http://www.humorpower.com/blog/2007/01/is-the-richest-man-in-the-world-funny-a-lesson-in-public-speaking/ Better thinking -- Better speaking -- Better living Sat, 22 Nov 2008 11:49:34 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc http://www.humorpower.com/blog/2007/01/is-the-richest-man-in-the-world-funny-a-lesson-in-public-speaking/#comment-3699 John Kinde Wed, 10 Jan 2007 05:37:02 +0000 http://www.humorpower.com/blog/2007/01/is-the-richest-man-in-the-world-funny-a-lesson-in-public-speaking/#comment-3699 Yes I agree, more humor would have definitely improved the talk. And also, all the laughs were small ones. Comedy coach Jim Richardson would refer to them as "titters." And, true, there are certainly better and funnier business speakers. However there is still a good lesson-learned in the sensible choice of a non-comic kind of guy with a sense of humor to use a slide show to open (if the people who worked with him told me he had a poor sense of humor, I'd be very surprised). Although the slide show was not knee-slapping humor, it was the funniest part of the talk and helped convey that he was a real person. The link to the Bill Gates speech in your note did not include his introductory slide show, but instead included some music video that I never remember seeing. The slide show that opened his talk was quite good. As an observation from someone who was in the middle of the audience, he had the audience with him. In a huge room, maybe 4000 people (I'm guessing) there was no significant distracted chatter. The audience was quiet and paid attention for the whole thing. I've seen bad speeches where the speaker was drowned out by a dull-roar of audience conversation. So even though the audience may not have been ENTERTAINED by him, they liked him, listened to him and respected him. Thanks for your comments Bert. For readers who are not familiar with Bert Decker, he's a nationally-known communications expert. Visit his site at www.DeckerCommunications.com. Yes I agree, more humor would have definitely improved the talk. And also, all the laughs were small ones. Comedy coach Jim Richardson would refer to them as “titters.” And, true, there are certainly better and funnier business speakers. However there is still a good lesson-learned in the sensible choice of a non-comic kind of guy with a sense of humor to use a slide show to open (if the people who worked with him told me he had a poor sense of humor, I’d be very surprised). Although the slide show was not knee-slapping humor, it was the funniest part of the talk and helped convey that he was a real person. The link to the Bill Gates speech in your note did not include his introductory slide show, but instead included some music video that I never remember seeing. The slide show that opened his talk was quite good. As an observation from someone who was in the middle of the audience, he had the audience with him. In a huge room, maybe 4000 people (I’m guessing) there was no significant distracted chatter. The audience was quiet and paid attention for the whole thing. I’ve seen bad speeches where the speaker was drowned out by a dull-roar of audience conversation. So even though the audience may not have been ENTERTAINED by him, they liked him, listened to him and respected him. Thanks for your comments Bert. For readers who are not familiar with Bert Decker, he’s a nationally-known communications expert. Visit his site at http://www.DeckerCommunications.com.

]]> http://www.humorpower.com/blog/2007/01/is-the-richest-man-in-the-world-funny-a-lesson-in-public-speaking/#comment-3696 Bert Decker Wed, 10 Jan 2007 03:15:23 +0000 http://www.humorpower.com/blog/2007/01/is-the-richest-man-in-the-world-funny-a-lesson-in-public-speaking/#comment-3696 Hey John, I don't quite agree. Of course I wasn't there like you, but I did look at the speech on Microsoft's website at http://www.microsoft.com/ces/ and saw a joke fall flat at the start, and then a slouching billionaire who can get away with clutching on to his clicker because he is a billionaire. And a smart one. Look at the difference with Steve Jobs on www.deckerblog.com for comparison. And 6 or 7 laughs in a two hour keynote is pathetic. But I love your other posts! Bert Hey John, I don’t quite agree. Of course I wasn’t there like you, but I did look at the speech on Microsoft’s website at http://www.microsoft.com/ces/ and saw a joke fall flat at the start, and then a slouching billionaire who can get away with clutching on to his clicker because he is a billionaire. And a smart one. Look at the difference with Steve Jobs on http://www.deckerblog.com for comparison.
And 6 or 7 laughs in a two hour keynote is pathetic.
But I love your other posts!
Bert

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