said the setup lines. If the audience does not hear the punch line, they are not going to laugh. You deliver the punch line to a person you know will laugh so that others will be positively influenced to laugh. How do you know if a person will laugh or not? You pay attention to those who have been laughing, those nodding their heads in agreement with you during the program, and those persons you identified as "in fun" in your schmoozing before the program. PAUSE Pausing just before and just after your punch line gives the audience a chance to "get" the humor and laugh. Absolutely do not continue to talk when laughter is expected. If you do you, you will "step on" your laughter and squelch it quickly. Next month in Part II Tom will address humor formulas and how to "Bombproof" your talks. Tom Antion is a keynote speaker, seminar leader and speaker coach. He is the author of "Wake 'em up! How to Use Humor and Other Professional Techniques to Create Alarmingly Good Business Presentations" and the "Wake 'em Up Video Professional Speaking System." Tom is the publisher of "GREAT SPEAKING" a FREE electronic magazine for speakers, trainers and business presenters. To subscribe mailto:tomantion@aol.com and put SIMPLY SUBSCRIBE anywhere in the email, or visit his speaker resource website http://www.antion.com ==================================================== 2. Our NEW Simply Speaking Discussion Board !!! ==================================================== I asked, you responded and I listened... By popular request, I have created an on-line discussion board where you can participate and ask me questions specific to presentation skills, speaking, communication skills & related topics. You do this by "posting" you questions on my discussion board and I will provide a response. Other visitors to my website and subscribers to my Simply Speaking E-Zine can also post a response. This is YOUR Discussion Board. To go immediately to the Simply Speaking Discussion Board take the link below and enjoy! http://www.ljlseminars.com/discussion.htm ==================================================== 3. SalesAmerica.com - Your Site For Success! ==================================================== Are you looking for other helpful articles from other professional speakers? Would you like to know about a great resource where you can find articles by other top speaking professionals in the the business? Look no futher. I have teamed up with SalesAmerica.com where I and other leading authorities in the industry offer hundreds of other articles on a variety of related topics. This one website can save you hours of time and probably hundreds of dollars per year in sales journals! SalesAmerica.com is an online service dedicated to the success of sales professionals, entrepreneurs and small business owners. If you have spent any time on the web, chances are you have found most search engines frustrating and most sites incomplete. SalesAmerica.com is unique! SalesAmerica.com's theory is simple: They have aligned themselves with the very best authors and speakers in the industry and brought them together in one place. A One-Stop_Supersite! Plus, they have an incredible selection of business greetings -- over 200 distinct electronic greeting cards all with a business theme! Send them to clients, prospects, associates..whoever! The response to a simple greeting card will amaze you! They also have wholesale pricing on productivity books and products, a FREE reminder service, discounted travel and much more! You can find it all at SalesAmerica.com. Take the link below and mention you heard about them in Lenny Laskowski's Simply Speaking E-Zine and Jim Hammarstrom will personally take of you. ==================================================== 4. " How To Grow Your Business Using the Internet" - an exciting new program will be presented at Columbia University Business School. ==================================================== Lenny's website routinely receives between 40,000 and 60,000 visitors EVERY month and the number continue to grow! In fact during the last few months, Lenny's website has received up to 3800 visitors in ONE DAY and continues to grow. Lenny has sold his speaking products in over 76 countries and now has over 17,600 subscribers to this Simply Speaking E-Zine as a direct result of his Website! Lenny's internet articles are published regularly in over 100 newsletters or magazines every year. His website has visitors from over 85 countries around the world! Do you have a website? Are your thinking about developing a website? Would you like to know Lenny's secrets? Would you like to know Lenny's Secrets. In fact, Lenny has been invited to present his program at COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL in September, 1999 about his internet marketing techniques. Lenny has developed a BRAND NEW exciting program entitled, "How To Grow Your Business Using the Internet". This exciting program will provide you all the inside secrets to Web Page Design so people CAN find you, How to rank high in the search engines, How to effectively use newsgroups and E-mail marketing and much more. Want Lenny to deliver his powerful 90 minute keynote by this same title? Would you like to spend a FULL DAY with Lenny and learn all his secrets? Maybe you would like a 2 hour private telephone consultation with Lenny. You can. Just call 1-800-606-4855 or E-mail us at Sales@LJLSeminars.com and ask about this exciting program. This might be just the perfect program for 1999 to launch you or your organization into the 21st century. Why not call today and schedule Lenny for your next meeting. Can't wait and need to know some of Lenny's top secrets now! Lenny has written a powerful new book entitled , "How To Grow Your Business Using the Internet" which describes in detail what Lenny has spent the last 3 years learning about the Internet. This book retails for $ 49.95 and if ordered in response to this E-zine can be yours for only $ 39.95!!! You can even order this exciting new book directly from Lenny's website. Just send along a corresponding e-mail and mention this e-zine to purchase this book at this special rate. VISA, MASTERCARD, AMERICAN EXPRESS, DISCOVER CARDS CARDS WELCOME!!! Why not order today! ==================================================== 5. Seminars, Workshops, Consultation Services ==================================================== 6. Lenny's keynote speeches =================================================== 7. Lenny's books, videotapes, audiotapes & booklets =================================================== 8. Where to get more information Lenny's services. Feel free to request information about Lenny's seminars, workshops and keynotes. If you would like a formal proposal, please E-mail your request to: Sales@LJLSeminars.com or mail to the address below: Lenny Laskowski, International Professional Speaker President of LJL Seminars (tm) 106 Schoolhouse Road Newington, CT. 06111-4002 United States of America (860) 666-4855 or Toll Free 1-800-606-4855 ===================================================== ******* You can earn 10% commissions ******************** ===================================================== You can also earn 10% commissions on any leads you send my way. Provide me the name, address & telephone number of those you know who might be able to use my services, make the initial call with them and tell them I will be contacting them and send me an E-mail that you have done so. When I contact them and if we result in doing business with them I will mail you a check for 10% of the total contract just for referring us! ============================================================= 9. How to Subscribe to This E-zine: Send an e-mail to majordomo@ljlseminars.com and in the BODY of the message type: subscribe simply To unsubscribe to our newsletter by e-mail: Send an e-mail to majordomo@ljlseminars.com and in the BODY of the message type: unsubscribe simply =========================================================== ********************************************************************** FREE Monthly Speaking Tips ==> ============================================================ Feel free to distribute these FREE tips to EVERYONE you know. You may also publish these tips in any of your company's newsletters or publications FREE if you include the above address below and credit me as the author. Also, send me two(2) copies of the actual publication to the address below: As new monthly tips are developed they will be e-mailed separately. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks again for visiting my website and remember to keep returning EACH month for new tips. Also, let me know if you would like to see any other speaking tips and remember to pass these tips along to EVERYONE you know! Until next month! - Lenny Laskowski :-)