The Standup Trainer Newsletter
February 2006
Brought
to you by Ellen Dowling, PhD ("The Standup Trainer") and the fine
folks of Dowling & Associates, Inc.
edowling@standuptrainer.com
www.standuptrainer.com
This newsletter is guaranteed
certifiably useful as well as amusing. (If you are not completely
satisfied, there are unsubscribe instructions at the end. But we're betting
you'll change your mind by the time you get there.)
Welcome to all new and continuing
subscribers!
[Note: Instead of my usual
“Presentation Hall of Shame” section, this month I will share with you what
I’ve learned so far about teaching in China.]
In this issue:
1. Presentation Horror Story of the
Month
If you are suddenly attacked
in class, divide and conquer!
2. Teaching in China: Research vs.
Reality
An American and a Chinese
person go into a bar . . .
3. Presentation Skills Book Review
Take my jokes . . . please!
4. Useful Online Resource of the Month
How many web sites does it
take to find one really funny joke?
1. Presentation Horror
Story of the Month
[Editor's Note: Have you a
good story to tell about the time SOMETHING WENT WRONG at a presentation you
were giving (or attending)? We are soliciting submissions for this segment of
our newsletter. If your story is chosen, you will receive a FREE copy of either
of Ellen's two books, The Standup Trainer or Presenting with Style
(your choice). Simply send your story (just a couple of paragraphs will be fine)
to edowling@standuptrainer.com.]
The winner of this month's contest is Pat Sweeden, Training Manager for
L’Oreal USA (North Little Rock, Arkansas):
I spent months planning a
new curriculum for supervisory training with the input of our senior management
team. I involved them in every step and was quite proud of myself for getting
their input and buy-in.
When the day arrived to begin
the training, one of the senior managers sat in on the very first class. After
about two hours, he interrupted me, saying, “This isn’t what I think the supervisors
need to be learning.”
I was momentarily speechless
and the supervisors were obviously embarrassed for me, but after a long, painfully
silent pause I used the most common technique known to trainers worldwide—I
called a break!
During the break I talked
with the executive about his concerns, and we agreed on an immediate modification
to the program. I also solicited his help and participation in the class. The
rest of the day went smoothly and he and I became rather good friends!
(Note: I believe I learned
this little technique in a class entitled, Dealing with Difficult
Trainees by Dr. Ellen Dowling.)
2. Teaching in China:
Research vs. Reality
As some of you already know,
I (Ellen) am currently in Beijing, China, teaching a class called “Executive
Communication” for students who are enrolled in the part-time “BIMBA” (Beijing
International MBA) program, under the aegis of the Chinese Center for Economic
Research (CCER) at the University of Beijing. The students attend class for
three hours on Saturday and Sunday mornings (9 to noon) for five weekends.
My students are late-twenty-
to early-forty-somethings, and all have full-time positions at a variety of
Chinese/US companies. For example, several of my students work for Motorola,
Siemens, and IBM China. Quite a few are in fairly high-level positions: Senior
Staff Engineer, Solution Delivery Manager, International Business Manager, etc.
They are very intelligent and (it goes without saying or they wouldn’t be in
the program, which is very expensive) very ambitious. They all speak English,
but with varying degrees of facility.
They are also very friendly
and polite and they try very hard. But they haven’t a clue about working together
in self-directed groups. I learned this the first weekend, when there was pretty
much mass confusion when I put them into groups and asked them to “brainstorm”
topics for their oral presentations. They couldn’t do it. So for the second
weekend I gave them very specific directions (on PowerPoint slides for them
to read as well), and asked them individual questions. This worked much better
all around and they all seemed to be much more comfortable with the highly structured
format.
(Of course, it put more pressure
on me to “publish” the agenda for the class on a slide at the beginning and
again at the end of the class, as that meant that I had to be sure to cover
everything I promised to cover!)
My students also love to laugh
and have very good senses of humor. I told the class that humor was important
in their own presentations, but that they should avoid jokes at all costs. One
student asked me why. I answered, “OK, let me tell you a joke in English, and
then you tell me why a speaker should not tell jokes.”
Here’s what I told them:
Two cannibals are having dinner.
[I had to stop here and make sure everyone knew what a “cannibal” was.] One
cannibal turns to the other and says, “I hate my mother-in-law.” The other cannibal
shrugs and says, “Well, just eat the noodles.”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Funny? Yes? No?
As you can imagine, the entire
class just stared at me, dumbfounded. Then I had to explain that most English-speaking
students have the same reaction! (Although later that day, when I told my colleague
from the US and another American that same joke, they both laughed out loud.)
More to come on my adventures
in China in the March issue of this newsletter . . . .
3. Presentation Skills
Book Review
Speaking of jokes, this month’s
review is of a book by Michael Iapoce, A Funny
Thing Happened on the Way to the Boardroom: Using Humor in Business Speaking
(John Wiley & Sons, 1988).
In the preface to this book,
Iapoce stresses that “Unlike many humor books, this one is designed to provide
basic, how-to instruction in the use of humor, specifically in business or otherwise
‘serious’ settings.” The first part of the book, he promises, will “detail exactly
how to deliver a joke, and to show how the key to being funny lies simply in
using your natural sense of humor to be yourself.” The second half (more like
65%, actually) is a compendium of what the author assures us are “the funniest
jokes on the most relevant topics.” Does Iapoce deliver the punch he promises?
I would certainly agree with
Iapoce’s main premise: “It all comes down to knowing what the audience wants
to hear and saying it funny—in their language.” [Note: This is a little trickier,
maybe, when your audience’s language is Chinese!] Of course, Iapoce is talking
about the concept of “tailoring” your material to meet the needs (and context)
of your audience. Here’s a good example of this from the book:
The joke: A man rushed into
a clothing store and said to the owner, “I understand that my son has owed you
for a suit now for the past year and a half.” “That’s right,” said the owner
hopefully. “Have you come to settle the account?” “No,” said the father. “I
wanted to buy one on the same terms.”
You can tailor this joke,
suggests Iapoce, for the following audiences:
·
Computer programmers:
An executive went into a computer store and said to the owner, “I understand
my office manager has owed you for a computer system . . . .”
·
Carpenters:
A foreman went into a hardware store and said, “I understand one of my carpenters
has owed you for a set of tools . . . .”
[OK, so maybe you haven’t
had the opportunity to address an audience of carpenters lately, but you get
the idea.]
Another useful point that
the author makes is the importance of telling a joke that actually contributes
to the point of your presentation. Here’s Iapoce’s example (from a speech on
the importance of good customer service):
“Being customer oriented should
be inseparable from producing a quality product. There’s no point in maintaining
high production standards if we can’t follow through with quality at the point
of sale. It’s like the man who went into a very exclusive Beverly Hills clothing
store to buy a suit. The salesman asked him for his name, occupation, hobbies,
educational background, religion, and political party. The customer said, ‘But
all I want is a suit.’ The salesman said, ‘Sir, we don’t merely sell you a suit.
We make a suit that’s exactly right for you. We analyze your personality and
your background. We search the world for the kind of sheep that produces just
the wool your character and mood require. The wool is processed according to
a special formula that reflects your personality. Then it’s woven in a part
of the world where the climate is most favorable to your temperament. Then,
after a series of preliminary fittings, we style a suit. But then . . . .’ ‘Wait
a minute,’ the customer said. ‘I need this suit for a wedding tomorrow afternoon.’
The salesman shrugged and said, ‘Okay. You’ll have it.’”
DING! DING! DING! DING! Anyone
who has read either Presenting
with Style or The Standup
Trainer should now be hearing those warning bells. What’s the inherent problem
with trying to tell a joke like this? (Look how long it is; look how complicated.
How will you ever remember all the details without having to read it? And what
if you forget the punch line?)
Still, the basic idea of making
the humor relevant to the purpose of the presentation is a good one. It’s just
that a funny story (especially a true story) will be so much easier to tell.
More useful, I think, are
the “ad libs” that Iapoce provides for when things go wrong:
·
When you lose
your train of thought: “Sometimes we say the most with silence . . . not this
time, but sometimes.”
·
When you garble
a sentence: “Sorry, these are rented lips.” [I think this is really terrible,
but it made me laugh anyway.]
·
When you get
feedback from the microphone: “That concludes the musical portion of my program.”
Lastly, as I mentioned above,
the second half of the book is a collection of jokes. Here are a few of the
funniest ones (you decide how/where/when and for whom you would use them):
“Middle age is when, if you
have a choice between two temptations, you choose the one that’ll get you home
earlier.”
“She asked the boss if she
could have a day off because it was her silver anniversary. The boss said, ‘Do
I have to put up with this every 25 years?’”
“A speech is like a love affair.
Any fool can start it, but to end it requires considerable skill.”
“I remember the airline passenger
who found a bug in the food he was served on the plane. After arriving home,
he wrote an angry letter to the airline and got a quick reply. It said, ‘Dear
Sir: Your letter was a source of great concern to us. We have never before received
a complaint of this nature and will do everything possible to guarantee that
such an incident never happens again.’ The man was satisfied with this until
he noticed another slip of paper fall out of the envelope. It said, ‘Send this
guy the bug letter.’”
4. Useful Online Resource
of the Month
I searched all over the internet
to find some joke sites that were both free and included material potentially
appropriate for public telling, but found mostly slim pickins. I did, however,
find a somewhat useful site (Humor for Speakers
by Tom Antion), which contains a collection of what Tom calls “test humor”:
“humor that is placed in your written introduction. It is to be read by your
introducer, not by you.”
In the following examples,
I have substituted my own name as the presenter:
·
Ellen is one
of the greatest speakers ever and that's just not my
opinion, it's hers too. Let's welcome Ellen!
·
The woman I
am about to introduce is so full of ideas I have heard her described as
a manic EXPRESSIVE. Let's welcome Ellen!
·
Ellen’s discussion
of (subject) will be very enlightening. She says that after her talk you will
still be confused, but on a much
higher plane.
Had enough?
That's it for this month!
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If you have a suggestion for
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please contact us:
Dowling & Associates,
Inc.
Ellen Dowling, President
edowling@standuptrainer.com
(505) 307-1700
