Monthly Archives: September 2014

Say It With a One-Liner

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“The most important words we’ll ever utter are those words we say to ourselves, about ourselves, when we’re by ourselves.” Al Walker spoke that one sentence in a speech at the National Speakers Association annual meeting over 25 years ago. This idea in one sentence I’ve remembered and thought about often since that time. I don’t remember his speech, but I remember that one line. Improve your depth and perhaps entertainment value by including a one-liner in your next presentation. Look for simple one-liners or one-sentence thoughts that relate to your topic and use at least one or two in each speech. These can also be humorous. For example, Jon Bon Jovi said in an interview, “My wife tells me if I ever decide to leave, she’s coming with me.” This usually elicits a smile and maybe a chuckle. The benefit of the humorous one-liner is if no one thinks it funny but you, your embarrassment is minimal. This concept is also what makes some movies memorable. Of course, we all remember the line in “Gone With the Wind:” “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.” Or in “Cool Hand Luke:” “What we have here is a failure to communicate.” Here are a few others I have found in various sources. A poster on a bulletin board in an area junior high school read, “Laugh and the class laughs with you; but you go the principal’s office alone.” When asked why he thought he had lived so long, Norman Vincent Peale, in his nineties, replied, “I never lost my curiosity.” Joe Polish wrote, “Everything measured improves; everything measured and recorded improves exponentially.” Watch for significant lines as you read. In The Spring, a sign on the sheriff’s office wall read, “Be optimistic, even in the face of reality.” I often end my speech on “Never Stop Dancing” with this line from a member of the Inuit tribe who was known for moving into areas where the ice was dangerously thin and bringing back the largest catch. His philosophy? “If you are going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance.”

A Simple Way to Incorporate Humor in Your Next Presentation

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Of all the challenges in an effective presentation, the one that is probably most difficult for me is developing humor in the speech. One way I have found to be relatively simple is to use a joke, one-liner, or anecdote which identifies with me personally.

For example, recently I found this joke that I plan to use in my next presentation. The barbershop was crowded, so the woman at the cash register offered to put my name on the waiting list. “What is it?” she asked.

“Stephen, with a “P-H,” I said, as I’ve said many times before.

Minutes later, a chair opened up, and my name was called: “Pheven?”

I’ve had this spelling problem with my name all of my life because my name is Stephen. Most people write my name “Steven” instead, even people who have known me for years.

Here is a way I might incorporate this joke to solicit a smile or chuckle from my audience. Early in the introduction, I’ll mention the spelling of my name and say, “You may have heard about a man who had a similar problem.” Then I will tell the story, saying, “Sometimes it may not be worth the effort to insure that your name is spelled correctly-maybe just on legal documents or checks written out to me.”

Another example of this principle of borrowing a piece of humor closely related to you is this story:

One of the biggest issues many speakers face is stage fright. I deal with this regularly in both my presentation skills seminars and individual presentation skills coaching. I learned to be careful with my advice, however. A young man walked into a professor’s office saying he had a stage fright problem. The professor asked him what he had done thus far in dealing with the problem.

“I went to see the school psychologist,“ he said.

“What idiotic advice did he give you?” the professor asked.

The young man responded, “He sent me to you.”

You could work this story into about any occupation you might have. I think I first found this joke when the characters were a physician and a pharmacist.

Humor does not have to be original with you, though you must be honest in not telling it as it happened to you if it did not. You, however, can make it real and relevant to your audience by reworking the content to poke fun at yourself.