Not too long ago I was participating in the Humorist Speech Contest. At the time this was one of my first times participating in a contest. Honestly, I didn’t know what I was doing and I am not a funny person, but I signed up for the contest anyway. There are three things that I learned in the contest. One is that it is a challenge to make people laugh purposefully. Previously, I had given the speech purely for myself. For me, it was a funny presentation; however, my audience didn’t laugh as much as I was expecting. That’s the first thing I learned. Next, I learned people are more likely to laugh at ordinary things rather than telling people about a particular subject which you maybe the only one familiar with. Therefore, the next time I signed up for a contest, I told a personal story to the audience and people laughed a lot more. In that competition I was second place, but I value more what I learned from it. Lastly, the third point that I learned by competing in a contest is the ENERGY of a presentation. Keeping the audience engaged during the delivery of a funny presentation is very important!
Speak! Lead! Give Back!