Modern day business speakers are expected to be entertainers. Today’s generation has been socialized to receive info via humor. They want infotainment, not information. Clients don’t watch “20/20″ or “Nightline” for news; they watch Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart. They want and expect information delivered with a punch line. Deliver raw information, devoid of humor and an engaging story and your message will be lost among the ringtones, vibrations, and swipe-rights of modern life.
Public speaking can be terrifying. Never mind the need to also be funny. For David Nihill, the idea of standing in front of an audience was scarier than cliff jumping into a thorny pit of spiders and mother in laws. Without a parachute or advanced weaponry. Something had to change. In one year, David went from being deathly afraid of public speaking to regularly performing stand-up comedy and winning storytelling competitions in front of packed houses. And he did it by learning from some of the best storytellers in the world: standup comics. His learning, taken from one year’s intensive experiments in comedy, performed on someone from the business community with a huge initial fear of public speaking (i.e. him!) have been featured in Inc., Lifehacker, The Huffington Post, Forbes, and Fast Company, amongst others.
In his new book Do You Talk Funny? 7 Comedy Habits to Become a Better (and Funnier) Public Speaker (January 11th, 2015; ISBN: 978-1505819298) David Nihill
Introduces the key principles of standup comedy and how they can be applied to your speaking engagements and presentations to make you funnier, more interesting, and better looking. (Or at least two of the three.)
What it teaches people:
– How to craft a story that your audience will want to listen to.
– How to find the funniest parts of your material and hot to get to them faster.
– How to deal with stage fright and flop sweat.
– How to master the two most important parts of your performance: timing and delivery.
By adopting his techniques you’ll enjoy presenting to people, they’ll enjoy listening to you and crucially they’ll happily retain your message.
According to Nihill, “On a laughs per minute basis, (a metric often used by comedians to gauge their performance) there are several TED talks that produce more laughs than the classic comedy, The Hangover. Needless to say they are also a lot more informative. At the time of writing, every one of the ten most popular TED talks moves the humor needle. Top business speakers are using humor to stand out from the noise and you should too”.
By following his clear steps and ideas, Nihill delivers a practical guide to combine comedy and business and shows how to add humor to all your public speaking engagements. His advice includes:
· Always start with a story. Our brains are wired to appreciate and remember it
· Find the key funny part to your story and use comedy-writing techniques to get to it as quickly as possible
· Deliver the unexpected. At this point, the audience assumes that they know where you’re going. But you’re most likely to get a laugh if you can surprise them.
Do You Talk Funny is packed with examples and actionable tips, and exercises that will give a comedic quality to your public speaking.
Whether you are preparing for a business presentation, giving a wedding toast, defending your thesis, raising money from investors, or simply want to take on something you’re afraid of, this book will take you from sweaty to stage-ready.
BIO:
David was born in Dublin, Ireland. After graduating with a Master’s Degree in Business in 2003, he moved to San Francisco where he worked for the Irish government helping startups expand rapidly. He has been involved with startup companies ever since. David is the Founder of FunnyBizz, a community and conference series helping content creators tap into the power of storytelling, comedy and improv to create better content. He has performed standup comedy at California’s leading clubs including Cobbs, the Comedy Store, the Improv and the Punchline even though he strongly denies being a comedian and is well aware most people don’t understand his accent. His learning, taken from one year’s intensive experiments in comedy, performed on someone from the business community with a huge initial fear of public speaking (i.e. him!) have been featured in Inc. and Forbes amongst others. He loves sharks, still dislikes public speaking, and calls San Francisco home.
About FunnyBizz
A community where business meets humor to abolish boring content. In the land of infinite distraction, the one who tickles the funny bone reigns supreme. As business, entertainment, and comedy become ever more intertwined, savvy startups, leading ad agencies, and Fortune 500 firms alike are turning to humor as the ultimate tool for being memorable amidst the ringtones and vibrations of modern life.
