Again, practice on strangers and grin wide after telling your punchline. If people don’t get it, then that’s on them, not you. Some people are a little dense and hesitant to laugh at topics they’re instructed to remain composed about. Also start with simple, common jokes, and work your way up. It’s important if you plan to do more public speaking. Try telling some jokes to family and friends, just tell them you’re practicing.
Nice. Well there you go. Tough crowd, I guess. If I wasn’t getting the response I wanted from the audience then I’d just try to amuse myself and experiment.
I’m fine on a one to one basis. I try not to grin too much though, for fear of looking like a loony.
I’m not sure they were expecting me to say something like that.
That’s why you have to grin wide after telling the punchline. It’s like giving the audience permission to laugh at the joke. Because they don’t want to make fun of you.
Better that than getting the silent treatment.
You probably did fine, don’t worry about it and use it as a learning experience for next time.
I doubt there will be a next time, lol.
I was chosen to give a convocation speech to welcome the freshman class in front of a few thousand people (students, parents, professors, administration) where I talked about leadership and introduced the university President. I think I nailed it. Everyone clapped when I was done, that’s how I know. Just kidding. I was pretty nervous hoping my speech would flow well and hold the audience’s interest. Turns out, the worst part was sitting up on stage with nothing to do before and after speaking but listen to various administrators rattle off different cliches. There was another student speaker, the Student Government Association President. She and I had prepared our speeches together with the help of the Vice President of Student Affairs. It was a good experience all around, the process of preparing and the actual speech, but I remember the distinct feeling that a lot of our speech preparation with the head of Student affairs was more grooming than anything else. It was interesting.
You probably will speak in public again, again, don’t worry about it, put it behind you and sleep it off. You’re being too self critical. Besides none of us can even see your speech. So we can’t really judge you except by your own overly self critical analysis. I’m guessing that you’re being way too hard on yourself. Just put it behind you.
I was clapped at the end but whether out of politeness I can’t say.
It was nothing much of any interest.
Best thing to do before speaking in front of a crowd is to get just the right level of intoxication, so you become a bit more verbose, but not quite belligerent. I’d say about a joint and a half give or take should be about right.
That would knock me out.
I’m interested.
I just had to describe my experiences working at the leisure centre and if there was anything they could do to make it more accessible.
A college buddy once coached me on public speaking. His ideas were first to pick out one person in the first row of the audience and address him/her. Then, imagine the entire audience wearing only their underwear. After a few giggles to oneself, the ideas work.