|
This week I competed in the Division-Level Humorous Speech Contest. My speech is an Icebreaker using PowerPoint. I tell the audience a lot about myself including where I am from, my special powers and also some dysfunctions.
I recommened competing with PowerPoint only if you have a strong heart. Tuesday night I was about as prepared as I could be and nearly ended up pulling out of the contest due to the Projector not playing ball. 30+ minutes of pain finally ended 2 minutes before the contest began when the projector light finally came to life. Luckily I was the 3rd contestant, so I did have some time to compose myself.
The speech went very well. It was the 6th time I gave some form of the speech. I changed it considerably the first few times I gave it. Small refinements as I progressed further. I don't think I could have done much better. There is one area I think I could improve on though. Gestures. It is difficult to have a speech with effective gestures when using PowerPoint. General body movement is also tough. You cannot stray too far from the projection screen. I think I could incorporate more movement and gestures in next time I do the speech. That said, I do interact with the projector and projection screen in the speech.
One thing I have found amazing is that everyone I have spoken to has their favorite part of the speech. Everyone is very different. For some it is the obvious humor, others the more involved, and yet others find the contradictions funny. It was amazingly fulfilling to have the entire audience laughing. There were about 50 people in the room.
If you are planning on using PowerPoint to compete, one thing you must do is learn to run PowerPoint in 2 monitor mode. This will allow you to show something different on your laptop to what you are displaying on the projection screen. This is critical in having you face the audience. With it setup correctly, you can see the next few slides that are coming as well as any notes you made for each slide. You also need to avoid bullet points and use imagery. If you are interested in specifics, I present a 1 hour seminar that teaches these techniques and includes the 8 minute humorous speech. See the contact page for more details.
I would also recommend bringing a long extension cord with you and once everything is setup, placing the lens cap on the projector rather than turning it off. Needless to say, check the room beforehand and make sure it is condusive to PowerPoint. If not, work with the organizers. If you don't have a wall to project onto, Home Depot sells polystyrene in nice big sizes that are great to project onto. All you need is an easel to hold the polysteyrene board. Make sure your screen saver is off, your batteries are charged, and your power saver features are off.
|
