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1995 Toastmasters World Champion Mark Brown Shares His Insights

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I interviewed Mark Brown on November 10th, 2012 and asked him just one question: “What are your three best pieces of advice on how to win the Toastmasters World Championship of Public Speaking?”

Mark gets to deliver an extended version of his winning contest speech almost every day in his role as an anti-bullying ambassador for Great American Opportunities, an educational fundraising company.   That has given him thirteen years of perspective and wisdom on what make his speech successful.

 

Tip #1: Have solid message with universal appeal

“One can be humorous, entertaining, and engaging, but without a message, the audience cannot remember what you said.  Your message translates into speech value for the audience first and only then on the judges’ ballots.”

“Contestants often ask me: ‘What is the perfect topic?’  There is no prefect topic.  Just speak from the heart. Focus on connecting with the audience, not the judges.  Don’t impress them, impress upon them the value of what you have to say.  Change their lives.”

“Beyond having a powerful message and beyond being unique in the way you present it, you also have to make sure that your message is one that nearly everyone in the audience can relate to. In the semi-finals and finals, the audience is truly international.  That means you need to appeal to people with different cultures, different customs, and different perspectives on life.”

 

Tip #2: Be Unique

“From time to time, I come across people who respect what previous winners have done so much that they lose themselves in the persona of the people they admire.  You bring yourself, your experience, your voice, your life, and your message to the forefront.  Strive to leave the audience with something of value and the rest will come.”

“Some people get the DVD set of past winners and deconstruct every speech. They count how many steps people take before they say a word and what color suit to wear if you are speaker number six versus speaker number three. I did not do any of that.  There is a danger in over-polishing your speech.  If you go too far, you will lose your sense of frankness and genuineness.”

“To be successful at the highest levels of the International speech contest, you must be unique.  What makes you stand out from everybody else?  In the case of 2012 winner Ryan Avery, he became characters in his presentation – his mother, a police officer, his drunk buddies. You could actually see Ryan transformed into these characters on the stage. That style has become important in recent years.”

“Back in 2010, David Henderson decked himself out as a fighter pilot complete with bomber jacket, goggles, and scarf.  He reenacted his childhood and brought a very powerful message about love.  He stood out with his costume, his presentation style, and had a really, really powerful message.”

“Over the years, people have integrated different elements into their speeches to be unique.  Props were introduced in 1994 when Morgan McArthur used a life-sized, collapsible wooden horse. That evolved into creative uses of chairs and ladders.  Humor became prominent with 1996 winner David Nottage followed by 1997 winner Willie Jones.”

“Most speeches have an introduction, three main parts, and a conclusion.  My speech was unique in that I had an introduction, two main parts, and an extended call to action.  After introducing the concept of intolerance with the statement that ‘You never get a second chance to make a first impression’, I moved into part one – the fantasy world of ‘Beauty and the Beast.’   In the second part of my speech, I wanted to move the audience from the world of fantasy to the real world.  I asked myself ‘How can I make intolerance real for the audience?’  That was role television reporter Pat Harper played in my speech.” (Pat won an Emmy for reporting on her week spent undercover living as a homeless person on the streets of New York).

“I struggled with finding a third part for a couple of days. You always hear about the ‘power of threes.’ In a previous version of the speech, my 3rd example was based upon something that I read in the Bible.  Well, not everyone is comfortable with the Bible; we have Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus – every religion and no religion – in the audience at that level.  A Biblical reference did not seem to be the best thing for me to do. Then it hit me!  Did I really need a third part? That rule is not written in stone.  Instead, I choose to involve my audience personally in my call to action. For me, that was more powerful than adding a third story.”

“I guess that singing a line from a Disney cartoon did not hurt me either in terms of being unique.  I still sing that line everyday when I speak at middle schools and the kids have a great time.”

 

Tip #3:  Use visual language

“Speakers should strive to bring two dimensional concepts to life in three dimensions. In my speech, I could have talked abstractly about intolerance.  Instead, I used the Beast from Disney’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’ to personify the concept of intolerance.”

“When I talked about Pat Harper  in my speech, I said: ‘There she sat, huddled in the doorway, shivering, trying to fend off the bone chilling wind.’  I could have said ‘she was trying to keep warm,’ but that would not have given the audience a visual. Bone-chilling is a wonderful adjective to describe the depth of the cold.  If you watch, you will see that I shivered as I delivered the line.  That was all deliberate.  It gave the audience both a verbal visual and a physical visual. In the contest, word selection can be critical.”

“It is wise to have certain language that you are going to use for certain effects. You want to generate an emotion in your audience.   You want them to not only hear what you say, but also to feel what you say.  Ask yourself, ‘what is the highest impact phrase I can use without sounding too pretentious?’  Think about that and put that in your speech.”

 

Try It Out!

Mark Brown’s advice mirrors that of every other world champion I have spoken with.  Start with a powerful, universal message.  Deliver it in your own voice.  Use language and every other tool you have to change the lives of your audience.  If you do that, you do not need to worry about the judges.

Insights from 2010 Toastmasters World Champion David Henderson (Part 2 of 2)

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I interviewed David Henderson on November 6th, 2012 and asked him just one question: “What are your three best pieces of advice on how to win the Toastmasters World Championship of Public Speaking?”

The stunning thing you discover immediately about David when speaking to him is that he is a passionate disciple of the storytelling masters of cinema and literature.

He started off by saying “Oh boy, it is going to be hard to whittle this down to three points.”  David did shine the spotlight on three tips; however he threw a bunch more in for good measure.  Part 1 includes his top three tips.  Part 2 includes several bonus tips.

 

Bonus Tip #1:  Eliminate Risk Through Practice

“People thought that I took such a huge risk wearing a costume in an international speech contest. There are five elimination rounds before the finals (club, area, division, district, and semi-final).  Each round is more serious than the round that came before it. By the time I walked on to the finals stage wearing a costume, it had worked five times in a row (David wore a doctor’s costume for his first five speeches then an aviator’s costume in the finals). You don’t call something a risk after it has worked five times. “

“There are a lot of rules that go into using a costume. Most adults do not walk around wearing costumes.  By incorporating a child into my speech, it was easier for me to do things on stage that were more of a stretch and still realistic.  A child would play doctor and would pull out a stethoscope to take somebody’s heart beat. “

“Additionally, tangible props also prevent you from having to explain a lot. When I pulled Jackie’s (David’s childhood friend who died of sickle cell anemia) scarf out at the end of my speech, there is a lot that I did not have to say because the scarf said it for me. Just showing it to the audience brought them emotionally and contextually back to where I needed them to be.  They remembered what happened with the scarf earlier in the story which cut out thirty seconds worth of explanation.”

 

Bonus Tip #2: Make your attention grabber realistic, meaningful, and purposeful

“During the finals of the International speech contest, everybody in the room is already expecting to listen to nine of the best speeches they have ever heard. So, speaking well is not enough.  You have to do something that makes them say WOW!  But, you have to make them say wow just enough without going too far over the top.”

One thing you notice about the speech contest these days is that contestants have this tendency to do things that are over the top. I have a hard time being that far out there for no real reason.

In the middle of my final round speech, I trip and fall.  A lot of people think that I put that there simply to have a big gesture like Darren LaCroix had in his winning speech.  But, being able to control the time in a speech contest is a major component of being able to win.  If you watch that part of the speech, it goes from being very happy to very sad.  I did not have enough time to (verbally explain the) transition. The fall made the transition very fast and also foreshadowed that something bad was going to happen.  It also illustrated the primary metaphor in the speech that sooner or later, we all fall down.

 

Bonus Tip #3: Analyze what works and what does not

“Believe it or not, I was too intimated to enter the International speech contest the first year that I was Toastmasters.   If I had worked hard, I would have had the chance to enter that very first International speech contest.  I wish I had listened to the two or three people that encouraged me to compete.  When I finally entered in my second year of Toastmasters, I made it to second place in the Division contest.  The next year, I took 2nd at District. In my third year of competition, I managed to go all the way.”

“Now, I did not have anyone that had won before to explain to me what to do. I did not know there is a culture where past world champions offer help to top competitors.  To a degree, I think that was an advantage for me because I was able to break conventions that I did not even know existed.  I just went to contests with my girlfriend Josephine.  When I lost, we sat down and thought critically about what went wrong and what went right.  We just kept doing that over and over again. We figured the rules out on our own. “

“Many people think there is familiarity bias during the early rounds.  However, when you lose, you have to ask ‘How did this person beat me?’  More often than not, there is a good reason (having nothing to do with bias) why it worked out that way.”

 

Bonus Tip #4: Deliver a speech within a speech

“My girlfriend Josephine and I go to the movies every single Saturday. Also, we typically watch a show every evening on AMC, HBO, or Showtime.   During and after each movie, we pick apart why we like a character or why we do not like a character… why a show totally offends us or what it is that hooks us in.  Great movies are often built around a great speech delivered by one of the characters.  If you understand how screenplay writers construct movie speeches, then you have everything you need for a great Toastmasters speech.”

“Notice that these speeches occupy only a small percentage of the time of the total movie. For example, think about Jack Nicholson’s speech on the witness stand in ‘A Few Good Men.’  The entire movie builds up to that one moment. “

“If you watch the speech I delivered in the final round, you will notice there is a speech built into the speech.  It is the speech my mother gives when I don’t want to go see Jackie anymore.  Everything else I say is built around that one moment. It gives you my complete message.  Everything that comes after simply puts into practice what my mother told me; it reveals how to apply the advice in an emotionally dynamic and entertaining way.”

 

Bonus Tip #5: Craft stories that appeal to both men and women

“When I competed, I noticed two things.  The first is that most of the competitors are men. The second is that most of the organizers and judges, at least at the local level in Texas, are women.  Men tend to choose subjects that are not of broad interest to women.  Men will talk about getting over their egos, or their frustration with technology, or their relationship with their father. I did give specific thought to writing speech that appealed more to the women who were listening and were judging. What I did not expect was just how strong of an emotional impact the speeches would have on the men in the audience as well.”

“I found myself wondering, what is it that everybody can relate to no matter where you are from?  One of the first answers that came to mind was that everybody loves their mom.  At some level, everybody should be able to relate to that.”

Insights from 2010 Toastmasters World Champion David Henderson (Part 1 of 2)

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I interviewed David Henderson on November 6th, 2012 and asked him just one question: “What are your three best pieces of advice on how to win the Toastmasters World Championship of Public Speaking?”

The stunning thing you discover immediately about David when speaking to him is that he is a passionate disciple of the storytelling masters of cinema and literature.

He started off by saying “Oh boy, it is going to be hard to whittle this down to three points.”  David did shine the spotlight on three tips; however he threw a bunch more in for good measure.  Part 1 includes his top three tips.  Part 2 includes several bonus tips.

 

Tip #1: Tell a personal story

“When you look at the greatest speakers in history, speakers like Martin Luther King, you will notice that their messages were urgent to the point that listening was not optional. In Toastmasters, we do not have that same luxury; generally, there are no important historical circumstances.”

“Listeners do not have to listen.  Part of what people don’t understand about the International speech contest is that the audience does not want to hear a ‘speech’ – they want to be entertained by a story rooted in a profound, inspirational message.”

“We have been conditioned to learn through stories from an early age.  Stories help convey information in an interesting package.  If you tell a story the right way, you can convert people without their ever realizing that you preached to them in the first place.  That is where the power of storytelling comes into play. And yet, when you listen to speeches delivered in Toastmasters meetings on any given night, you hear very few examples of stories told for maximum impact.”

“The protagonist in the story must be at the opposite place at the end of the speech (compared to where they were at the beginning) to generate emotional momentum. Your story has to go through a limited version of the hero’s journey in order to have the real impact.”

I went to a Toastmasters meeting in my first year and listened to a wonderful woman deliver a really boring speech about horned toads. When I spoke with her after the meeting, she revealed that she got to dance next to Dick Clark when American Bandstand went to her high school.  As she spoke, she was beaming and animated. So, I asked ‘How could talk about horned toads when you have a story like that?”’

“The question I am most frequently asked is ‘How can I be funny?’  I reply, ‘Do you have kids?  If so, then talk about the most frustrating thing your kids ever did.’ People will instantly relate to where you are coming from. When you tell a personal story drawn from your experiences, the mechanics such as humor, hand gestures, and vocal variety get automatically corrected.”

 

Tip #2:  Make sure your speech solves a real problem that everyone can relate to

“One of the authors that I really enjoy is Tim O’Brien who wrote about his experiences during the Vietnam War in ‘The Things They Carried.’  The reason why I like that book is that he talks a lot about storytelling.  He says that great stories universalize your personal experience. You take something that is unique to you and make it something that other people can relate to. If you do it the right way, people forget that you are telling a story about yourself and they think about things that have happened to them.  That is what makes a story powerful.”

“When people study the International speech contest from years past, they come to the conclusion that you are supposed to deliver a light, happy, positive message.  In my (winning) speech, people think the biggest risk I took was coming up in a costume; I think the bigger risk was choosing to talk about something I believe is a real problem.”

“Author Cormac McCarthy wrote that death is the most serious subject we face. He said, if you are not writing about death then you are not a serious writer.  I am not suggesting that everyone who enters the International speech contest needs to talk about death, but they do need to talk about a real, universal problem.  Losing loved ones in my own life is the most difficult subject I cope with.  In the speeches I used in the semi-finals and finals, the main person in the speech dies. In my semi-final speech, I shared the story of watching my mother forgive her mother on my grandmother’s deathbed for abandoning her as a child. It was about hope and we called ‘The Best Medicine.’”  In my final speech, a little girl gets sickle cell anemia and she dies.”

“When you lose someone, it feels fundamentally unfair. In my speeches, I focused on finding a way for people to move forward from loss in a positive way. Everybody has a story like that.  People are not responding to the story, they are responding to the manner in which the story is told.  There is nothing even slightly remarkable about my stories.”

“Often, I hear a speech and am left asking myself, ‘O.K., but what were they driving at?’  The message needs to be simple and it needs to be something that everyone can relate to. In my semi-final speech, the message was ‘hope is the best medicine.’ In my final speech it was ‘Sooner or later we all fall down, but a little love can lift you back up.’”

“Now, having a tight message is necessary but not sufficient.  The message is the solution.  You also need to clearly identify the problem being faced.  You often hear speeches with messages like ‘dream a bigger dream’ or ‘live with more enthusiasm’, but the speaker never defines why that is critically important in the first place.  The illustration of what is at stake is what generates real momentum during the speech.”

“Last, it is important to illustrate how you get from the problem to the solution.  Here is the best analogy I could have come up with on this point.  If you take a math exam and simply write down the answer to every question, you are probably going to fail the test even if you got everything correct. Your professor will assume you cheated. But let’s say you have some gift – you are a genius or a socialized savant. They still want to see the work that got you to the answer.”

“When you write a speech, the message of the speech is the answer, but the story is the work. And the story needs to demonstrate the message so clearly that even if they speaker did not say it explicitly, the audience can figure it out on their own.”

 

Tip #3:  Make your audience laugh, cry, and fall in love

“There are very few things I would tell a speaker that you must do to win the International speech contest.  That said, the one thing you must do is make people laugh.  People have accepted it as a universal truth that good speakers are funny.  But, I think people do not understand the role that laughter plays in winning the speech contest. Laughter is not just about entertaining people, it is about generating an emotional response.  And, emotional responses should not be limited to laughter.”

“There was a contest speech I delivered early on in Toastmasters where I started crying.  Everybody in Toastmasters is driven to improve their speaking in order to overcome an insecurity.  Everybody thinks their insecurity is more significant than everybody else’s.  I did feel insecure about becoming emotional when I spoke.  Funny enough, my original goal in Toastmasters was to never ever cry again.”

“After the speech people came up to me and said they loved my speech.   I then realized that my real goal should be to come up with a way to make the audience feel the emotions with me.”

“A little while later, I listened to man cry during a speech and I felt awkward. As I thought about it, I realized the difference.  The speaker was talking about his experience in the military using a display case of coins and medals he had received.  As he came to one section, he just broke down and started crying out of nowhere.   If you blindside your audience with emotion, it feels really awkward.”

“Do you like to cook?  Have you ever tempered eggs? The basic idea is that if you throw eggs straight into hot liquid, they will curdle and scramble. You need to slowly bring them up to temperature.  That is what you need to do with intense emotion in your speeches – provide a clear indication early in the speech that something bad is going to happen.  If I can explain why I feel an emotion through foreshadowing, then the audience will be there with me and won’t judge me. That was a major breakthrough for me.”

“If you build a speech by studying the last ten years of the International speech contest, you will win the District contest and have a very good chance of getting through the semi-finals.   In the finals, at best it is going to be a tossup since most of the other competitors will have done the same thing. There is no way to differentiate between you.  If you want to have a chance at a definitive win, you are going to have to be a bit bolder. You are going to have to do more. If you can make people laugh and feel an additional emotion or two like crying or falling in love, you are going to have a chance at convincing them that you are a more effective speaker.”

 

Try It Out!

David left me with the following thought: “A piece of information becomes valuable only when I have practiced it to the point where it works consistently for me.”  Now, go practice telling a personal story addressing a real problem that makes people laugh, cry, and fall in love.

(Check out Part 2 of my interview here).

 

Use Word Choice To Project Your Speaking Persona

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I recently listened to a senior executive deliver a Town Hall presentation.  During the course of his speech, he reiterated variations of the refrain “I am so proud…”  When I asked the speaker if his word choice was intentional, he revealed that it was not.  However, he immediately realized that this word choice positioned him as a father figure for his team.

Every speech should have a purpose – to educate/inform, inspire, motivate/call-to-action, persuade, or entertain.  Every speech should have a core message or theme as its backbone.  Every speech should have a central metaphor.  The Town Hall speech opened my eyes to how important it is to premeditate the persona that the speaker wishes to project.

In the realm of corporate branding, this is an old concept.  Especially in the business-to-consumer world, companies strive to project a particular brand archetype.  This concept was popularized by Carol Pearson and Margaret Mark in their 2001 book “The Hero and the Outlaw: Building Extraordinary Brands Through The Power of Archetypes.”

12 Brand Archetypes

With full credit to Ms. Pearson and Ms. Mark, here is my adaptation of brand archetypes to the language of public speaking. I have provided in parenthesis example companies that embody each one.

1. Everyman: The “Everyman” affects change through selflessness and belonging with words such as “we” (instead of “I” or “you”) and “together.” (ex: Levi’s)

2. Caregiver:  The “Caregiver” affects change through compassion, safety, generosity, and protection with parental language such as  “pride” and “support.” (ex: Volvo)

3. Sage: The “Sage” affects change by sharing knowledge with a words such as “teach” and “share”. (ex: New York Times)

4. Explorer: The “Explorer” affects change through independence and daring with words such as “discover” and “uncover.” (ex: Jeep)

5. Hero: The “Hero” affects change through courage and competence with words including “overcome” or “conquer.” (ex: Nike)

6. Magician: The magician affects wondrous change through cleverness and will use words including “astonish”, “surprise”, and “reveal.” (ex: Disney)

7. Revolutionary: The “Revolutionary” affects change by challenging authority and the status-quo.  This persona is also known as the Outlaw or Rebel.  As such, speakers projecting this persona might use “overthrow”, “challenge”, or “struggle.” (ex: Harley Davidson)

8. Jester: The “Jester” affects change through mischief and fun.  This persona will be expressed principally through a tone of humor and ridicule rather than by means of specific words. (ex: Burger King)

9. Lover: The “Lover” affects change through hope and sensory experience with words such as “delight”, “feel”, and “dream.”  This persona is also known as the Idealist or Dreamer. (ex: Godiva)

10. Ruler: The “Ruler” affects change through status and power with language such as “I” and “tell (you)”.  Too many executives intentionally or unintentionally project this persona which project authority without building loyalty. (ex: Mercedes)

11. Creator: The “Creator” affects change through innovation and imagination with words like “create” and “invent.” (ex: Lego)

12. Innocent: The “Innocent” affects change through simplicity and morality with words such as “faith” and “ease”. (ex: Cotton)

Try It Out

The words you choose will affect the way that your audience receives your message.  Some archetypes put you on an authoritative pedestal including the Ruler, the Magician, and the Sage.  Others may be too irreverent for corporate settings such as the Jester and the Revolutionary.  I feel the most appropriate personas keep you eye-t0-eye with your audience.  These include the Everyman, the Caregiver, and the mentored Hero.  Next time you speak, premeditate the persona you wish to project and tune the language and tone accordingly.

Invite Your Audience To “Imagine”

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One of the most powerful ways to inspire your audience is kindle deep introspection during your speech.  The more concretely listeners visualize their own participation in your story or with your ideas, the more likely they are to take the actions required to change their world.

Fortunately, there is one magic word – “IMAGINE” – that triggers the brain to instantly visualize almost anything.

Tip 1: Ask listeners to imagine themselves

In her TEDIndia 2009 talk, Jane Chen shared a concept for a low-cost, life-saving incubator with the potential to save the lives of millions of premature babies in the developing world. She began her talk as follows:

“Please close your eyes and open your hands. Now imagine what you could place in your hands: an apple, maybe your wallet. Now open your eyes.  What about a life?”

As she asked “What about a life?”, Ms. Chen revealed an Anne Geddes image of a tiny baby sleeping in the palm of pair of aged hands.  In this instance, the question was abstract enough that the image added specificity and emotional intensity.  Most of the time, it is best to just let people’s imaginations run wild. The freedom of imagination explains why the book is always better than the movie.

Tip 2: Invite your audience into your stories

In the example above, Jane Chen used the word “imagine” to enhance an activity that her audience completed in the room.  However, an even more powerful approach is to use this magic word to invite your audience to be a fly on the wall in your stories.  For example, you might start out as follows: “Imagine you were with me the day I met my wife…”

Tip 3: Pause after asking your audience to imagine

After you ask your audience to imagine, you must give them a nice long pause so that they can create a visual image or scan their brain for a suitable memory.  That requires a much longer silence than many speakers are comfortable with – at least 5 seconds.

Tip 4: Engage your audience’s full sensory imagination

Amateur speakers focus only on the visual.  When professional speakers ask their audience to imagine, they strive to engage all five senses – sight, smell, touch, taste, and sound.  For example: “Imagine you were with me the first time I went to New York City.  Coming from a small Midwestern town, I was certain that I was surrounded by muggers at every turn.  Have you ever felt there was danger at every turn?  On that sweltering August day, I choked on the smell of taxi cab exhaust mixed with the sweat of pedestrians pressed shoulder-to-shoulder on every street corner…”

Tip 5: Ask your audience to imagine their bright future

The word “imagine” is just as powerful at the end of your speech as it is at the beginning. In your conclusion, ask people to picture their lives if they apply your inspirational message.  “Imagine what your life would be like if you woke up tomorrow with compassion for your friends.  Imagine what your life would be like if you woke up tomorrow with compassion for your family.  Imagine what your life would be like if you woke up tomorrow with compassion for… yourself.”

Tip 6: Provide just enough specificity

The word “imagine” can be used either to bring your audience into your stories or to prompt them to visualize their past or their future.  When bringing people into your stories, you want to provide a very high level of detail that engages all five senses.  However, if you are trying to get them to think about themselves, then you need to back off on detail and allow them the freedom to explore their mind.

Try it out!

The next time you speak, ask your audience to imagine at least twice.  At the beginning of your speech, draw individuals into a vivid, sensory story.  At the end of your speech, invite your audience to imagine their future if they apply your message. Imagine how much more inspiring your speech will be…

How To Add Humor To Your Speech

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I am not naturally funny.  At least I do not think I am.  But, sometimes we all want to tap into our inner Jerry Seinfeld.  This article will give you a few simple techniques to bring humor to your presentations

The fundamental principle to remember is that humor is rooted in surprise. As human beings, we delight in a twist that challenges our expectations and our sensibilities. For example, consider that the following joke attributed to Joe Pasquale: “See this, it’s my step ladder. My real one left when I was three.” Or better still, at least if you are a math nerd or know one, “An independent variable is one that does not need other variables to feel good about itself.” (Attribution unknown)

The examples I use below are drawn from the best practices of the keynote speakers with the most views on TED.com.

Tip 1: Self-deprecating humor is easy and effective

As a society, we are conditioned to keep up appearances. So, we laugh with automatic delight when someone lets their guard down and reveals that they are in fact human. We laugh when others reveal their bad judgment. We laugh when they share their character flaws. We even laugh when people share stories of their physical pain – as long as they managed to survive. Mel Brooks once said: “[From your perspective] tragedy is when you break a nail, comedy is when I fall through an open manhole and die.”

In her 2008 TED talk, brain researcher Jill Bolte Taylor described how she studied her own stroke as it happened. This topic could bring people to tears. And yet, Ms. Taylor had her audience rolling on the floor laughing by revealing to them what a super-nerd she is: “And in that moment my right arm went totally paralyzed by my side. Then I realized, ‘Oh my gosh! I’m having a stroke! I’m having a stroke!’ And the next thing my brain says to me is, ‘Wow! This is so cool.’ “This is so cool! How many brain scientists have the opportunity to study their own brain from the inside out?”

Tip 2: Exaggerated reality is always good for a laugh

The simple way to express humor through exaggerated reality is to put a normal person in an extraordinary situation or an extraordinary person in a normal situation. Some examples of this are nonchalantly ignoring extreme danger, excessive reactions to minor offenses, and unrelenting futility.

Sir Ken Robinson, the most viewed TED speaker of all time, puts an extraordinary person – Shakespeare – in an ordinary situation: “Because you don’t think of Shakespeare being a child, do you? Shakespeare being seven? I never thought of it. I mean, he was seven at some point. He was in somebody’s English class, wasn’t he? How annoying would that be? ‘Must try harder.’ Being sent to bed by his dad, you know, to Shakespeare, ‘Go to bed, now,’ to William Shakespeare, ‘and put the pencil down. And stop speaking like that. It’s confusing everybody.’”

Tip 3: We love to bring down authority

Experts who study why we laugh have determined that people laugh when they feel a sense of superiority. This of course results in some very cruel and offensive humor that you should steer clear of in your keynotes, not to mention in your life. However, there are some constituencies that it is still politically correct to make fun of such as academics and politicians.

Social scientist Hans Rosling, in his 2007 TED talk on global economic development takes aim at the academic elite. “But one late night, when I was compiling the report I really realized my discovery. I have shown that Swedish top students know statistically significantly less about the world than the chimpanzees… I did also an unethical study of the professors of the Karolinska Institute — that hands out the Nobel Prize in Medicine, and they are on par with the chimpanzee.”

Tip 4: Embed humor in dialogue

Any strong keynote includes discrete bundles of story and fact and all well-told stories are dialogue rich. That should give you plenty of opportunity to embed humor in your characters’ dialogue. Rather than describe how she was feeling, Jill Bolte Taylor in the example above expertly incorporates humor in internal dialogue. Similarly, Sir Ken Robinson places the humor in the words of Shakespeare’s English teach and Shakespeare’s father.

Tip 5: Learn to “riff”

You are likely to ask the question: “How funny do I need to be in a keynote?” To answer that question, consider the extremes. Professional standup comics deliver four to five jokes per minute. That is too much for a keynote and actually quite superhuman. In contrast, Bill Gates delivered one joke every ten minutes in one of his TED talks.

In my moderately scientific analysis, the most viewed TED speakers deliver an average of one joke per minute in their keynote speeches. The best top out around two jokes per minute. The secret is that the jokes are not evenly spread out. When they hit a funny theme, they ‘riff’ on the theme with clusters of three, progressively funnier quips. Sir Ken Robinson is the master of this.

Try it out!

Public speaking can be nerve wracking and trying to tell jokes often heightens your anxiety level. But, you just need to ask yourself, what is the worst that can happen? The worst is that one of your jokes will bomb and no one will laugh. So what. No one is going to remember. No one is going to talk about your failed attempt at humor at the water-cooler. You will not end up destitute. The next time you get a chance to speak, try to be funny. As with inventions, the secret to getting more laughs is simply to attempt more jokes. Just remember to keep it clean.