On dithering, talking funny & a champion public speaker

7 ways to make serious topics funny (Thank you Chris McGuire)

This is a newsletter from my ‘dither’ department. I don’t know if you have one those, but I most certainly do. And this morning it was out in a show of full strength.

Shall I send out the newsletter I’ve got partially written on Easter? Easter is coming up and there will be lots of people looking for interesting Easter themed material for their classes. Mmmm.

After re-reading, then re-jigging several paragraphs for the umpteenth time, perhaps not. I still don’t like it. And if I don’t like it there’ll be lots of you who won’t either. And we all know what happens when readers don’t like what they’re reading, don’t we? They unsubscribe. In droves. It’s an ‘email disabled’ nightmare. To be avoided if at all possible.

OK - back to my list of potential topics. Where is it? What name did I save it under? Several searches, several detours via notes for future articles, and fifteen minutes later, it’s found.

So, there’s varying improv. game type activities - all excellent for building student skills and confidence. However today none of them muster the energy to leap off the page shouting, “Pick me!”.

Then there’s a list of ten useful tips and suggestions. Again, they’re worthy. I’ve covered some of them before but coming back again with a different angle is fine. Besides some readers won’t have read them the first time.

Learning how to use eye contact effectively makes a great difference to how you’re perceived by an audience. Similarly, understanding how powerful pauses are is invaluable for a speaker. Etc. etc.

Nope. Nope and nope. None of them fire.

Now what? More agitato dithering ensues. Then…

[SFX - A drumroll getting gradually louder]

I opened and read a newsletter from Let’s Talk Funny, Chris McGuire. It is a gem, and I wanted to share it with you immediately.

Without further fluffing about, here it is: Don’t Put Ankle Weights on Your Jokes - 7 ways to make serious topics funnier.

What did I take away from it? That I want to spend a lot more time seriously experimenting with humor. Do have a look for yourselves.

Chris offers understandable, doable, teachable tips, with examples. One of those is a video link to the 2024 Toastmaster World Champion of Public Speaking Luisa Montalvo’s speech “37 strangers”.

It’s not hyperbole when I say this is a stunning speech. Luisa takes her own experience of being in a near fatal car accident, becoming a wheelchair user and makes it genuinely funny. The result is a must-see inspirational masterclass in personal storytelling, seamlessly blending whimsical humor (for instance imagining St. Peter at the Pearly Gates using an iPad to check whether her name in on the admissions list) with serious themes: the value of life, kindness and unity.

Watch it for yourself. Show it to your students. The journey to becoming world champion requires months, even years, of dedicated effort covering all aspects of writing and delivery, repetition to refine the speech, plus asking for and accepting critical feedback.

That’s it from me. I hope you enjoy Chris’s newsletter and Luisa’s speech.

May your days always be dither free ☺
Susan

As I’ve said before, if you have ideas for topics you’d like to see covered in this newsletter, or if you’d like to share an article on some aspect of public speaking, or a speech of your own, please get in touch. Either reply to this email or contact me through the form on my ‘about me’ page on my website. I’d love to hear from you!