#1 What to say When...

Have you ever felt stumped about "What to say" during a meeting or in front of a group. We have all faced situations like that. This series of "What to say When" will directly try to tackle those situations with some tips & examples. With consistent practice of the ideas here during speeches and our impromptu (“Table topics”) section during the meeting, I am sure we can all develop the confidence to face any situation that may arise in future. Now, let's get started with the content.

Situation: When your joke bombs

This happens sometimes when your joke was not a hit. It is normal in any presenter’s or public speaker’s journey. We cannot avoid situations like this because not all audiences are the same and not all can be satisfied all the time. But we can reduce the impact using some tips and consistent practice. 

Tips:

• Make it quick - as an exercise time your humor and cut the story in half. 

• Wait for the laugh - sometimes the audience might take a moment to understand. You already know the punch line but they just heard you. 

• Humor to remember - Use humor only to make a point that people must remember. 

• Don't blame the audience - It's rarely the audience’s fault that your joke doesn't work.

What to say:

• That was a joke designed to get a silent laugh... and it worked!

• That wasn't meant to make you laugh, and from your reaction, I can see I succeeded.

• That takes a while to sink in. Around 2am that's going to seem so funny that you won't be able to sleep. 

• Just a little joke I threw in. Guess it should have been thrown out. 

• I told that joke in Swahili the other day, and they laughed hysterically. Something got lost in the translation.

Situation: When you Forget your talk or Freeze during the talk

You will usually forget what you want to say next for one of three reasons:

1. You are underprepared.

   • When you don't have time to prepare, it’s better to take notes with you. 

2. You get sidetracked from your planned talk.

   • To avoid this, have your objectives defined and clear in your mind. 

3. You get stage fright and freeze.

   • Practice, Practice, Practice. With good preparation you can avoid the majority of stage fright problems.

What to say:

• I just wanted to pause a moment here in case any of you have lost your place. 

• I seem to have lost my train of thought. Train? It's more like I lost the whole railroad. 

• I know this speech as well as I know that my name is... ugh...

• This bad memory of mine almost caused me to get a divorce, until they reminded me I wasn't married. 

• I'm the only person I know who can successfully plan a surprise birthday party for myself. 

• Once I almost figured out why I'm so absentminded - but I forgot the answer. 

Hope this article is useful and we get to practice during our prepared speeches or table topics. Feel free to share your comments to improve this article.

Reference: Content for this article is referred from the book "What to say When.. You're Dying on the platform" - Walters, Lilly