WEBSTER TOASTMASTERS Building Competent Communicators And Leaders, One At A Time

February 2012

CLUB INFORMATION

WEBSTER TOASTMASTERS
Region 8
District 58
Division B
Area 21
Club Number 01062166

MEETING PLACE Webster University-Metro
8911 Farrow Rd.,
Ste. 101
Columbia, SC 29203

MEETING DAY & TIME 1st and 3rd Saturdays
2p - 3:15p

CORRESPONDENCE (mail)
8 Beacon Court
Columbia, SC 29229

Click Here for Full Calendar

MEMBERS LIST

President:
Glenn Jones
VP of Education:
Alice Jones
VP of Membership:
Connie McCants
VP of Public Relations:
Kimberly Johnson, CTM, CL
Sergeant-At-Arms:
Cynthia Daniels
Secretary:
Mattie Haynes
Treasurer:
Sheila McLamore
Members:
Edward Tyler
Charles Austin, Jr.
Denise Nelson
Walter Curry
Charmaine Gadson

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

	TOASTMASTERS INTERNATIONAL
	DISTRICT 58 HOME PAGE
	HISTORY
	MISSION
	WEBSTER UNIVERSITY
	SPEAK LIKE A LEADER
	WHY JOIN?
	LEADERSHIP SEMINARS
	ALUMNI CAREER RESOURCES
	WEBSTER ONLINE LIBRARY--PASSPORTS
	THE WRITING CENTER
	GET PLUGGED IN--ALUMNI ONLINE COMMUNITY
	HUMAN RESOURCES--SHRM

WEBSTER TOASTMASTERS

Building Competent Communicators And Leaders, One At A Time

HOW TO ADD LAUGHTER
Start your page right here, right now! It's so easy you'll be amazed.
1. Go to bottom left corner of this page and click on "EDITPAGE" link.
2. Enter your user id and password.
3. Click on the "EDIT" button for this section.
4. Scroll past the picture to the text box.
5. Type something in the text box in front of these instructions, pushing the instructions ahead. Click "Save Changes." Your stuff is on your page.
Congratulations: you're officially a webmaster! Now you can return to your edit screen and erase these instructions. Edit every section of your OrgSite just as you did here.

MASTERING THE LAUGH (move over Last Comic Standing)

Let’s face it. Humor is hard! Even experienced speakers struggle with knowing how to (appropriately!) tickle their audience’s funny bones. We all enjoy listening to a funny speech –the problem is, we typically don’t think of ourselves as being funny speakers. Members of Toastmasters are no different; that’s why we have assembled a wide range of resource material on this topic. Toastmasters exist to help your audience laugh with you, not at you! Go to www.toastmasters.org for full text versions of all material.

Take these tips to the microphone:

Be yourself. Think about what types of humor you appreciate, then create a library of such items.

Don’t like jokes? Try a humorous anecdote or a witty observation from your own life.

It’s OK to be mildly amusing, rather than eye-dabbingly funny.

Use humor sparingly, like a spice. At first, try using a humorous opener to your speech. A quote or offhand observation can be a good icebreaker.

Keep it relevant to your speech topic.

Avoid retelling jokes found on the Internet. Chances are good others have already heard or seen them.

Keep it clean! Humor is supposed to make people feel good – not embarrassed, insulted or offended.

Make it readily identifiable as humor. But in case no one laughs, prepare a comment in advance or just move on.

Keep it appropriate to the audience and the situation.

Self-effacing humor is safe –a little of it goes a long way.

Work on your delivery. Practice using vocal variety and gestures.

Timing is everything! Pause before the punch line. ~~~

HOW TO TELL A JOKE (Are you the next the Mike Myers?)

So, if you hear a joke you love, how do you ensure it stays in your memory?

Write it down. Find a pen and jot it on a piece of paper. If you can’t find paper, use a napkin or a matchbook cover.

In fact, try to tell the joke to someone else in the next 24-48 hours. Do it more than once. If you wait several weeks to tell it, you may have forgotten the important points.

Keep a “joke” file on your computer. Update it whenever you hear a joke you like, making sure to include the important words, phrases and punch line.

You get the point. The more you personalize the joke in your head, the more visual you make it for yourself, the easier it will be to recall at a later date.

Get to know the joke. Repeating jokes out loud gets you used to the act of telling them and that’s what will make you remember them. Repetition is key in memorizing anything.

Repeating your jokes also helps you gauge their pace and their rhythm: where to pause, where to speed up and where to edit.

One important tip – if you’re saying the joke out loud and you start to bore yourself, shorten the joke. Figure out what can be cut without killing the laugh.

Remember: The shorter the joke, the easier it is to remember.

Don’t tell racially sensitive jokes. There is a difference between jokes involving race, and racist jokes.

Never start off by telling your audience how funny the joke is. There’s no upside to it.

Make eye contact with the people you’re telling the joke to, and distribute it evenly.
Excerpted from The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Jokes.
Larry Getlen is the author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Jokes.

HUMOR 101 (Grab a pen...)

Perhaps you’ve had a bad joke-telling experience – the audience sighed while your joke died – and you’d just as soon remain serious the rest of your life.

In an article for the Toastmaster magazine, Dave Zielinski writes that you should shake off that fear. Humor’s ability to poison a presentation is exceeded only by its capacity to lift it to another level.

Well-executed humor holds the power to deliver messages in an entertaining fashion and can jolt us into seeing things from a broader perspective.

Bring out your “Kitchen Person." Many professionals force themselves into the button-down and deadly serious mold – very different from the person they are at home. But most people would rather hear the wit and warmth of that relaxed person.

The joke is on jokes. There’s no sin in being mildly amusing instead of eye-dabbingly funny, particularly if humor is connected to your message. Of course, you should use your judgment to avoid upsetting or offending the wrong people.

What’s a sorry joke-teller to do? The safest jokes you can tell are about yourself. Self-effacing humor is least likely to offend others, and also finding humor in your own life will make it fresh and appropriate to the audience.

Fixing the failing funny gene. Even if you feel that you don’t have a funny bone in your body, there is hope. Start small. Add a funny line or two to memos and work your way up to sharing short stories over the cubicle wall.

Look for opportunities to exercise spontaneous wit and show off your lighthearted talents. You may find that taking a class in improvisational theater will help arm you for such opportunities.
Keep this up and before you know it, you’ll be adding humor to your speaking arsenal and you’ll become one of the outstanding presenters in your business. ~~

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WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE FUNNY MAN? FUNNY WOMAN? FUNNY DUO?

Give us your favorite comedy crack ups. We will post them on the site in July. Email them, today. Don't forget to watch great stand up this summer on Comedy Central, Last Comic Standing and other television shows. Check out this list of funny folks:

#5. Lily Tomlin, Gilda Radner, Moms Mabley, Wanda Sykes.

#4. Robin Williams, Bill Bellamy, Jeff Foxworthy, Chevy Chase, Margaret Cho.

#3. Adele Givens, Martin Lawrence, Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, Flip Wilson.

#2. George Lopez, Paul Rodriguez, Kim Coles, Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock.

#1. Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, Garrett Morris, Jack Benny, Larry the Cable Guy, Bill Cosby.

The names "Toastmasters International," "Toastmasters," and the Toastmasters International emblem are trademarks protected in the United States, Canada, and other countries where Toastmasters clubs exist. Unauthorized use is prohibited." Last updated: 01/09

WEBSTER TOASTMASTERS BUILDING COMPETENT COMMUNICATORS AND LEADERS, ONE AT A TIME
8911 Farrow Rd., Ste. 101 • Columbia, SC 29203
phone: 803-462-6280

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