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Speaking Ideas that came from Party Stores
Contest in "Great Speaking" Ezine
The Winner:
Many years ago, (in my more active days), I used to expect a lot of audience
participation.
However over here in Australia many of the "participants" in an audience would
pretty much come only to hear you and hardly if ever get involved.
I wanted a cheap and humerous way to get audience participation and have them
remember the message I was teaching.
In essence the message of my talk was that if you persist with your way of doing
things and feel sorry for yourself you will only attract at best - sympathy from
others and a reprimand from others but never make the transition to "superman".
Well I went to a costume shop and bought/rented some props
Sheriff or Marshall badges and hats and popguns priest robes and bibles
Inflatable superman chest and muscles
So during the seminar I introduced the ideas of
- How we often continue on blindly doing what we have always done and never change.
- Well meaning people who only criticize you and shoot you down despite everything you do.
- Other people who listen to your problems and sympathies with you.
- How the jump to superman status is not all that hard
Anyway to illustrate these points during the seminar I divided the audience
up into groups:
The sheriffs - with their badges hats and
popguns - who were there to keep a check on other audience members who deviated
from the protocols I was teaching or who gave dumb answers and who would come
round and arrest or reprimand audience members for their wimpy uninspiring
attitudes to life
The priests - who would come round and
counsel and pray for people who could not make it to the next level in their
life development
The supermen - the people who were committed
to changing their lives no matter what the odds.
Anyway the conference turned into a freakin' mayhem - (all in good fun though.)
If any one gave a negative answer we had all the sheriffs and marshals leaping
out of their seats - some pretending to ride horses - run over to the poor
audience member who was feeling sorry for themselves -- and start shooting them
- pulling them out of their seats and dragging them off to "jail"
Then the priests would leap out of their chairs and come to the poor chap who
believed his life was a mess - read him his last rights - and assured him with
stuff like "the meek would inherit the earth"
And then if everything was going well - the people with the inflatable supermen
suits would pull a cord and suddenly develop instant chests and muscles and run
around the room acting invincible. One guy beat up a few marshals and a priest
and his whole body language screamed "you cant stop me now!" . Another chap
dived off the stage to prove he could fly.
Another chaps muscles failed to inflate so some priest ran over to him to give
sympathy and assure him that he should keep on trying.
People were bounding over chairs, screaming and howling with laughter and what
was really interesting is how many people really got into the parts and came up
with all the behaviour associated with our reactions to poor performance and
success in life.
The conference was a huge success - and all because of a few party costumes and
props.
Kind Regards
Dr David W. Kirby
Orange NSW Australia
Honorable Mentions
Hi Tom:
I got a good one...I use very long Chinese yo-yo's as "wake up" sticks for the
audience. I swear they unravel to the 2nd row, and always get a laugh. I give
them out as prizes for role plays. They are $1.00. You can also get them at
Pier One. People kill to get one, I can't believe it,
I am doing my first "theming" at a national builder's convention. My seminar
is "Don't Get Trumped-10 traits of Sales Manager s who DON'T get fired"..we
went to the party story and the New York Store (our local mall has one) and
bought New York posters, hats, confetti to decorate the room. We have 2 male
presenters who are going to wear The Donald combovers. I have a statue of
Liberty hat (crown) that's funny. No one has ever done this at this particular
conference so we're sure we'll be talked about.
How's that? I am a party store and US Toy store junkie!
Melinda
Melinda Brody and Company, Inc presenting video mystery shopping and high
energy, content rich sales seminars for builders across North America PH
407-294-7614 FAX 407-294-7611 Pager 888-667-6180
http://www.melindabrody.com Sign up on site for FREE Newsletter
I found a 12" plastic hammer that squeaks when it is hit on any surface. I
use it when I make a mistake. After I goof up, I pick up the hammer and hit
myself on the top of my head with it several times. The audience laughs and I
get a moment to recapture my thoughts and proceed with the program.
Allen Klein, CSP (AKA "Mr. Jollytologist")
Good morning Tom! Thanks for your suggestion of going to a Party Store for
ideas; I was amazed! Here are a few of the ideas:
1. This one I did and was fun: my wife and I put on a skit for a church, only
at first I don't think the congregation realized it was a skit! We both were
campaigning for church positions; she was liberal and I was conservative. We
gave our short campaign speeches, then debated for a minute. The debate grew
more and more heated (using extreme views on common issues). Then from nowhere
we pulled out the cheap Dollar Store swords (you know the ones: when you tilt
them they make the "sh-h-i-i-i-ng!!!" sound) and began dueling. The shock
effect was great and the point was made: fights, even in the name of Love are
still fights.
Ideas from last night's visit to the Party Store:
2. Clapping hands: for speeches on handling depression, or when no one laughs
at one of your jokes and you feel it getting tense, give yourself a hand in
front of them.
3. Butterfly net: For inspirational speeches about chasing dreams. For talks
to point out the difference between daydreaming and goalsetting.
4. 1000 pc Puzzles: Throw pieces out into the audience as an example of how
Life is often thrown at us, and is a puzzle that we need others to help us and
join us in understanding the Whole. Also in Teamwork speeches. Also in talks
about the impossibility of looking at one piece/incident in your life and
trying to figure everything out from it.
5. All the flat, cardboard cut-out people and animals: As an illustration that
audiences/people are different from what you see on the surface. You could
insert a surprise by having one of the one-dimensionals be a real person at
the end. (If you had a very patient assistant and a very short speech!)
6. Mickey Mouse ears: Speeches about not take yourself or Life too seriously.
Or (based on Walt Disney's biography)a speech showing when we use "Mickey
Mouse" it's to describe something small. "Mickey Mouse" was anything but
small; it earned Walt Disney millions of dollars. Point: Don't consider some
else's ideas to be of no account.
7. Heart-shape Glasses: Looking at others through Love.
8. All the headgear (crowns, villain hats, derby hats, mobster, cowboy, dunce,
etc.): To illustrate in Speeches that we choose our hats/paths in life.
9. Giant Ears: Communication speeches about Listening.
10. The temporary tattoos, attachable ponytail: In Speeches about "judging
books by their covers." You come in dressed clean-cut and professional and win
their confidence. Begin taking off shirt down to T-shirt (depending on the
audience whether women should do this or not I guess) to reveal overly
tattooed arms and a ponytail. See if you can shock the audience enough to
prove their prejudices.
11. One of my favorite that I want to develop ASAP: Pass out "I'm a Winner"
buttons and talk about "You can be a Winner OR You can be a Whiner; but you
can't be both!"
Lots of great ideas out there I'm sure. This was my first, but definitely not
my last pass at going to Party stores for ideas.
Thanks for the suggestion Tom! Excited about your contest!
Bob Fogarty KC MTESC 555 River Park Drive Kansas City, KS 66105
Quality & Data Mgr
P.S.
Good morning Tom!
Last night I gave a sales presentation titled: "Consultant Styled
Selling." I used a Barbie doll named "Patricia" and sold her a natural
anti-depressant, ego-booster; those little plastic Clapping Hands.
It was a BLAST! And effective! Thanks for the suggestion/challenge you
gave us a couple of weeks ago!
Bob