Public Speaking Course:
Timing
Timing is completely crucial for you to master during your public speaking course. It is one
of the most important aspects of humor and being a NO ZZZZZs
presenter. Not only is timing involved with a single piece
of humor, but it's also involved in the timing and placement of that piece of humor
in your overall presentation. Timing is also involved in spontaneous
reactions to 'planned' unplanned situations during your presentation.
Jack Benny said, 'When you are speaking, timing is not so much knowing
when to speak, but knowing when to be quiet.'
He should know, because he delivered one of the funniest and most famous
lines in the history of comedy. He was
being held up by a robber at gunpoint. The robber said, 'Your money
or your life!' Jack didn't speak a word for a pretty long period of time.
The robber became impatient and said, 'YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE!!' Jack
finally answered, 'I'm thinking.' His persona as a cheapskate, coupled
with a long pause indicating he was having trouble deciding whether
to give up his money, or die was hilarious.
A pause lets the audience catch up with what you are saying and draw pictures in their mind.
It is the audience's signal to imagine - using the word pictures you
practice in your public speaking course.
When you tell a joke in public, a pause just before and just after your punch
line gives the audience a chance to laugh.
Make sure you do not continue speaking when laughter is expected or
you could easily discourage it.
Hold eye contact a bit longer than you think you should when
delivering punch lines because time is hard to judge when you are pumped-up
for a presentation, yet "pregnant pauses" are another
lesson you will learn in my public speaking course.
The size of your audience will also affect your timing. Your presentation
will take less time to deliver to smaller audiences. Smaller audiences
hopefully will mean quicker laughter.
Conversely, presentations will take longer for big crowds in large
public arenas. Your pauses will be longer to compensate for the wave
effect created because of the physical distance between you and the
back row of the audience.
In using your skills, you go with the flow, but you
set the flow in motion, and await a flood of fun and laughter.
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